Although Dick Emery was regarded as a BBC enterttainer. In 1979 he briefly did several specials for ITV. He then went back to the BBC to continue with the Dick Emery Show. A sign that he was unhappy with his experience with Thames Television.
Nowadays Dick Emery is largely forgotten. The BBC never repeats his old shows so a new audience will never get to see his stuff.
Unfortunately this ITV special is not going to do much for him. Many of this famous characters are missing although the toothy reverend turns up to introduce guest acts such as The Three Degrees.
The best sketch were the lavatory cleaners Percy and Frieda who decide to get engaged. However too many of them were forgettable. Sir Leyland of Longbridge works as satire of trade unions of the 1970s. The campiness of one of the characters makes it one for its time as it veers towards homophobia.
The biggest issue for me was that it had too much filler in forms of dance numbers, a harpist doing a Beatles song as well as The Three Degrees. It ended up being a variety show with a few sketches by Emery.
