stig114

ITV can't make sitcoms, apparently; which is why they rely on bog-standard reality shows like "Celebrity" Love Island (who hell he?) and copious episodes of soap operas. However ITV need to look at its glorious past and the folks at Thames who produced some of the classic comedies of the 1970s- "The Benny Hill Show", "Man About the House", "The Kenny Everett Video Show", and "Bless this House" (we'll forget about the tawdry efforts of "Love thy Neighbour, thank you).

In "Bless this House", we have typical British sitcom fayre; middle-class family in a domestic setting, grumpy dad, stay-at-home mum, and two "teenagers" who, like most TV teens seem a bit long in the tooth. What raises bar in BTH is, undoubtedly, the casting of Sid James as, er, Sid, a middle-aged sales rep who is continually bewildered by the behaviours of his kids- the groovy Mike (Robin Stewart) and the sweetly sexy Sally Geeson, who plays, er, Sally. Diana Coupland completes the complement in her solid portrayal of Sid's long-suffering wife Jean.

Typically, the "sit" for each episode revolves around misunderstandings, Sid trying to negotiate the generation gap, worrying about Mike's sexuality, and trying to shield Sally from an evermore permissive world. Fan's of Sid's "Blimey" and "Oh my Gawd" skills honed in the "Carry on..." films are not disappointed here;James delivers such lines in each episode with his usual aplomb.

Yes, the programme was made on the cheap; and, yes, it does contained some outmoded opinions regarding the "place" of women and sexuality, but hey, I'd rather watch half an hour of the master at work than some non-entities griping on about nothing particularly interesting in an over-hyped non-shag-fest.

Like the previous poster, I too was impressed by the Quatarmass drama aired live on BBC4 on April 2nd. Though I am too young to remember the original and its various adaptations, I had heard enough about it to convince myself that this would be some schlock 1950s-style "creature feature" sci-fi fest. Instead, the BBC served up a couple of hours live science fiction, that although short on special effects was not short on tension and creditable performances. Jason Flemyng's performance as the eponymous Professor was one that captured well the scientist's terror at what his experiment unleashed combined with the cool, detached analytic mind of the scientist trying to sort it all out. The mix of studio and location settings in a live drama was ambitious and cuts between them were seamless, the use of VT was a bit of a cheat, but hey they used to do it in Z cars all the time. This was, nevertheless a triumph for live television, a credit to all those involved.

New man meets career woman in this romantic "comedy". Each week viewers were presented with a series of lukewarm jokes set around domestic mishaps and the "will they won't they" relationship between the two main characters. This premise often makes for good TV, however the lack of chemistry between the two leads and the simpering niceness of the entire production, meant that the audience really couldn't give a damn if they did or did not.

The show was helped neither by the stereotypical teenage daughter nor the wimpy kid that played the son calling his mother "mummy" all the time. I suppose Honor Blackman did her best with the part of Laura, but that's because she's Honor Blackman- enough said.

In all this is turgid bourgeois drivel,with an awful theme tune (particularly the rather dodgy piano bit in the closing credits).