Kinvig

It's sad that so few people remember this program. Maybe because there were only seven episodes -it was canceled and as I remember the final episodes were moved to a very late slot. So many comedies rely on the same formula that the odd ones out stick in the mind even decades after they were shown. The depiction of the electrical repair shop was very realistic and the scenery on the alien planet was OK despite the obviously low budget. I remember the program with affection perhaps at some stage it would have had to be revealed whether Kinvig was actually being abducted or it was in his mind and that would have effectively been the end of the joke.

First of all, Kinvig was a TV series, not a movie. It ran for one series of seven episodes and disappeared without trace. Presumed lost and forgotten, it recently resurfaced on DVD in the summer of 2006. Kinvig appeared around the same time as the 'Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy' with which it shares only a comedic approach to science fiction. Kinvig is perhaps the more dated of the two and while not really in the same league I remember it with great affection and also recall that no-one else I knew ever watched it. Their loss. The best things about it were Prunella Gee as a very shapely alien (and/or customer of Kinvig's shop,) Tony Haysgarth as the eponymous 'hero,' Colin Jeavons as his UFO-obsessed sidekick played and the fact that it was (deliberately) never made clear whether the sci-fi goings on were really happening or whether they were happening only in the mind of the eponymous character. How it will stand up to 21st century viewing remains to be seen but as an example of gentle British humour depicting strange things happening to (or in the mind of?) a very ordinary man it is an interesting curiosity from simpler times. Shades of HG Wells? Yes, but it's more 'History of Mr Polly' than 'War of the Worlds.' Perhaps the most surprising thing of all about it is that it was written and conceived by the British sci-fi pioneer, Nigel Kneale, more famous for the likes of serious sci-fi work like 'Quatermass and the Pit.' Certainly an aberration for him, it was critically panned and ranks pretty low on his long list of notable achievements but for me it has that unique British charm of poking fun at two somewhat disappointed men while simultaneously celebrating their spirit of 'getting by.'

A curious beast is Kinvig, written by Nigel Kneale, he of Quatermass and the Pit fame, trying his hand at a sci-fi comedy.

An owner of an electronics repair shop, Des Kinvig, a work-shy lump (Des Kinvig is an anagram of Skiving Ed!?) and his best mate, Jim Piper, also work-shy with both living on the dole, are both leading an otherwise humdrum life and wasting time together, but when a new stranger, Miss Griffin, steps into their lives, they suddenly fall into a much more interesting world, full of invading aliens, dangerous missions, and secret liaisons with a sexy undercover space girl!

But is it real or is it all just a fantasy fed by their mutual interest in UFOs, conspiracy theories and sci-fi movies? Well unfortunately it's not left ambiguous at all, as the writing in some episodes, particularly in The Big Benders (yes really) makes it utterly explicit that none of it is real, it's all just Des and Jim putting two and two together to make Xux.

The casting is good, the acting great, the effects aren't bad at all for the time, but the lack of ambiguity doesn't leave space for any sympathy for the two main characters or their interests, we're obviously just meant to laugh at them for being dumb enough to like sci-fi and believe in aliens, which is really odd considering the potential audience.

It's such a great shame because there's a lot to love here and the actors do such a great job that you really want it to work, but asides from maybe three out of the seven episodes it just never quite sits right. Yet with a few tweaks, perhaps season two might have really been something.

A curious lost gem, funny and clever, and despite the writers best efforts I found myself empathising with Des and Jim, they're just two dreamers escaping their humdrum lives by living out a mutual fantasy together to widen their tiny role in the world, and we've all been there.

Definitely worth a look.

I am really glad to see some comments about Kinvig. I loved the programme and now have the DVD. I also love Tony Haygarth so that helps. Sci fi in those days used to get a very raw deal from the programme makers. Prunella Gee's teeth at the beginning of the series were so awful! She must have watched the programme herself because she soon got them fixed. The shop set was terrific, exactly the sort of shop that used to be found in most small towns, in some back street with things in the windows whose purpose could only be guessed at. And Des Kinvig was just the sort of chap that would own the shop. I spent some time trying to remember the name of the programme, and for some reason I always associated it with a triangle that had some sort of mystic meaning, but unless anyone knows differently I must have got it mixed up with another programme.