Tellyspotting

For a British comedy series that ran for just five seasons from 1990-1995, Keeping Up Appearances has a continuous stretch of worldwide syndication along with a newly created stage performance to thank for its longevity. If you’re in the neighborhood, the Comedy Theatre Company has taken one of Britain’s most popular comedies of all-time and moves it in front of a live audience this week at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow. Rachel Bell stars as the irrepressible Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced, Bouquet) while Gareth Hale takes the role of the FT-reading, telly-watching, Onslow. Other “notables” in the cast include Kim Hartman, who played Private Helga Geerhart in ‘Allo, ‘Allo, and David Janson, who played the on-edge postman in the original KUA series.

According to both Bell and Hale, the stage play was written by Roy Clarke, the sole writer who penned the original 40+ episodes of the series and was created specifically for the stage. The setting for the play is the church hall, not Hyacinth’s house, with a storyline fairly reminiscent of the series. Emmit is casting a musical and is adamant about keeping Hyacinth’s “talent” off-stage. However, when she hears the part of Lady Malvern is open, there’s nothing she won’t do to get it.

In this interview with Central Scotland’s ITV morning show, both actors talk about the daunting task of playing two of, what might be, the most famous British comedy characters of all time.

Keeping Up Appearances, the stage play, follows in the footsteps of several other classic British comedy series that have recently experienced a revival on stage. Earlier this year, the brilliant Antony Jay / Jonathan Lynn series, Yes Minister, was brought to the stage for the series’ 30th anniversary as was the David Croft / Jimmy Perry classic, Dad’s Army. Of course, one can never forget the shining example of classic British comedy on stage and Spamalot.

To most, if not all, British comedy fans, there is but one Fawlty Towers. Without question, when one speaks the name, visions of an extraordinarily short-fused hotelier by the name of Basil Fawlty come to mind. While Basil is desperate to join the ranks of the “upper class”, he’s forever at odds with guests and staff alike and his frequent outburst of anger, blatant snobbishness and disdain for “riff-raff”. As the story goes, the idea for the series came from a 1970 stay at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay by the Monty Python troupe during filming. The proprietor of the hotel, Donald Sinclair, was described by Cleese as ‘the most marvellously rude man I’ve ever met‘.

Gleneagles may have changed hands and the Wooburn Grange Country Club (where exterior filming for FT was done) may have been destroyed by fire and, ultimately, demolished, but the legend of Fawlty Towers lives on around the world Seems as though there are a number of hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts and hostels that have adopted the name but, hopefully, not the service. Should you be looking to say you’ve stayed at “Fawlty Towers” or if the idea of putting a hand towel in your suitcase with the FT logo on it, here are some that we found (in no apparent order, honest)…

• Fawlty Towers Bed and Breakfast – Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
• Fawlty Towers International Backpackers Lodge – Livingstone, Zambia
• Fawlty Towers Hotel & Hostel – Rome, Italy
• Fawlty Towers Resort Motel – Cocoa Beach, Florida
• Fawlty Towers Hotel – Yangshuo, China

Others we ran across but, sadly, no websites to verify they are still in business are:

• Fawlty Towers Hostel – Fingal, Tazmania
• Faye’s Fawlty Towers Country Lodge – Heathcoate, Central Victoria, Australia
• Fawlty Towers – Umhlanga, South Africa
• Fawlty Towers – Malmaldy/Stavelot reagon of Belgium
• Fawlty Towers Bed & Breakfast – Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada
• Fawlty Towers Hostel/Hotel – Eliat, Israel
• Fawlty Towers Motel – Bunbury, Western Australia
• Fawlty Towers – Sidmouth, Devon

Thought we’d tip our hat to these brave hoteliers who have chosen the internationally famous name of Fawlty Towers, especially  considering the reputation of the original establishment as being the worst hotel in the world. Unlike the fictional Hotel California, you can check and you can also leave so….Safe travels.

If anyone has stayed at an FT Hotel around the world and lived to tell about it, please share. Stories and pictures welcome.

This is too coincidental. Remember just a short time back (yesterday, for that matter), we wondered if in TV, art imitates life or life imitates art. Well, we now have positive proof that both are true in the village of Turville, Buckinghamshire, UK, the setting for the Vicar of Dibley, judging by this story as reported in the UK recently.

Strangely reminiscent of the VOD episode where Geraldine rallies the locals to fight a powerful water company’s plans to transform Dibley into a giant reservoir after a water shortage, this time it’s the real efforts by the grandson of the late U.S. oil billionaire, Sir John Getty, that has the residents and the Wycombe parish town council of Turville ready to fight. Mark Getty, a long-time resident of Wormsley Park near Turville, has plans to create an open air, 600-seat, venue that will be home to the Garsington Opera and its 20+ summer concerts.

Residents of this tucked away village cite traffic gridlock, noise, injury to residents and visitors, road deterioration and general destruction of the natural habitat and beauty as their reasons for being opposed to the planned efforts.

One can only imagine how Geraldine, David, Hugo, Owen, Frank, Jim, Letitia and Alice would handle this one.

I’ve ranted enough in recent months about how American comedy simply cannot re-create British comedy. Looks like the British have figured it out by imitating a comedic style and not trying to duplicate a specific program.

In somewhat of a role reversal, the UK comedy world is now copying a style of comedy that American writers / actors / producers  have known for years. What has become known as a “sim-com” as opposed to a Sitcom or Britcom, is where the principle actor is playing an exaggerated version of him or herself. Programs like Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm or, for those that remember farther back, the greatness of The Garry Shandling Show have been long a part of American comedy.

To me, this started with a series that I’m a huge fan of in Lead Balloon with Jack Dee as a grumpy, stand-up comic whose life is one let down after another. Admittedly, his character name is Rick Spleen, but it is an exaggeration of  Jack Dee’s life on the small screen.

The rise of the sim-com in the UK has delivered some of the best new comedy in years. Recently, Simon Amstell’s Grandma’s House, a fictionalized version of his actual life. In the show, Amstell plays a TV presenter by the name of, you guessed it, Simon Amstell. Currently slated for broadcast on BBC2 later this month is The Trip, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as “loose versions of themselves” visiting a selection of top restaurants and researching a series of reviews for the Observer.

What do you get when you possess ten BAFTA’s, seven Laurence Olivier Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globes, one Academy Awards and a Tony Award? Obviously, you get to spend a week with Marilyn Monroe. Okay, not really, but Dame Judi Dench (A Fine Romance, As Time Goes By) has signed on for the film My Week with Marilyn, a film based on the diary of Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier who looked after Monroe in London back in 1957.

Clark looked after Monroe during the Pinewood Studios filming of The Prince & the Showgirl, which tells the story of a London variety show dancer and a stuck-up European prince. The film will chronicle the clash of the titans between Olivier and Monroe during filming. Dame Dench will play actress Sybil Thorndike, who played the Dowager Queen in the film. The film will also star Michelle Williams as Monroe and Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier.

Lots of Doctor Who news swirling around the Internets the last few days regarding the upcoming season with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. Some worth repeating and some not so much. I promise to forego the constant rumors of Matt Smith leaving, Karen Gillan leaving, Steven Moffat leaving, etc. Rather than have you spend hours and hours in the search bar, here are the bits of info worth repeating.

• To start it off, here’s a quick clip of Steven Moffat discussing his plans for two separate seasons next year. While promising a “game-changing cliffhanger” at mid-season with an “earth-shattering climax” for DW in the coming year, Moffat also discussed his early impressions of Matt Smith during casting and the odd-notion that Karen Gillan was originally considered “too sexy” by some.
• While there’s no comment from the BBC, or anyone else from that matter, The Sun recently reported that the Doctor’s sidekick, Amy (Karen Gillan), will die as a part of a “devastating plot twist” during the the initial set of programs. Remember no on has commented, it was The Sun that reported it and the source for the article is “unnamed”. FYI, this isn’t the first time that it was rumored a companion was to be killed off. You may recall back in 2008, this article that suggests either Billie Piper (Rose) or Catherine Tate (Donna) would die fighting alongside David Tennant. That said…decide for yourself.
• Sherlock co-creator, Mark Gatiss, will write an episode for the upcoming sixth season. The idea that both Gatiss and Neil Gaiman will be writing episodes for the new season makes it already worth the price of admission.
• From the department of “what do you do after you’re The Doctor“? So far, David Tennant has played Hamlet and Christopher Eccleston starred in the BBC special slated for PBS later this Fall, Lennon Naked. Now, comes news that a former “Doctor” is likely to be cast in The Hobbit. Word is that the great Peter Jackson may fill the vacant director’s chair also. Sylvester McCoy, the seventh Doctor is currently in talks with producers for a “wizard” role.
• Finally, Doctor Who with a little twist of The Simpsons. For several years, fans of both series have created a scenario in their minds where this would work and be fun. Never substantiated to this point, but drawings from, yet again, unnamed sources, have begun surfacing on the Internet. Also, it has been rumored that Karen Gillan would love to voice a character on The Simpsons. What easier way than to voice herself….just sayin’. As a huge fan of both series, I would love to see this, maybe in the annual Simpsons Halloween classic episode, just for fun?

Enough for today. BTW, you should see the stuff I didn’t print. Anyone else find anything of interest?

In what could have been a scene right out of a Blackadder V pitch to the head of BBC Light Entertainment, the seventh century village of Oxfordshire came close to exhibiting their best imitation of the Dibley Town Council recently. Over the last several months, plans by the actor and star of British comedy classics such as Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line surfaced which detailed his desire to demolish his current 1930’s mansion called Handsmooth House with an architecturally futuristic “petrol station” as described by several Oxfordshire neighbors. One of the top U.S. architects, Richard Meier, has designed the structure, which received backing from a number of the world’s leading architects.

While plans were objected to by the Ipsden Parish Council and several local planning officers, the approval was also not welcomed by neighbors who felt that “…money and fame have been used to bulldoze their way through the planning process. The decision on this monstrosity is outrageous and sets a very dangerous precedent.”

Upon receiving approval for his proposed project, Atkinson responded by saying to his fellow Oxfordhire and Ipsden neighbors: “I fully understand the concern of members of the community about change and the introduction of a contemporary design into sensitive countryside. I can promise them that they need have no fear.”

“It would be a terrible shame if people felt that there was no place in the countryside for modern design when what there should be no place for in the countryside is bad design. My belief is that this house could be part of a long English tradition of contemporary architecture in the countryside, examples of which have caused some concern when built but which are now highly protected listed buildings. I have lived in South Oxfordshire for 28 years and wish to continue to live here while grasping a unique opportunity to create something of real and lasting value.”

Works for me. Let’s hope the Ipsden Parish Council and South Oxfordshire District Council ultimately feel the same way.

Leave it to the great Richard Briers to be able to brilliantly put in to words what I have thought for a long time. With a resume that includes the British comedy classic, The Good Life, along with other notable series in both the British comedy and drama worlds such as Ever Decreasing Circles and Monarch of the Glen, he knows of what he speaks.

According to Briers, there is a danger that quality television drama is over given the meteoric rise of cheap television clogging the airwaves. Briers goes on to say that “…TV is full of cookery, gardening and reality shows that are suffocating new talent“.

While this is a very valid opinion, where or when does it end? Who’s to blame for this? The program commissioners at the network level, the program producers or the audience, whose appetite for these programs never ceases to amaze me? Is it the commissioners / producers / funders saying that they are providing television that has been demonstrated as being the type viewers want to see or are viewers watching more and more of the reality-based, unscripted programs because that’s all there is to watch.

Unfortunately, personal opinion is that the bottom-line is to blame. The reality-based, unscripted programs are cheaper to produce making for a better ROI than really good quality drama or any other genre for that matter. I can somewhat disagree with Briers on a very, very small point. While there may be a great number of the how-to genre for our own good, reality shows are the ones that people need to take aim at. Cooking and gardening can be entertaining, educational and intelligent. When you have shows such as Deal or No Deal, The Bachelor, The Biggest Loser, Shedding for the Wedding, Wife Swap or The Nanny, that’s where I see the divide between good and worthless television.

Agree? Disagree?

“Official” rumors from the BBC of a second series of the brilliant Steven Moffat / Mark Gatiss Sherlock series have been confirmed. This is really great news for people on both sides of the pond. For those in the UK, you know what’s coming with series one transmitting recently to both critical acclaim and strong audience numbers. For those in the U.S., when series one premieres on the 40th season of PBS’ Masterpiece series, you will relish the thought as soon as the three episodes are done (Oct 24, 31, Nov 7) that there will be more to come.

Benedict Cumberbatch returns in the title role as does Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson. In very cryptic ‘Sherlock’ fashion, comes this from co-creators, Moffat and Gatiss…“There’ll be baffling new puzzles, old friends and new enemies – whether on two, or four legs. And we might well be seeing the cold master of logic and reason unexpectedly falling. But in love? Or over a precipice? Who can tell?”

Not knowing the date, day or time for series two, I’m just setting the DVR now for Sherlock to be sure I don’t miss it. I can’t wait.  Don’t forget, Sherlock (series one) premieres on PBS beginning Sunday, October 24, 2010.

Temps are hitting mid-90’s so Summer’s at an end soon. Time for your last Summer/Fall Book Club assignment from a favorite in the British comedy world. First up was The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie, followed by The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry.

This week another great read by someone you may or may not know by name, but you definitely know his writing. All I really need to say is The Young Ones and Blackadder. But, add to that his writing for West End stage plays, a collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the stage and, then, the wildly successful musical, We Will Rock You featuring music by the rock band Queen. Then there’s the matter of 13 books over the years. But our recommendation for the end of summer is….

Popcorn by Ben Elton

Set in Hollywood, this is an exceptional crime drama that centers around the motion picture and television industry. A must read. Not only is it a book about the movies, but it is also an indictment of the movie industry. What I love is that it’s a great read, has a lot of tension throughout, but at the end of the book, you really want to be part of a book club so you can talk about it as it makes you think. Much more to the book than just the premise.

Full disclosure time: I resisted the temptation to list the all-time classic book by a English writer because I made a snap judgment that most of you had read this. If so, I’d suggest a re-read. If not, it’s the #1 book for your Fall Reading Club from Tellyspotting. I’m talking High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Great movie with John Cusack, but a brilliant book.

Anyone else have a book to add to the list?