Village Hall

Anthology set in a village hall, used by various groups of people. All but four episodes had different writers so there is no connection except the hall. In reality one would expect some of the more gregarious characters to appear in more than one setting. The large combined cast rather suggests one of those towns that snobbishly calls itself a village. They are of variable quality, probably not untypically I preferred those where the subject is of some interest to me. My favourites:

Mr Ellis Versus the People. Cynical, world weary Mr Ellis (Ron Moody) is the presiding officer the day the hall becomes a polling station. He is assisted by a young eager beaver who does everything by the book, and invariably irritates. It develops into an extended lampoon of aggressive, inebriated, but mostly dim witted and indecisive voters. It's a shame the women tellers from the main parties had virtually nothing to do, a missed opportunity for verbal jousting.

Battleground. Colonel Dean (Cyril Luckham) is the driving force behind an annual battalion reunion. The tradition is under threat from rising costs, encroaching mortality, and a distinct lack of enthusiasm from some of his comrades. Prominent is Ian Hendry as the loud, overbearing Wally, and Basil Henson playing a patrician gentleman reminiscent of the psychiatrist he did in Fawlty Towers. He delivers a well deserved comeuppance to Wally at the end.

Distant Islands. Norma (Pat Heywood) and husband Cedric (Richard Vernon) show photo slides of their sightseeing holidays. Norma is an attractive fortysomething while Cedric looks a doddery old man, though in fact Vernon was only 49 at the time. Handyman Jack (Edward Judd) plus his wife have been roped in to set things up and help out. Norma and Jack were briefly engaged some twenty years ago, but she broke it off just because he had dirty fingernails. This is their first meeting since then, Jack is still fit and very much a ladies man, and Norma is obviously smitten again. But of course it's too late, she's stuck with a decent but dull man she doesn't really love. This is the only episode that's really sad, in the original meaning of the word.

I must also admit to liking The Rough and the Smooth, for the less than highbrow reason that it stars Linda Heyden.

A very enjoyable series from Granada, it spanned over two seasons, 1974 and 1975. Unusual and quite unique for one reason, the fact that it's the Village Hall itself that's the star of the show. Each episode shows how the Town Hall serves the community, and how it's used and abused by the locals.

I'd argue the first series is stronger than the second, but the general quality is very much there. Favourite episode for me comes in the first series, There'll Almost Always Be an England, where a gas leak forces the villagers to camp down in the Hall, under the watchful eye of the overpowering Mr Joyce (Bernard Hepton,) it is terrific.

Some marvellous performances throughout, including Patrick Troughton, George Cole, Ron Moody, Liz Smith and John Le Mesurier, the list of British character actors is endless.

Some may argue it's a little dated, and in some ways perhaps it is, Mrs Pankhurst would have a fit if she could see how some of the women are depicted. All in all though it's a wonderful series of unique plays.

8/10.