LYNDA BELLINGHAM’S other half from Second Thoughts and Robbie Coltrane’s other half from Cracker meet in the staff room of a Leeds comprehensive, discover a mutual interest in the eponymous parper, then spend an indecent number of episodes – and years – on the run from, among others, corrupt councillors, corrupt policemen, corrupt landowners, corrupt corrupters, corrupt publicans, corrupt clarinettists (always a threat) and a Russian with a red face. Tinker from LOVEJOY was in it (as a rogue, naturally), along with BERYL REID, TERENCE RIGBY and MAGGIE JONES. Affable if sometimes incomprehensible business penned by ALAN PLATER, liberally sprinkled with the man’s brilliantly sarky dialogue. (“Mother’s been up half the night with her stroganoff!” “Well, what use is money if you haven’t got your health?”) Your Mum liked the scenery, your Dad liked the jazz, you liked the frisson of Bellingham saying the word ‘pillock’. Now that’s what we call Sunday night drama.
Posts Tagged With 'Beryl Reid'
Adrian Mole, The Secret Diary/Growing Pains of
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DECADE-ENHANCING COFFEE table staple by SUE TOWNSEND adapted reasonably, if rather needlessly, for the screen and starring GIAN SAMMARCO as the spotty, ‘thing’-obsessed adolescent nerd misunderstood by his parents, adored by his grandma and, of course, profoundly in love with Pandora, as Ian Dury’s rousing theme recited. Barely a script change, with much of it in monologue with Adrian in his bedroom, staring into the mirror while reading extracts from the diary. Beetroot-loving octogenarian bigot Bert Baxter provided a final role for BILL “ARMY GAME” FRASER, while the rest of the cast were spot on: JULIE WALTERS and STEPHEN MOORE as the hard-drinking, forever-rowing parents and BERYL REID as the thin-lipped, potty grandma. LINDSEY STAGG played Pandora, who wasn’t anywhere near as ravishable as we’d expected. Sequel THE GROWING PAINS… was also done, to lesser effect, mainly as Walters had been replaced by LULU, who just wasn’t as convincing as a woefully bad matriarch. Childbirth, running away from home, “touch her bust”, Falklands campaign maps, “we shall, we shall wear red socks”. Not at all bad. Sammarco played the character again, in all but name, in a bad run of high street bank adverts, winking at the cashier and everything. Has since vacated “public eye” radar screen.
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Psychomania
Low-budget 1971 British film about a “sinister and menacing” (albeit middle-class) motorcycle gang called ‘The Living Dead’ who terrorise and wreak early 70′s havoc in the countryside and brand new concrete precincts of Borehamwood (mini skirt-wearing young Mums pushing Silver Cross prams are sent flying). The frog-loving bikers, convinced by their leader that in so doing they will have eternal life, kill themselves one by one, making for unforgettable viewing. A high point is the funeral of their leader, buried whilst still sitting, rigid, in leathers on his bike. During this odd spectacle, one of the gang members forgets that he’s meant to be a hard biker type, plays his acoustic guitar and sings a folk ditty about the temporarily deceased (“…and the world never knew his name/But the chosen few knew of his fame/Come join his company/Riding free…”) Not long afterwards, the roar of the “deceased”‘s bike engine and shifting of overlaid turf indeed signify that eternal life is his… but for how long? Nicky Henson leads, Beryl Reid plays his weird occult-loving Mum who lives in an amazing gothic-type house with splashes of early 70′s decor, George Sanders plays her scary butler, June Brown has a cameo as the grieving mum of one of the “deceased” gang members, herself the real-life sister of Vicki ‘Allo Allo’ Michelle.
Read MoreBelles of St Trinian’s, The
From the chimes of Big Ben over the London Films sig at the beginning, to the closing notes of the barrel organ theme music over the Ronald Searle credits at the end, this Launder/Gilliat masterpiece is simply the perfect British comedy film. From Alistair Sim’s dual role as Millicent/Clarence Fritton, through Joyce Grenfell’s career best as Chloe ‘copper’s nark in skirts’ Crawley, to George Cole’s Flash Harry and the staff room collective including Hermione Badderley, Renee Houston and Beryl Reid every performance is a sketch of greatness. Ealing? They did great work but they never got as good as this.
Read MoreTinker Tailor Soldier Spy
ALEC GUINNESS unearths a mole in the British Secret Service very very slowly, mostly by talking abstractedly about lamplighters and ju-ju men, while MICHAEL JAYSTON steals dodgy dossiers, GEORGE SEWELL watches the door, ANTHONY BATE worries about “the minister”, BERYL REID gets pissed, SIAN PHILLIPS has a lie-in until the very last scene and Seymour off of LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE repeatedly lights a pipe. BERNARD HEPTON, TERENCE RIGBY and IAN RICHARDSON sweated. IAN BANNEN got chased through the Czechoslovakian woods by dogs. Oh, and Control (ALEXANDER KNOX) goes mental. A masterpiece.
Get Up and Go!
TITULAR INSTRUCTION obeyed to the letter by kids the country over as soon as they got whiff of this noneducating small tottery with green puppet Mooncat learning about council estates and Golden Syrup courtesy of a faceless bloke and a dignity-shedding BERYL REID. Hand up moggy’s arse belonged to David “ROLAND RAT” Claridge. Fetid feline would transport colleagues to mystery location (invariably a field) with hair-raising 80s electro-esque cry. Later rebranded as Mooncat And Company. The kids weren’t fooled.
Read MoreIrish RM, The
PETER BOWLES, playing himself, retires to the rural west coast of Ireland somewhere in the 1890s to see out his days doing a bit of low-key boundering and cheating. Unfortunately his duties as a local magistrate turn out to involve settling temper tantrums between foaming local farmers, treacherous vicars and fire-breathing buxom matriarchs, leaving precious little time for caddish chicanery. BRYAN MURRAY was our hero’s wily landlord, married to BERYL REID for extra shouty shenanigan potential.
Read MoreAlcock and Gander
NO CHEAP innuendo suggested by that title, no way. The story concerned the various misadventures of a marriage bureau, which went under the name of the Tom O’Thimble Lucky Pixie Shop. BERYL REID and RICHARD O’SULLIVAN were in it, and may God have mercy on their souls.
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Creamguide's Pick of the Day
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David Bowie – Five Years
Saturday, 21.20, BBC2Been a shitty week for deaths, one of the saddest being Trevor Bolder of the Spiders of Mars, which adds extra poignancy to this big new documentary. In it they’re going to take five turning points in the career of Dave Bowie of The Dave Bowie Band, and though we don’t think he’s interviewed for it, seemingly everyone who’s ever worked with him is and there are loads of rare clips.
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