Bloomers

The amiable Richard Beckinsale stars in this short-lived series which probably would have been forgotten about if it hadn't been for his death.

He plays a clumsy, philosophical deadbeat (Shelley?) who stumbles into a florist and ends up being a 'partner' in the business. The florist himself (David Swift) is an ex-solicitor who has - for reasons never fully explained - decided to leave it all behind to open the shop. Stan's girlfriend is undergoing therapy while the chaps spend a lot of time in the pub.

Aside from Beckinsale, the series is also buoyed by a sharp and fast moving script. The first three episodes are the best and the final pair drift into a bit of slapstick. Despite being very much a product of it's time, Bloomers is perfectly watchable. It's not spectacular or even memorable, but it is charming and it isn't annoying!

Fans of the lead will enjoy it and those of us over fifty will find comfort in its nostalgia value. It's very much a 'Robin's Nest' or 'George & Mildred' type programme.

Some well-known faces fill out some minor roles. Gordon Rollings (Jackanory) has a silent part as a sign painter in the second episode. The not so well-known, lovely (but tragic) Glory Annen is just about visible in the finale.

All in all, the series nicely caps an impactful career of a lovely man.

Richard Beckinsale's final (and unfinished) sitcom was this innocuous but forgettable outing which had him cast as a struggling actor who gets a job in a florist's whilst philosophising over the meaning of life and it's various connotations. The clichéd characters ( the neurotic girlfriend, the boss going through a mid-life crisis, the boss's elderly and eccentric assistant, the stuffy traffic warden ) come thick and fast but, sad to say, the laughs don't and whilst Richard Beckinsale is as amiable and watchable as ever ( indeed, some cynics may even suggest that he played pretty much the same character in all his sitcoms ), this was a rather disappointing way of rounding off a colourful but tragically brief comedy career. A real shame.

Trivia:the original title for this series was Blossoms but a real florist with this name existed so the name had to be changed.