City Lights

This was one of the the best comedy series viewable in NZ in the 1980's

We enjoyed the antics of Willie Melvin and Chancer immensely and everyone who appeared on this series were terrific and we have never forgotten this series and have been talking about it for almost 20 years It is one for the best written and acted comedies we have seen in a long long time.

We loved this comedy and have been trying to track down the name of this comedy for years and finally we know it's City Lights but we are so disappointed after phoning BBC UK and Scotland and finding out it wasn't released and we can't believe it WHY NOT? This was one of the funniest comedies ever written and screened. The Scottish people should be proud of the actors involved they were excellent so why hide let another generatiion view it?

Please!! have this comedy released on DVD so we can spend our latter years laughing as we did when we were younger and I'm sure many people like us will be very happy and very grateful.

Shown on BBC2 in England on a Tuesday night (I think, it's a long time ago) about the life of Wullie Melvin, self published author and bank teller living with his mum in Glasgow.

Wullie wants to make it as a big name writer and leave his life of drudgery behind but nobody believes in him - his mum nor Mr McClelland, his boss at the bank who is always putting him down and calling him an idiot - in the days when you could do that kind of thing and get away with it! Still, it isn't all bad, he has a girlfriend or two and manages to try to keep living so he can find the dream and does he? Well, you will have to simply watch it.

I do think if this was an English comedy with English actors it would be far better known and probably would have made it to BBC1 and a prime time slot but then could this have been transported to London or Sheffield and made it more well known and maybe not. It is a very Glaswegian story and Wullie Melvin is a very Glaswegian character which wouldn't have worked as a Brummie or a Londoner (it might have worked as a scouser though) but with that, it came with a niche viewing audience outside of Scotland which is a shame but like 'Still Game' Scots loved it which it survived for nine years on the TV. It is an exemplary example of a sharp witty comedy which was unfortunately seen by few too many people.

The similar English version to it was Frank Skinner's excellent 'Blue Heaven' which I thought didn't get the chance it truly deserved on Channel 4 - but we get to see 40 years of Last of the Summer Wine because as they say 'there aint no justice'.

'Pure Dead Brilliant!' is Prestwick Airport, in Ayrshire's, corporate logo that greets new arrivals into Scotland....and I detest it. Given Ayrshire's links with Robert Burns, and Scotland's contribution to arts, literature, engineering, medicine and law is that the best they could come up with? This means little or nothing to most Scots (let alone anyone else) under 40... but in its heyday it was synonymous with City Lights, a successful 1980s comedy set in Glasgow, and it was repeated endlessly in playgrounds, pubs and work places across Scotland.

The late Gerard Kelly was Willie Melvin, a put upon bank clerk by day, an aspiring writer by night. I sometimes wondered if there were similarities (albeit loose) between Willie and Tony Hancock, another dreamy striver who was constantly thwarted by unwanted intervention and advice from his friends...or his own incompetence and bad luck.

City Lights had a colourful cast of eccentric characters; petty fly man Chancer and his dimwitted henchman Tam; the long suffering fiancé Janice, who wanted commitment from Willie, not words; the smary boss, Mr McLelland, and his sycophantic aide Brian; most of the Glasgow patter was supplied by Mum, who was quick to puncture Willie's pretentions. Elaine C Smith's daft mate will be forever associated with the catchphrase.

Surrounding Willie was the rapdily changing city of Glasgow, a year away from 1988's Garden Festival, The European City of Culture and 'Smiles Better'.

This is a gem if series from a fruitful era of Scottish comedy (think Rab C Nesbitt, Naked Video or Absolutely) and if it were to get a good release that would a fitting tribute to Gerard Kelly and Iain McColl...it would be pure, dead, brilliant in fact!