The Boys in Blue with Stephen Graham

Excellent work. Observations follow.... This film is cheap. Beyond cheap. It makes the On The Buses films look like they were made by Lucasfilm. All the interiors look like theatre sets and it's lit by your Nan with a load of 100 watt bulbs she got at Pound Stretcher. The cast are utterly wasted. Tommy and Bobby come in for flack but there's nothing to work with. For an act who enjoyed ad libbing and are proven to be good at physical comedy (the Snooker sketch) why are their talents not being used. There's differing views on why the two of them are so bad. Did they think this was their break into 'acting' so they would just do what was on the page? Or was this made during the period where the two of them weren't on speaking terms? They are two performers who are better on stage. The LWT series takes a notable downturn when it transitions to sitcom where they are living in a flat. As for the guest cast, they turn up and do what is asked of them on the page. I'd blame the writers and director. They probably knew it was shit and just took the money and ran. You also mentioned their bitterness at being cast aside in the 90's and Little and Large not being bitter. When their LWT contract was up (circa 87/88) they had two offers on the table. One for a half hour show to *replace* Little And Large on Saturday night BBC 1, or a big money contract from Yorkshire for a show to replace 3-2-1 PLUS a sitcom (Plaza Patrol). They took the Yorkshire offer who dropped them like hot potatoes when the shows flopped. If they had gone to the BBC arguably they would have been on-air for at least as long as Sid and Eddie. Finally it is notable that when Suzanne Danielle and Roy Kinnear appeared on Punchlines together, they get far more laughs in their first 10 seconds on screen than in this tripe. https://youtu.be/Mfe7H0dzxi0?t=106 And that is my essay.

Chinny Hill