Quote: moonvisage @ February 3 2010, 12:40 AM GMT

Robin Askwith played Mike as dumb, uneducated and a Stupid neanderthal numbskull, which Mike in the series was not. I personally think he was chosen for the role simply because he was famous for playing 'lads of the time' in other street-wise film roles like the Confessions films etc

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Impossible that Askwith was cast in the Bless This House movie due to his popularity from the Confessions films. Bless This House (the movie) was made two years before the first Confessions film.

Quote: moonvisage @ February 3 2010, 12:40 AM GMT

I did a bit of searching on Robin Stewart a couple of years ago and found out that he lives and works in Australia. I think, if I recall, he appeared in a sitcom (something like Sons And Daughters), but has not appeared much on TV or in films.

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Interesting that he appeared in Sons And Daughters, which was not a sitcom but a horrible soap opera. I wonder what he's up to theseadays.

Quote: James Cotter @ March 8 2010, 8:03 PM GMT

Has anyone else noticed on the DVDs that you can see the original count in and V/O usually provided by the director/producer. Sometimes you can hear Sid James make a few jokes before the recording.

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That kind of thing is included in a lot of Network releases. Often they set the 'chapter' at the beginning of the title card proper though, so you have to rewind to get to it. Studio sounds can also often be heard at ad breaks.

I love them count-down clocks.

Have been watching Bless This House for a few weeks now, I got the complete series last year. Just coming to the end of it, about 5 episodes left.

Been watching this for the first time in a while. It's brilliant. It's shit at the same time- it's low brow, unrealistic and horrendously predictable, but it's so funny aswell. Love Trevor next door.

I saw Robin Stewart popping up in the 1970 film Cromwell the other week. Made my day it did! He played the young Charles II alongside Alec Guinness as Charles I. At least he didn't have to wear a ridiculous long haired wig for the role like Sir Alec did.

The greatest sin that the film committed was ditching Anthony Jackson and Patsy Rowlands as Trevor and Betty. As good as Terry Scott and June Whitfield are, it changed the film into something else. With Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas at the helm it became too much like a Carry On film. Still one of the better sitcom to film adaptations though. Not that that is much of a compliment.

Quote: Agnes Guano @ February 18 2011, 10:52 AM GMT

The greatest sin that the film committed was ditching Anthony Jackson and Patsy Rowlands as Trevor and Betty. As good as Terry Scott and June Whitfield are, it changed the film into something else. With Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas at the helm it became too much like a Carry On film. Still one of the better sitcom to film adaptations though. Not that that is much of a compliment.

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Was very poor I thought. I'm not a massive Carry on fan (with the exception of the brilliant 'Carry on Screaming'), so felt let down by the film adaptation. Anthony Jackson was superb as Trevor. They should have just made a 'Carry On' film.

Quote: Jack Massey @ February 18 2011, 11:07 AM GMT

Was very poor I thought. I'm not a massive Carry on fan (with the exception of the brilliant 'Carry on Screaming'.

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You do have some strange tastes.

Carol Hawkins was very beautiful in the spin-off movie, and indeed an asset to British comedy in the very late 60s/early 1970s. Dammit, she even appears in the opening sacrificial scene in When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth (1970): very briefly, but it's definitely her.

I loved the animated opening credits to the mid-period Bless This House entries...very skilfully done, of old Sid.

One storyline that never rang true was a flashback sequence depicting the young Sid meeting young Jean (his future wife) in WWII France: Sid clearly looks like a 50+ year old in the wartime sequences, and not a 20-year-old!

One episode I don't have but I want to see again ends with Sid in his bed seeing a ghost-like apparition on his bedroom wall beckoning him forth: Sid simply pulls the covers up and utters 'Goodnight', turning away from the see-through ghost on the wall. Can anyone pinpoint which series this entry is from?

Quote: Rico El Vista @ February 18 2011, 11:00 PM GMT

One storyline that never rang true was a flashback sequence depicting the young Sid meeting young Jean (his future wife) in WWII France

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They actually meet just after the war, back in England on their respective routes home. That's probably my least favourite episode (Series 2, episode 6), but for different reasons.

Quote: Rico El Vista @ February 18 2011, 11:00 PM GMT

One episode I don't have but I want to see again ends with Sid in his bed seeing a ghost-like apparition on his bedroom wall beckoning him forth: Sid simply pulls the covers up and utters 'Goodnight', turning away from the see-through ghost on the wall. Can anyone pinpoint which series this entry is from?

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Sounds vaguely familiar, but doesn't sound Bless This House-y to me, and isn't ringing strong enough bells - could it perhaps be an episode of Carry On Laughing instead?

Quote: Chappers @ February 18 2011, 5:44 PM GMT

You do have some strange tastes.

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How you mean?

Quote: Aaron @ February 18 2011, 11:21 PM GMT

They actually meet just after the war, back in England on their respective routes home. That's probably my least favourite episode (Series 2, episode 6), but for different reasons.

Sounds vaguely familiar, but doesn't sound Bless This House-y to me, and isn't ringing strong enough bells - could it perhaps be an episode of Carry On Laughing instead?

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Rico El Vesta - this is a slight part of my favourite episode, entitled A Touch of the Unknown (Series 2 episode 12).

Aaron - the episode (series 2 episode 6) is one I've just watched, it's a remake of an episode of George And The Dragon titled The Court Case. As we know, Powell and Driver were infamous for recycling material. But I did quite enjoy it, nowhere near the best in the series. The episode Get Me To The Match On Time, which I think was about two episodes before it, is my favourite. Brilliant. Shit, predictable, low brow, but just so funny at the same time. Sums the series up really.

I agree that the film is one the best sitcom movies, and with Sid James in the lead role and the Carry On team producing it, who can blame them for taking the Carry On approach? Not me! It was a popular and successful formula, so maybe they did the more humble sitcom a big favour in revamping it.

Scott and Butterworth made the film funny and enjoyable to watch, as they did in Carry On Camping and Carry On Up The Khyber, probably the two best Carry Ons made, so their inclusion in the Bless This House movie was a big lift for it. Without them, it wouldn't have been half as good. IMO. Also Robin Askwith, another cast change, was just as vital. The only sitcom actor that didn't need changing was Sid James. Movies are different things to TV sitcoms, you often need the bigger actors for the bigger screen. They all made the film great to watch in my eyes, I doubt I'd be saying that with the puny TV cast.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ February 19 2011, 11:28 AM GMT

I agree that the film is one the best sitcom movies, and with Sid James in the lead role and the Carry On team producing it, who can blame them for taking the Carry On approach? Not me! It was a popular and successful formula, so maybe they did the more humble sitcom a big favour in revamping it.

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I'm sure that's what they thought that they were doing.

Quote: Jack Massey @ February 19 2011, 4:27 AM GMT

Rico El Vesta - this is a slight part of my favourite episode, entitled A Touch of the Unknown (Series 2 episode 12).

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Yes that sounds like the one. The episode features Robin Askwith playing a friend of Mike.

I love Bless This House. It's such a great comedy show. Even now watching the show, it's still as ground-breaking.