O/T TV Remakes

[WOODLANDSWOLF]

Not usually a good idea, but I recently watched remake pilots of both Porridge and Are You Being Served. Both excellent [for me], hope they get extended runs. Anyone else see them?

[wolves71]

I can't say i've watched either of the Porridge and Are You Being Served remakes, but i often find that remakes aren't a patch on the original. I will try and watch both at some stage to see.

[Acido]

I never liked Are you being served so I had no interest in the spin off, but I did watch the Porridge episode with interest. I must admit I wasnt sure about it at first because I found the new Fletch kid to be really annoying rather than likeable, but his relationship with the Mackay character did sort of grow on me. Ive heard that the Beeb have given the go ahead for a series (6 episodes) to be made.
I watched the spin offs of Steptoe & son and In sickness and in health as well but the laughs here were very few indeed.

[WOODLANDSWOLF]

I never liked Are you being served so I had no interest in the spin off, but I did watch the Porridge episode with interest. I must admit I wasnt sure about it at first because I found the new Fletch kid to be really annoying rather than likeable, but his relationship with the Mackay character did sort of grow on me. Ive heard that the Beeb have given the go ahead for a series (6 episodes) to be made.
I watched the spin offs of Steptoe & son and In sickness and in health as well but the laughs here were very few indeed.

Good news about the new series of Porridge, I think the characters will develop nicely as it goes along. Agree with you about in Sickness and in Health, a bit thin to say the least.

[Acido]

I dont think Simon Day was a good choice to play Alf Garnett Woody, so it was always on a downer for me as soon as I started watching it. And I couldnt accept Jeff Rawle as Albert Steptoe (I always remember him as George Dent on Drop the dead donkey ). Whoever the kid was though, I think he played the role of Harold much better.

[WOODLANDSWOLF]

I dont think Simon Day was a good choice to play Alf Garnett Woody, so it was always on a downer for me as soon as I started watching it. And I couldnt accept Jeff Rawle as Albert Steptoe (I always remember him as George Dent on Drop the dead donkey ). Whoever the kid was though, I think he played the role of Harold much better.

Did you ever see the movie about the relationship between Wilfred Brambell and Harry Corbett and the making of the series? Can't remember what it was called but it was very very good.

Remembered. It was called "The Curse of Steptoe" and it was a television play aired on BBC4 in 2008. Well worth tracking down if you haven't seen it.

[Acido]

No Ive never heard of it, was there a good or bad relationship then between them both ?
I loved the spin off films especially the 'Ride again' sequel, whoever heard of buying a prize winning greyhound only to find its shortsighted and needs some contact lenses when it races

[Woking88]

Not usually a good idea, but I recently watched remake pilots of both Porridge and Are You Being Served. Both excellent [for me], hope they get extended runs. Anyone else see them?

I agree with you Woody, they were both excellent. The only other one that I have watched to date was Hancock. A hard act to follow and it didn't do it for me.

[Acido]

Yo Wokey dokey lol, I was never a fan of Tony Hanc*ock (and it was before my time anyway), so I havent watched that particular spin off. But I see Kevin McInally played him so do you reckon he was just a poor choice or was it down to the script or the co-stars as well etc ?

[tony]

Never saw the Alf Garnet pastiche but whereas I think Warren Mitchell was a brilliant actor I cannot STAND the talentless Simon Day, so I'm not sorry I missed it.

Nobody could hope to emulate the sublime, instinctive comedy symbiosis of Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell, so even attempting a Steptoe & Son re-tread is doomed....and by the way, Jeff Rawle to me will always be the small screen version of "Billy Liar" (I never watched "Drop The Dead Donkey" - did I miss much?). I did rather enjoy "The Curse Of Steptoe" from a few years back; Phil Davis was a very convincing Wilfrid. The supposed animosity between Brambell and Corbett was not such a big deal in reality, mostly press mischief-making. Corbett was a frustrated stage actor who resented the type-casting as Harold but gratefully banked the royalties. He was a gregarious family man and had little in common with the more repressed and reclusive closet homo***ual Brambell, so they moved in very different circles and rarely crossed paths socially. It made for a very absorbing and rather poignant TV play and was well scripted and acted.

By the way, I don't think I can ever bring myself to watch the re-cast "Dad's Army" film. That really is sacrilege I'm afraid.

I enjoyed the re-boot of "Are You Being Served?" though. Considering it was penned by a new writer, they cleverly nailed the risque double-entendres and seamlessly maintained the spirit of the original show. Sherry Hewson as Mrs Slocombe and Roy Barraclough as Mr Grainger were particularly brilliant. I couldn't accept Boycie as Captain Peacock I'm afraid. But the show was a straight re-cast of original characters and setting (albeit moved on a few years), which was perhaps a risk. I thought it worked.

"Porridge" came at this from the reverse perspective. The original scriptwriters were drafted in (the superb Clement & La Frenais) but DIDN'T simply re-cast the original show. "Fletch" was in fact Norman Stanley's grandson - a clever move I suppose, since filling the shoes of the incomparable Ronnie Barker would have been impossible. The new, younger Fletch was likeable enough, but I was disappointed that they tried to set him alongside clones of his grandad's adversaries. So we had another grumpy Scottish martinet (a pale imitation of McKay) and another dithery, soft-touch screw (a pale imitation of Barraclough) and another sinister crimelord and henchman (a pale imitation of Grouty & Crusher). Bit lazy that. After all, unlike AYBS this was clearly NOT a direct re-tread of the earlier version, so had scope to invent completely new character dynamics.

All in all though, things could have been much worse. Remember the catastrophic attempts to re-launch Reggie Perrin (without Rossiter? ridiculous) and The Liver Birds (a big mistake despite the return of Nerys Hughes and Beryl Reid)? I'm kind of pleased that the modern generation of comedy stars are acknowledging the cheeky, unselfconscious belly-laugh humour of "my" era - although PC could not be entirely held at bay (AYBS filled the Mr Lucas role with a young black guy, and Porridge ensured that the prison governor was a woman).

What's the betting we won't be seeing a revival of "Love Thy Neighbour" any time soon?