The first episode of
series ten and the 1990 production date and summer broadcast suggests
that ITV no longer saw this programme as much of an asset... It's been a good
ten years since an episode written by (series creator) Peter Tilbury, and Hywel
Bennett is the only element left from the programme that it started out as.
Shelley is more of an everyman discontented middle-aged man than the
distinctive (unemployable graduate) character he once was, and the show now
seems as much interested in Shelley's landlord, Ted (David Ryall).
The entire first act of Andy Hamilton's script is a two-handed scene of Shelley and Ted at home, in which Ted persuades Shelley that he ought to take swimming lessons. Its very loosely structured and nothing much seems at stake. I could really have done with a bit more emotional impetus to engage me in this. You get the impression that both men are a bit bored and filling in time, and that Andy Hamilton is pleased to display his virtuosity in keeping an inconsequential scene spinning for over ten minutes.
Things perk up slightly in the second act with some OB scenes of Shelley splashing about in a swimming pool and making some friends on the course - most interestingly, Samantha Beckinsale as a hydrophobic actress who's been cast as a mermaid in a film. But as soon as Shelley makes these new friends they then melt away disappointingly at the end of the episode, for reasons of expedience rather than pathos.
The entire first act of Andy Hamilton's script is a two-handed scene of Shelley and Ted at home, in which Ted persuades Shelley that he ought to take swimming lessons. Its very loosely structured and nothing much seems at stake. I could really have done with a bit more emotional impetus to engage me in this. You get the impression that both men are a bit bored and filling in time, and that Andy Hamilton is pleased to display his virtuosity in keeping an inconsequential scene spinning for over ten minutes.
Things perk up slightly in the second act with some OB scenes of Shelley splashing about in a swimming pool and making some friends on the course - most interestingly, Samantha Beckinsale as a hydrophobic actress who's been cast as a mermaid in a film. But as soon as Shelley makes these new friends they then melt away disappointingly at the end of the episode, for reasons of expedience rather than pathos.
The experience as a whole is one of watching a
character comedy that has lost its sense of character.
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