Curly Watts (bottom) and Mrs. Ogden' lodger (top) from years ago on "Coronation Street"? It certainly isn't Blakey and Stan from "On The Buses", or is it?
The Mighty Mike N is correct it is Del And Rodney from one of Britains most beloved sitcom's "Only Fools and Horses".
It's quite a famous episode where they dress as Batman and Robin for a distant friends fancy dress party. On the way to the party they have to stop a thief. (Guess what music is playing as they are chasing the thief around London?)
When they arrive at the party they walk in and everybody else are wearing smart suits. Unknown to them they friend had died and they had turned up at his wake, dressed as Batman and Robin!
(Chris Ellis, that was not a bad guess though!)
This message has been edited by AndrewKneath on Apr 20, 2004 4:08 PM
That was, for me, the highlight of the TV year. It was just so well done. Rodney even thumps his fist into his hand Burt Ward style.
Their van brakes down so they have to run to the party. Cut to a lady in a darkly light parking lot who has just been jumped by a mugger. Suddenly out of the London mist comes running Batman and Robin looking for all the world as if they'd just stepped out of the 1960s TV series. The criminal scarpers and the victim just watches with amasement as Del (David Jason from a Touch of Frost) and Rodney trot past. They didn't even spot the thief and only used the parking lot as a short cut.
That was, for me, the highlight of the TV year. It was just so well done. Rodney even thumps his fist into his hand Burt Ward style.
Their van brakes down so they have to run to the party. Cut to a lady in a darkly light parking lot who has just been jumped by a mugger. Suddenly out of the London mist comes running Batman and Robin looking for all the world as if they'd just stepped out of the 1960s TV series. The criminal scarpers and the victim just watches with amasement as Del (David Jason from a Touch of Frost) and Rodney trot past. They didn't even spot the thief and only used the parking lot as a short cut.
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While I'm a big fan of shows like Seinfeld and Becker, I don't think American sitcoms will ever get the humble absurdity of British comedy. I love it!
We get a lot of Fawlty Towers reruns over here (John Cleese running a hotel, I think in Torquay - sp?) My favourite episode involves their chef getting drunk, and Fawlty having to run to another restaurant to get a turkey. On the way back his Mini Cooper breaks down and he's screaming at it, making threats unless it starts. Finally he runs off-camera and returns with a tree branch and starts whipping the car. Funniest thing I think I've ever seen. UI had trouble breathing after seeing that the first time.
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You are a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you different.
While I'm a big fan of shows like Seinfeld and Becker, I don't think American sitcoms will ever get the humble absurdity of British comedy. I love it!
IMHO the true strength of Only Fools and Horses, and something that is often lacking from a lot of comedies on either side of the atlantic, is that the characters were vulnerable and very human. Like the greatest comedies/comedians they can go from absurdity to tragedy in the same episode. These were characters, unlike soap characters, who people could really grow to love through their humour and then really feel for when they lost a baby or one of their family.
It also helps that David Jason is one of greatest character actors and physical comedians alive. He did a prat fall in one episode that is constantly voted one of the greatest moments on UK TV.
I've heard people say really great things about Only Fools and Horses, but I've never seen an episode. Are they on DVD, or cable, or being shown these days?
My local PBS station had a great Friday evening "Britcom" line-up a few years back. Blackadder, Fawlty, Keeping Up Appearances, and Wodehouse Playhouse, a half-hour adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse short stories. The star was named Pauline Collins, and she was magic!
There are quite a few OFAH DVD collections out in the UK (DVD Region 2), but I think that only a single DVD boxed set (seasons 1-3) has been released in the Region 1 market. Not sure about VHS.
"IMHO the true strength of Only Fools and Horses, and something that is often lacking from a lot of comedies on either side of the atlantic, is that the characters were vulnerable and very human. Like the greatest comedies/comedians they can go from absurdity to tragedy in the same episode."
Agreed, it's hard to overstate the affection that British people have for those characters. There was one episode where Del Boy (mistakingly as it turned out) though he had a terminal. You could really feel the pain he was going through.
For the benefit of any interested non Brits, the first few seasons (with the late Lennard Pearce as grandad.)were not that sucessful. The show was nearly axed at one point. When the show found it's feet though (Around the time the now also departed Buster Merryfield joined as "Uncle Albert") it became a hugely popular show. It has basically run it's course now , though there have been Christmas specials for the last three years.
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That was, for me, the highlight of the TV year. It was just so well done. Rodney even thumps his fist into his hand Burt Ward style.