Remembering Kenneth Cope’s immaculate ‘Marty’ Mr Hopkirk – aka Kenneth Cope – is, sadly, deceased. Again. Though this time at the ripe old age of 93, instead of cut-off-in-his-prime. As a kid I loved the 1969 ITC produced UK detective show he is best known for, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), about two private… Read More »Randall & Hopkirk (Redux)
Columbo meets an early pro-sporno Having given up on Netflix and the 21st Century, I’ve been watching Columbo – Amazon Prime Video have the first seven seasons (1971-8), gloriously restored, and digitally remastered in HD. Always a high-production value show, it can now be appreciated as never before – in detail. I love Columbo because there’s… Read More »The Curious Case of the Killer Buttocks
Last week, on Christmas Day, for old times’ sake – which there seems to be rather a lot of in my middle age – I watched on BBC2 a recently rediscovered early episode of Morecambe & Wise from 1970, which had previously been thought ‘lost‘. British comedy duo Eric Morecambe… Read More »Newlyweds, Oldlyweds, & the Lost ‘Innocence’ of Morecambe & Wise
This year is the 25th anniversary of the launch of the much-loved UK sitcom Father Ted. This unpublished interview with writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews – in which I pointed out how many priests drop dead in their hit sitcom – was commissioned by Deluxe magazine in February 1998.… Read More »How I Killed Father Ted
I’ve snobbishly held out against the sun-damaged charms of ITV’s package holiday sitcom Benidorm, set in the ‘all inclusive’ Hotel Solana, for several series. But the sixth one – which sadly this week pours the sand out of its shoes and packs its bags for another year – had me… Read More »“You’re As Camp as a Brighton Bus Queue!” – The Bon Mots of Benidorm