Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em

'This room will be totally destroyed.'

That was my mother's prediction when Frank took Betty into a fairly down-market hotel on some coastal town or other for a stab at a second honeymoon - suffice to say she was correct and a lot of hilarity ensured. First episode I ever watched, and I have been in love with Frank and Betty ever since. Seriously, I think Micheal Crawford must have been the best physical comedian since Buster Keaton. His stunts just gave every episode an edge. It was brilliant.

A word on Michelle Dotrice. She managed to develop Betty as a strong character with her own (usually very funny) contribution. Compared to the thankless exposition and moaning that Gwyneth Strong and Tess Peak - Jones were lumbered with in 'Only Fools...'

I cannot recommend this enough.

Entertaining British Comedy from the 70s. I have two of the series on DVD. Frank's character can get frustrating at times and it is something the viewer just has to get used to. Some of his stunts were very impressive indeed. Michele Dotrice is amazing with her unflappability ! One of the best is where Frank has to act in a play. Certainly one of the better comedies of the seventies and anyway a cut above all the rubbish comedy ( if you can call it comedy ) nowadays !

Nearly 30 years ago, a skinny, 30 something unproven British comedian called Michael Crawford, graced our screens in a show with a funny name, but with no huge raps. But after just a few screenings, Frank Spencer was a star, an idiot too, but hey I would not have minded being in his comical shows, because he was hilarious. This show would have to go down as one of the top comedy show to have come out of England, which made people laugh all over the world.

Meet Frank Spenser. He is the world's most clumsiest person, someone who people are out to try and avoid at all cost. Everything he touches falls apart, and he can't keep a job for more than a day. The only thing that keeps him going is his long-suffering wife Betty, who somehow manages to cope with his disaster-prone life-style.

I remember watching this show as a youngster, and did it make me laugh. All of Franks Spenser's idiotic lines and antics were a good chance to allow myself escape my own ‘crazy' world. That is the great part about this character. He must have had a huge affect on many walks of life, including the young, sick and elderly, who at some stage needed a laugh to forget there blues they were suffering in life. I think that most people see a lot of Frank Spenser in themselves, that I am sure is one of the reasons why he is still so popular today.

Then think about the man behind Frank, that being Michael Crawford. He is a talent, who makes the screen a different experience. For memory, I really loved how he would jump onto our screens and say ‘good mornin'. Then as we get to love his antics, Frank is adored more and more. Crawford was born to be like this, yet he also had another calling in life. I am of course talking about being the leading man in the Andrew Lloyd Webber music sensation, ‘The Phantom Of The Opera'. From all reports he was brilliant as the ‘Phantom', and I can see why. Then take his onscreen partner on Some mothers, that being Michelle Dotrice. She was incredible as the patient and ever reliable Betty. I would be betting that she would have had some funny moments on set with Michael. She was a perfect choice as Betty.

Then take some of the episodes that this show had. When Betty is in hospital after giving birth to the Spenser's first child it was hilarious what Frank went through while living on his own. I can always remember the catch cry of ‘plus, I blew the pudding up'. But he was also so funny, in many situations that would usually require a ‘please answer'. Going through walls, crashing cars, cooking disasters in the kitchen are all traits that Frank was jinxed to live with. I am not so sure that anyone would like to have that bad a luck.

Yet a few years later a funny man, with about the same amount of luck as Frank, graced our screens, that being the hilarious ‘Mr. Bean'. He was played by Rowan Atkinson, who like Crawford is a comedy genius, although his character was greatly different to Frank Spenser. With no voice, he made it up in silly antics and stupid little scenarios that he got himself into, that again had people crying in laughter all over the world. It is no wonder that Atkinson is British as well. What is it that makes these men so funny over in England, the water or what?

In summary, last year in Australia, we were lucky to see Michael Crawford in a one on one interview with popular Australian TV journalist, Ray Martin. In this interview we got to see not only how funny Michael was and still is, but how compassionate he is toward many charities and what a terrific vocalist he is. We are really lucky to have had someone like Frank Spencer on our small screens, because if we didn't, we might never have met the remarkable man behind the fool, called Michael Crawford.

Michael Crawford was a quirky boy actor in 50s films and as a young adult in 60s films where he usually played the odd man out, out of sync with swinging London. His offbeat charm was a success in big films like HELLO HOLLY, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, THE KNACK, and TWO LEFT FEET.

When he came to British TV in his early 30s, he brought his original style along with him to fashion the hapless Frank Spencer, the disaster-prone but lovable TV character. Crawford seems to have harvested all sort of old Music Hall bits and pieces in creating the slightly spastic, prissy Frank whose constant tinkering and butting in wreaks all kinds of havoc. The slapstick comedy recalls the time-honored work of Buster Keaton (a co-star in FORUM).

Seemingly adrift in his own catastrophic universe, his only real connections with the real world are his wife Betty (Michele Dotrice) and baby daughter Jessica. Otherwise, Frank lives in a constant state of harassment from co-workers in the endless parade of failed jobs, nasty neighbors, a mother in law, and even the local priest.

Yet Crawford makes Frank a character you root for even as you laugh at his silliness and foresee his failures. On top of this, Crawford proves to be a splendid slapstick comedian, doing all his own stunt work (as he did in his films) that involves all sorts of situations.

Familiar faces among the guest stars over the course of the series include Jane Hylton as the mother in law, Bryan Pringle, George Baker, James Cossins, Christopher Timothy, Peter Jeffrey, Cyril Luckham, Bernard Hepton, Deddie Davies, Desmond Llewelyn, Sydney Tafler, Hazel Bainbridge, Glynn Edwards, Roland Curram, Derek Farr, Diana King, and Dick Bentley as Grandad.

I knew for the first time about Michael Crawford and this TV series in 1985, when it was broadcasted in TV-3 -the Catalan channel-. I ever before had been laughing with so pleasure!. All situations are so funny and Michael´s acting is so superb!. I remember him destroying million pounds machines, bedrooms, shops, bars, dozen of dishes of a restaurant, henhouses, showing his skills making cradles, henhouses, repairing the lid of the rubbish plastic container, dancing, teaching an abandoned dog that he adopted, learning about sexuality going to lessons together with women of odd hairdos, feeding his daughter, be caught on a glued chair with an old lady sitting on, saying 'Don´t touch me...I´m a married man!', talking always about his mother...

Situations are so hilarious that even Betty and the other great actors who participated in the series hardly can contain their laughs. I recommend also Michael´s refreshing film of the sixties 'The Knack'.