The Riff Raff Element

If anyone reading this comment ever has the opportunity to get their hands on this wonderfully written and superbly acted comedy/drama, then be prepared to set aside a good few hours of your time. I guarantee the first episode will hook you and then all you will want to do is watch the next and the next until you find your day has passed in the company of possibly TV's most mismatched family to hit the screen. Quality like this is really few and far between and only 2000 Acres Of Sky could be up there with it as offered by the BBC some years later. I felt compelled to write this review/comment having found very little about the show on the internet and even fewer people who have written about it. Everyone i have ever mentioned this series to has never heard of it. I think it will surface again one day on some DVD release and end up in TV reviews 20 years from now as one of those series to receive a possible cult status. It really is that good i assure you. The writing by Debbie Horsfield is akin to the quality of Bruce Robinson. Sentences and catchphrases are well crafted and delivered by a wonderful cast who you instantly want to have in your own life (maybe you do?). The mismatching of a very well to do family with a family down on their luck is a fantastic social commentary. There is not a single character who is misplaced in the whole nucleus. I urge any reader of this to get their hands on a copy (Series 1 ran for 6 episodes with Series 2 also running for 6 episodes but 5 minutes longer in each episode). I wish there were more.

So glad I found these comments, on what can only be described best television so far.

It was a delight to watch all these characters gel together. Their antics left you in a transfixed way. Week after week, it was compulsive viewing.

If only the BBC would have released this on video (at the time), and now hopefully DVD would have followed! It would give me utmost pleasure to hear the views of anyone out there.

Is there anyway one could acquire a copy of the series? What a pleasure and nostalgic trip it would be!

I have visited the locations were the series was filmed, totally delightful. The pub is nice, the hall is wicked. It can only be accessed on foot.

It's cheered me no end to discover that out there are other people with enough passion to put their frustration into print regarding the mysterious disappearance of some of our greatest British comedy dramas. The Riff Raff Element was an absolute classic mix of comedy, pathos, quirky plot lines and brilliant performances that British writers and actors do best. Nearly 20 years on, it's a series that I continue to recall and discuss with friends with great enthusiasm, and I simply can't understand why it was never repeated. I can only assume that it lies rotting in a back room somewhere in the company of another criminally neglected series---the wonderful "Roger Roger", by Fools and Horses writer John Sullivan. In an era when we're drowning in repeats of repeats of repeats, please, please, someone bring back some of these gems,or at least release them on DVD!

I agree with (almost) everything the only other person to have bothered to put fingertips to keyboard has said about this comedy/drama show. I remember raving about it to my family and friends and the old bloke next door at the time but, alas, have yet to encounter another fellow viewer yet alone fan. With the passing of time - and no repeats - my memory has dimmed and I have trouble recalling the plot let alone the names of the characters/actors. Greg Wise was too nice to be true - which is possibly why I started fancying him and followed his career with interest, until he found happiness and bliss with Emma, sigh - and I was shocked by his sudden demise in the show. Don't get me wrong, the other characters were well-written but Greg's role was pivotal: the sexual tension of his character's relationship with Pet was central to the whole drama. The whole series fizzled out after his departure and I gave up hope of a third series and some sort of "closure" when he never reappeared (I don't know why but I always thought/hoped he would).

Anyway the show was darned good and surely merited a decent ending and a re-run.

Only two previous reviews - no wonder there's no video or DVD. It was a great little series, and I can't understand why it has never been repeated. One of my favourite bits was the over-zealous North-American secretary (Pippa Guard?) who experienced the immaculate conception, which turned out to be a cushion! I do recall it was screened quite late, and for a first showing, must have attracted a fairly small audience.

This is a gem of a series with interesting plots and sub-plots - the parallel families with their intertwining stories. As one of the other two reviewers has said, this series has dimmed in the memory over the years, but was a worthy piece of tragi-comic drama, and is certainly worthy of a second showing.