Post by rhort on Apr 26, 2013 3:28:49 GMT -5
A brief opening scene at Gary and Yvonne’s flat, starts with Yvonne anticipating her entry into the House Of Lords, and practicing her speech in front of the mirror. As Gary comes in, his initial reaction is to mock her, which is hardly any fun as she doesn’t even really try to defend herself. As the two of them move on to thoughts of other things, Yvonne disappoints him by needing to go off to a photocall, leaving Gary to mock her even further.
Heading for Ron’s flat, Gary finds him extremely depressed following his breakup with Flic, however, true to form, Gary is only interested in his own problems, even in view of Ron’s psychological issues, which appear to be centring around thoughts of suicide, even if they are presented in a jovial manner, and Gary even seems to ignore the fact that Ron has developed an overly familiar attachment to a stuffed wildebeest that belonged to Flic, and he is concentrating more on his next visit to 1945. As he tries to separate Ron from Flic’s things once and for all, we find that the toy isn’t the only one of her possessions he’s attached to.
Our first visit to the Blue Door Club finds Reg in high spirits, singing whilst he cleans the floor, as two strangers enter. At first, they join in with him, which is something he seems to enjoy for a moment, but as they start to discuss the issues of ‘insurance’ with him, things take a darker turn, as they point out the dangers that can strike whilst running a bar; which I’m sure Mike from The Nag’s Head, Peckham is only too familiar with
Figuring out what’s going on, Reg takes it upon himself to run them off, thinking he’s seen the last of them. Later on, however, this proves not to be the case, when Phoebe’s singing is interrupted by the two men, who proceed to demand money from Gary and Phoebe.
Meanwhile, back at Ron’s flat, his depression is worsening, and he has taken to drunkenly reminiscing about Flic with the stuffed wildebeest. As he sinks further and further, he takes a walk towards the balcony.
Gary and Phoebe, on the other hand, have issues of their own, and when they go to the police to report the gangsters, the officer taking their complaint seems curiously uninterested in their plight. Returning dejected to the Blue Door Club, Gary is convinced that the inspector is somehow involved, and begins to detail a plan which should ultimately expose him.
Unusually, we find that Yvonne has turned up at Ron’s flat, and is talking to him about his issues, and particularly about the apparent suicide attempt. Even more unusual is Yvonne’s obvious concern for Ron, which leads her on to wondering why exactly Gary didn’t offer any help. The two of them share a rare moment of closeness as they talk about what they might do to wind Gary up about this.
Back to the Blue Door Club, and the gangsters arrive armed and dangerous, to find Phoebe alone in the bar. They quickly get to the point and demand a monthly payment of £50 from her (a considerable sum roughly equivalent to £1750/US$2750 in today’s money). Phoebe makes out that she understands, but tells them not to let Gary know that she’s going to pay them, which they seem perfectly happy about. When the two men leave, Gary comes out from the back room, having been listening there as part of his plan. When they leave the club, Reg comes down stairs to let them know they’ve gone, and find out what happened. At this point, Gary tells him that they’ve demanded £100, and waits a moment or two in order to allow Reg to get to the point where he realises that he should be the one to tell Inspector Priestly about their demands, which he promptly does, raising the inspector’s interest somewhat.
Nipping back to his flat, Gary finds Yvonne exercising, and as seems to be the theme for this episode, he proceeds to mock her. It’s at this point that Yvonne tells him about Ron’s apparent suicide attempt, which immediately sends Gary rushing off to see Ron, however, when he arrives at the Mayfair flat, it seems that he has another motive for wanting to come and see him, as he needs to borrow his camera as part of his wartime plan. When Ron reveals that he’s thinking of heading back to Liverpool to stay with relatives, Gary is at first largely unsympathetic, as ever, however, as he comes around to the realisation that he needs to help, he suggests a lads night out, but not right now, as he needs to get back to the 40s and deal with the gangsters, and it’s as he lets Ron know this that he’s forced to flee from the flat under a barrage of convenient cans launched by Ron.
As Gary searches for a good vantage point from which to observe the gangsters’ activities, we are introduced to another bit part being played by a famous actor, in this case Lynda Barron, perhaps best known as Nurse Gladys Emmanuelle in ‘Open All Hours’, or (if you’ve got kids) as Auntie Mable in C-Beebies ‘Come Outside’. When Gary tries his usual ‘government business’ story, she’s unimpressed, however, when he tells her that he’s a photographer from a tabloid looking for a story about scandalous goings-on over the street, she’s only too happy to help, especially as she knows she can expect some payback from it. From her upstairs window, Gary has a clear view of the gangsters’ house, and when Phoebe arrives with the cash, he is easily able to photograph the entire incident. As Phoebe leaves, the police inspector arrives and confronts the gangsters, believing that they’re conning him by extorting more money than they’re telling him about, thus presumably denying him his full cut of their ill-gotten gains, and it’s as Gary is taking photos of this meeting that one of them spots him, and they all rush out to try and grab hold of him, however, a fortuitously timed doodlebug causes a moment of distraction (in what must have been one of the very last V1 attacks of the war), allowing Gary to escape from their clutches, and back to the 90s.
When Gary arrives at Ron’s flat to return the camera, he finds that Ron is watching horse racing, having placed £50 at 25:1 on a horse called ‘Flic’s Fool’, and is planning a bit of time ‘away from it all’ if he should win, however, as they’re watching the race, a news bulletin interrupts informing them that an unexploded wartime bomb has gone off in Greenwich and destroyed the dome. Gary runs straight out the door, heading off to make sure Yvonne is okay, meaning that he misses the end of the report which indicates that the dome was unoccupied during the incident and that nobody was hurt, as well as the return to the racing, where Ron’s horse has won, leaving him to think about how he’s going to spend the cash.
On returning to his flat, Gary finds Yvonne staring forlornly at ‘her finger’, this having been the only part of the sculpture of her body that survived the explosion. I often though it was odd that she’d been allowed to take anything from the site as there would, no doubt, have been some sort of police and/or fire service investigation which would have lasted days, if not weeks, during which time anything on site would have been considered potential evidence. As Yvonne muses on what will happen next, and what the press might have to say, we are brought to the biggest laugh of the episode for me, with the outstanding “Just give ‘em the finger” line.
The final scene in the Blue Door club sees Reg running in with the news of the arrest of Inspector Priestly’s and the gangsters. Phoebe, clearly having been told some of the details by Gary then suggests that he should make sure he tells the authorities about the apparently unexploded V1 that she assumes must have landed near to the street they were in, and might lie undiscovered for a long time before going off and injuring someone, or otherwise causing damage, which brings a wry smile to Gary’s face, as he assures her that he’ll let them know.
I’d give this episode an 85% rating. For some reason, this episode always represents the beginning of the end of the series for me, knowing that there’s only a couple of episodes left makes me feel a bit sad.
Heading for Ron’s flat, Gary finds him extremely depressed following his breakup with Flic, however, true to form, Gary is only interested in his own problems, even in view of Ron’s psychological issues, which appear to be centring around thoughts of suicide, even if they are presented in a jovial manner, and Gary even seems to ignore the fact that Ron has developed an overly familiar attachment to a stuffed wildebeest that belonged to Flic, and he is concentrating more on his next visit to 1945. As he tries to separate Ron from Flic’s things once and for all, we find that the toy isn’t the only one of her possessions he’s attached to.
Our first visit to the Blue Door Club finds Reg in high spirits, singing whilst he cleans the floor, as two strangers enter. At first, they join in with him, which is something he seems to enjoy for a moment, but as they start to discuss the issues of ‘insurance’ with him, things take a darker turn, as they point out the dangers that can strike whilst running a bar; which I’m sure Mike from The Nag’s Head, Peckham is only too familiar with
Figuring out what’s going on, Reg takes it upon himself to run them off, thinking he’s seen the last of them. Later on, however, this proves not to be the case, when Phoebe’s singing is interrupted by the two men, who proceed to demand money from Gary and Phoebe.Meanwhile, back at Ron’s flat, his depression is worsening, and he has taken to drunkenly reminiscing about Flic with the stuffed wildebeest. As he sinks further and further, he takes a walk towards the balcony.
Gary and Phoebe, on the other hand, have issues of their own, and when they go to the police to report the gangsters, the officer taking their complaint seems curiously uninterested in their plight. Returning dejected to the Blue Door Club, Gary is convinced that the inspector is somehow involved, and begins to detail a plan which should ultimately expose him.
Unusually, we find that Yvonne has turned up at Ron’s flat, and is talking to him about his issues, and particularly about the apparent suicide attempt. Even more unusual is Yvonne’s obvious concern for Ron, which leads her on to wondering why exactly Gary didn’t offer any help. The two of them share a rare moment of closeness as they talk about what they might do to wind Gary up about this.
Back to the Blue Door Club, and the gangsters arrive armed and dangerous, to find Phoebe alone in the bar. They quickly get to the point and demand a monthly payment of £50 from her (a considerable sum roughly equivalent to £1750/US$2750 in today’s money). Phoebe makes out that she understands, but tells them not to let Gary know that she’s going to pay them, which they seem perfectly happy about. When the two men leave, Gary comes out from the back room, having been listening there as part of his plan. When they leave the club, Reg comes down stairs to let them know they’ve gone, and find out what happened. At this point, Gary tells him that they’ve demanded £100, and waits a moment or two in order to allow Reg to get to the point where he realises that he should be the one to tell Inspector Priestly about their demands, which he promptly does, raising the inspector’s interest somewhat.
Nipping back to his flat, Gary finds Yvonne exercising, and as seems to be the theme for this episode, he proceeds to mock her. It’s at this point that Yvonne tells him about Ron’s apparent suicide attempt, which immediately sends Gary rushing off to see Ron, however, when he arrives at the Mayfair flat, it seems that he has another motive for wanting to come and see him, as he needs to borrow his camera as part of his wartime plan. When Ron reveals that he’s thinking of heading back to Liverpool to stay with relatives, Gary is at first largely unsympathetic, as ever, however, as he comes around to the realisation that he needs to help, he suggests a lads night out, but not right now, as he needs to get back to the 40s and deal with the gangsters, and it’s as he lets Ron know this that he’s forced to flee from the flat under a barrage of convenient cans launched by Ron.
As Gary searches for a good vantage point from which to observe the gangsters’ activities, we are introduced to another bit part being played by a famous actor, in this case Lynda Barron, perhaps best known as Nurse Gladys Emmanuelle in ‘Open All Hours’, or (if you’ve got kids) as Auntie Mable in C-Beebies ‘Come Outside’. When Gary tries his usual ‘government business’ story, she’s unimpressed, however, when he tells her that he’s a photographer from a tabloid looking for a story about scandalous goings-on over the street, she’s only too happy to help, especially as she knows she can expect some payback from it. From her upstairs window, Gary has a clear view of the gangsters’ house, and when Phoebe arrives with the cash, he is easily able to photograph the entire incident. As Phoebe leaves, the police inspector arrives and confronts the gangsters, believing that they’re conning him by extorting more money than they’re telling him about, thus presumably denying him his full cut of their ill-gotten gains, and it’s as Gary is taking photos of this meeting that one of them spots him, and they all rush out to try and grab hold of him, however, a fortuitously timed doodlebug causes a moment of distraction (in what must have been one of the very last V1 attacks of the war), allowing Gary to escape from their clutches, and back to the 90s.
When Gary arrives at Ron’s flat to return the camera, he finds that Ron is watching horse racing, having placed £50 at 25:1 on a horse called ‘Flic’s Fool’, and is planning a bit of time ‘away from it all’ if he should win, however, as they’re watching the race, a news bulletin interrupts informing them that an unexploded wartime bomb has gone off in Greenwich and destroyed the dome. Gary runs straight out the door, heading off to make sure Yvonne is okay, meaning that he misses the end of the report which indicates that the dome was unoccupied during the incident and that nobody was hurt, as well as the return to the racing, where Ron’s horse has won, leaving him to think about how he’s going to spend the cash.
On returning to his flat, Gary finds Yvonne staring forlornly at ‘her finger’, this having been the only part of the sculpture of her body that survived the explosion. I often though it was odd that she’d been allowed to take anything from the site as there would, no doubt, have been some sort of police and/or fire service investigation which would have lasted days, if not weeks, during which time anything on site would have been considered potential evidence. As Yvonne muses on what will happen next, and what the press might have to say, we are brought to the biggest laugh of the episode for me, with the outstanding “Just give ‘em the finger” line.
The final scene in the Blue Door club sees Reg running in with the news of the arrest of Inspector Priestly’s and the gangsters. Phoebe, clearly having been told some of the details by Gary then suggests that he should make sure he tells the authorities about the apparently unexploded V1 that she assumes must have landed near to the street they were in, and might lie undiscovered for a long time before going off and injuring someone, or otherwise causing damage, which brings a wry smile to Gary’s face, as he assures her that he’ll let them know.
I’d give this episode an 85% rating. For some reason, this episode always represents the beginning of the end of the series for me, knowing that there’s only a couple of episodes left makes me feel a bit sad.