Pardon My Genie

Fondly remembered children's farce about a young man (Hal Adden, geddit?) finds himself in charge of an incompetent genie who doesn't understand the modern world or modern slang, and who therefore every week landed Hal in absurd trouble, usually with his boss Mr Cobbledick. Roy Barraclough excels as pompous Mr Cobbledick, who perpetually finds himself in inexplicable positions, and so over the course of two series goes ever so slightly mad. Good performances from the rest, and scripts that are more often hit than miss.

The two series are different in quality, thanks to the different actors playing the genie. The first series was blessed with Hugh Paddick, who brought his particular line of camp genius to the fray with brilliant results. Presumably unavailable for the second series and a fiendishly hard act to follow, he was replaced by Arthur White, a less subtle farceur who nevertheless wrung plenty of laughs from the genie's indomitable enthusiasm and optimism in the face of all setbacks. White also managed one of the high points of the series, a fantastic impression of Mr Cobbledick in 'Commercial Success', when - for reasons too complicated to go into - the latter has to be made unrecognisable.