Next to 'Tomkinson's Schooldays', this is my favourite 'Ripping Yarns' episode. 'Sir Clive Chiddingfold' ( the wonderful Frank Middlemass ) and 'Lady Chiddingfold' ( Isabel Dean ) have a family get together one weekend at Moorstones Manor. Their sons are the car-obsessed 'Hugo' ( Palin ) and his bounder of a brother 'Charles' ( Also Palin ), the latter being responsible for the murder of 'Aunt Mabel' ( though we never find out why ). Hugo dumps his wife 'Dora' ( Candace Glendenning ) en route and arrives at the manor alone, while Charles's wife 'Ruth' ( Ann Zelda ) wants whisky but keeps being offered Bovril. Then the deaths begin, and the first to go is Sir Clive himself...
A wonderfully funny half-hour, bolstered by a first-rate supporting cast. Middlemass' torture-obsessed 'Sir Clive' is reminiscent of Trevor Howard's 'Sir Henry At Rawlinson End', while Dean affects the right blend of sweetness and light as his wife. Special mention must go to the late Harold Innocent as the devoted butler 'Manners'. Iain Cuthbertson's 'Doctor' does not show up until late in the story, but he's worth waiting for, trying to seduce Lady Chiddingfold and complaining about his 'cheap upper lip'. But its Palin's show throughout. His 'Charles' is a fabulous Woosterish character, stuck-up, referring to his mother as 'Mumsy' and father as 'Dadsie Pie' while plotting to do away with his family to inherit the Chiddingfold estate.
Funniest moment - alone with Hugo's corpse, Charles' rifle goes off. He explains to his mother that he was cleaning it and it went off by accident, the bullets hitting Hugo. "But Hugo's already dead!", she points out. "Yes, I know!", says Charles, casually, "Lucky thing!".
Second funniest moment - the Peckinpah-inspired climax!
Produced by Terry Hughes.
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