parkomatty

Although his work on other things such as Monty Python and A Fish Called Wanda are incredible, nothing beats the genius of his writing and performing skills in this rather amazing sitcom! What amazes me is that the vulgar character of Basil Fawlty was NOT a thought up character, but he did actually exist in real life. And what was even more surprising was that the BBC thought that the pilot script was so bad that it would never become a remembered thing on TV...well...look at where the show stands now, eh? It's classed as one of the best sitcoms in television history.

Basil is played at an outstanding rate by John Cleese as is the supporting cast of Prunella Scales as the "nest of vipers" wife Subil, Connie Booth as the faithful and reliable waitress Polly and, of course, Andrew Sachs as the hopelessly dim and hard of understanding Spanish waiter, Manuel.

Clearly the show has many classic moments, but for me, there are four things that stand out. One, the scene where Basil beats up his car with a large branch, two, his impression of a German Soldier, three, his struggle to get the corpse out of the hotel and finally, the deaf old woman who complains about the room. Although each episode itself contains side achingly funny situations that still seem original today in spite the fact that it was made back in the mid/late 70s.

Like most people, the sad feeling is that only 12 episodes were ever made. Not even a Christmas special was made. Might have been interesting to see what Christmas life in Fawlty Towers would have been like. Maybe Basil's Christmas is anything but relaxing with his henpecking wife at him all the time, Manuel burns the turkey, Polly runs off with one of the guests perhaps...many ideas for a final 13th episode. LOL! The writing is excellent, the performances are excellent, the setting is excellent, the episodes are excellent...clearly an excellent piece of British TV situation comedy.

For people who hasn't seen this, you'll probably be shocked by the scenes in this compared to Disney's charming classic. The poor kid gets tormented, taking advantage of and worst of all, abused physically. I think within 50 minutes of this film, only one character shows sympathy towards him, a mermaid named Gloria (was she in the original story)???

The most frightening scene for me has to be when Pinocchio climbs "Devil's Mountain" and he spills into a deep pit of icicles where he suddenly freezes up within less than three seconds and somehow manages to free himself with a few drops of tears.

However, the storyline is original, the characters are well designed and the heart is there. The downsides are its cast of voices, there are about a hundred different plots compared to the original story (going back to Gloria the mermaid) and the character of Pinocchio cries at least once in every scene (going back to him crying in every scene).

But this always entertained me as a child, strangely enough, and still does today. For people who remember this as a child, it is a treat, for others, you might be disappointed.

The stage musical has always stunned me which is why there was no doubt that I would NOT be disappointed at all by the film adaptation which I have seen three times. The only film I have seen in a cinema more than once in my life! And just when you think Tom Hooper couldn't do better in his career with The King's Speech, this is another masterpiece in the gallery of his career.

Hugh Jackman is outstanding as Jean Valjean, as is Anne Hathaway as Fantine and Russell Crowe as Javert (who surprisingly can sing, not in it's original key, but still does not kill the fantastic song "Stars").

The plot is not entirely the same as the stage musical and songs are not in their original order, but bloody hell, it still works magnificently! The music is astonishing, had me choked up from the classic overture onwards and the new song "Suddenly" came out of nowhere, but it managed to touch me instead of saying "well that song ruined it all". It didn't...AT ALL! The supporting characters are splendid and Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter are superb as the Thenadiers. Even Colm Wilkinson's cameo as the Bishop is memorable for obvious reasons...being superb as well as being known for the West End and Broadway's original Jean Valjean.

The ending had to be the most perfect ending to any film musical. Seeing the dead characters happily in their new world on a bigger, better barricade! The must-see film of the year and the film to win Best Picture Oscar this year for countless reasons.

I have always been a massive fan of Ronnie Barker, but Porridge, like so many people including himself, agree that Porridge was special and unique. Turning an un-funny situation into a sitcom where EVERY episode was a no disappointment. The funniest sitcom Britain has ever produced for television.

As well as Ronnie Barker's magnificent performance as Fletcher, there's also the sadly short lived Richard Beckinsale who plays Lennie Godber splendidly, a magnificent Mr Mackay portrayed by Fulton Mackay and Mr Barrowclough, played perfectly by Brian Wilde.

The episode, "A Night In", was definitely unique for being one of the few sitcoms to set an entire episode in just one scene with limited characters and this case, it was set in a very small cell with only two people and a prison officer (who pops in and pops out and the beginning and towards the end of the episode).

Surprised that it only came 7th in the BBC pool, Britain's Best Sitcom, true Only Fools and Horses is a classic comedy also, but it has been repeated countlessly which is why it is hard to ever forget it whereas Porridge I have hardly seen been repeated on either BBC1 or BBC2.

However, thank god for the DVD collection and the brilliant people who have downloaded the episodes on YouTube.

A fantastic cast and fantastic crew behind a fantastic sitcom!!!!