The Squirrels

This little gem captured a spot in my memory I thought was deleted but on buying it and watching again I realised how funny this is.This is a typical old English sitcom that uses characters instead of plot. Marvellous cast and exceptional comic timing from the brilliant Ken Jones.Crammed full of laugh out loud moments but not a single piece of smut or innuendo.Office politics run rife and one- upmanship take over as I did not see ANY work done at all.This could NEVER be re-made and SHOULD never be attempted. This for me has better characters then Rising Damp and if Leonard Rositter was here would have topped it off. Paranoia and boot licking typically let us in to the madness of office politics.Bought this as a box set of 3 series and smiled all the way between laughing. What an awesome legacy for these amazing actors to leave the viewer and writers to be.Revisiting all my comedy memories on DVD and this is as good as it gets. Nearest and Dearest..Steptoe and Son...Dear John...Rising Damp...In Sickness...Rab. C. Nesbit...They just DON'T make them like this any more.

"The Squirrels" (ignore its irrelevant title) was a sitcom running on Britain's ITV channel from 1974-77. In Britain, where it's illegal for a household to receive television transmissions without paying an annual television license fee, most people hire (rent) their televisions rather than purchasing them outright. This provides part of the premise of "The Squirrels".

Most of the action takes place in the accounts department of International Rentals, a television hire company. Bernard Hepton plays Mr Fletcher, the boss, nicknamed "Fletcher the Lecher" because he fancies himself with the ladies ... especially sexy Susan, played by Patsy Rowlands. (Fletcher is also a tyrant, of course.) Ken Jones plays Rex, Fletcher's nervous dogsbody assistant.

It was a fairly typical office-setting sitcom. The main characters spent half the time doing everything except their jobs (office intrigue, office romances, skiving off work) and the other half of their time frantically trying to cover up for the cock-ups committed in the rare moments when they actually did their jobs.

The cast was excellent, and the 28 half-hour episodes were briskly directed, but the scripts (primarily by Eric Chappell) left much to be desired. Chappell later went on to create "Rising Damp", one of the most popular sitcoms in British TV history ... so "The Squirrels" is still worth a look as an early example of Chappell's work.

I agree with Alan - this is a very enjoyable show with lots of laugh-out loud moments. I remember enjoying it at the time of its first broadcast, but bought it with some trepidation - comedy can date badly and I feared that it would be of its time, as I found with the Dick Emery Show.

I needn't have worried - the scripts by Eric Chappell in particular are very amusing. The cast is excellent, too, with some impeccable comic timing on view. Ken Jones is quite wonderful and Bernard Hepton displays his versatility, but everyone contributes to the fun. Well worth buying!

I recently revisited this classic, and was not one bit disappointed. It has all the usual Eric Chappell traits we love, and then some, the feet references especially. The cast are wonderful and seem to be enjoying every minute of it, and it shows. Every episode is such a joy to watch, and to say it's funny does not do it justice, it's downright hilarious. I could watch this every day and never stop laughing, every single episode is pure genius. Eric Chappell, Galton & Simpson are, in my opinion, the best comedy writers to ever pick up a pen. If you want to revisit a past comedy, or watch one for the first time, then this is the one, you certainly won't be disappointed.