The Ritz

Superb drama, with all kinds of comedy from surreal, to witty to broad. A well acted and superbly written piece of TV heaven. A slice of Northern Life in the late 80's. Many of the actors featured have gone to to good TV careers. It must be a favourite of Victoria Wood as she has used at least 3 of the actors. Gained a cult following when first shown. It consisted of 5 1 hours episodes. Never been repeated since (to my knowledge) Not available to buy in any good video shops (or rubbish ones) Favourite character was called Kenny. Favourite line (from Kenny) 'i was lying earlier when i said i'd had 3 shits today. I was just trying to impress you. I've only had one'.

Back in the late 80s there were what I would call the "Big 3" slightly out there sitcoms..all were shown as far as I can remember on a Friday evening and all were on the (once great) BBC2..myself,my brother & our mate would get together every Friday and watch whatever was served up on tv..The Ritz was by far one of the best from that era along with "Colin's Sandwich" (starring Mel Smith) & the third in our trilogy being "Mornin' Sarge"..all were brilliantly written,probably had a small cult following & as far as i'm aware have never been repeated (certainly not on the BBC)..like the above reviewer,I too have found the episodes on youtube (thanks to whoever uploaded them),though the picture quality is a bit iffy to say the least,it's great seeing them again..thankfully Colin's Sandwich has been released on DVD - sadly the other two have not - which is a bit scandalous in this day and age..come on BBC,get your act together and get these repeated or released onto disc.

This series cannot be found on dvd. However I did watch it on YouTube, badly damaged VHS recordings. Nonetheless, it was great to view it again after 34 years. This is without a doubt an absolute masterpiece. Whoever uploaded on YouTube, thankyou very much.

I think if your not British born and bread, you might not get the dialogue. The accents may be a little bit hard to follow. But for us Brits, it'll be non stop laughter and happy memories. Thank you .