Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me

After the three excellent preceding entries in this quartet, (Steptoe,Hancock,Hughie Green)this was a considerable disappointment.

I've no complaint with the performances, both David Walliams and Rafe Spall as Howerd & Heymer respectively were on top form. Where Rather You Than Me falls down, as opposed to the three previous entries is it's lacklustre script, which can't make up its mind whether to concentrate on Howerd or Heymer and falls limply between the two.

This cramped production lasting barely sixty minutes, seems more interested in Heymer's uninteresting sex life than exploring Howerd himself. So we are then subjected to scenes of dimly lit homosexual nightclubs and sweaty couplings, whilst Howerd sits morosely at home.

Poor old Frank is made to look so miserable and dull, you wonder how he ever made people laugh at all. Further insight into his character by the writers would have revealed that despite his depressive nature, he could also be humorous and great company as his many friends including Cilla Black and June Whitfield would bare witness to. (Happiness doesn't sell progamme's it seems)

I'm sad to say that Rather You Than Me is a kick in the teeth to a great comic.

This programme only serves as a kick in the backside to the memory of Frankie Howerd. In this he's portrayed as the most boring person to ever walk the face of the planet, albeit via a pretty decent impression by David Walliams. Good actor, crap script.

If you want to see an inaccurate story (I use the term story very loosely) of a comedy legend interlaced with a load of pointless homo-erotic scenes and watch a pretty good impression of Frankie Howard but doing the worlds unfunniest stand up routines then this is for you. Personally I think its an insult to Mr Howerds memory. He may have been a depressive and he may have been homosexual but if you're going to devote an entire show to Just those two aspects of him and exaggerate them massively, at least have the decency to have some sort of story to it.

It starts , plods along and ends. I finished watching it not two minutes ago and couldn't tell you what it was about! Shame really, because Walliams voice and demeanour were perfect, Rafe Spall's acting was excellent, everything else about the film was not.

Frankie Howerd was a comedian who had his ups and downs but had suprisong longevity.

I remember watching his ITV show as a kid in the early 1980s and my older brother saying straight afterwards that was dire.

By the end of the 80s he was hip with the university student crowd. I think one of his tours was labelled, 'Get your titters out!'This television movie reminds you that the same happened to Howerd in the early 1960s. When he fell in with the emerging comedy crowd such as Peter Cook.

This drama is more about Frankie Howerd (David Walliams) and his secret relationship with long term lover and later manager Dennis Heymer (Rafe Spall.)

They had a discreet relationship at a time when homosexuality was illegal. Even when it was legal Howerd gave an impression that he had a female companion. Then there were those sitcoms such as Up Pompeii where he had a a lecherous eye for the ladies.

Here Howerd is guilty and embarrassed about his homosexuality. Yet he picks up casual young men for sex. Only after he died stories emerged of his predatory behaviour with young men, like wanting massages and getting naked in front of them.

Although sad and melancholy. It was more about Heymer than Howerd when the latter was the star. The other problem was that Walliams is not a strong enough actor to do Howerd justice.

When this drama was made in 2008, Walliams was a big television star. Here he just did not feel like Frankie Howerd to me.

Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me (2008) -

I seemed to recall enjoying this biographic film a lot more the first time around. Maybe it was the titillating sexual bits that aroused my attention at the time, but I certainly felt that I would have given David Walliams awards for his role as the leading man Frankie Howerd back then, but actually on this second viewing I wasn't sure that he was actually all that amazing.

I've never really liked Dave as an artist anyway, but he made Frankie out to be a bit of a perve here, he was greasy and lecherous in a seedy way. I could however see that there were perhaps some blurred lines that had to be dealt with regarding his suppressed sexuality and feelings of shame, that could only have been done in that sort of way, but it didn't endear me to the real Frankie.

While David did achieve some of the mannerisms and the inflections of the 'Up Pompeii' (1969-70 & 1971) star, I didn't feel that he delivered his rendering of the comedian as well as many of the others that I've seen from the same biopic films - Michael Sheen as Kenneth Williams in 'Fantabulosa!' (2006) for one and Daniel Rigby & Bryan Dick as Morecambe and Wise in 'Eric & Ernie' for another.

Rafe Spall however certainly stood out as Howerd's Manager and life partner Dennis Heymer. I think this might have been the first thing that I saw him perform in and the one that made me appreciate him as an actor to the point where I watch almost everything that he turns up in.

In a lot of ways the film was more about Heymer than of Frankie, with the star used as a vehicle to tell Dennis' story instead, which I didn't mind, but felt it was off topic and not what I'd turned up for.

Unfortunately, because of Frankie's own personal issues with being gay and what seemed like a mental health issue of some sort, it made being a homosexual almost appear to be as dirty and wrong as Frankie thought it was, but I wasn't sure if that was deliberate. I supposed that because of the time the film was set, between the 1950's and the 1960's, there was a lot of seedy get togethers behind closed doors, but as the film was depicting what was most likely a loving relationship in reality, there wasn't a lot of the niceties of a romance. Maybe if it had been 15-20 minutes longer it could have included some light in their couples life as well as what seemed like a lot of dark. Surely Dennis didn't stay with him for all of those years without feeling some affection towards Frankie? And although his reasoning for that was shown in little bits, it was very subtle and I personally would have liked to have seen a lot more affection between them.

I still enjoyed the story and generally the artistic and sometimes thoughtful way that the film was made. As someone who longs to be a part of it all I've always appreciated tales of celebrity, so it was interesting to see how one of those that I've laughed at and enjoyed watching had made it through each day to keep entertaining, despite some low points in his career, that seemed to mar the high ones for him.

Not a bad film, but I thought that it could have been a really great one with a bit more attention.

699.02/1000.

I saw this rather dull and odd drama when it was shown 15 years ago on BBC4 and had, unsurprisingly, forgotten all about it. But in 2023 the BBC showed it again and I can see why I had forgotten it.

Frankie Howerd was a British comedy legend, a master raconteur and a complicated man. However very little of what made him popular comes across in this rather boring tv movie. The film seems to be obsessed by his closet homosexuality and relationship with Dennis Haymer. It also finishes in the early 1970s, just as . About twenty years before he died, missing out a large chunk of his later career.

David Walliams may have been a huge fan of Howerd but he gives a strange interpretation of the character, lacking in conviction and a bit bland, whilst Rafe Spall and the late Dilys Laye seem very underused. Out of all the 'comedy greats' season TV movies that were shown on BBC4 in 2008, this is by far the least interesting and adds very little to the Howerd legend. Walliams seems a bit out of his depth too and the dullness of the script really doesn't help. And the way the film ends is what inspired me to say 'Is that it?' as the title of this review, because that genuinely was my reaction.