Come Back Mrs. Noah

Although not quite the worst comedy programme in the entire history of English television, 'Come Back, Mrs Noah' is well down to the bottom of the barrel: rather surprising, this is, when you look at its credits. (The credits are the ONLY part of this series worth looking at.) The show was scripted by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, the comedy geniuses behind 'Are You Being Served?' and 'Grace and Favour'. The lead role of Mrs Noah is played by Mollie Sugden, who was so memorable (and funny) as Mrs Slocombe in those two classic sitcoms. But 'A.Y.B.S.?' and its sequel are prime examples of ensemble shows: here, Sugden proves she can't carry the comedy all by herself. (She had a similar problem in another Britcom, 'That's My Boy', in which her Oop North accent left her miscast as a homesick Londoner.)

'Come Back, Mrs Noah' has precisely the same premise as the grossly overrated 'Gilligan's Island': a motley group of characters are stranded in a remote place and can't get home. Imagine if 'Gilligan's Island' was set in outer space and Mrs Howell was the central character in every episode ... and you'll see why 'Come Back, Mrs Noah' is so dead awful.

Mrs Noah (Sugden, playing a role almost exactly like Mrs Slocombe) is one of several characters who are trapped in a space station orbiting Earth. This series runs up against the same problem that plagued 'Gilligan': in order to come up with new plotlines, the writers must introduce guest characters as visitors to the series' isolated setting (Mrs Noah's space station, Gilligan's island), and then the writers must figure out how to get the visiting characters out again at the end of the episode without rescuing the regulars. Who cares?

'Come Back, Mrs Noah' is stupefyingly unfunny. The 'best' thing about this show is its theme song, which (interestingly) is played at the END of each episode, not the beginning. Unfortunately, this theme song is just catchy enough that it lodges in my head every time I hear it, and it won't go away for several weeks. Whenever I want to watch any show that comes on immediately AFTER a repeat of 'Mrs Noah', I always make certain to skip the first minute of the show I want to watch, so that I won't risk hearing the theme song of this terrible show.

It genuinely feels like Mrs Slocombe has left Grace Brothers for a holiday, and instead of going to the Costa Plonka (the movie) she's gone to a space station. Her character Gertrude Noah wins a cookery prize and gets a chance to visit a British Space craft, set to travel into Space for sixty years, however a mix up sees Mrs Noah sent into space with some other unsuspecting people.

It's crass, bawdy, with the toilet humour exclusive of the seventies, if it's not your bag, you will utterly loathe every second of it, if you enjoy it, then there are laughs, gags and double entendres aplenty for you.

Borrowed jokes, horrific props, the worst special effects you could hope to see, but it does boast Mollie at her peak, and she manages to make it watchable, even if it IS Mrs Slocombe in space. All that's missing is the Are you being served cash register sound during the changes of scene.

It seems like Are you being served made stars of the cast, and nobody quite knew what to do with them after it, all of whom seemed to deserve better.

I can't help but snigger when I watch this show, I don't know if it's the script, or embarrassment, but to class it as the worst British sitcom of all time is unfair.

They tried something different, they didn't quite get it right, but Come back Mrs Noah is unique, and worth a look.

5/10.

This show might have only had six episodes but I found them to be hilarious. It's not often you find a comedy show set in space. Most shows in space are action adventure. What really made this a good show to watch was Mollie Sugden who portrayed Mrs. Slocombe in Are You Being Served?, as well as the constant innuendos that are played for laughs which I was able to get. This show could have lasted at least 2 or 3 seasons rather then just six episodes. Poor Mrs. Noah, how will you come back now? In the hearts and minds of those who will treasure this interstellar comedy show.

This one only last for one season (6 episodes) while Mollie Sugden was in hiatus from the long-running ARE YOU BEING SERVED? series. A rather notorious series, it was written and produced by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, who also did SERVED. It stars Mollie Sugden (Mrs. Slocombe) as a British housewife accidentally blasted into space in Earth's orbit while touring the latest British space station.

With her are a journalist (Ian Lavender), two of the crew (Michael Knowles and Donald Hewlett) and a custodian (Joe Black). A sort of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND meets LOST IN SPACE, the series uses lots of topical jokes (a reference to the Thatcher Memorial in Moscow is quite funny) and lots of sight gags.

Done on the cheap, the series is very limited in its set design, but that almost works in its favor. The sight of Sugden flying around in a weightless environment or packed into an orange decontamination suit (How do we get rid of the contamination?) is quite funny.

Set in the year 2050, Sugden still looks and dresses like her famous Mrs. Slocombe character (minus the dyed hair) and she is firmly based in her working-class mum persona, despite the technological marvels of the age.

The series was a flop and Sugden returned to SERVED and stayed in the Grace Brothers store until the series finished in 1985. Also in the cast is Jennifer Lonsdale who would co-star in Sugden's THAT'S MY BOY series.

Knowles and Hewlett had also appeared on SERVED as had Diana King, Raymond Bowers, and Gorden Kaye, who all make guest appearances.

The giant techno chicken is hilarious.

I was only 8 when this was originally aired and it passed me by completely, but on a recent trawl through sitcoms and comedy shows of my youth I gave this a watch and was pleasantly surprised.

Mollie Sugden is hilarious as Mrs. Noah, a Northern housewife stranded in orbit on board a space station. It won't appeal to everyone, it's very much of its time with its slapstick and bawdy, seaside postcard humour but I was raised on this kind of comedy and it ticked all the right boxes for me. The special effects are hilariously awful, adding to the comedy. They obviously knew this would be the case with their budget and the shows premise and leaned hard into it, and it works a treat. Highlights are a huge robotic chicken and space suits with breathing tubes that contain ping pong balls.

The rest of the cast all deliver but Joe Black as the put upon dogsbody Garstang is a particular joy.