For a programme into
its eighth and final series, It Ain't Half Hot Mum was still in very
good shape in 1981. We're up to 1945 and in Burma now, but the only historical
note is when L.C. Reynolds admonishes Sergeant Williams, "Steady on,
Sergeant Major. We've got a Labour government now. They make a fuss about all
sorts of things, you know."
Watching a popular regular acting highly out of character always makes for an interesting episode of a long-running sitcom, and this week Bombardier Beaumont suddenly becomes butch and courageous. This transformation comes from a bang on the head caused by a coconut falling from a tree. The filmed sequence of the hungry troops trying to get the coconuts down was what amused me most when I watched the original broadcast as an eight year old. These days I'm preoccupied with thinking, "Why don't you just try shaking the tree first?"
There are three simultaneous sources of interest for a regular viewer in stories like this. How does this programme work when our expectations of a character are reversed? This new butch Beaumont really is horrible to his friends - "You poofs! Dressing up as tarts - You nasty little pervert, Sugden" - and you realise that it would be a grim concert party if he stayed like this. His effete qualities become particularly valued once they go missing.
There's also a raised awareness of performance - how would Melvyn Hayes play a tough guy? As it turns out, rather like Victor Maddern. The surprise factor just about carries it off, but you can see why you wouldn't ever cast him as a brute.
And the third source of interest is in how and when the situation is going to revert to normal. In this episode it comes right at the end when a badge for valour is pinned on the Bombardier and the prick makes him faint. After a few scenes of the order of things being disrupted, it makes for a happy ending for regular viewers, reminding them of things that they like about the programme's ensemble.
Watching a popular regular acting highly out of character always makes for an interesting episode of a long-running sitcom, and this week Bombardier Beaumont suddenly becomes butch and courageous. This transformation comes from a bang on the head caused by a coconut falling from a tree. The filmed sequence of the hungry troops trying to get the coconuts down was what amused me most when I watched the original broadcast as an eight year old. These days I'm preoccupied with thinking, "Why don't you just try shaking the tree first?"
There are three simultaneous sources of interest for a regular viewer in stories like this. How does this programme work when our expectations of a character are reversed? This new butch Beaumont really is horrible to his friends - "You poofs! Dressing up as tarts - You nasty little pervert, Sugden" - and you realise that it would be a grim concert party if he stayed like this. His effete qualities become particularly valued once they go missing.
There's also a raised awareness of performance - how would Melvyn Hayes play a tough guy? As it turns out, rather like Victor Maddern. The surprise factor just about carries it off, but you can see why you wouldn't ever cast him as a brute.
And the third source of interest is in how and when the situation is going to revert to normal. In this episode it comes right at the end when a badge for valour is pinned on the Bombardier and the prick makes him faint. After a few scenes of the order of things being disrupted, it makes for a happy ending for regular viewers, reminding them of things that they like about the programme's ensemble.
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