Bargain Basement Birthday. Daphne Fawkes-Bentley is throwing a swanky fancy dress party for her big day, and everyone including her pet parrot Miguel is invited. Unfortunately, a malfunctioning door to the cellar leads to increasing numbers of our regulars missing out on the fun. This episode was first broadcast on Tuesday, 9th February, 1999.
There's a lot of love round these parts for recurring guest star Elizabeth Estensen, having been the original T-Bag and all that, and she's on tip-top form in this. The way she goes from nought to convinced she's dying the instant she realises she's trapped, but even then continues to get gradually crazier - fantastic! (Have I ever mentioned Elizabeth as Marmalade Atkins's wet-behind-the-ears social worker? She's brilliant in that, and it's a Thames children's show which pre-dates T-Bag, so I wonder whether that helped her land the starring role.)
Elsewhere, there are some very funny gags - the alopecia and 'It's just the way the jacket hangs' lines are personal highlights, but there are many more subtle ones - plus we get to see inside next door for the first time, not to mention Katy all done up like Princess Leia. But on the whole this is a great example of a less-zany late episode of the show, perhaps partly because Angelo isn't too prominent. In fact, it brings to mind that episode of Bottom when they get stuck on the roof or that Red Dwarf when two of them get marooned on that ice planet - lots of good comedy and character, with plenty of room to breathe.
Look out at the beginning for a full ad break (featuring John Cleese, no less), plus some extended Children's ITV continuity presented by Danielle Nicholls and Ben Jones - the latter of whom also co-presented a The Top 10 of Everything around this time. (Thanks to Stu in the comments for that info.) Joining them in the studio is Nimmy March, a.k.a. The Lady Naomi Anna Gordon-Lennox according to Wikipedia, talking about her role in Whizziwig - a credit which seems to have been obliterated from her IMDB entry, incidentally. There's another show, though, that's very thin on the ground these days.
Many thanks to Lee for providing this recording.
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24 авг 2024