Reviews

I know nothing about fixing cars but love this show. Gus and Will are totally likeable and I could watch this all day.

Three series in, please can we have more Flipping Bangers! Why this isn't on mainstream Channel 5 in the UK is beyond me, this is so much better than Wheeler Dealers, as the two guys Gus and Will come across as genuinely nice and knowledgeable guys, plus you want them to do well.

A truly enjoyable car show even for the layman with zero knowledge of how to fix cars. I'm sure that using a rattle can to do resprays might cause upset among the car industry but so what? Gus and Will are top blokes sharing their knowlege! More Flipping Bangers please!

This was very good to begin with, but the moderb need to include lesbian scenes was totally pointless and unnecessary. The final two episodes or this became silly and I only watched to find out whodunnit. Clara Ruggard is great in this but where do you with Neve after 8 episodes, other than her become the new Marty Hopkirk character helping her father solve up north crimes? Clara Ruggard did a great job but the script fizzled out like a damp squib aftee episode 6. Worth a watch once solely for a top performance by Ms Ruggard as the lead.

For old-school Paul Temple fans this is a marmite version of the show i.e. You'll either love it or hate it. If you were a fan of Paul Temple on the radio this will probably not be your cuppa tea. That said, if you don't know the original, and love 60s and 70s British cult TV, you'll love it!

Personally I am in the other camp - for me this is a standalone show which should probably be thought of as its own thing rather than the Temple you know from the radio. This is a fantastic bit of cult British TV with Francis Matthews jetting off to different places, particuarly in series 2 and 3. A must see for fans of similar shows from the period.

Each week Temple end ups in some sort of mystery that needs solving and by pestering around looking for clues, he'll often come up with who did it. For me this is on a par with Columbo, but with the styles and fashions of the 60s in 70s just with better locations. If you like ITC shows from this period you are going to love this one too.

There is a mix of studio and on location filming and unlike many ITC shows from the period, Temple is really in the places he says he is, jetting off to Munich, Amsterdam and Stockholm This is classic cult TV and if you're an ITC show fan, this is definitely for you. RIP Francis Matthews, a super actor.

I watched this film recently - oh what a disaster! What the point of this is I have no idea. The first part of the film concentrates on the the band Billy Beethoven where as the second part concentrates on their girlfriends who are not allowed to travel to Spain with them.

The start of the film has two songs, one played by Billy Beethoven themselves who have Graham Bonnet on vocals and lead guitar (later the singer with Rainbow, MSG and Alcatrazz) shortly followed by the 1970s 50s tribute band Showaddywaddy. A painfully slow start leads to the band returning to inform their girlfriends that they cannot come with them on the Spanish tour. Quite obviously Graham Bonnet was not deemed good enough to have a speaking part in this film as he says nothing for the whole duration of the film! Bonnet looks nothing like he did in Rainbow in this film!

The inclusion of the final 30 second sequence which features the girls silently arguing with a dustman (a non-speaking role from Edward Woodward, the only part of the film to feature him) is a total mystery. This has nothing to do with rest of the poor story then the credits role!

The only good thing about this film was Arthur Mullard and his wife! If you haven't seen it, don't worry, you have not missed much!

This comedy genius that is John Sparkes. This show takes the character of Frank Hovis, who has previously been played by John Sparkes and introduces him as an alcoholic game show host. At time of writing there have been two series of the show (the first has Frank slightly more smartly dressed than in series 2) and it has only been shown via BBC 2W, the satellite version of BBC2 intended for Welsh viewers.

Each week, three famous contestants (normally in some way associated with Wales: rugby players, Welsh TV presenters etc.) battle it out against 3 members of the public answering sometimes ridiculous and crude questions from Frank Hovis and his female assistant, Sophia Gardens. The town of ridicule in this show is Rhyl, about which Frank makes at least 4 or 5 jokes a week. His previous character of Barry Welsh from "Barry Welsh is Coming" joked only a weekly basis about Fishguard.

This is a very funny show and it definitely worth watching if you can get a chance. Despite the jokes often being very crude indeed (this is often branded toilet humour), this show is extremely funny and a must see.

On the face of it, the title of this film, and the fact that Robin Askwith is in it, suggests that this film is typical of most 70s films that Askwith appears in: brief nudity, poor plot, simply an excuse to show semi-naked women. Don't be fooled, it is actually better than that and this was not what I was expecting.

This film does have two very brief moments of nudity and Askwith jumping into bed but there is certainly no 'romping' and this film has a half-decent storyline, with very little slapstick humor. The story is not based on Askwith getting his wicked way, but rather, it mixes the desires and frustrations of soldiers forced to stay an extra six months at war when they want to go home with the harsh realities of war and this film does has scenes of sadness in it too and is certainly one (if not two) better than the 'Confessions' films - this is a more rounded film with a decent story.

Excellent performances from the supporting cast: George Layton, Nigel Davenport, John Le Mesurier, Edward Woodward (whose character Sgt Wellbeloved is not all what he makes out to be) and Warren Mitchell as Morris Morris (with a very funny Welsh accent).

A mixture of good humor and sadness - worth watching if you have a spare 87 minutes!

Edward Woodward is in fine form as the dubious MI6 operative Michael Royston. With a great cast (including the late Denholm Elliot), this is a must see TV film from the late 1980s.

Not too packed with action scenes, but when it comes it is good. There is also a considerable amount of violence in this, making it a film for the faint hearted to avoid. The only slightly questionable thing is that all the Russians in central Moscow seem to be speaking English to one another - that aside, this is definitely worth watching and it is a British spy classic full of espionage and betrayal which sadly seems set to stay in the archives. Catch it if you can!

For fans of the original series of "Callan" this is disappointing. It is of course, fantastic to see Edward Woodward and Russell Hunter working together again but the very poor plot, stiff acting in parts and absolutely terrible incidental music makes this a poor effort overall I think.

Hugh Walters is very good as the new Hunter and George Sewell is also a great addition to this one off. Felicity Harrison plays the new Liz, albeit only for a few minutes. There are very few action scenes in this and is focused mostly on the life of Callan since leaving his old job and the sub-plot surrounding Callan's landlady is actually pretty dire.

Overall, it is worth seeing if you are a Callan and/or Edward Woodward fan, simply to find out what happened to the hero, but don't be surprised if you are disappointed by this episode - a great shame, but it is understandable why this is unlikely to shown again.

The video release of this title plays on the fact that it stars Barry Morse, who has lived in Canada for quite some time. The production of this film is very dated and on video looked more like a documentary in parts. Although the principle of the story is very good I can't help but feel I wish I hadn't spent the 1 hour and 15 minutes watching this, Barry Morse is hardly in it and the ending is dreadful. Over the end titles we get a spoken list of people who have died from poisonous gases and although this is indeed an extremely important issue the scene that follows is that "this story and its characters are entirely fictitious" making the whole thing seem a waste of time.