Andy Capp (1988– ) User Reviews

Not as bad as history records

[aufwiedersehenpet · 7/10 · 14 March 2011]

I've just managed to pick up a copy of this series, and was not very hopeful as everyone who I have spoken to who remembers it told me how bad it was.

Well it's not sitcom gold, I give you that. There are a lot of 'piece to camera' moments, which I hate in any show, however this reflects the style of the cartoon strip. A lot of the jokes were lifted from previous cartoon strips, and did bring a smile to my face. In fact the series brought a lot of smiles, however no real laughs.

As a smiling show, it works, and to me it's quite watchable and enjoyable if you are looking for some low brow humor. A classic it ain't but if you get the chance, give it a try all the same. 7/10

Andy Capp's handicaps

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 3 July 2004]

It's interesting how a fictional character can be successful in one medium yet utterly unsuccessful in another. Andy Capp was a huge success in the comic strips, spawning various merchandising deals (I fondly recall my first bottle of Andy Capp's Spring Tonic) and even a spin-off character: 'Buster, Son of Andy Capp', who had his own long-running strip yet was never once mentioned in the original. Despite this success, Andy never caught on in any other medium. The West End stage musical based on Andy Capp was a flop. This short-lived TV series (running briefly in February-March 1988) was no better.

This synopsis reflects only the TV series, not the comic strip. Andy and Flo Capp live at 37 Durham Street, Hartlepool. Andy is a layabout, a drunkard, a bully, a liar and a gambler. The only reason he's not a skiver into the bargain is because he hasn't got a job to skive off in the first place. His put-upon wife Flo is kept working overtime to pay the bills. To make matters worse, Andy is a serial philanderer.

This Thames TV sitcom suffered from the total unlikeability of the main character. (In the comic strip, Andy was more of a likable rogue.) The first episode dealt with Andy's promise to turn over a new leaf. (He doesn't, of course.) The sixth and final episode dealt with Andy's reluctance to celebrate the Capps' wedding anniversary.

Most of the recurring characters in the comic strip get a look-in here, including the Capps' neighbours next-door over, Chalkie White and his wife Ruby. Also on offer are barman Jackie, rent-collector Percy Ritson (geddit? "writ's on"), and the 'milkie' (milkman) making his dawn rounds as Andy comes staggering home from a night on the tiles.

The Andy Capp strip was brilliant in small bites, but the character didn't seem to work very well over an extended narrative. Certain features of the comic strip just didn't make a smooth transition to live-action. Andy Capp famously wore his flat cap completely over his eyes (like Beetle Bailey and Cheech Wizard) but, in this live-action series, actor James Bolam had to wear his slightly over-sized cap a bit farther back so that he could see where he was going. I laughed at Andy and Flo's frequent fisticuffs in the comic strip, which were always drawn as a huge dust cloud with feet and fists emerging from its depths. In live action, this wouldn't work nearly so well ... in fact, in live action, a brawl between a man and a woman simply isn't funny at all.

Even Andy Capp was not immune to the onslaught of political correctness. For three decades of comic-strip dailies, he sported a 'tab' (cigarette) in his mouth, but this was quietly deleted in 1988. Later, such newfangled annoyances as mobile 'phones found their way into the strip (with Andy opposed to them, refreshingly). As great as the strip was, 'Andy Capp' the TV series was nothing much. This short-lived series is not worth a second look.

Capp in hand

[Prismark10 · 1/10 · 4 March 2016]

Andy Capp the famous Daily Mirror cartoon strip was adapted for television.

James Bolam played the flat capped layabout from Hartlepool who certainly loves a drink in the pub but here like everyone seems to to come from West Yorkshire.

The series was written by Keith Waterhouse but something went seriously wrong in the adaptation. It did not feel like a cartoon strip come to life. In fact Bolam never felt like Andy Capp to me at all.

Despite the hype at the time the series misfired badly. It was not funny, it was not good at all and the viewing figures quickly dwindled.

Marvel Less

[needisaymoor · 1/10 · 3 April 2020]

Some comic characters were never natural fits for filming. And especially as live action characters. James Bolam as Andy Capp? Hmm. Andy Capp. Tip of my own flat cap to Seth Meyers broadcasting from home currently. Andy Capp! Oh dear. After a few minutes here - I wandered off to look at the output of "Al Capp" and via someone called Fearless Fosdick was thrown back to Bill Tidy's The Fosdyke Saga.

Brass. The wonderful series Brass. That was what the The Fosdyke Saga could have been. Happen! But was not.

But Fearless Fosdick a skit on that boring do-gooder Dick Tracy - and a police figure much under appreciated by his supervisors is a Real Find. Underappreciated or what? Fearless Fosdick.

Well I hope he is as real as "Joe BTFSPIK", Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae. As an Al Capp character.

But Andy Capp was a mistake if that 1988 TV series was real. No one ever made me laugh less than Reg Smythe's workshy layabout character. Poor Florence. Was Ruby's hubby any better than Andy?

Workshy layabout? Tautology? Reading the Daily Mirror cartoon character's daily strip was like looking in a mirror.

Now Popeye the live action film and The Flintstones. Heck Dick Tracy with Warren Beatty.

Marvel? Less!

Well worth a watch!

[johninsapporo · 8/10 · 12 June 2012]

I don't know why the negative reviews.

I found this series enjoyable.

Certainly there are things that could be improved, but it's good, rollicking fun, all the same.

It's quite true to the original cartoons. The characters are good and the whole thing is very cartoon-like.

The pub/house and back garden scenes are superb.

Flo, with her curlers and rolling pin is excellent.

I'm an ex- pat living in Japan, and this really made a lovely change from all the American sit com crap!

This series is well worth a watch.

''There's fish in the river and birds in the pub, you can catch both if you try!''

[Rabical-91 · 8/10 · 11 May 2016]

'Andy Capp' was the creation of Reg Smythe, a talented cartoonist who came up with the idea of the drunken, flat-capped Northerner in 1954. Appearing regularly in 'The Daily Mirror' with his trademark cap atop his head, his checked scarf around his neck and fag end hanging from his mouth, Capp became a much loved cartoon strip character, as did the other characters from the stories including Andy's rolling pin wielding wife Flo ( always sporting curlers and slippers ), their put upon neighbours Chalkie and Ruby White, Percy the rent collector and Jackie the barman. Flo's mum, though never physically seen, would often appear as a speech bubble protruding from offstage in which she would be seen having a slagging match with Andy.

In 1981, a stage musical based on 'Andy Capp', starring Tom Courtneay and Val McLane in the leading roles, was made but did not do well at all and sustained only a short run at London's Aldwych Theatre. Seven years later, a computer game entitled 'Andy Capp - The Game' was released ( for the Commodore 64, the Amstrad CPC and the ZX Spectrum ) and the year after that a third adaption was made, this time as a television sitcom. Keith Waterhouse provided the scripts. James Bolam donned the cloth cap for the role of the mischievous Andy while Paula Tilbrook took on the role of Florrie. The roles of Chalkie and Ruby went to Keith Smith and Susan Brown and Shirley Dixon provided the voice for Flo's faceless mother.

With all the right ingredients in the mix, 'Andy Capp' looked to be a born hit. Unfortunately, it was quite the opposite. Critics panned it and only six episodes got made before it got the chop. Many felt the casting of Andy and Flo was rather awry. In the comic strips, Andy was a short, weedy man whereas Flo was twice his size ( hence where the comedy came from with her looming over him with the rolling pin ), yet here Andy was much taller whilst his wife was short and dumpy.

The first episode began with Andy becoming a reformed character after sustaining a blow to the head courtesy of falling in a canal. As one would expect, he went back to old ways by the end of the episode. He would had to have or there would have been no show. The rest of the series sees Flo try to give Andy a taste of his own medicine by trying to live the same way he does, Andy flogging Flo's new expensive frock to the local pawnbroker and so on. The series ends with Flo and Andy 'celebrating' their wedding anniversary.

Well first thing is to be said that it is no classic but it is certainly nowhere near as bad as the history books would have you believe. Bolam and Tilbrook did both did manage to turn in respectable performances ( despite the height issue ), as did Smith and Brown as their neighbours Chalkie and Ruby. Also impressive from the supporting cast were Keith Marsh and Andy Mulligan as debt collectors Percy and Meredith, John Arthur as Jack the barman, Jeremy Gittins as local bobby Keith and the late Kevin Lloyd as Walter, who was even more of a lush than Andy. Keith Waterhouse's scripts may not have been brilliant but there was not a moment that went by in each episode where I didn't smile and there was no canned laughter to drown out the best gags.

The poor reception that 'Andy Capp' met with ensured that no second series was made. Afterwards, Capp returned back to his comfort zone in 'The Daily Mirror'. If you are new to Capp I would recommend the books containing the comic strips to you however I would also suggest that you give this a look as well.