Lost Sitcoms - Steptoe and Son's A Winter Tale

[Marie Griffiths]

Apologies if this thread exists already, please merge it if necessary.

The BBC showed a set of "Lost" episodes the other week.
But Steptoe and Son's A Winter Tale does exists albeit in black and white only. Indeed I have a recording of the black and white version from the time is was broadcast in the 80s.
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/sitcomseason/steptoe-and-son

The modern recreation was appalling and testament to the acting ability of the original cast.

[Alan Jeffries]

I agree. I could not watch it all. And I think that applies to nearly all of these comedy recreations.
Are You Being Served? Was a set of actors copying a set of actors who were already doing a parody. They were all a bit off. Also, the fact that Mrs Slocombe's girl thingy had to be explained to the viewer just shows how much pandering there is now. Because of the time it was made Mr Humphries was camp which was edgy at the time, but now he is over the top gay which undermines the character.
Porridge just was not funny. It was said beforehand that it was now politically correct and it showed.
Till Death. Simon Day was a passable Garnet, but he lacked the anger and desperation of Warren Mitchell. Garnet was a man besieged by time moving on. He was always angry because he wouldn't or couldn't accept the times he was living in had changed so much. He wanted his good old days back. Every little failure, like the fire going out, was a frustration for him. Now I'm not sure if it was the performances or script, but I didn't find much to laugh at there.
I didn't watch the Hyacinth or Goodnight Sweetheart as I never really watched them.
Hancock, however I thought was good. Kevin McNally was a great Hancock and the other actors had obviously studied the supporting characters. But most of all it was funny. The script (with only minor cultural reference changes) would sit well with an audience today.

Alan

[Marie Griffiths]

I totally agree with you Alan on all the points.
I do have to complement the set designers, makeup on costumiers on Are You Being Served though, it is a pity the script was so awful.
I wish they could put as much effort into recreating genuinely lost episodes.

[John W King]

The only episode that really worked and was funny and had even something to say was Goodnight Sweetheart. Why? Because it was the original cast and it actually moved the situation on. It followed on from the original. And it was funny. The rest were slightly interesting to dire. I thought Served was okay and no worse than the recent Dads Army film. Winters Tale does exist and is on DVD albeit in poor quality.

[Alan Jeffries]

I love the way the bot on here changed Mrs Slocombe's pu**y to 'girl thingy!
I did think the use of minimal set was a rather neat idea.

Alan

[paul carney]

I agree that Goodnight Sweetheart worked the best. It had the original writers and cast who were clearly comfortable in their roles. The whole premise of the show was ridiculous but for some reason it really worked. Also agree that Kevin McNally really nailed Hancock.

[Marie Griffiths]

Yes the Hancock recreation was good with Kevin McNally. I heard that they wanted to do the rest of the missing Hancocks but there wasn't budget.