Two generations of comedy collide in this masterful Whitehall-farce-meets-sexcom period piece, adapted from a stage play, but the cinematic rendition has to be the definitive one. Leslie Phillips and Brian Rix are on top form as a couple of scandal-prone MPs, Joanna Lumley as the cause of much of their scandal, Derek Griffiths and Katy Manning (could there be a more early ’70s combination?) as a couple of extremely unlikely hippies, David Battley as a yokel, and even a wonderful pastiche of BBC current affairs discussion shows thrown in for good measure.
Matty
June 25, 2011 at 8:26 pm
One thing that really sticks in my mind after seeing this years and years ago on late-night telly was Leslie Philips’ character’s horrible underpants.
Glenn Aylett
July 20, 2019 at 4:31 pm
Katy Manning was riding high in 1973, she’d just finished three series of Doctor Who and helped make the show a big hit again, made an arts and crafts show for the BBC and then appeared in a Brian Rix farce. It always beats me how her career seemed to fizzle out for years, but this curse seemed to hit a few other companions( Liz Sladen never did much again until the late noughties and can’t remember Lalla Ward doing anything after the show). Yet due to the internet and audio books, Katy revived her career as the excellently named Time Lady, Iris Wildthyme.
richardpd
July 20, 2019 at 10:41 pm
Did Katy Manning do much acting during here years in Australia.
Once at my local library I found a book about pets that was illustrated by Lalla Ward.
It seemed to be common for younger actresses to have long breaks from performing while bringing up families, & possibly not getting big parts afterwards.