The last episode I have of this series. Robin’s in 8 more episodes.
His “Fred” character didn’t have too much to do in this one. A lot of glaring whenever Rosie’s boyfriend was mentioned. The subject of the show was morality. After a discussion in her college class, Beryl starts thinking about different kinds of morality in different situations. And from there, all the other characters start dealing with their own ideas on morality, from working in a betting shop to shoplifting to adultery.
Not a bad show, really. Why hasn’t it been officially released?
Haven’t watched this show in awhile because I only have 6 episodes and want to make them last! :) Lots going on in this one. Beryl’s taking a French class in night school and decides to invite a group of fellow students over for a French discussion group. But, as luck would have it, she comes home to find her husband tearing apart and trying to remodel the living room! She also gets into an argument with her employer (the owner of a small inn) and is fired.
Robin’s story: Fred invites Beryl’s daughter Rosie to a classical music concert. She is still in denial about liking such a nerdy fellow and tells him she has other plans. So, instead he takes Millie (I think that was the name?), a rather uncouth gal who works with Rosie at the beauty parlor. Rosie is annoyed and makes disparaging remarks all through tea. Fred is confused, since after all, he HAD invited her first!
The date goes badly. Millie isn’t into classical music. So cute when a surprised Fred says to her, “It's not POP music!” hehe. Mr. Pop Performer himself. She tries to talk him into making out afterward, but again he is confused and leaves without even kissing her goodnight. More to laugh about…a good “confused and naïve Timmy Lea” foreshadowing here…although the girls in his case are just a BIT more aggressive, aren’t they??
In the end, the living room gets done in the nick of time, with Fred’s help, and Rosie winds up daring Fred to giver HER a big kiss. Only to dash off angrily, making him MORE confused. Poor Fred.
Hey, look what I just found! Up on Ebay right now are a bunch of auctions for "doodles" done by celebrities to benefit charity. You can see a larger version of Robin's here and then follow the link from there to bid on it if you want! As of this writing, 2 more days left on it and only 1 bid! OK, so he's no artist but it's cute in a childlike way and wouldn't you love to have something Robin drew???
Feb 20 update: Saw that it was finally won for £20! Congratulations to whoever got it!
Sortof a challenge finding this one, as it’s not available over here. I did find someone in Greece selling authorized copies of it. You could choose your format: Italian audio with English subtitles, English audio with Greek subtitles, a few others as well. I chose the English audio with the Greek subtitles. Which were nonremovable, so just a little bit annoying seeing all that Greek on there but you get used to it after awhile. Only came in PAL format, so again I must thank the DVD hacking code website.
This is of course based on the classic book by Chaucer written way back in the 1300s. According to Wikipedia, It is “a collection of stories written in Middle-English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales (mostly in verse, although some are in prose) are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.”
I did not read the original collection, but I’m assuming this movie “sexed up” the tales quite a bit? I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many naked guys running around before in a film! Even Dr. Who’s Tom Baker is shown in all his glory! Actually, that was kinda disturbing to see. Now….who do you think showed the LEAST amount of full-frontal nudity? Yep, our Robin, of course. Yah, he was naked, but discetely kept a few things out of sight. So much for being a “soft-core porn star!”
I was pretty disappointed with the length of his role. There were SO many good looking young guys that he could have played…that had meaningful dialog and a lot to do. Why he wasn’t put into a role like that mystifies me.
We meet his character “Rufus” near the end of the film, in a medievel whorehouse/tavern type establishment. The bedrooms are upstairs off a balcony that overlooks the tavern below. Each room was being “used” and he was one of the guys on top of a bored-looking girl, banging away. He finishes, puts some coins in her mouth, then gets dressed and goes out onto the balcony calling for some food. His request is denied, and he gets annoyed and berates the customers below, then starts peeing on them. I guess they were none too pleased, because in the next scene we see him being carried, dead, down the road outside. And that’s it for him. Not sure what purpose this character even served.
As his part came very near the end of the movie, we (yes, I talked my husband into watching this one with me) had kept our eyes open for him the whole time. I didn’t know how long his hair was going to be, so I almost thought a shorter-haired blond guy was him earlier in the movie until I saw a closeup. In fact, even then I was confused…..because his voice sounded JUST like Robin’s! Was the guy not English and they needed Robin to do his voice? Weird. And weird part two: ROBIN’s voice sounds like it was dubbed in with ANOTHER guy’s voice! Why did they need to do THAT? Puzzling. I hate that. Robin isn’t fully himself without his real voice. Bah. What a disappointment. Tell me what you think. Is it his own voice or not? He did have his “Horror Hospital” style hair though. I’ve added a short clip from it below. I know, bad quality. All I know how to do is the old “digital camera up to the TV” kind of filming.
Anyway, for the funniest account ever of Robin’s “behind the scenes” experience on this movie, reading his autobiography is a must!
UPDATE June 2011: OK, since seeing this I now notice it is available through Netflix on their "Play Instantly" feature! If only I had waited! Aahhhhh!
I did a bunch of screenshots from this movie during the Netflix showing of it. So much better quality than the ones I posted above, eh? Click on each one for a larger view. "Google Images" is just going to be flooded with Robin photos now, isn't it? :)
This is the series I was able to get thrown in with my order of “Please Sir!”. It’s a cute show and I found it fun to watch. Haven’t seen all the episodes yet, but Robin’s is only 5 episodes in. The show is about two guys, Randall and Hopkirk, who are partners (and good friends) in their own detective agency. In the first episode Hopkirk is murdered and comes back as a ghost to help out Randall with all the future cases. I read where it once aired on American TV under the name of “My Partner the Ghost”…I guess to appeal to dumb Americans who need everything spelled right out for us ;)
In Robin’s episode Randall is attending a variety show type performance at a theater. During the mind-reading performance, the performer is shot dead. Randall applies for the job of mind-reader in order to go under cover to figure out who the murderer was. He gets the job, thanks to Hopkirk’s help. Robin has a minor part as an “Act Pageboy” – the guy that runs around backstage at the theater and tells performers when they need to go on. He has a few lines pertaining to that subject, but nothing substantial to the plot. He also has a few scenes of standing around backstage looking puzzled at the goings-on. I kept hoping when police / reporters / detectives were asking questions they’d take him aside to see what he knew and he’d have some brilliant insight into the case. No such luck. He makes the most of the few scenes he was given, though, and acts very enthusiastic.
I liked the two actors who played the title characters. They have very distinct personalities. Kenneth Cope is Hopkirk, the ghost, and was a very youthful looking age 38-39 (born 1931) He’s still alive, and has done quite a bit of acting. But, from looking at more recent photos of him, looks very very old now at age near-80. Mike Pratt, born the same year, seemed much older at the time, had that aging-smoker look. And, unfortunately, died of lung cancer in 1976. Interesting piece of trivia I saw on Wikipedia: his son Guy Pratt was in Pink Floyd for awhile.
