The FX are astounding and completely convincing. I love the way they casually edited in Oscar winner Olivia Colman as a a bit of cheeky showing off by the post-production team.
Wow! I remember this because I was in the audience. I'm the cool, handsome dude with the long hair. Had a pint with Prince Charles afterwards. It was a bit awkward as we got drunk in a pub called the King's Head! Tried to avoid mentioning the English Civil War. I think I mentioned it once but got away it as someone shouted jug ears at Charles.
The costuming is spot on. Olivia Coleman's Polly Perkins coloured tights and that Emanuels inspired dress with all the furbelows are uncannily on trend for 1981-2. Josie D'Arby's pinafore dress, piecrust collar and pussy bow is pretty good too. Still the best realisation of this era that I have seen.
The DVD takes the brilliant production values even further - the subtitles look exactly like the old Teletext ones, and there's a 'Pages from Ceefax' extra which mimics what used to play on BBC1 & BBC2 after the channels closed down for the night (albeit with predictably out-there headlines, and also a flawless guitar accompaniment from Mr. Popper).
I remember watching this when it first aired in 1981. Back then, the idea of a "sex change machine" seemed ridiculous, and we never imagined there would be a cure for Cobbles. It's also strange to see Prince Charles here without his beard.
I have ALWAYS been amused with Look Around You. Since I saw clip about computers that showed very old dos computer displaying LOOK AROUND YOG. Can’t find it any more but there are really funny.
When I first saw this, I thought they really got Prince Charles to do the episode. I'm American, so I didn't know the prince was actually a lot older than this.
No that looks like 70s Charles to me. They just took clips of him saying generic stuff from an actual speech, then when they wanted something specific to 'Look Around You' that he obviously never said, they cut away. I think all the voice is an actor though, just synched with his mouth movements for the parts where the camera's on him. Splicing him into the actual scene visually was done really well!
Yes, the editing is even smarter than the effects work, and that's pretty much seamless. It's Serafinowicz doing the (typically uncanny) impression, by the way.
Everything about this is clever. I love how they recreated the trophy to exactly match the one Sir Prince Charles held, and showed it every week in anticipation of this episode. This made it even more believable to see it actually being handled by his highness, Charles II.
