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Your Wednesday Night In...

Your Wednesday Night In… May 1981


Wednesday, 20th May 1981

PICK OF THE DAY

7.40pm TERRY AND JUNE, BBC1
Don’t place your bets on whether it was Terry or June’s sunlounger (or the parasol) that collapsed, for we are still firmly in the manhunt-outside-East-Croydon-station era. A new personnel manager and an influx of “young trendies” at the office has Terry fearing he’s about to be flung onto the fire-extinguisher salesman scrapheap, so the logical course of action is to dragoon June into signing up for a disco-dancing nightclass run by Charles Frere from Howards’ Way in order to prove he’s not past it. Cue loads of out-of-date John Travolta references, magnificent scenes of the Medfords “doing the Brooklyn bus stop” and the arrival of a “lovely mover” by the name of Linda Bottomley (“Isn’t she though?”). Needless to say, Sir Dennis turns up at the end and cops off with Linda. (Yes, we know there was another version of the titles where nothing went wrong and they just cheerily clinked their glasses. We loved that.)

ALSO SHOWING:

7.40pm DID YOU SEE…?, BBC2
It feels all wrong seeing those three dots and that question mark on a Wednesday, but Ludovic Kennedy’s TV talk-in roamed all over the BBC2 schedules before eventually settling on Sunday nights. The programmes being discussed tonight by architect Piers Gough, dance critic Jan Murray and the mighty Terry Jones are Chronicle, ballet documentary Right Royal Company and The Kenny Everett Video Cassette (“Well I thought the best bit was when Kenny covered Terry Wogan in a load of green slime.”)

 5.15pm MR AND MRS, ITV
Long-time nemesis of TV Cream, Derek Batey pulls on his test-card jacket and grey slip-ons for another session of multiple-choice matrimonial combat, with hostess Susan “Cuff’s Stuff” Cuff herding the provincial couples inside the “soundproof booth”, complete with the biggest pair of headphones outside a modern-day Premier League dressing room, as they jousted for a carriage clock and the tempting bounty emblazoned on the Election ‘74-style jackpot board. Remember, be nice to each other.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. THX 1139

    May 23, 2018 at 9:58 am

    It’s a pity Mr & Mrs was on ITV, they could have done a crossover episode with Terry and June. Imagine the possibilities.

    It’s also a pity we never had Terry and Terry, where Terry Scott and Terry Jones are flatmates, it could have been like Men Behaving Badly with jokes.

  2. Richard16378

    May 23, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    Terry & June always seemed to lag behind a bit pop culture-wise, with June dressing up as a punk as late as 1985.

    Mr & Mrs was a rare chance to see a Border production, & the theme was as 1970s light entertainment kitsch as possible.

  3. Glenn Aylett

    May 24, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    I’m sure this is the same series where they have the barbecue with Terry’s beefburgers going round a record player, or the episode where Terry and June get interviewed on a local radio station and destroy the studio. For all the series was often poor, it did have the occasional surreal episode that had you tuning in and hoping the next episode was as good.

  4. Richard16378

    May 24, 2018 at 9:48 pm

    Terry & June seemed to be almost self parodying at times, especially when they got into a ridiculous situation like being stuck up a church tower or when Terry had to go to a party wearing a false beard for some reason.

  5. Glenn Aylett

    May 26, 2018 at 4:14 pm

    I can remember the one where Terry stands as an MP and for all his allegiances aren’t stated, he wears a blue rosette( Conservative) and people think he’s a Chelsea supporter and he either gets a favourable or unfavourable response on the doorstep. Again a case of the show having a good episode, and then for the next two weeks the episodes would be poor. It must be said, though, as late as 1987, Terry and June were big enough to beat Coronation St in the ratings, so they must have been popular, even if the critics generally hated the show.

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