Mind Your Language

Mind Your Language might not have been smart comedy, but it was good comedy – with the misunderstandings stemming from a valid observation of differing cultures. The idea was not dissimilar from other sitcoms of this time such as Robin's Nest: a small matter, concealed, becomes a major matter after 15 minutes. Throw in the xenophobia of Britain after it joined the EEC and what we had was a very fine comedy about the country's relationship with her former colonies and the new Johnny Foreigners across the channel.

If anything, the students got the last laugh – if it had not been the narrow-mindedness of characters such as stiff-upper-lip principal Miss Courtenay, or teacher Jeremy Brown finding himself out of his depth, then the joke wouldn't be on them.

It's a pity the political correctness brigade will probably prevent this show from being rerun. As a "minority", I never found the portrayal of my race offensive on this show when it aired in New Zealand. To the PC thugs, I say this: we minorities are OK without your defending us. The real insult is that you don't believe we are up to it.

I use to watch this programme as a kid, it was hilarious. I'll never forget the catchy tune music too. I wish they'd repeat again here in New Zealand. But knowing my luck, the political correctness of TV these days won't show it. Even though they show some vile programmes full of nakedness and profanity, it's hypocritical.

This show is the show that really defines British Humor. It is a show that is so clean, yet at the same time it has some crude jokes. The plot of this outrageous story stars Barry Evans. He plays the young English Teacher who teaches even more outrageous foreign students. There are many races in this comedy including, Indians, Chinese, German, Italian (my favorite), and French. There are more, and more races joined to this remarkable school. Like I said, this show defines British Humor, it is the show that every person should watch, own, and cherish.

Buy the entire collection, I am sure it is available on Amazon. com

Mind Your Language is the sort of programme that could never be made now, in these days of political overcorrectness. Barry Evans is terrific as the teacher, and every one of the ridiculously stereotyped students are hilarious. My personal favourite is Dino Shafeek as Ali. A lot of people would see this show as racist, but I would argue that it is not. All of the satire is done good-naturedly, and almost every student is played by an actor from the country being mocked, which they would not have done if they thought it was offensive. The English characters are not spared being reduced to stereotypes either, and the programme really showed the nasty side some of us Brits have when dealing with people who don't speak very good English. This was an amazing programme, the likes of which will never be seen again. Few, if any of the jokes miss the mark, and just the spectacle of the class is outrageous enough to provoke a giggle.

I agree with "suavebloke", Hong Kong. In my opinion, this is not a racist series. I am enjoying the re-runs on Sky Satellite at the moment & it's a funny as ever. The late Barry Evans is excellent in the role of the teacher. I wonder what ever happened to the extremely attractive Francoise Pascal, who played the French student?