Some Mothers Do Ave Em Returns
December 2, 2015 2:56 PM   Subscribe

Believe it or not but Some Mothers Do Ave Em is reputed to be returning to our screens some time next year with the original cast. Michael Crawford is 73, so it's going to be a case of, Ooh Betty me knees have gone!!
posted by splinky (20 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Damn it, Frank Spencer.
posted by RedShrek at 3:02 PM on December 2, 2015


I just calculated that baby Jessica would be in her forties now. Time freaks me out.
posted by Grangousier at 3:04 PM on December 2, 2015


Via circumstances beyond my control I watched a bit of that revival of Open All Hours a few weeks ago... it was beyond horrible.

Oh and the're bringing back Porridge too. I wonder if Grouty will be in it.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:19 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


Spencer was originally meant to be played by Norman Wisdom, of course, but he turned it down.

Watching it after finding that out suddenly made the general style of the programme make a helluvah lot more sense.
posted by garius at 3:26 PM on December 2, 2015


Just the thought of that penny whistle theme tune, and then the beige awkward cringing horror of it all... Is this not one moldering corpse better left unexhumed?
posted by sobarel at 3:29 PM on December 2, 2015 [5 favorites]


Just the thought of that penny whistle theme tune

The only thing I like about Some Mothers Do Ave Em is that the theme tune spells out the show title in Morse code. Other than that, I sure hope Frank Spencer isn't going to break a hip or anything as he gets into more wacky scrapes and sitcom misunderstandings.
posted by Spatch at 3:58 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


Okay so before I go and read this link I need to make sure that y'all aren't playing some television variant of Mornington Crescent here.
posted by murphy slaw at 4:00 PM on December 2, 2015 [7 favorites]


Now, televised Mornington Crescent - that I would watch.
posted by sobarel at 4:11 PM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]


Does this mean I am less likely to hear him sing "Music of the Night" in the foreseeable future? If so, I am all for this!!
posted by markkraft at 4:54 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


I had forgotten all of the horrific textual arrangements of "cat", "whoopsie" and "beret". Now they are back.

I hope you're happy, you fiends!
posted by nfalkner at 5:17 PM on December 2, 2015


The only thing I like about Some Mothers Do Ave Em is that the theme tune spells out the show title in Morse code.
Just like Inspector Morse and his first name.
posted by unliteral at 5:24 PM on December 2, 2015


It just occured to me that Crawford was Hero in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum".



Wow, there's a career path for you.
posted by droplet at 5:48 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


They're doing a remake/prequel of Keeping Up Appearances, too. I'm wary.
posted by robcorr at 7:41 PM on December 2, 2015


There's a bright glimmer of light in the fact that, apparently, competition shows like X Factor are finally on the wane so there's a good chance we won't see someone staggering on to Britain's Got Talent wearing a cheap raincoat and berry going 'Ohhh Betty.'
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:08 AM on December 3, 2015


Could have sworn I posted last night about the imminent release of the Dad's Army remake; out in February.
posted by biffa at 2:21 AM on December 3, 2015


BBC America has a lot to answer for, I mean, being British was already awkward enough. We already get mild pangs of cultural embarrassment when we remember the cringe-worthy depths that British TV comedy reached in the eighties, but now we also have to endure the unsettling feeling of dread that they might export it to the Yanks.

Look, we're really, really sorry about the Benny Hill Show.
posted by Eleven at 2:53 AM on December 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


The classic roller skating scene

When it was good, it was great
posted by DanCall at 3:28 AM on December 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


My father loved this show when I was growing up. He is an immigrant from [Middle Eastern country] and I guess the title of the show was a little puzzling to him; he always enunciated the "Ave" and "Em" very carefully, assuming, I suppose, that it was important to make sure the letters were truly missing.

I remember almost nothing about it except an awkward rendition of "Early One Morning," which, modernity be praised, survives on YouTube.
posted by Amberlyza at 8:04 AM on December 3, 2015


Oh dear.

As much as I love the original.... Nope.
posted by Mezentian at 8:38 AM on December 4, 2015


Oh, Eleven, I can attest that in the US from the 70s-00s, PBS and independent commercial stations were a veritable landing spot for many... questionable... UK shows. I suppose it all can't be The Forsyte Saga.

I recall that, for about 5-6 months in the mid-70s, the local PBS station in Milwaukee showed The Goodies. I think some other towns showed it for a bit, also. I would have been in early grade school at the time. It didn't catch on here like Python did, which was a shame.

And while I don't much care for Benny Hill myself, you can get men in the US of a certain later boomer/early Gen X age bonding just by miming slapping the back of that poor little old man's head. The Benny Hill Show for my age cohort of male relatives was like an English version of The Three Stooges.
posted by droplet at 10:34 PM on December 4, 2015


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