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Hancock: The Eye-Witness (1963)
The Eye-Witness
While getting mistaken for a newspaper vendor. Hancock sees some robbers fleeing after robbing a gang.
The bank manager rushes out and asks Hancock if he saw anything. He claims to have seen the robbers but did not note the registration number of the getaway car.
Detective Sergeant Hubbard (Peter Vaughan) does not think much of Hancock as a witness. His testimony is unreliable and even contradictory.
By coming forward to the press. Hancock put himself in danger from the robbers. They might try to silence Hancock. Hubbard has requested some police officers keep watch.
This was not a great episode. Almost feeling like a series of sketches.
Hancock comes across as an irritating imbecile.
Doctors: Go Out Dancing (2024)
Go Out Dancing
I only planned to review the final episode of Doctors. However the penultimate episode features Timothy West whose death was announced a few hours before broadcast.
This was billed as his last onscreen performance. Although I believe he might appear of the Christmas Day special of a certain time travel adventure.
West plays Artie Simkins who has to call for help when his elderly neighbour Sylvie Mackie (Trudie Goodwin) has a bad fall in the garden. While Sylvie is being attended by the rapid response medic Dr Sid Vere.
Artie manages to flirt with Sylvie. While the latter tries to fix her daughter up with Sid.
Back at the Mill. The medics are not happy with the changes proposed by the dictatorial Dr Graham Elton. It leads to possible mass resignations. Maybe one person could stop him.
It has been a while since I watched Doctors. It does look like something running on fumes. The main story was not that interesting. It was left to the continuing arc that would be wrapped in the final episode to do the heavy lifting.
The Goodies: The Goodies - Almost Live (1976)
The Goodies - Almost Live
Almost Live is almost a variety show featuring The Goodies singing some of their hit songs and also doing parodies.
Just a few years earlier, The Goodies were regulars on Top of the Pops with songs such as the Funky Gibbon.
It starts of as a parody of country and western shows. The kind used as late night filler by ITV regions. Tim Brooke-Taylor is having fun as the camp cowboy who has an unfortunate encounter with a cactus.
There is a nod to Top of the Pops as the Goodies dance as Pan's Grannies. The choreography is by Flick Colby.
Some of the songs are hit and miss. The Funky Gibbon is certainly the highlight.
Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Royal Murder (1955)
The Case of the Royal Murder
After successfully cracking a case. Holmes and Watson are invited by Balkan royalty to spend a weekend with them.
During dinner Prince Stefan dies of poisoning. It leaves King Conrad as the main suspect, even though the evidence is circumstantial. They may have been in love with the same woman.
The death could lead to uproar in the Balkans. The King wants Sherlock Holmes to clear his name.
Only for Holmes and Watson to feel the King's wrath later on as they find themselves incarcerated.
There is a sword duel that is inspired by the Errol Flynn/Basil Rathbone Robin Hood movie which is a highlight. The rest is rather so-so.
Bramwell: Episode #1.1 (1995)
Episode 1
The first episode of Bramwell stars Jemma Redgrave as Eleanor Bramwell. She striving to be a doctor in male dominated Victorian Britain.
Bramwell has medical training, her father is a doctor. She is progressive but her ideas are mocked.
Bramwell is working in a hospital run by Sir Herbert Hamilton (Robert Hardy.) He tries to calm a hysterical woman by removing her ovaries. She dies at the operating table.
Later Bramwell manages to persuade Hamilton to let her treat a patient with a crush injury to his foot. Hamilton wants to amputate the leg, Bramwell could save it.
It all goes awry when Bramwell has a friend who has syphilis. If she ever gives birth, her child could have serious disabilities. Her husband is Lord Edward Carstairs. A powerful man who wants Hamilton to treat his wife's hysteria. She is angry at Carstairs for giving her syphilis.
In the end, Bramwell gains a financial benefactor allowing her to run a clinic in the slums of London.
The first episode is atmospheric. There are good scenes as Sir Herbert Hamilton talks to an audience while he operates. It then goes rather formulaic thereafter.
The series feels like a precursor to the popular Call the Midwife. It even has Cliff Parisi.
Gunpowder Siege: Fugitives (2024)
Fugitives
This Sky Documentary has gone for a contemporary and visceral examination of the Gunpowder Plot.
The first episode is set a few days after the failed plot to blow up Westminster. Guido Fawkes has been caught and is interrogated. First it is a softly softly approach but it will soon be enhanced.
His cohorts Robert Catesby (Chuku Modu) Thomas Wintour (Luke Hobson) and Thomas Percy (Luke Roberts) have fled London. Confident that Fawkes will not talk.
The plan was to get rid of the Protestant King James I. Install his daughter Princess Elizabeth instead. She was seen to be more sympathetic to Catholicism.
The plot has failed, the men are on the run. There might still be a chance to blow up Parliament, but the gunpowder has become wet. It is not easy to dry out in November.
The actors use contemporary language, there is even a well known phrase from the Lethal Weapon movies. In fact some of them seem to have emerged from those British gangster movies as they try to justify their actions and how they have been persecuted for practising their religion.
It is not Horrible Histories, there is no humour to lighten the mood. There is context but it also fell too macho at times when in reality there would had been panic.
The New Statesman: Happiness Is a Warm Gun (1987)
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
After playing nerdy twerps like Rick in The Young Ones or Kevin Turvey. Rik Mayall went for a change of pace with the ruthless Thatcherite politician Alan B'stard.
Handily The New Statesman began just a few months after Mrs Thatcher's third election victory. Thatcherism was at full pomp. A new wave of charmless MPs such as Michael Portillo and John Redwood were her acolytes.
Writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran who always had a political edge to their previous writings. Now had a sharp dagger for the Tories.
Alan B'stard is the newly elected as the Conservative MP for the Yorkshire town of Haltemprice. He sabotaged the car of the rival candidates who ended up in intensive care.
Chief Constable Sir Malachi Jellicoe knows what B'stard has done. He feels the aspiring politician will be more useful in the House of Commons. Jellicoe wants a law passed so the police can carry guns.
It also gives B'stard an opportunity to sell guns to the police which he has acquired from some shady connections.
Almost 40 years later, it is surprisingly fast moving. It very much caricatures the obnoxious Tories of the era. The use of words from B'stard such as common sense, means it also chimes with the Tories from the post 2010 government as well. Demonstrating nothing much has changed with them.
The Cuckoo Waltz: Connie (1976)
Connie
A shocked Connie arrives to Fliss and Chris's home. She has been burgled and is afraid to return to her house.
Gavin decides to give up his room to Connie. She is rather impressed with Gavin's bedroom and his music system.
Gavin ends up staying with neighbour Austen Tweedale.
Connie talks to Fliss about her life and as a single mother after Fliss's dad left.
While Mr Tweedale mentions to Gavin how he always had a shine for Connie but did nothing about it.
Maybe it is not too late for Austen Tweedale to make a proposal to Connie. It could be the kind where Fliss and Chris are left shocked.
There is some background to Connie in this episode. It looks she would had been born in the 1920s. It is nice but as with other episodes, it just never feels that funny.
Sorry!: Do You Take This Man, and His Mother? (1987)
Do You Take This Man, and His Mother?
With just a few days to Timothy's and Jennifer's nuptials. Mr Lumsden has returned from Australia. He comes bearing gifts such as a boomerang, didgeridoo and a stuffed Koala toy.
Mrs Lumsden still makes a scene at the airport. Infantilising Timothy. Just one of her many ploys to halt the wedding date.
Maybe either Timothy or Jennifer will get cold feet. His stag night looks to be a disaster, Timothy left it to her mother to post the invitations.
Frank only turned up to the pub by accident and he has a dodgy tummy. It could all just be another ploy for a surprise party.
On the wedding date Timothy turns up early to make sure his big day goes without a hitch.
The series ends with a literal jumping off point in case this was the last ever episode. At the time I thought this was the end of the series but another one was commissioned.
The Zoo Gang: Mindless Murder (1974)
Mindless Murder
The senseless killing of a consular maid upsets Manouche. It seems it was just some of her embroidery was stolen.
It seems there was a pattern of young women getting killed. The Zoo Gang decide to investigate.
The police believe extortion was a motive as well as the theft of some emeralds.
With the film festival forthcoming. The gang things this is a message for actors Anthony Martin and his wife Lyn.
They have a valuable and rare diamond called the Morning Star. The extortionists want that, the killings is a message that the crooks are serious with their threats.
The Zoo Gang feel that the Martins are not well protected by the police. The Zoo Gang have their own ideas to keep the Martins and the diamond safe. By stealing it themselves. Only the crooks believe this might be a fake robbery.
Ingrid Pitt's over the top performance as the diva Lyn Martin keeps this fun.
Joan: Episode #1.4 (2024)
Episode 4
Joan and Benny Boisie get married even though she hardly knows him. Also getting involved with someone dodgy. Who always has the police sniffing about is hardly going to please social services.
Joan helps Boisie out by selling the stolen painting to some Irish terrorists. She too has come under the police radar as well.
The writing is dismal. Four episodes in and I am still waiting for the show to get revving.
Only in the latter half of the episode does Joan show some of her skills. When she poses as an art expert with the IRA buyers.
Joan wants to be with her daughter. When Kelly shows up at the wedding reception, she is bored and feels sleepy. There is no connection between mother and daughter.
It is coasting on 1980s nostalgia and music.
The Law and Mr. Jones: The Boy Who Said No (1962)
The Boy Who Said No
Tommy Pierce is a studious child. He does a lot of independent reading and thinking. He sells newspapers at a street corner.
That is where Tommy has come into contact with Abraham Lincoln Jones legal musings about individual rights.
Something Tommy stands for when his teacher makes him write out lines on the blackboard. Miss Woods regards General Custer as a hero. For protecting the homesteaders.
Tommy states that the homesteaders breached a government treaty and invaded the lands belonging to the native Indians. All because gold was found in Indian lands. Custer should had been protecting Indian land rights.
Jones helps Tommy but the school is adamant. Miss Woods is an experienced teacher. Maybe it is for the teacher to realise that teaching has some nuances.
At least the show demonstrated that there is a balance from learning at school and just being disruptive.
Perry Mason: The Case of the Spurious Sister (1959)
The Case of the Spurious Sister
Marie Chapman is a gold digger and a habitual gambler in Las Vegas. When her second husband, businessman Karl Chapman cuts off her allowance.
Marie sues him for divorce while he was away on a business trip abroad. Marie decides to his her ex-husband's current wife Helen Sprague for $2000. They arrange a meet in her out of town country retreat.
Only Marie is not there. She is dead in a wrecked car.
Yet when Karl Chapman returns early from his business trip. He has the divorce papers and goes to see Perry Mason. Soon Karl is arrested for his wife's murder who had been dead for some days.
Just who sued for divorce? It seems someone was impersonating Marie Chapman when she want to see her solicitor for a divorce.
This was a heavily flawed story. Lots of blondes who can fool people with dark glasses. Carlessless lies and I'm sure Walter Sprague could had remembered who his ex wife's lawyers were!
The Beverly Hillbillies: The Clampetts Entertain (1963)
The Clampetts Entertain
Grannie is down in the dumps. She is meeting Cousin Pearl. Now she has no one to argue with.
The rest of the Clampett clan try to cheer up with no success. However a chance to host a traditional hillbilly dinner party perks her up. Grannie is all up to cook the meals for mountainfolks.
The guest will be Marty Van Ransohoff, who is Mr Drysdale's boss. He wants to meet Jed Clampett and take him for a swanky meal on a yacht or a fancy place.
Mr Ransohoff has heard so much about one of their biggest depositors. Not knowing that Jed Clampett is a hillbilly who just struck it rich.
He ends up with Miss Hathaway going to the Clampetts thinking it is a hillbilly theme party. Marty Van Ransohoff has a great time thinking that the Clampetts are pretending to be country folks not sophisticated rich people.
The episode is a silly bit of fluff. I don't know why Drysdale could not had told Mr Ransohoff the truth about the Clampetts. At least Miss Hathaway is full of the party spirit.
It Ain't Half Hot Mum: Pale Hands I Love (1976)
Pale Hands I Love
The boys in th platoon notice that the food is a lot better and Battery Sergeant-Major 'Shut Up' Williams is in a chipper mood.
That is because he is in love. He has fallen for Chinese maid Ling Soo. Sergeant-Major Williams asks Colonel Charles Reynolds permission to get married.
As Ling Soo cannot speak English, Rangi Ram acts as an interpreter.
Ling Soo's father owns a restaurant. He wants Sergeant-Major Williams to work at the restaurant, something he has problems with as he has no knowledge of Chinese or Chinese cooking.
Problems emerge when a love rival for Ling Soo attempts to assassinate the Sergeant-Major. It is up to the boys in the platoon to protect him.
Some character growth for Sergeant-Major Williams and Windsor Davies makes the most out of it.
I would say he got the better of the assassin when he placed the heavy case on the blowpipe.
A funny episode and with some pathos. I did wonder what Rangi Ram was translating to. Does he speak a Chinese language?
Midsomer Murders: Death's Shadow (1999)
Death's Shadow
The second series of Midsomer Murders and the Barnaby's plan to renew their wedding vows at Badger's Drift.
They go to see the vicar, Stephen Wentworth (Richard Briers) a charming but a dull man according to the padre's wife.
Mrs Barnaby hopes this time Tom Barnaby will not be derailed by investigating a murder. Too bad.
Local property developer Richard Bailey, who learned he had a fatal brain tumor is found decapitated. He planned to leave a large legacy to the vicar's church but did not get round to change his will.
Bailey had made enemies with his latest property development plans. Maybe that is where the police need to concentrate.
Later another man David Whitely is found dead, his caravan was burnt. It seems they were at school with Bailey.
There is a third person, actor and drama teacher Simon Fletcher who is haunted by memories from his childhood. He has returned to Badger's Drift after many years.
I was surprised that it took time for the first murder to occur. I was puzzled how shocked everyone was by the gruesomeness. Hold on, you were all there in the first series!
It is a hallmark of the show that it gets more ridiculous as it goes along. An important clue is Barnaby ruling out a suspect.
Warn That Man (1943)
Warn That Man
Warn That Man is a stage play that was turned into a wartime propaganda B movie.
Winston Churchill will be having a break at Buckley Hall as a special guest of Lord Buckley (Raymond Lovell.)
The Nazis has ordered a German actor called Hausemann (Raymond Lovell) to masquerade as Lord Buckley as they look similar.
The Germans invade the country house, abduct Lord Buckley and kill some of his servants. The Nazis replace them with their own people.
The plan goes awry as they fail to notice Lord Buckley's niece had arrived and was upstairs hiding. Later in comes her boyfriend who is a pilot with two other people who rescued him when he was shot down.
The three of them immediately smell a rat as Lord Buckley does not seem to know the boyfriend or that his niece was due to visit.
A hybrid comedy thriller. It is a strange concoction. The comedy seems laboured at times and stunts the thrills.
A Matter of Murder (1949)
A Matter of Murder
Bank clerk called Geoffrey Dent (John Barry) steals money from his bank on behalf of his girlfriend Laura Wilson. She claims it is needed to pay off a blackmailer.
She is really working for a gangster called Ginter (John Le Mesurier.) Dent has been scammed, it is a trap. Laura tries to doublecross Ginter and take the money herself. It does not end well for her.
Ginter attempts to killer but Dent becomes the suspect as he finds her injured body.
Dent escapes the police and hides out in Cheltenham. It is not only the police he has to fear. Ginter and his goons are on to him as well.
This is a run of the mill B movie. Very low budget and a bot creaky. The main interest is John Le Mesurier slumming it as a gangster without his posh urbane accent.
The ending might be deemed to be shocking but it is Hays code compliant.
26 Men: Border Incident (1957)
Border Incident
Ranger Clint Travis latest mission interrupts his wrestling training. He has to pose as a gun smuggler. It is bait to smoke out Mexican revolutionary Juan Morales.
Travis seems reluctant with the mission. Morales is regarded as a bit of a Robin Hood type. The villagers adore him.
To get a scent of his whereabouts, he goes to see his estranged wife. She is not interested but the son, John Morales hints to know more.
Before long, Travis does meet the wily and shifty Morales. Is he a revolutionary who wants to overthrow the government or just another bandit who cares for himself.
At time the story looked a creaky but that could be due to the condition of the film. Morales was certainly an enigma, his son hero worshipped him until dad told John of his true motives.
Lunch Hour (1963)
Lunch Hour
Lunch Hour is an early work from writer John Mortimer. It has an interesting pedigree as it started out as a radio play. It then became a film. Then a stage play and later dramatised for television.
It is a quirky piece which does not work. It does have an interesting performance from Shirley Anne Field who shows that she had more than just looks.
Field and Robert Stephens play a couple who work in a factory. She is a new designer, he is an executive.
They start an affair where they meet over their lunch hour. Only to find nowhere that is private for some kissing and canoodling.
He has an idea to rent a hotel room for a bit of nookie. Only to give a convoluted story to the hotel owner, rather than just rent a room for the night and invite his lover over.
When she hears that the story he told was that she was a mother of two. Come over from Scarborough on a train to meet up with her husband. She begins to imagine it.
Marking the beginning the end of their relationship as he too becomes part of this imaginary chain of events.
An interesting look at pre swinging 60s London. It is a strange hybrid of romance, drama and comedy. It just did not entirely work for me.
The Lloyd Bridges Show: Without Wheat, There Is No Bread (1963)
Without Wheat, There Is No Bread
There is an uneven political edge to this story.
John Summers (Lloyd Bridges) is an American archaeologist in Bolivia. He has received assistance from the local villagers.
When he is transporting bags of wheat. He decides to it to give to the hungry villagers, to the surprise of Paco, one of the locals.
Summers charity does not go unnoticed. Raul a local bandit believes that Summers is taking valuable treasures out of the country. Only to destroy the sacks of wheat that will leave the villagers hungry.
It comes to light that there is a link between Raul and Paco.
I'm not sure the happy ending to the story was warranted. It was a feature of the show that it sometimes had a glib ending when stories were set outside of the USA.
Until I Kill You: Hate (2024)
Hate
I really did not think much of the first episode. Unlikeable characters and the interesting part of it was set in Amsterdam.
The second episode has Delia Balmer trying to convince the police that her boyfriend John Sweeney is a psychopath, as well as a killer.
The police do not take her seriously until Sweeney attacks her again a few months later.
By this time the police in Amsterdam are told of Sweeney claiming to have killed his ex-girlfriend Melissa Halstead.
It gets worse for Delia after Sweeney is let out by the courts on bail. To spend time with his family.
This was certainly a harrowing episode. Also showing the police as not only incompetent but misogynistic. You can sense Delia's uncomfort while she is getting questioned by the police.
By the end of the episode, you feel how lucky Delia Balmer is still to be alive.
Warlock (1989)
Warlock
After the success of Highlander. Warlock tries to emulate it but with a lower budget, this is a feeble B movie. What it does have is a lot of 1980s cheese.
The Warlock is played by Julian Sands who awaits execution in Boston 1691 for witchcraft.
He manages to escape to the present day in a time vortex where he tries to reassemble the devil's bible. That would spell out the name of god so the Warlock can undo the whole of creation.
The Warlock lands in the house of Kassandra (Lori Singer) who he curses to age 20 years every day.
Following suit is Giles Redferne (Richard E Grant) the rival witchfinder who needs to stop the Warlock's nefarious plans as well as reverse Kassandra's ageing process.
The special effects are ridiculous, they sort of reminded me of Superman IV but worse. Julian Sands is wooden. Lori Singer is not much better, mainly due to the script.
Grant has a sort of a Scots accent, just to push the Highlander links. The story is ridiculously hamfisted.
Stage 7: Billy and the Bride (1955)
Billy and the Bride
Naive New Yorker Vanessa (Angela Lansbury) has gone to the wild west and is rescued by Archie Peters when her horse goes wild.
It is love at first sight between Vanessa and Archie and they soon wed. Only Vanessa knows little about living out in a ranch away from the big city.
One day her husband is called out to lead a posse in search of an outlaw. While he is gone Vanessa is having a bath.
In comes, Billy the Kid (Hugh O'Brian) who is taken aback by Vanessa. She has never heard of Billy the Kid and cannot even fire a gun.
This is a frivolous comedic story. It mainly works due to the charms of both Lansbury and O'Brian.
Grace: Love You Dead (2024)
Love You Dead
The fourth season of Grace ends with Love You Dead.
There are a couple of charmers here, one of them is a snake charmer and a black widow.
The other is a mafia hitman called Tooth who has come over from America. His target is Cassie Klein (Laura Haddock) whose wealthy husband Eric had recently died in an accident.
Eric seems to have had mafia links. Which is why Cassie is in danger.
Grace discovers that death seems to follow Cassie and it might be Tooth as well as others who might be in danger. One of them is DS Norman Potting who poses as a millionaire to snare Cassie.
I found as with other episodes. Grace overcomplicates the story and this means it comes over as ridiculous. This episode was no exception, Tooth seems to have a lot of fight in him even after being poisoned by snake venom.