Mind Your Language

Well I really liked the first 3 seasons and I'm not going to watch the last one. Really feels sorry for the actors who lost their lives after 1979. One of the best show till day

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.

This has to be the best comedy ever created on earth. It features everything descriptive of the world. Of the people that make it, of their relations with each other, and of their diversity, with English as their main component for unity. I remember having good laughs with this series when it was re-run on Malaysia's RTM Channel 2 for the umpteenth time between 1993-1994. It was also the programme that made me love the English language even more. No other comedy seem to catch the wit this one had.

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.