The first (but certainly not the last) time that
Harold tries to get away on holiday on his own, and the primary emphasis is on
the drama of the situation, rather than any silly bits of fun that might be
found in it. Although that fun does include one of Galton & Simpson's greatest
exchanges, when Albert leafs through Harold's holiday brochures:
ALBERT: Hey, look at it! It's all falling to bits!
HAROLD: That happens to be the Acropolis.
ALBERT: The what?
HAROLD: The Acropo... Ain't you never 'eard of it? That's famous, that is. The four horsemen of the Acropolis! Legendary.
But its largely tragedy, watching Albert block
Harold's fortnight in Saint-Tropez through guilt (feebly - "I'll see you
in the morning... God willing") and deception, reaching a comic peak with
his martyred rejection of Harold's generous gift of £15 to go on a coach
holiday - "Don't waste your money on me, Son. Spend it on your new
friends".
Speaking about Comedy Playhouse: The Offer, Ray Galton said, “I think we have written a little piece of Pinter here and we couldn’t possibly repeat it”. Happily they did repeat it - watching this alongside of Pinter's 1960 Armchair Theatre play A Night Out shows that there's nothing hubristic about the connection. Both use the intimacy and closeness of studio television to show the oppressiveness of living with an overbearing parent. In the same way that the viewer sees a huge close-up of Tom Bell's exhausted, fuming, face but hears a continual stream of complaints from Madge Ryan in A Night Out, in The Holiday the viewer stays in the room with Harold, posing in front of a mirror in holiday clothes with him, but having to listen to Albert's cries and moans from upstairs. Both sons even consider violence with whatever object comes to hand, be that a clock or - in Harold's case - a harpoon gun.
This is the last episode of the first series, and Harold gets given his starkest moment of self-knowledge yet, when Colin Douglas' doctor tells him that the old man isn't to be upset and that he'll have to go to Bognor with Albert once again this summer:
Speaking about Comedy Playhouse: The Offer, Ray Galton said, “I think we have written a little piece of Pinter here and we couldn’t possibly repeat it”. Happily they did repeat it - watching this alongside of Pinter's 1960 Armchair Theatre play A Night Out shows that there's nothing hubristic about the connection. Both use the intimacy and closeness of studio television to show the oppressiveness of living with an overbearing parent. In the same way that the viewer sees a huge close-up of Tom Bell's exhausted, fuming, face but hears a continual stream of complaints from Madge Ryan in A Night Out, in The Holiday the viewer stays in the room with Harold, posing in front of a mirror in holiday clothes with him, but having to listen to Albert's cries and moans from upstairs. Both sons even consider violence with whatever object comes to hand, be that a clock or - in Harold's case - a harpoon gun.
This is the last episode of the first series, and Harold gets given his starkest moment of self-knowledge yet, when Colin Douglas' doctor tells him that the old man isn't to be upset and that he'll have to go to Bognor with Albert once again this summer:
HAROLD: So I'm trapped, that's what it amounts to,
don't it? I'm trapped... I'm doomed to be a nursemaid to him all my life.
DOCTOR: I wouldn't put it like that... after all, we're all trapped by something or other. We all have responsibilities... one day you'll be old yourself.
HAROLD: Yeah, but I've been looking after him all my life. I ain't had time to get married and have kids to look after me... (shocked)... I WILL be on my own.
DOCTOR: I wouldn't put it like that... after all, we're all trapped by something or other. We all have responsibilities... one day you'll be old yourself.
HAROLD: Yeah, but I've been looking after him all my life. I ain't had time to get married and have kids to look after me... (shocked)... I WILL be on my own.
Happy summer holidays, viewers!
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