This was the first of three Thames television specials from the late '70's/early '80's starring the great Dick Emery. They were made in addition to his better-known B.B.C. series - he never defected to I.T.V. in the way that Mike Yarwood and Morecambe & Wise did, and was wise not to do so.
The shows were basically the same only with music. Lulu provides one number, and Dick two others. He was not the world's greatest vocalist, but no matter. One song - 'My Rocking Horse Cowboy's Grown Up' - might strike some as unbearably sentimental, but I found it oddly touching, a nostalgic remembrance for past childhood.
Emery's characters - the Reverend Chislett, Hettie, Gaylord Screwsby, and Mandy - all appear, as does Bert the hapless do-it-yourself man. Here we see him bragging about having built his very own spaceship. 'Wally' is played on this occasion by John Rutland. In the B.B.C. shows, Reg Lye took the role.
'Gaylord' the bovver boy is used in a different context, in a sketch set during the Napoleonic Wars ( it seems ) with him trying to load a cannon at the request of his Commanding Officer ( Tim Barrett ). Beryl Reid partners Emery ( a change from Pat Coombs ) in an amusing sketch in which they play an elderly married couple who liven up their drab existences through elaborate ( non-sexual! ) fantasies.
Eric Merriman wrote some sketches, with John Singer ( one half of Emery's favourite writing duo ) providing others. The cannon sketch was by Mike Winters, brother of Bernie, with whom he had just split after years of being a comedy double act. The late Debbie Linden provides glamour ( she was Young Mr.Grace's secretary in 'Are You Being Served?' ).
As usual in these shows, an unwarranted amount of time is given over to 'Young Generation'-style dancers who looked silly then and even worse now. I lived through that era and even I find the spectacle of long-haired, bearded men in flared trousers cavorting about repellent.
With so little of Emery's work available on D.V.D., it is good to see this again after all these years. I hope '2entertain' puts out his shows at some point in the near-future.
Funniest moment - the garden fete sketch in which the Rev.Chislett demonstrates his wine tasting skills, only to get legless.
The shows were basically the same only with music. Lulu provides one number, and Dick two others. He was not the world's greatest vocalist, but no matter. One song - 'My Rocking Horse Cowboy's Grown Up' - might strike some as unbearably sentimental, but I found it oddly touching, a nostalgic remembrance for past childhood.
Emery's characters - the Reverend Chislett, Hettie, Gaylord Screwsby, and Mandy - all appear, as does Bert the hapless do-it-yourself man. Here we see him bragging about having built his very own spaceship. 'Wally' is played on this occasion by John Rutland. In the B.B.C. shows, Reg Lye took the role.
'Gaylord' the bovver boy is used in a different context, in a sketch set during the Napoleonic Wars ( it seems ) with him trying to load a cannon at the request of his Commanding Officer ( Tim Barrett ). Beryl Reid partners Emery ( a change from Pat Coombs ) in an amusing sketch in which they play an elderly married couple who liven up their drab existences through elaborate ( non-sexual! ) fantasies.
Eric Merriman wrote some sketches, with John Singer ( one half of Emery's favourite writing duo ) providing others. The cannon sketch was by Mike Winters, brother of Bernie, with whom he had just split after years of being a comedy double act. The late Debbie Linden provides glamour ( she was Young Mr.Grace's secretary in 'Are You Being Served?' ).
As usual in these shows, an unwarranted amount of time is given over to 'Young Generation'-style dancers who looked silly then and even worse now. I lived through that era and even I find the spectacle of long-haired, bearded men in flared trousers cavorting about repellent.
With so little of Emery's work available on D.V.D., it is good to see this again after all these years. I hope '2entertain' puts out his shows at some point in the near-future.
Funniest moment - the garden fete sketch in which the Rev.Chislett demonstrates his wine tasting skills, only to get legless.
