Hippies

I am currently watching the repeats of 'Hippies' on Sky and have confirmed my original thoughts on the programme. Hippies, together with Father Ted, is the best sitcom of the last twenty-five years! When it was first shown I expected to hate it. Unashamedly, I adore the music, ideals and sentiments of the 60s (best music, best fashion, best television, best films.....) and hated portrayals of the era in other sitcoms such as The Young Ones (the Neil character) and Absolutely Fabulous. How dare people from lesser eras poke fun at the best decade of all; The Young Ones was made in the ghastly 1980s....didn't anyone at the time recognise the absurdity of laughing 'AT' the 60s from the viewpoint of that appalling era!!!!

The writers of Hippies, however, appear to have a great affinity with the 60s, yet a previous comment on this site, which was otherwise positive, appeared to believe that the programme was poking fun at the era. I don't see that at all. If you think that, do you think the same writers were poking fun at Ted, Jack and Dougal in Father Ted? I don't think so. Like Ted, Hippies is very strong on 'sight' gags, reprisal jokes ('Get on the bus, Ray!')and dream sequences and, personally, I think that the scripts are water-tight. Highlights are Eleanor Bron, the fabulous Rickman character, the scenes with Ray's parents, Hugo's 'Pink Floyd' review and Bob Helmets' obituary, Ray appearing naked in a 'Hair'-type production not realising that his whole family are in the audience.....

And yet in trying to find out anything about the series, I found a CV of one of the writers, and 'Hippies' has been completed written out!!!! Not even listed!!!! A resounding 10/10.

I often wonder why this series was slammed so much. I thought it was brilliant and also very cleverly written and performed. I think in time to come it will be seen in the light it deserves, that is if they ever issue it. Many up and coming young comedy actors appeared in this and all went on to greater things. Maybe this fact will make people aware of its value and it will have to be issued. Sally Phillips, Simon Pegg, Peter Serafinowicz and not least Julian Rhind-Tutt of the hugely successful Green Wing. The writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews are two of the finest comedy writers of the modern age. Anyone that can produce comedy like Father Ted couldn't be capable of writing something not worthy of publication. If it is ever issued I will certainly buy it.

Hippies is possibly one of the funniest programs ever shown on TV. Rays East German car in Muddy Hippies almost gave me an asthma attack I was laughing so much. How cack like Two Pints of Lager... can be on almost constant rotation when Hippies doesn't even appear on DVD beggars belief. Julian Rhind Tutts effortlessly cool Alex is the perfect foil to Simon Peggs spokesman of a generation, Ray, while the rest of the cast are also excellent, especially Rays silently suffering father. Try and catch this on the late night comedy channels - its worth not being able to get up for work the next morning.

We expected a lot from Arthur Matthews(Father Ted) and got a show that nearly works on every level.The characters are all likeable and time has been spent developing them, but as with so many sitcoms these days,the writing lets the series down.The best episodes are "Hairy Hippies" and the one with Eleanor Bron(!),the rest are patchy.The performances are great and keep the show together.Simon Pegg is great as the deluded,sexually repressed and incredibly naive Ray,whilst Sally Philips is hilarious as his pseudo-feminist on/off girlfriend Jill.The episode where she grows a beard to compete with men was very funny.She also manages to keep a manic stare going throughout the series which never changes ,regardless of what emotion she's feeling at the time.My favourite is Julian Rhynd-Tutt's portrayl of Alex, Ray's voice of reason and often bewildered bystander to the bizarre events taking place around him.His delivery is incredibly dry and keeps perfect comic timing. If we get a second series,please rewrite the scripts until they work!

I cannot believe how negative most of the other comments are about this programme. Dare I say I think Father Ted is slightly overrated,I like it but it does rely on clichés about Ireland and the Catholic Church. On the other hand Hippies had mean roaring with laughter. The people in this programme show how stupid some of the 1960s people could be. I love the protest against Sandpaper. I love the way they follow the American superstar hippie blindly when he talks rubbish. The Bob Helmets episode is about the funniest thing I have seen in years. As for the cast,great performances,Sally Philips is great and I have not seen her in anything as good as this since. Would love to see the DVD in the shops. I must be in a minority because the critics were unkind to this show and it only got one series. Perhaps I like it because I remember the end of the lippy era and how daft it could be.