Alan Waldman: 'A Bit of Fry & Laurie' Was Brilliant British Sketch Series

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This was most people’s first exposure to the highly original comic genius of English national treasures Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, who wrote and performed many classic sketches.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / December 27, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

I usually review foreign English-language sitcoms and mysteries here -- not sketch comedies -- but because most Americans have never seen these early TV comedy treasures, I seek to expose as many of you as possible to the 26 priceless episodes of A Bit of Fry & Laurie. You will no doubt thank me profusely after you see some of them. Here is one you can link to.

This magnificent English TV series lasted four seasons, from 1987-1995. All the episodes are on Netflix and Netflix Instant streaming and most are free on You Tube. Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie wrote and performed all the sketches, sometimes with the assistance of Brit celebrity actors such as Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder), Paul Eddington (Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister); Selina Cadell (Doc Martin ), and Nigel Havers (BAFTA nomination for Chariots of Fire).

Hugh Laurie earned two Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild statuettes, 10 other awards and six Emmy nominations for playing the title role in House (with a flawless American accent) from 2004 to 2012. In 2011 he was deemed the highest-paid actor in an American TV drama ($409,000 per episode) and was also the most-watched TV leading man. In 2007 he received a cherished OBE award for services to drama.

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

Stephen Fry is an English institution: actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television and radio presenter, film director, and political activist. He teamed up with Laurie when both were at college in Cambridge Footlights. Two of their masterful subsequent collaborations were the hilarious series Blackadder and PBS’s Jeeves and Wooster.

Fry has won eight major awards and received 14 other nominations, was kicked out of two schools, was briefly imprisoned for credit card fraud, and had a nervous breakdown in 1995 (after the BBC tinkered with his and Hugh’s show).

A Bit of Fry & Laurie featured elaborate wordplay and innuendo, political satire, a lot of brilliant nonsense, and Laurie playing piano and singing his funny original songs. In addition, the show was punctuated with non sequitur bits where one of them, usually in weird costume or drag, made odd or droll statements, as was done in Monty Python's Flying Circus.

The show often commented on issues of the day. In one sketch a Conservative government minister is strangled while Stephen Fry screams at him "What are you doing to the television system? What are you doing to the country?" in an attack on England’s Broadcasting Act of 1990. The pair later attacked the Act's malign aftereffects in a parody of It's a Wonderful Life, evoking a world in which Rupert Murdoch had not existed.

The series made numerous jokes at the expense of Conservative prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major. One sketch depicted a televised "Young Tory of the Year" competition, in which Laurie recited a deliberately incoherent speech consisting only of nonsense political buzzwords, such as "family values" and "individual enterprise."

Several popular running sketches featured the pair as secret agents, pompous executives and talk show hosts of programs such as Trying to Borrow a Fiver Off..., Introducing My Grandfather to..., Photocopying My Genitals With..., Realizing I've Given the Wrong Directions To..., and Flying a Light Airplane Without Having Had Any Formal Instruction With....

Episodes ended with Fry mixing and describing a bizarre beverage while Laurie sang and played. A very popular song of his was "Mystery," with Hugh mimicking the vocal mannerisms of Sammy Davis Jr. and singing about the obstacles to his relationship with the object of his affection, which included the fact that she had been dead since 1973.

A few typical lines follow.

Barber: Which of sir's manifold hairs would he care to place in my professional care for the purposes of securing an encutment?

Doctor: Frank, this is called inter-oral, extra-nasal respiratory relaxant therapy. As the name implies, it is an American technique.

Stephen (as a woman): Well, I was born Mary Patterson, but then I married and naturally took my husband's name, so now I'm Neil Patterson.

Hugh: Then I was Princess Anne's assistant for a while, but I chucked that in because it was obvious they were never going to make me Princess Anne, no matter how well I did the job.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman : ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ Has Kept Millions Laughing for 37 Years

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British national treasure, Roy Clarke, created and wrote all 295 episodes of this droll series about three elderly Yorkshiremen with too much time on their hands.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / December 3, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Last of the Summer Wine is a beloved Britcom that millions in the U.S. and around the world -- including my first three wives and I -- enjoy watching over and over again.

Running from 1973 to 2010, it aired 295 howlarious episodes, which many PBS stations (including mine) run repeatedly. Britain’s longest-running sitcom received five BAFTA nominations for “Best Situation Comedy Series,” the UK National Television Awards’ “Most Popular Comedy” honor and four other noms.

It was extremely popular, drawing up to 18.8 million British viewers. More than 28% of viewers polled at imdb.com rated it 10 out of 10. The show ranked #14 on the high-profile 2004 poll for Britain’s Best Sitcom. It is the favorite program (seriously) of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai.

Roy Clarke created and wrote all 295 episodes of Last of the Summer Wine, created and wrote all 44 episodes of Keeping Up Appearances, and wrote for38 other series. Clarke was awarded an OBE honor and won the British Comedy Awards’ 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Last of the Summer Wine has aired in more than 25 countries and is the longest-running sitcom in the world. It mostly follows the comic misadventures of a trio of older men and their youthful antics. The cast has changed several times over the years.

Until his death in 1999, Bill Owen delighted audiences as scruffy, childlike, love-struck, ferret-raising Compo Simmonite. Throughout the series, Peter Sallis (the voice of Wallace in the Wallace and Grommit films) played meek, easily frightened Norman Clegg.

Jean Ferguson as Marina.

The third role was filled alternately by Michael Bates as authoritarian and snobbish Cyril Blamire, Brian Wilde as quirky, phony war hero Walter "Foggy" Dewhirst, Michael Aldridge as eccentric inventor Seymour Uttherthwaite and universally adored Frank Thornton (who just recently passed away and who was a huge hit in Are You Being Served?) as dry-witted former police officer Herbert "Truly of The Yard" Truelove.

In recent years, as Sallis and Thornton became too old for all the physical tomfoolery, they were limited to a scene or two, while a new group of miscreants took over the major folderol. They were Bert Kwouk (Peter Sellers’ hilarious sidekick Kato in the Inspector Clouseau films) as washing machine salesman Entwistle; Owen’s son Tom Owen playing Compo’s unkempt, impecunious, bill-collector-dodging son, Tom Simmonite; Keith Clifford as Billy Hardcastle who believed himself a descendent of Robin Hood; Brian Murphy as Alvin Smedly and Russ Abbott as Luther “Hobbo” Hobdyke, a former milkman who pretends to be a secret agent.

There is a long-running gag plot as Howard (Robert Fyfe) tries incessantly to fool his wife Pearl (Juliette Kaplan) as he goes on trysts with bleach-blonde, former sexpot Marina (Jean Ferguson), but something always goes amiss. Marina is one of my two favorite characters, along with tall, miserable Smiler (Stephen Lewis).

There are lots of other funny characters. One is Auntie Wainright who runs an antique shop and is extremely greedy/cheap. Another is Compo’s love interest Nora Batty, the most delightfully ugly woman ever, who rejects all his crude advances, often with a broom or bucket of water. Another great running-gag character is Danny O’Dea as nearly blind Eli. There are also two inept, crime-avoiding cops in a police car.

While a silly, slapsticky comedy, the series has great fun mocking the British class system. It is quite funny in a very gentle way.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman: 'Keeping Up Appearances' Tops Second Tier of My Favorite Britcoms

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Patricia Routledge stars as a middle class woman who puts on aristocratic airs in this very popular Britcom.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / November 10, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Since last October 10, I have raved about and reviewed my 22 favorite British sitcoms here on The Rag Blog (along with favorite Brit mystery series and some beloved films and Canadian, Irish, Scottish, and New Zealand series). If you missed any of these great comedies, you can get my two cents worth on it by entering its title in the search box on the top left corner of The Rag Blog, or just go here and scroll back through my reviews.

My 22 faves (not exactly in preference order) are: Waiting for God, The Thin Blue Line, Chef!, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Father Ted, The Kumars at No. 42, Not Going Out, Rising Damp, Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister, Absolutely Fabulous, Reggie Perrin, Gavin & Stacey, The Vicar of Dibley, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, My Hero, Doc Martin, As Time Goes By, League of Gentlemen, and Are You Being Served?. I recommend all of them as delicious comic treats.

I tend to alternate comedy series and mysteries on these pages. Having written up all my very favorite comedies, (not counting the sublime sketch comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus and sitcom The Royle Family, because it’s not on Netflix and the Northern English accents are difficult to decipher), I will begin reviewing second-tier comedies, which I like, but not as much as the top group. There is a better-than-average chance that I have forgotten something.

Keeping Up Appearances is a very funny sitcom with a brilliant cast: Patricia Routledge won two BAFTA nominations for her outstanding performance as Hyacinth Bucket (which she always pronounces “bouquet.”) Clive Swift is great as her long-suffering hubby Richard. Always hindering Hyacinth's attempts to impress are her sisters dim Daisy (Judy Cornwell) and slutty Rose (Shirley Stelfox and then Mary Millar).

One of my favorite comic characters is Daisy’s slob husband Onslow (Geoffrey Hughes). Other funny characters are Hyacinth’s nervous neighbor Elizabeth, her Hyacinth-fearing brother Emmett, the sisters’ dotty father, and Hyacinth’s wealthy sister Violet, “the one with the Mercedes, swimming pool, sauna and room for a pony,” plus assorted other victims.

Creator and writer of all 44 episodes Roy Clarke was awarded an OBE, won the British Comedy Awards’ 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award and BAFTA’s Dennis Potter Award, also created and wrote 295 episodes of Britain’s longest running sitcom (1973 to 2010), Last of the Summer Wine, and wrote for 38 other series.

Five series of Keeping Up Appearances aired from 1990 through 1995. It was and is a worldwide hit, and many PBS stations air it repeatedly. The series ranked twelfth in the 2004 Britain’s Best Sitcom poll.

Hyacinth is a social-climbing snob, originally from a very poor background, whose main mission in life is to impress others with her lifestyle and perceived affluence and refinement. She likes to spend her days visiting stately homes (convinced she will strike up a friendship with the owners) and hosting "executive-style" candlelight suppers (with her “Royal Worcester double-glazed Avignon china with the hand-painted periwinkles).

She brags about her possessions to others, including her "white slim-line telephone with automatic redial," which she always answers with "The Bouquet residence, the lady of the house speaking.” Often she receives calls asking for Chinese take-away, causing her great consternation.

Hyacinth's excessive snobbery makes life difficult for those around her, especially her long-suffering, hen-pecked husband, who lives in fear of saying the wrong thing (and how he can afford his wife's expensive tastes). Nervous neighbor Elizabeth fears breaking Hyacinth’s prized coffee cups, etc. and often does.

Her brother Emmett has put on musicals and lives in terror of Hyacinth singing to him. This is deft, since Routlege is a professional singer (a wonderful Pirates of Penzance, etc.) who always sings off-key to him. My wife loves Hyacinth seeking to impress the postman and other working folk at the house, and the fact that her rich, envied sister Violet’s husband is actually a cross dresser.

Possibly the best joke ever is slovenly, perpetually TV watching and beer swilling Onslow seen (if you pay close attention) in bed reading the book Quantum Physics.

Three books related to the series were published: Hyacinth Bucket’s Book of Etiquette for the Socially Less Fortunate, Hyacinth Bucket’s Hectic Social Calendar, and It’s Bouquet -- Not Bucket.

Classic Keeping Up Appearances dialogue follows.

Hyacinth [to postman]: I want you to instruct your superiors that this is a first class stamp residence.

Rose: Onslow, father's on the roof again!
Onslow: Ask him if he's got my bottle opener!

[When in car] Hyacinth: Mind the pedestrian, Richard.
Richard Bucket: Minding the pedestrian.

Hyacinth [in the car]: Mind the horse.
Richard Bucket: It's in the field.

Hyacinth [to Richard, as she gets a phone call from their unseen son]: It's Sheridan!
Richard: How much does he want?

Richard: Hyacinth, do you ever wonder why Sheridan shows very little interest in girls?

Hyacinth: And you are? Regional Postal Manager. I guess you will do, though I would have preferred to speak to someone on a national scale.

Hyacinth: Today could be the day I'm mistaken for somebody important.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman : ‘Dalziel and Pascoe’ is a Dramatic Yet Funny Yorkshire Cop Series

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For 59 episodes, its humorously mismatched lead characters stopped a wide range of dastardly doings.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / October 8, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Dalziel and Pascoe is a gripping but humorous British cop series featuring two seemingly mismatched police detectives who always manage to thwart crime in Yorkshire. Warren Clarke (one of Malcolm McDowell’s three deranged cronies in A Clockwork Orange) steals the show as blunt, sarcastic, politically incorrect, old-school detective superintendant Andy Dalziel (strangely enough pronounced “dee-el”). He is ably if frustratedly assisted by university educated, well-mannered detective inspector Peter Pascoe

Andy is a very amusing character, for all his flaws."Dalziel is a perfect pig” explains Clarke. “He's vulgar, loud and rude, but he is in fact also a great humanitarian and he gets very good results.”

The two coppers are complete opposites: different backgrounds, different beliefs, and different styles. They frequently get on each other's nerves or are embarrassed by each other. Yet their differences make them a stunningly brilliant crime-solving team.

The series ran for 12 seasons (1996-2007) and 59 episodes, winning two Edgar awards, including “best TV feature or miniseries,” and three more “best TV feature or miniseries” noms. Seven seasons of the show are on Netflix, and many episodes are free on YouTube. Here’s an episode.

Other major characters in the series include gay, earnest detective sergeant Edgar “Wieldy” Wield and gutsy but inexperienced detective constable Shirley Novello. Ivor Novello was a famous old entertainer, so Dalziel always calls her “Ivor.”

All the first three seasons’ episodes and the first two stories of Season Four are entirely based on the novels of Reginald Hill, winner of the 1995 Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. The remaining episodes were penned by 29 other writers, including Tony McHale -- the driving force behind immensely popular evening soap Eastenders -- and Alan Plater, writer of 80 films and TV episodes, including the excellent Inspector Lewis.

Sample dialogue:

Dalziel: Did you find any drugs?

Detective constable Seymour: No one mentioned anything about looking for drugs.

Dalziel: No one mentioned anything about Barbary apes, but if you'd seen a couple of them fornicating on the kitchen table, likely you'd have mentioned it.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman: ‘Midsomer Murders’ is a Popular Long-Running British Rural Crime Series

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So far, 100 episodes of this dramatic and humorous ‘whodunnit’ set in fictional Midsomer County have aired.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / September 24, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Since 1997, 15 series (100 episodes) of beloved rural British crime mystery series Midsomer Murders have aired on PBS and around the world. Seven of the episodes are based on the books of Caroline Graham, who was nominated for a 1999 “Best TV Feature or Miniseries” Edgar award for it. Many episodes were adapted by gifted scribe Anthony Horowitz (Poirot, Foyle’s War).

More than 90.8% of the 9,106 viewers polled at imdb.com gave it thumbs up, and 29.6% regarded it as a perfect 10. It is a big hit with all demographics, but especially females over 45 and under 18. Viewing figures for the series were healthy, and the drama attracted a number of actors from the stage and screen in guest-starring roles.

Midsomer Murders has been sold to a large number of countries and territories around the world. In 2004 it was among the three most-sold British TV shows worldwide, whether as TV or DVD. Among the many buyers: Ukraine, Bulgaria, Estonia, Iceland, Macedonia, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Through season 13, all episodes are streamed via Netflix, are Netflixed by mail and are on DVD. Here is an episode.

Neil Dudgeon as John Barnaby.

Until 2010, the lead detective was Tom Barnaby (John Nettles). After Nettles’ retirement, Neil Dudgeon took over as his cousin, John Barnaby. The Barnabys have had several sergeant/sidekicks throughout the run of the show. Other key characters are Tom’s wife and daughter and a crusty coroner.

The show is very well-written and -acted. Humor is a main feature of the series, with many actors playing up their high-camp characters. The show includes some black comedy, such as a woman being murdered by a wheel of cheese. Much of the popularity of the series comes from the incongruity of sudden violence in a picturesque and peaceful rural setting. Individual episodes focus on institutions and practices seen as being characteristic of the English counties. I often enjoy seeing familiar faces among the suspects.

The county of Midsomer is notable for its particularly high murder rate -- estimate at 32 per million, around double that of London. This has become a running joke among the British public. It’s like the joke T-shirts used to promote America’s beloved Murder She Wrote: “Cabot Cove, If you lived here you’d be dead.”

Tom Barnaby’s wife once proposed they move out of their hometown of Causton and suggested various villages; her husband countered with recollections of particularly grisly murders that occurred in each community.

If you haven’t seen it, I think you will enjoy this charming, dramatic crime series.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman: ‘Are You Being Served?’ Was Hit Sitcom in Britain and Around the World

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It -- and sequel ‘Grace and Favour’ -- aired 81 classic episodes, which repeated and repeated on many PBS stations.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / September 18, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Are You Being Served? is a beloved Britcom that aired 69 silly and naughty but highly amusing episodes from 1972 to 1985. It dealt with the antics and misadventures of the staff of the men’s and women’s clothing floor in fictional Grace Bros. department store in London.

It was created and totally written by executive producers David Croft (won two BAFTAS and earned 13 BAFTA noms for this, 'All 'Allo!, Dad’s Army, and other series and who won the British Comedy Awards’ Lifetime Achievement honor) and Jeremy Lloyd (same BAFTAs and got two Emmy noms for writing on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Lloyd started his career as a suit salesman at Simpson’s Department Store.

Later episodes drew enormous British audiences -- up to 22 million (in a country of 50 million, at that time). It took the 1977 “Best Sitcom” BAFTA.

All episodes are available on DVD and Netflix, with many episodes, such as this gem, available for free on YouTube.

From 1992 through 1993, the brilliant cast returned as the same characters running a country manor/hotel for 12 episodes of Grace & Favour (called Are You Being Served? Again! in some countries).

The cast was impeccable and their comic timing was superb. Molly Sugden played Mrs. Betty Slocombe, who drank, was man-hungry, and constantly changed her bright hair color. Gap-toothed Jon Inman was Mr. Wilberforce Humphries, a very effeminate men’s department head who lived with his mother. Frank Thornton (who went on to star in Last of the Summer Wine, Britain’s longest running sitcom) created Captain Stephen Peacock, a haughty floorwalker who claims to have fought in the British North Africa campaign, but who actually worked with food and never saw combat.

Cast of Are You Being Served?

Wendy Richards (long a mainstay of the enormously popular soap opera Eastenders) was cute but dim cockney saleslady Miss Shirley Brahms. Nicholas Smith (with young Mike Berry, one of the only two cast members still alive today) was incompetent, jug-eared Mr. Cuthbert Rumbold, who was autocratic to some, obsequious to his boss, and who had a long series of foxy but stupid secretaries.

Trevor Bannister as Mr. Lucas, followed by Mike Berry as Mr. Spooner, were womanizing, wisecracking junior salesmen. Harold Bennett was ancient “young Mr. Grace,” who was rich, stingy, and surrounded by sexy “nurses.” Arthur Brough was older salesman Mr. Ernest Grainger, who often fell asleep on the sales floor. There were also many funny minor and guest characters.

Are You Being Served? had much humor based on sexual innuendo, misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and slapstick. Outrageously funny sight gags often featured crazy costumes which the characters were required to wear for store promotions or gaudy store displays frequently with malfunctioning robotic mannequins. The show constantly made fun of the rigid British class system. Are You Being Served? is best remembered for its prolific use of double entendre.

Those double entendres and the show’s reliance on sexual stereotypes attracted some mild criticism, as did frequent jokes about Mrs. Slocombe's cat. A typical line from Mrs Slocombe: "Animals are very psychic; the least sign of danger and my pussy's hair stands on end." John Inman's camp portrayal of Mr. Humphries as a seemingly gay man could easily be misinterpreted by viewers. Inman pointed out that Mr. Humphries' true sexual orientation was never explicitly stated, and writer David Croft declared that the character was not homosexual, but "just a mother's boy."

The series was very popular in the United States on PBS stations and on BBC America, as well as in many Commonwealth nations around the world. My various wives and I howled through much-anticipated repeat episodes, time and again. A U.S. adaptation pilot episode called Beane's of Boston aired on CBS, but it didn't make it to series. An Australian version, also called Are You Being Served?, ran for 16 episodes from 1980 to 1981 and co-starred John Inman as Mr. Humphries.

In 1977, an Are You Being Served? film was released, using the same characters and cast. It was set in the fictional Spanish resort of Costa Plonka. The film was an adaptation of a very successful stage version of the show.

Grace & Favour/Are You Being Served? Again! had the same main cast as its predecessor, plus Michael Bilton (who was priceless in Waiting for God), Billy Burden, Fleur Bennett, and others.  

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman: ‘New Street Law’ is a Dramatic English Legal Series

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Scottish actor John Hannah heads a strong cast as two competing law firms seek justice.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / September 9, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

New Street Law was a compelling, well-made Manchester, England, legal series that aired 14 episodes in 2006-2007. All 14 are on DVD and Netflix.

Handsome Scottish thespian John Hannah (Rebus and BAFTA nom for Four Weddings and a Funeral) stars as defense attorney Jack Roper, whose firm regularly contends against the crafty prosecutorial law firm headed by his former mentor, QC Laurence Scannel (Paul Freeman, who played the villain in Raiders of the Lost Ark).The series well combines humor, courtroom drama, romance, and suspense.

It was created, produced, and frequently written by former trial lawyer Matthew Hall, along with co-creator/producer G.F. Newman (who also created 2001-2007’s Judge John Deed).

Cases deal with murder, heroin possession, medical malpractice, arson, rape, child sexual molestation, and hate crimes. There are also various personal fireworks among the lawyers.

New Street Law features a very fine cast. John Thomson (BAFTA nom for Cold Feet) is very engaging as lawyer Charlie Darling. He has a clandestine relationship with a married female colleague (played by Laura Cazelet, who was harrowing as a prison denizen in Bad Girls). A droll judge is played by an actor I have long loved: Don Warrington (who received Britain’s MBE award and played in 63 Brit series). He was brilliantly hilarious in Rising Damp, which I have previously reviewed on this blog.

Other strong performers include Lisa Faulkner (Murder in Suburbia, Murdoch Mysteries), Chris Gascoyne (four noms for Coronation Street), Penny Downie (57 Brit TV serie), Jayne Ashbourne (40 series), Lee Williams (Hotel Babylon and 35 other series) and Ace Bhatti (nominated as “Villain of the Year” for Eastenders).

I recommend this excellent series. Partial episodes can be sampled for free on YouTube.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman: ‘Flight of the Conchords’ is Brilliantly Original Kiwi Musical Sitcom

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'Conchords' features inspired comedy and music parodies from gifted New Zealand folk-rock duo Jemaine Clement and Oscar winner Bret McKenzie.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / September 2, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Flight of the Conchords, available on DVD and Netflix and still airing on HBO, is one of the funniest, most original sitcoms ever. I didn’t find any complete episodes on YouTube, but here are their remarkable song spoofs from the first season.

Conchords, set in New York City, follows the comic adventures and travails of a New Zealand folk rock duo (real-life musician-singers Jemaine Clements and Bret McKenzie) who struggle to get good performing gigs, because of the incompetence of their manager, Murray (Rhys Darby). Another very funny character is their deranged only fan (and stalker), Mel, brilliantly played by The Daily Show comic Kristen Schaal.

From 2007 to 2009, 22 episodes aired on HBO. Flight of the Conchords earned 10 Emmy nominations, one win, and 10 other major noms. Emmy noms included Best Comedy Series, directing, writing (twice), best original music and lyrics (thrice) and lead actor (Clement). The pair also won a “Best Comedy Album" Grammy.

The show originated as a successful improvised 2005 BBC 2 radio series with the same name, which won them the Bronze Sony Radio Academy Award for comedy. McKenzie was music supervisor for the 2011 Muppets movie and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "Man or Muppet."

Kristen Schaal as Mel.

The show is totally written by Clement, McKenzie, and their director, James Bobin. Murray, their hapless manager, has a day job is as Deputy Cultural Attaché at the New Zealand Consulate in Manhattan. Jemaine and Bret unsuccessfully pursue hot women, while fending off the advances of their married goofy groupie/stalker Mel. Their antagonists are often Australians. One of Jemaine’s pickup lines is: “You're so beautiful, like a tree or a high-class prostitute.”

In each episode, Jemaine or Bret breaks into song, which is built into the narrative structure of the show in different ways. Typically, at least once per show, a song is shot in the form of a music video. These song parodies are in many music styles, featuring animation, special effects and great comedy. Titles include Frodo (Don’t Wear the Ring), You Don’t Have to Be a Prostitute, Fashion Danger, and Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor.

The show had a positive critical reaction. The Guardian of London called it, “the best new sitcom to emerge for YEARS.” The San Francisco Chronicle reviewer raved, “It may well be the funniest thing you’ve seen in ages.” And the Detroit Free Press scribe described it as “TV’s most original and irresistible new comic concoction.”

A Flight of the Conchords movie may be in the works.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman: ‘The Vice’ is a Gritty, Dark Cop Series About London’s Vice Squad

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From 1999 to 2003, Ken Stott headed a strong cast as a police inspector battling prostitution, pornography, and other sex crimes.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / August 20, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Veteran Detective Inspector Pat Chappel (Ken Stott) leads his team of undercover Vice Squad agents through London's seamy underworld, investigating cases of human trafficking, corruption, murder, sexual slavery, sadomasochistic filmmaking, drug trafficking, child prostitution, pedophilia, and gambling in the outstanding British crime drama The Vice.

Chappel and his team (David Harewood, Marc Warren, Rosie Marcel and Caroline Catz) often find themselves struggling to maintain normalcy in their personal lives as their work takes a toll on them.

Twenty-one gripping episodes aired between 1999 and 2003. Many are available on DVD and YouTube and three episodes are coming to Netflix. Here is an episode in which Chappel goes undercover in a prison to discover the ringleaders of a prostitution racket pimping young women to inmates and guards.

Stott was nominated for two major British awards and the show was up for “Best Drama Series." The program frequently blurs the line of the team staying on the right side of the law, as almost every member of it at different points submits briefly or permanently to the temptations of either sex, drugs, money, or honey traps -- sometimes with drastic consequences.

The regular cast was headed by the sterling Stott, who starred in the gripping Scottish cop series Rebus. The Vice’s cast also included Caroline Catz (the female lead in Doc Martin), David Harewood (SAG nom for Homeland), Marc Warren (Hustle, State of Play), Rosie Macel (Holby City), Tim Piggot-Smith (won BAFTA for Jewel in the Crown), and Anna Chancellor (BAFTA nom for The Hour).

The fine guest cast included Tim McInnerny (all four Blackadder series), Eddie Marsan (now in Ray Donovan, won nine of his10 awards and six noms for Happy-Go-Lucky), Philip Jackson (Poirot) and Corin Redgrave (A Man for all Seasons and 41 other films and series).

The Vice is exceptionally well produced, directed, and acted. I enjoyed it immensely.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman: ‘As Time Goes By’ is a Timeless British Comedy Classic

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Dame Judi Dench and deadpan Geoffrey Palmer head a very clever cast in this long-beloved series.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / August 12, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

From 1992 to 2005, the brilliant Britcom As Time Goes By ran on PBS stations for nine seasons, 67 episodes, and three specials. It is so extremely witty and adorable that my wife and I enjoyed repeat episodes four and five times!

Dame Judi Dench, who is priceless throughout the series, was nominated for a BAFTA award for “Best Comedy Performance.” More than 93.1% of viewers evaluating As Time Goes By at imdb.com gave it thumbs up -- and an incredible 45.2% rated it 10 out of 10. It was popular with all demographic groups but best with women 45 and older. In 2004, it was voted Britain’s 29th best sitcom. (See my previous Rag Blog columns for many of the other top comedies and mysteries.)

Back in the early 1950s, British Second Lieutenant Lionel Hardcastle (Geoffrey Palmer) and hospital nurse Jean Pargetter (Dench) met, fall in love, and promised to write while he was fighting in the Korean War. She never received his first letter, so each assumed the other had lost interest. Thirty-eight years later, Lionel is writing a book about his life as a coffee planter in Kenya and seeks a typist at the London secretarial agency Jean owns. After complications, they fall in love again and re-marry.

Dialogue is extremely witty, and the series is filled with endearingly screwball characters. These include Jean’s daughter (Moira Booker), her best friend and Jean’s receptionist (Jenny Funnel), Lionel’s publisher and eventual son-in-law (Philip Betterton), Lionel’s eccentric father (Frank Middlemass), his oddball wife (Joan Sims), their shipping forecast-obsessed country housekeeper (Janet Henry), their gardener (Tim Walton), Jean’s neurotic former sister-in-law (Moyra Fraser), and her dim dentist husband (Paul Chapmen). The verbal byplay between these is consistently clever and inspired.

Sims died in 2001 and Middlemass passed away in 2006; they were adorable in their As Time Goes By roles as a lively couple who marry at 85 and travel the world having outlandish adventures. One story arc involves Lionel’s attempt to write and sell to Hollywood a TV miniseries based on his romance with Jean. Others involve various romances, mysterious new neighbors, Jean meddling in everything, and the dentist accidentally declining an OBE honor.

The series was penned by gifted Bob Larbey, who wrote an earlier series (A Fine Romance) starring Dench and her husband Michael Williams.

During PBS Pledge Breaks, cast members sometimes appeared live and reminisced about the series. They once explained that the seemingly dignified Dench was a big practical joker. When a cast member had to go to the bathroom she would lead the other actors into hiding so that the actor returned to find them all gone.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman : 'Inspector Lynley Mysteries' Feature Aristocratic Police Detective

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Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small are excellent as the mismatched-but-successful crime-fighting pair.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / August 6, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries feature tall, handsome, suave Nathaniel Parker as Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Tommy Lindley, who is also the eighth Earl of Asherton, assisted by brusque working-class Sergeant Barbara Havers (Sharon Small). This odd couple solved a lot of crimes in 23 episodes broadcast from 2002 to 2008. Several are based on some of the popular 18 English mystery novels from American author Elizabeth George. You can watch one here.

In 2007, Small was nominated for the “Best Actress” Satellite Award. More than 89.5% of viewers polled at imdb.com gave the series thumbs-up. The San Francisco Chronicle called Lynley and Havers an “incomparable Scotland Yard team.”

Guest casts included many fine British character actors, including Bill Nighy (who won major awards for State of Play, Love Actually and eight other films), Jenny Agutter (won a BAFTA for Equus), Henry Cavil (Man of Steel), Jemma Redgrave (Bramwell), Richard Armitage (two award noms for MI-5 ), Honeysuckle Weeks (nom for Foyle’s War), Indira Varma (Kama Sutra) and Idris Elba (five awards and 21 noms for works including Luther and The Wire).

Lynley is the rare detective who exposes the secrets of the upper classes. The series deals with baffling crimes and his marriage, separation, and the murder of his wife.

Elizabeth George explains why there is no romance between Lynley and Havers:

The dynamic between them is not one of sexual attraction. Lynley is from a posh background with a posh voice, educated at Oxford, with a title and money. Havers is from a poor background, and she's had to fight for everything she's got. Needless to say, they have huge preconceptions about each other. What I'm interested in is how they start to discover their common ground through police work.

In the novels, Lynley is blond and Havers is plain, dumpy and too-casually dressed. Not so in the TV series.

The series aired in the U.S. on PBS’s “Masterpiece Mystery” series. In France it aired as Meurtres à l'anglaise and in Hungary as Linley felügyelő nyomoz. Netflix and DVD have 22 Inspector Lynley episodes, Netflix Instant streaming has one, and all are on YouTube.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman: ‘Not Going Out’ is an Extremely Funny British TV Sitcom

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Brilliant Lee Mack writes and stars in this truly wacky, unpredictable series.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / July 30, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Not Going Out, starring and written or co-written by standup comic Lee Mack, is a side-splitting Britcom series which has aired 44 episodes since 2006. A seventh season and two Christmas specials are coming, and Mack is talking about a film version and a live show.

It won “Best Sitcom” at the 2007 Swiss Rose d’Or Light Entertainment Festival, a 2007 Royal Television Society Award for Mack, and 2007 British Comedy Award nominations for “Best New Comedy” and “Best TV Comedy Actor” (Mack). More than 91.5% of viewers who rated it at imdb.com gave it “thumbs up,” and 28.9% gave it 10 out of 10.

The highest-rated episode (at imdb.com) is this very funny one. The series has been sold to 120 countries.

Lee plays a thirtysomething slacker who lives in a flat in London’s Docklands neighborhood and spends most of his time on his couch or hanging out in the local pub with his best friend Tim (Tim Vine). What gets him off his couch are his attempts to impress his attractive female roommate/landlady (Megan Dodds in Season 1 and Sally Bretton thereafter). Two hilariously dim characters are his cleaning lady (Miranda Hart, who now stars in the spinoff series Miranda) and Tim’s girlfriend Daisy (Katy Wix).

A lot of Not Going Out’s humor is based on word play and double entendres, delivered in a deadpan manner, which is the comedy style Mack and Vine have both used in stand-up acts.

Season 1 is on Netflix now, Season 2 is coming, and all episodes are on YouTube. I enthusiastically urge you to sample the episode linked to above. My wife and I saw it last week -- and howled with mirth.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman: ‘Jonathan Creek’ is Clever Brit Whodunnit Series Featuring an Illusionist

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Alan Davies’s character solves locked-room mysteries and many other crimes with seemingly inexplicable aspects.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / July 22, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Jonathan Creek is an extremely popular mystery TV series that so far, since 1997, has aired 32 episodes in five seasons -- four of which are available via Netflix. Most episodes can be seen for free on You Tube, including this one. More episodes are planned.

In this excellent series, eccentric illusionist Jonathan Creek (handsome, long, frizzy-haired Alan Davies) aided by a series of three female aides -- Caroline Quentino of Blue Murder, Julia Sawalha of Absolutely Fabulous, and Sheridan Smith of the outstanding recent film Quartet -- solve cases containing baffling puzzles.

Jonathan Creek contains many comic touches, some of which involve the buffoon stage magician (Stuart Milligan) Jonathan creates tricks and illusions for. The series has serious guest spots for beloved comic actors such as Joanna Lumley and Rik Mayall (who plays a canny police inspector in the episode linked above).

The series gives away how a number of magician’s tricks are done. Jonathan, who lives in a windmill in Sussex, uses lateral thinking and ingenuity to solve murders and other serious crimes. Over time the show became noticeably darker, with him investigating psychopaths, pimps, gangsters, and corrupt policemen, as opposed to the duplicitous suburbanites of earlier series.

Jonathan Creek won four major awards (including a Best Drama Series BAFTA and an honor for series writer David Renwick) and six nominations (including Davies for Most Popular Actor).

Almost overnight, the series made Davies “the thinking woman’s sex-symbol.” More than 93.3% of viewers polled at imdb.com gave it thumbs-up, and a whopping 37.8%-plus rated it 10 out of 10. It was a hit with all demographics but was liked most by females age 18 and younger.

I think you would find it a treat.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman: ‘Doc Martin’ is Quirky Brit Comedy-Drama That’s Popular Worldwide

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Martin Clunes, terrific as a crabby, small-town doc who’s afraid of blood, is supported by a wonderful cast playing loony locals.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / July 9, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Doc Martin, now shooting its sixth charming season, is popular in more than 30 countries around the world, including Slovenia and Saudi Arabia. Foreign-language adaptations have aired in Germany, France, Spain, The Netherlands, and Greece -- and Russia may be next. So far, 39 episodes have aired in the U.S. since 2004, and re-runs can often be seen on local PBS stations. Mine shows them on Saturday evenings.

Martin Clunes is Martin Ellingham (his surname’s an anagram for the name of creator Dominic Minghella), a London surgeon who develops a phobia to blood and who relocates to the picturesque Cornwall Village of Port Wenn, becoming the area’s general practitioner. He is gruff, intolerant, and rude to people, but over time he develops a relationship with, marries, and has a child with local headmistress Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz).

Martin Clunes and Caroline Catz.

The community is full of quirky, amusing characters, including a plumber-turned-restaurateur (Ian McNeice), his son (Joe Absolom), Martin’s aunts (Stephanie Cole, followed by Dame Eileen Atkins), local cops, and a series of three dippy receptionists, among others.

Doc Martin won the British Comedy Award and was nominated for 10 other honors -- eight for Clunes as Best Actor or Most Popular Actor. The series’s huge popularity may be due to its combination of character comedy and medical drama. The final episode of Season 3 attracted a massive audience of 10.37 million people.

All episodes are on DVD, Netflix, and Netflix streaming, and most are on YouTube. Here’s one. See why millions around the world love this funny, odd-ball series.

Clunes is truly delightful in Doc Martin, and as I mentioned in a previous review, he is hilarious in the wonderfully madcap TV series Reggie Perrin.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman : ‘Waking the Dead’ is an Excellent Brit Cold-Case Series

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Cops, a profiler, and a forensic scientist crack old murder cases.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / July 2, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Waking the Dead won a 2004 “Best Drama Series” International Emmy, the “Best TV Crime Program” award from Britain’s Television and Radio Industries Club, and nominations for a “Best Television Episode Teleplay” Edgar and another International Emmy.

It aired 46 two-part episodes between 2000 and 2011 over nine seasons -- five of which are currently on Netflix. It starred Trevor Eve as the head of a fictional cold case unit, Sue Johnston as its profiler, and Wil Johnson as a police officer.

In seasons 1-5 they were teamed with Holly Aird as a forensic scientist, and in seasons 1-4 Claire Goose was a police partner on the team. Others replaced the latter pair in subsequent series, including Tara Fitzgerald (Brassed Off, Sirens), who briefly headed the six-episode spinoff series The Body Farm, after Eve left the show.

The cold-case team uses new evidence, including DNA, to re-open and solve old cases. Here is an episode.

Eve’s character, Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd, is sometimes stern, angry, and unorthodox, whereas Johnston’s Dr. Grace Foley is calming and reasonable.

Episodes deal with murders, kidnapping, sexual child abuse, arson, mysterious disappearances, gangsters, and more.

Series producer Colin Wratten said about the research and grisly special effects on Waking the Dead: "With the amount of gruesome script research I've done on my BBC computer, I'm probably on every government watch list."

This is a compelling, dramatic cop series, and it had a nice long run.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman : ‘The Kumars at No. 42’ is Funny and Original British Fake Talk Show

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A side-splitting 53 episodes of this faux chat show aired from 2001 to 2006.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / June 24, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

The Kumars at No.42 is a series of extremely funny “talk shows” conducted by a fictional Anglo-Indian family who welcome 106 British and American celebrities into their home and backyard TV studio. Part of each show was brilliantly scripted, but the cast didn’t know what guest comments they’d have to spontaneously respond to. So there was lots of brilliant improvisation.

The show won International Emmy Awards in 2002 and 2003, plus three more honors and six other nominations. It ran for seven seasons and 53 episodes, from 2001 to 2006.

Kumars stars and was co-written by very talented Sanjeev Bhaskar. His fictional family was composed of his parents Madhuri and Ashwin Kumar (played by Indira Joshi and Vincent Ebrahim) and Sushila, Sanjeev's naughty grandmother (Meera Syal). They supported Sanjeev’s aspirations to host a talk show by having a TV studio built on what used to be their back garden.

Running jokes include Sanjeev's apparent social ineptitude, Grandma’s coming on to all the male guests, and Ashwin's obsession with financial matters as well as his tendency to tell long stories with no real point. A regular conceit is that the guests' appearance fees are paid in chutney.

Bhaskar said in a 2009 interview, “We never rehearsed the guests, and the best ones were those who could keep the ball in the air.” Here’s an episode.

There were three Anglo-Indian male writers on Kumars. Sadly, one of them, Sharat Sardana, died of a streptococcal infection at age 40.

Meera Syal stole the show..

Myra Syal, who stole the show each week with her hilarious antics as the randy grandmother, is a true Renaissance woman. She wrote the screenplay of the excellent film Bhaji on the Beach, she wrote Britain’s best-selling 1999 book Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee and she sang the number one record, "Spirit in the Sky," from a Kumars episode on the Comic Relief show. In 1997 she was awarded the cherished MBE in the New Year Honors, and in 2005 she married Sanjeev Bhaskar, who played her grandson on Kumars.

Guests who appeared on the show included Patrick Stewart, Cybill Shepherd, Minnie Driver, Richard E. Grant, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Fry, Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Jane Seymour, Donny Osmond, Lulu, Boy George, Tom Jones, Phil Collins, Elvis Costello, David Hasselhoff, Alan Alda, and scores of Brit celebs we never heard of.

The Kumars at No.42 aired on many international channels and in the U.S. on Comedy Central. In America there was talk of remaking the franchise, changing the family to a Mexican one called The Ortegas, but the idea was abandoned. Eighteen episodes of Kumars are on DVD and Netflix, and many episodes are on YouTube.

Previously, from1998 to 2000, Bhaskar, Syal, and Kumars co-writer Richard Pinto penned the wildly hilarious 19-episode sketch comedy series Goodness Gracious Me. In it, Syal, Bhaskar, Nina Wadia, and Kulvinder Ghir poked fun at Indians in Britain and their cultural peculiarities. Some of the outlandish sketches included a father who thinks everything comes from India, parents who tell their children that they could get everything cheaper somewhere else, teenage girls who mistakenly think boys are pursuing them, and our favorites: “Skipender the Punjabi Kangaroo.”

The two Skipender clips were segments of the popular 1967-1970 Australian kids’ show, Skippy, with a kangaroo playing the Oz equivalent of Lassie. In the parody, an Indian actor voices the roo’s thoughts, talking about drunkenness, bestiality, Henry Kissinger, and other children’s issues. When it first aired on BBC America, I would videotape the episodes and play them later for my wife, Sharon. One day she came home from work and wanted to see “Skipinder.” To her horror, I confessed that I had taped a later episode over it.

Fortunately, soon thereafter I met and befriended the then-head of BBC America and begged him to mail me copies of the two “Skipender” episodes. “Listen,” I pleaded, “since I deleted them, my marriage is hanging by a thread!” He generously mailed me 16 episodes, and as a result, two decades later I am still married to Sharon. Here is one of the “Skipender” bits.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman : Helen Mirren Won Top Awards for TV Movie Series ‘Prime Suspect’

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Mirren plays Brit cop Jane Tennison, who fights serious sexism while solving big crimes and facing personal challenges.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / June 11, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Prime Suspect is a great series of nine British TV cop movies in which my favorite actress, Helen Mirren, plays a Scotland Yard police detective who fights sexism and her own demons while leading a team that solves major crimes. It ran from1991 through 2006 and was so good that it won 28 major awards, including 12 BAFTAs, three Edgars, two Emmys and a Peabody.

Helen Mirren took 11 of her 76 major awards for this series. She earned an Oscar for The Queen, four BAFTAs, four Emmys, four SAGs and three Golden Globes, as well as 61 more nominations for works including Cal, The Madness of King George, Gosford Park, and The Last Station.

Most of the Prime Suspect movies were 3-1/2 hours long and aired on PBS’s Mystery! in two-to-four parts. Prime Suspect 4 was an exception, consisting of three separate mysteries and running slightly more than five hours total.

Technical advisor on Prime Suspect was Jackie Malton, who, when the series began, was one of only four female DCIs (Detective Chief Inspectors) in Britain. The writer of the first and third series (and the story for the second) was prominent scribe Linda La Plante, who earned the 1993 Edgar award from the Mystery Writers of America for the first one. Allan Cubbit’s teleplay for Prime Suspect 2 won the show another Edgar for “Best TV Feature or Miniseries.”

Prime Suspect was voted 68th on the British Film Institute’s list of “100 Greatest British Television Programs,” and in 2007 it was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME." All episodes are available on Netflix and YouTube.

In the first series, sexism in the workplace was a significant subplot and barrier to the investigation. Sequels tend to downplay this theme, relying on straight procedure or on other subplots -- for example, racism in Prime Suspect 2 and pedophilia, child abuse and prostitution in Prime Suspect 3.

Tennison's difficulty in achieving a balance between her work and her life outside the job as well as her difficulty in maintaining stable relationships are recurring issues. As the series progresses, she increasingly relies upon alcohol to help her cope.

The first five series were produced at a steady pace of one roughly every 18 months, until Mirren left the role to avoid typecasting. She returned to the character after a seven-year gap.

Helen Mirren.

In the first Prime Suspect, DCI Jane Tennison, who has been passed over many times, takes over the case of a rape-murder of a young woman from a fellow DCI who had a heart attack just before he's ready to charge their prime suspect. The murder squad she takes over is hostile to her; the men upstairs are eager to pull the plug on her investigation; her personal relationships suffer from her obsession with work, and the prime suspect remains elusive. This one won four BAFTAs, including one for Mirren.

In Prime Suspect 2, a body is found in the backyard of a home in an Afro-Caribbean neighborhood of London, and Tennison has to tread carefully in her investigation because of racial tension surrounding unsolved crimes in the region. Colin Salmon co-stars as a black officer with whom Tennison has an affair, and when that fact is disclosed in the media, it threatens her position. Mirren took another “Best Actress” BAFTA and the film won an “Outstanding Miniseries” Emmy.

While she is working in the vice squad targeting Soho, Tennison's Prime Suspect 3 investigation takes her into a child prostitution and pornography ring following the death of a young male hooker in the home of a female impersonator. The episode guest stars Tom Bell, David Thewlis, Ciarán Hinds, Peter Capaldi, Mark Strong, James Frain, and Jonny Lee Miller. The show won an Emmy and a BAFTA, and Mirren also won a BAFTA.

Prime Suspect 4 was three separate 102-minute episodes. The Lost Child is a sex murder that points to a convicted child molester, but Tennison, now promoted to Superintendent, uncovers links to dark deeds involving local government.In Inner Circles (see episode here), Tennison uncovers a possible political scandal when probing the murder of a country club manager. Mirren won her first-ever “Outstanding Lead Actress” Emmy for The Scent of Darkness, in which the killer from the first Prime Suspect is suspected of a series of murders.

Series 5, 6 and 7 involve a drug dealer murder, the killing of a Bosnian refugee and the slaying of a teenage girl. The latter won Emmys for Mirren, the writer, and the director.

All nine of these mysteries are truly outstanding, and Helen Mirren is consistently terrific in them.

Let me end with a personal Mirren story. Decades ago, during an L.A. concert intermission, my wife pointed out Helen Mirren, standing in the lobby with a white-bearded man who looked like singer Kenny Rogers. (He was her future husband and Oscar-winning Ray director Taylor Hackford.)

I rushed over and gushed, “Pardon me for interrupting, but I think you are the greatest actress on the planet, and I love everything you do!” Big stars hear this kind of thing a lot, but Helen was so classy that she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. Pointing to that facial part, I exclaimed: “I’ll never wash again!,” to which my wife replied,” Oh, yes you will.”

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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Alan Waldman : ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ Was One of the Greatest TV Comedy Series

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The brilliant Jennifer Saunders starred in and wrote all 39 of the episodes of this hilarious British sitcom.

By Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog / June 4, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Absolutely Fabulous is ranked as the 17th greatest British TV show of all time by the British Film Institute. Its pilot episode, "Fashion," was ranked number 47 on TV Guide's "100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time." And two episodes of AbFab (as it is commonly abbreviated) rank number 24 and number 29 on TV Guide's “Top Cult Shows Ever” list. It is very funny.

BAFTA awards have gone to Absolutely Fabulous as “Best Comedy” and to co-stars Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley. It took the 1994 International Emmy award and has won or been nominated for 20 other major honors. More than 92% of the 8,765 viewers who evaluated it at imdb.com gave it thumbs up, and 38.6% rated it 10 out of 10.

The series features Saunders as Edina Monsoon, a heavy-drinking, drug-abusing PR agent who amusingly spends her time chasing bizarre fads in a desperate attempt to stay young and "hip." Magazine editor Patsy Stone (Lumley) is her best friend and enabler; her drug abuse, alcohol consumption, and promiscuity far eclipse Edina's comparatively mild self-destructive behavior.

The cast of AbFab.

In one episode, someone mentions Keith Moon, the wacky, drugged-out drummer from The Who, and Patsy says, “I used to date him.” Someone asks, "Really?” She replies, “Well, once I woke up underneath him.”

Also in the cast are Julia Sawalha as her normal daughter, June Whitfield as her mother, and Jane Horrocks as her completely ditzy assistant, Bubble. Many British actors guested. The central joke is that Edina’s daughter is more mature and conservative than she is.

From its three debut seasons (1992-95) to its two-hour “finale,” to its fourth series (1996) through various specials to three special episodes that ran before and during the 2012 London Olympics, AbFab was always funny and outrageous. So much so that after Roseanne Barr bought the rights to it and planned to air it on CBS, starring Carrie Fisher and Barbara Carrera, the network realized that its drug use, sex references, and total over-the-toppishness were way too much for U.S. audiences, and bowed out.

Nonetheless, AbFab aired in many countries (including Portugal, Macedonia, Finland, Brazil, and Estonia) and was shown in the U.S. on basic cable’s Comedy Central, BBC America, Oxygen, and (from 2011) on a gay-oriented channel called Logo.

Five seasons (29 of the 39 total episodes) are on Netflix, and many can be enjoyed on YouTube. Here's a sample episode. A film version is allegedly planned.

[Oregon writer and Houston native Alan Waldman holds a B.A. in theater arts from Brandeis University and has worked as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Honolulu magazine. Read more of Alan Waldman's articles on The Rag Blog.]

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