Alias, drôle de fou

This is a cartoon series from Cosgrove Hall Productions (creators of "Danger Mouse" and "Count Duckula") with features the amusing and hilarious of Alias, a little spaceman who's rocket ship suffers a malfunction and lands him in Medieval England under the rule of King Arthur. But this is totally barking Medieval England, where people know what film is but it hasn't been invented yet and where giants are friends with the royals? WEIRD! But never fear! Alias along with his cute little doggy, Boswell and his new friend Meredith the court magician tries to put everything right in Arthur's Kingdom before any thing else happens. But Alias has to disguise himself as the court jester (which is no easy task) and put up with the moody and sneaky King Arthur. This is funny, original and has more of the Cosgrove Hall charm. It also contains of Richard Briers (A Good Life) and Brian Wilde (Last of the Summer Wine). Must watch for those who liked Danger Mouse! 8/10

They don't make cartoons like this anymore this is yet another classic of those geniuses behind "Danger Mouse" and "Count Duckula" the pure brilliance that is Cosgrove Hall in my opinion the greatest cartoon studio ever. "Alias the jester" stands up against other CH cartoons and is itself a very amusing cartoon with excellent voice talent. It ran for only 13 episodes, which is just not long enough. And is the only reason I haven't given this superb show ten stars as I think that it should have had a second series but for whatever reason it didn't, which is for me and other fans of this program a great shame. The key to this cartoon is its voice talent two clearly stick out: the excellent Richard Briers who is always good value and Brian Wilde who you may know from such comedy classics as "Porridge" and "Last of the Summer Wine" both give great performances and of course posses masterful comic timing which makes this cartoon feel a little like a sitcom at times. Its script is written by CH regular Brian Trueman and as you'd expect is a very witty one an example is:

Meredith is stirring a large pot, in walks King Arthur. King Arthur: Well? Meredith: A touch of Lumbago. King Arthur: I mean have you finished the potion.

The clear quality of this program was not lost on the critics and in 1986 it won a BAFTA for Best Animation. The show revolves around Alias who as the titles say "is a time traveller bold, by sheer bad luck his ship got caught in the earth's magnetic hold" he crash lands into the kingdom of Houghton Bottoms that just happens to be the land of King Arthur "from the middle of space, to the, middle ages" as the titles muse. He disguises himself as a Jester and with the help of Meredith, the courts magician (of sorts) and the only person who knows that Alias crash-landed in a space ship, he becomes court jester. Then we join him and a host of other characters on a fun filled journey through 13 episodes of hilarious adventures. The episode titles are:

Alias the Jester

The Ring

The Amazing Dancing Bear

The Viking Airship

Ready when you are, King Arthur!

The Giant's Visit

The Walking Island

Monster of the Lake

Magic Metal

The Lost Ark

Revenge of the Najjer

Fiery Fred

Amaranth and the Beast

This is a must see and if you haven't seen it go out and buy the DVD (Amazon price is £5.99 and you get all 13 episodes) you won't be disappointed even if you're not a fan of Cosgrove Hall, although how anyone could not be a fan of Cosgrove Hall is beyond me.