"Whilst Beryl is a die-hard Everton football fan, Sandra's newest boy-friend Joe supports Liverpool so the battle lines are drawn." A moderate amount of fun in hindsight can be derived from the Everton-rubbishing Joe being played by (future Toffees Chairman) Bill Kenwright, but I'm clutching at straws with this episode.
Another non-Carla Lane episode by David Pursall and Jack Seddon, its fair to describe this as a problematic text. Their idea of representing women's experience in this episode is to set up a 'battle of the sexes' works football match, with much sport made from - tee hee! - these ditzy girls being able to run or kick a ball. The script isn't helped by only two of these women footballers being given lines, and the match ends with the uncomfortable image of goalkeeper Nerys Hughes weeping into her net (played entirely for laughs and not for pathos, which at least could be dramatically interesting).
The only person who comes out of this well is Ronnie Hazlehurst, who contributes two suites of incidental music that are worth listening out for. The hapless team's training is underscored by a woodwind arrangement incorporating motifs from 'We Shall Not Be Moved' and 'Nice One Cyril'. The match itself is even better, with a fanfare medley of 'Glory Glory', 'We Are The Champions', 'Match Of The Day' and 'Blue Is The Colour' followed by some Hazlehurst tropicália for the game, incorporating LE approximations of a funk bassline and salsa rhythms.
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