Britcom Goes To The Movies

Now that’s enough of the 1970s, let’s move this series into the 20th century. Well, actually, our story for this icon of BritCom begins at the end of the 20th. Harry Hill won the Perrier award in 1992 and was quickly on TV and radio soon after. Rob and Guy take a particular look at The Harry Hill Show…or rather just Harry Hill as it was known on Channel 4 in the late 90s.

To join the chaps is Harry Hill superfan, internet sensation, and comedy writer Ruth Husko. As it turns out, both Ruth and Rob saw an early Harry Hill tour as their first forays into live comedy. Guy, however, still needed some convincing of the wonder of Hill’s own brand of surreal silliness. Could he be won over?

Well, the chances are that would not be done by watching the universally panned Harry Hill Movie from 2013. Held up as one of the cases that most proves the rule that big-screen adaptations of small-screen comedy don’t work, but is it really that bad? There’s only one way to find out…FIIIIFGHTT! Or just have a listen to the latest episode of BritCom Goes to the Movies.

Harry Hill - Fruit Fancies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlIGkKUxWak

Harry Hill - Fruit Corner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOOkh8ffqko

Harry Hill - Channel 4 - SE1 Ep1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUS_EPSNNtY&list=PLVEP6KjsyeTd9sScdD-KH4ZTvvWuW17V5

Harry Hill and Stoofer - 7 seconds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeW61GTxe-Q

TV Burp - Ear Cataracts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NswiFD8qSgI

Harry Hill Movie - Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywarD9fcZGQ

Harry Hill Movie - Blackpool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg1AxAHJBJg

Shooting Stars - Billy Elliott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN-ASY9X1dU
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We’re on a roll with the 70s sitcom spin-offs. Hot on the heels of George and Mildred and Mutiny On The Buses comes 1971’s Please Sir! This is, in no small part, down to our guest this week, Jason Hazeley, being the world’s loudest cheerleader for this film and its preceding sitcom. We didn’t even need to show him the list; he was straight in there for a personal favourite since his youth.

But never two to hold back, would Rob and Guy’s thoughts on Please Sir! align with Jason’s? Certainly, the ingredients were there for that not to be the case. Some dated attitudes, men and women in their 20s playing teenagers, a rushed release capitalising on the success of its TV predecessor, and our old favourite, a flimsy pretext to get the cast to a holiday camp.

Having said that, both Rob and Guy come to this fresh. Neither had ever seen as much as an episode of this once-beloved sitcom, but both were aware of the all-round entertainment chops of the cast. Not least Deryck Guyler, in whose washboarding hands anyone could feel at ease.

Join us as we delve into one of the last ITV sitcom spin-offs left to cover, which could well prove the best of the lot.

Please Sir! SE1 Ep1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8PVA-TDeYwDeryck Guyler on the Washboardhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWKHTcC-I8k&list=RDGWKHTcC-I8k&start_radio=1Derrick Geyler Scotch Tape Adshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL3mpzAvHFAMichael Winner Esure Adhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efl5pFTFnBUVictor Lewis Smith pranks Michael Winnerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTGc1PKVrH0Please Sir! (1971) Trailerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhhiqg0aKOMPlease Sir! Full Filmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa0CL4bhlH8
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After some time away, we’re ready to dip back into the On The Busesverse. Our resident expert in all things Butler and Blakey, John Rain, returns to discuss the Empire Strikes Back of the trilogy. It’s time for Mutiny on the Buses. A mere year after the first film and backed by a (slightly) bigger budget, none of which the actors saw, the Ronalds, Chesney, and Wolf had forged a screenplay with much more of a semblance of a plot and some new characters to boot.

There’s all the usual fun (at Blakey’s expense mainly) as well as naked protest, Arthur joining the depot, a huge fire extinguisher leak, and fun and frolics in Windsor Safari Park in which Reg Varney shits himself with a chimp on his lap.

Great to welcome back John Rain and his unique brand of analysis and even tee up the promise of Holiday on the Buses to come…but one instalment at a time, eh?

Morris Bright’s Elstree On The Buses Documentary

https://youtu.be/luKxuhVxNGQ?si=pZduxvq7pY1CLk5c

Mutiny on the Buses Filming Locations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9dv6flrmW4

Mutiny on the Buses Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LQbflW--q4

Mutiny on the Buses - Radio Control

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECzCL97E28w
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Time to get our teeth into another straight spin-off. It’s a significant one at that. The final of the ITC/EMI/Hammer spin-offs of ITV sitcoms, which many credit as the death of the genre altogether. That’s right, it is the 1980 big-screen adaptation of the long-running sitcom that in itself was a spin-off. George and Mildred.

Long-time listeners will know that in the first series, Rob and Guy were pleasantly surprised by Man About the House...if not the movie, the sitcom itself. So there’s every chance that George and Mildred could follow suit. As we always end up repeating, this show is all about expectations, which would obviously be on the floor with the reputation this film has preceding it. So things could only look up, right?….RIGHT?!

Joining us to find out is comedian Alison Dennison, so committed to the G&M cause she’d already watched every episode ever made in preparation. With attention to detail like this, episode two of series six would prove to be one of the best we’d ever made. A tale of comedy and tragedy, life and death, both metaphorical and literal. Join us for George and Mildred!

George and Mildred Opening theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0ygWHpvoFE

Best of George Roper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2YQtqXTktY

George and Mildred Last Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-3utPaAdU

George and Mildred Movie in Full

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAaNz1DW1DY
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No sooner are we gone than we’re back with a brand-new series. In series six, we’ll pass 60 films viewed and reviewed for a project that still has plenty of legs in it yet! But we begin this brand new series by embracing the familiar. Tom Salinsky returns to BritCom Goes to the Movies for the first time since episode six, and not only does he join for a film all three of us have seen before, all three of us love it!

The film in question is the 1955 classic Ealing comedy, The Ladykillers, a real contender for the top ten of our table and beyond. But how will we link this to the small screen, I hear you ask? The answer is…we won’t. We’re going down the Sellers route. As this was one of Peter Sellers’ earliest big-screen appearances, we’ve decided to match it with one of his earliest radio appearances and the rather forgotten, if not prolific, Ray’s A Laugh from the 1950s BBC radio.

Ray’s A Laugh was exactly the kind of broadcast variety/comedy that Sellers and co would go on to blow out of the water with the pioneering Goon Show. While a fair few episodes still exist on BBC Sounds and YouTube, you can hear the star quality of Sellers rising above what was already a pretty tired format in the early 1950s.

Then, of course, the film itself. Widely considered not just the best Ealing Comedy (and the three of us will offer some of our other favourites) but also one of the greatest British comedy films of all time. A heist/farce with some career-best performances, not least from Alec Guinness, Katie Johnson, and many of the supporting cast. But how will it hold up against the top echelons of the BritCom Goes to the Movies league? Tom has already had one table-topper with The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, but could he have another? Tune in and find out.

Ray’s a Laugh - 1954

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBQ7YrPNx9A

Ray’s a Laugh - 1949

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s77ZhWxf9JU

The Ladykillers - Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDVMD8dktKI

The Ladykillers - Such Pretty Windows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuIvga5t_Hc

Alec Guinness as George Smiley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCm3IrscqH8

Tom Salinsky - All British Comedy Explained

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kFktzEvNuI&list=PLmJSdGQRAwRyQjtWhrtFtDpOLo6iaRmpX
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