fiendishgames

Well, it's not Oscar Wilde, that's for sure.

Bitchy, acerbic, camped-up and profane, it is full of energy.

More than 20 years later the wife and I are still using the "Oh, dearie me" catchphrase. It does not sound particularly funny, but it works for most occasions after a private joke and no one else seems to know what we are on about.

All of the episodes are now on a well-known video uploading site so you can see what all the fuss is about. A bit strange these days to see people smoking in the workplace and other aspects have dated a bit - check out the mobile phone on the rock star episode - but other aspects of what is essentially an office comedy are timeless.

I got the DVD of the surviving episodes from series one to three and was a bit disappointed, in truth.

I am a great fan of "Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?", which I would rank alongside "Steptoe & Son" and "Till Death Us Do Part" as the best British situation comedies, so I was curious to see whether the forerunner to "Whatever Happened ..." was any good.

The good news is that even at this stage of Clement & La Frenais's career, their ear for realistic dialogue was clearly well developed. You can watch the programmes as light drama and enjoy them without worrying about the fact that the scripts aren't that funny, although modern audiences might find the shows a bit slow.

As hinted above, however, the scripts aren't that funny, though the later episodes are better than the early ones, which suggests that the writers were getting to know their characters better and exploit the tension that exists between sensible, open-minded Bob and wild, bigoted Terry.

Even more surprisingly, the acting is only middling to good, whereas in "Whatever Happened ..." it was top notch. I was resigned to Rodney Bewes being a bit wooden (in fact he's not bad, if one assumes he is deliberately underplaying) but James Bolam was a bit disappointing, doing a bit too much mugging for the camera and fake laughing.

Worth renting but not buying if only for the shock of seeing Wendy Richard in her dolly-bird days (also Wanda Ventham).

This is a gentle, light, fluffy, reasonably well-observed film that is virtually devoid of conflict or passion. My wife fell asleep watching it and I only stayed awake because I was trying to spot the musical references, such as the band's equipment becoming better as they became more successful (they switched to Rickenbackers and Fenders from unidentifiable makes of guitar).

The title song is (probably deliberately) overplayed in the movie and is easy on the ear and yet, a day later, I can't really remember it all.

Everything happens way too easy for the band and even when they fall apart, the band members don't seem to care, so why should we?

If you want to see a more gritty approach to this subject matter, with way better songs, more laughs, more passion and more realism, try Slade in "Flame".