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Then Churchill Said To Me…

FRANKIE HOWERD vehicle that lay on a shelf for almost 20 years before, for some reason, being shown on BBC2. Premise found Frankie, as himself, “oooh”-ing and “aaah!”-ing as War Office secretary Private Potts, a lacky in the Cabinet War Rooms under Whitehall, who accidentally found himself moved to the front line – whereupon he encountered General Fearless Freddy Hollocks, who bore a remarkable resemblance to…Frankie Howerd. Whole thing originally postponed thanks to the Falklands War. Then everyone forgot about it. Perhaps wisely.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Lee James Turnock

    May 4, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    This really was dreadful stuff. I think it got its maiden outing on a cable or satellite channel back in the early nineties, then BBC2 dusted it off and hoiked it out on Saturday teatimes in 2000. At least they didn’t have the nerve to call it “a forgotten comedy classic” or anything like that, it was just a very, very mediocre series.

  2. Mick

    March 8, 2014 at 1:11 am

    I wouldn’t say it was dreadful, as such. Though it didn’t have the body and sparkle of Up Pompeii, itself flogged to death, it wasn’t unwatchable. It would have worked, I think, in an odd way, had Frankie Howerd been allowed to just discard the script and do his act instead.

  3. Richard16378

    May 24, 2018 at 7:48 pm

    It’s interesting to know why this was back burnered for so long.

    Was it a case of someone being promoted within the BBC who didn’t like it, & made sure it didn’t make it to air on their watch? This happening after it was commissioned by someone else.

  4. George White

    May 24, 2018 at 9:16 pm

    I remember Nick Courtney being disappointed because this was his first leading role since the Brig, and he thought it would make him a household name outside of Doctor Who circles.

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