Well this is a very curious affair. 'Allo 'Allo actually ran for over ten years from 1982 to 1992, and I must admit that I used to watch it quite a lot in the early series. I'm not sure whether it was because I was getting older or that the quality deteriorated in later series - probably a bit of both. It was a bizarre spoof of Secret Army, and it was completely politically incorrect.
Anyway, for this one-off, the producers decided to film in front of a live studio audience. Of course, I suspect that most of the original series was also filmed in front of a live studio audience, because that's the way BBC sitcoms worked. But in this instance we know it's a live audience because we keep getting unnecessary cutaways of them. Were they all member of some sort of 'Allo 'Allo Appreciation Society? It seems many of them either turned up in costume, or have had some outfits supplied to them by the Beeb. I really hope that it's the latter because I'm not sure I'd want to travel to Shepherd's Bush in Gestapo uniform - bit tasteless don't you think? Remember when Prince Harry tried it.
The programme wasn't just a new episode. It was basically a hook to hang a clips show on. So we get clips sequences of Rene and Yvette to a soundtrack of Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now. We also get lots of behind the scenes interviews with various cast members. In other words, this was pretty much the same set-up 2005's Return of the Goodies.
When you realise that the series began in 1982, it's not surprising that most of the actors have aged quite a bit. Michelle (Kirsten Cooke) was rather sexy in those early episodes - I always liked her the most. But of course Yvette (Vicki Michelle) still looks pretty much the same.
I did enjoy seeing a poe-faced Robert Kilroy-Silk moaning about the programme - whatever happened to him. But did we really need Charlie Catchpole explaining the concept of the English not understanding the French? I think we all understood that concept. There can't be many viewers of this [BBC2] programme who hadn't watched at least one episode of the original series.
If we are to get a new episode, why did we have to get constant reminders that there was an audience in the studio and it was being shot on a set? Indeed there was a terrible sequence in which Officer Crabtree taught "French" to three members of the studio audience.
Overall, I'm not sure that a documentary on its own would have been better.
Posted by adambowie at April 28, 2007 9:04 PMYou wouldn't happen to have recorded it in your computer?
I missed it and was looking forward to it.
By the way, it was recorded in the Granada studios in Manchester rather than Shepherd's Bush.
I agree that the quality of the later shows deteriorated but it's inevitable as they run out of ideas.
Posted by: Sean at April 30, 2007 1:09 AM