A Comedy On This Day: George & The Dragon - Table Manners (24 June 1967)

 A particularly loosely-structured episode this week, with not much happening in the first half until George and Gabrielle decide - on a whim and for no good reason - to start a 'battle of the sexes' contest, to determine who has the greater willpower by going without food for the longest.

 The highlight of the first act is a very simple, almost music hall, routine of Sid James and Keith Marsh doing the washing up. This works through the viewer following a disrupted right-to-left rhythm, with Marsh perpetually returning the same cleaned plate to the pile of dirty dishes, meaning that James never makes any progress. Although the first thing that you think of when someone mentions Sid James is his dirty laugh and a hangdog expression, when I watch him in these sitcoms I'm often struck by how physically nimble a performer he was. There's a lovely fastidious movement in the washing up routine when he is repeatedly about to hand the plate to Marsh but pauses and brings it back to scour again.

 Realisation of the competition is quite ambitious and sophisticated. Most of the second act is taken up with solo routines for the light-headed and food-fixated James and Mount in their bedrooms, complete with voice overs ("sausages... eggs... bacon") and visual mixes of their hungry faces superimposed over a mobile point-of-view shot of an imagined surreptitious visit to the kitchen and opening the fridge door. I was interested to see what was stored in the Maynard household's refrigerator - a cold roast chicken, a joint of beef, sausages, a gala pie and two packets of butter. The four of them get through a lot of meat!

A Comedy On This Day: George & The Dragon - The Old Flame (17 June 1967)

 An old flame of Colonel Maynard's from thirty years ago returns to England from Australia, having accepted his proposal by post.

 This episode is a good example of a sitcom with modest ambitions that are achieved exceptionally well. Importantly, something of genuine significance is at stake over the 25 minutes, the Colonel's emotional well being and the servants' position. The guest role of the childhood sweetheart, Priscilla (Sonia Dresdel), isn't given much time to form a well-rounded character, but instead is realised as a creation of almost Dickensian cruelty, making impossible demands of the staff ("I don't bandy works with the working classes!") behind the Colonel's back.

 The chief reason for the success lies in the top-drawer casting. Unlike a lot of star vehicles, real thought and care has been given into giving the performers things to do that suit their talents, remain in character and have something emotionally real at stake. So the Colonel puts John Le Mesurier's crumpled suaveness to good use - looking dapper but anxious when awaiting the his lover's return, beautifully turned out but wearing odd shoes, charmingly gallant when she arrives, very politely vexed when he realises that he's made a terrible mistake. Sid James' chauffeur doesn't have so much to do this week, but what he's been given is well judged - rude enough not to curry favour with the viewer, but loyal enough to persuade us that he's on the right side.

 The heart of the piece lies with Peggy Mount's housekeeper, radiantly happy at the Colonel's romantic story before Priscilla arrives, rapturously embracing a coat hanger, elegantly arranging flowers. And then, once Priscilla turns out to be a monster, the only character able or prepared to stand up to her, an outcome that combines convincing character traits with skills that the performer was supremely good at.

A Comedy On This Day: George & The Dragon - Big Deal (17 February 1968)

  Even somewhat lax plotting from Powell and Driver can't mar the cheerful glow of this always-enjoyable programme. If I were a chauffer and a scrapyard had accidentally collected my employer's Bentley rather than the old banger that they were meant to buy for £50, the first thing that I'd do would be to phone them up! Although then there wouldn't be any hilarious consequences...

 Peggy Mount really was something of a wonder as a performer - knowing how to be funny but always seeming true, even when given the weakest generic battle-axe material. There's a long (and rather dull on the page) scene of the three servants relating George's financial dire straits to the national economy (devaluation - a rare moment of topicality) which becomes actively pleasurable to watch simply by having Mrs Dragon mixing a cake and doing the washing up during it.