A Comedy On This Day: Thick As Thieves - Holy Deadlock (20 July 1974)

  The final episode particularly demonstrates why, despite its superb pedigree, this series is such a disappointment.

 It's never really sure what the joke is and where the emotional heart of the premise lies. How are we supposed to feel about George, Stan and Annie's unusual arrangement? It often doesn't seem to matter very much until someone remembers it. More to the point, how do three characters themselves feel about it? There's no strong bond of love-hate between the two friends, they just seem to sort of half-heartedly accept each other except for on odd occasions when the comedy requires one of them to be in a bad mood.

 Are they supposed to be inept criminals or unfortunate ones? Oughtn't the viewer to have the feeling that something is at stake if they try to go straight or return to crime? The more one thinks about it, the flimsier it seems - the exact opposite of the experience of watching Clement & La Frenais' other series.

 More thought has gone into the set design for the gangster's flat that George and Stan burgle in this episode, an elegant space filled with vulgar furnishings - leopard skin-styled sofa and zebra-patterned waterbed, shown via a surprising overhead shot that represents the experience of the friends looking at their reflections in the mirrored ceiling.

 The best thing about this series is it's opening credits, a tiny film in four shots, with each section full of little detail that rewards repeated viewing; the terraced street with the tower blocks looming behind; Annie, George and Stan walking through the market, each carrying a bag of shopping, George eating an apple, offering the fruit to Stan and then losing his balance when he has a second bite; a partially demolished house on a bed of rubble with a burning brazier, inside which we can see into the old, wallpapered rooms where two workmen are taking up the first floor floorboards; the tower block again, panning down its many floors to reveal the three leads sat on a wall in front of the building, their heads craned to look up at the top floor - they turn round to face forwards and George kisses Annie, who is then kissed by Stan while George turns away in a huff.

 All this is soundtracked by a Mike Hugg theme, of the same ilk as Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? and it's subsequent film theme. The arrangement and singing sounds very 1974 to my ears, like Hudson Ford, say:

Some of us are like most of us
We do the best we can
We make ends meet
and we live on the street
where they're pulling the houses down (down down)

But life's just making do, my love
We'll just have to see it through, my love
And if three have to live like two, my love
we'll do the best we can

 There's a neat use of a mandolin a la 'Maggie May' in this piece. You don't initially take much notice of the female voice that doesn't join in until the second line, but then you remember her when you hear the song performed again as a duet over the end credits.

 Would that so much craft and care had gone into the rest of the programme.