"Scramble" update

I am considering myself very fortunate for having seen 2 of the 3 "Children's Film Foundation" movies Robin has appeared in since having originally written my description of each here.

The hunt continues on for "Scramble" though. I feel myself getting closer. I know someone out there DOES have a copy of it and DOES have the ability to upload it to YouTube because...ta da!...here is what I've found so far: The first 4 minutes and 45 seconds! Unfortunately, Robin is not in the first 4 minutes and 45 seconds, sigh.



This person has uploaded quite a few clips from the CFF films, but does not seem to have whole episodes. He has not responded to my query about Scramble. So, we'll see if anything more promising will come out of this. You can also see the first 5 minutes of "Hostages" http://youtu.be/V7cy07H67xI which Robin IS in! As well as the first 5 minutes of "Hide and Seek" http://youtu.be/mWJG1l81FW0 which he is not.

Horror Hospital shirt!

Starting to run out of Robin appearances to report on. I have a few still banked, but am going to stretch them out, ha ha. So this week I am here to let you know about a really cool shirt I stumbled across while browsing the internet looking for Robin stuff. I'm amazed this even exists! Who but the hardest core b-movie fans would even know what "Hairy Holidays" refers to...and then how many of them would even purchase it? Even me, Robin's most devoted fan :) is pondering if I should or not. 12 year old me would have in a heartbeat! 42 year old me is rationally asking myself, now, where would I wear it, and would I have to explain it to every single person here in small-town Oregon who glances at it quizzically? Hmmm. I will think about it.

But...you can get yours at Cafe Press if you want one!

On The House – 1971 – (season 2, 6 episodes)

Since I started this blog I’d been hoping against hope that this series would be made available on DVD by the time I’d come to the end of accessing what was already out there. Here we are, a year and a half later, and still no sign of it. I’ve seen a VHS of some episodes from season 1 on Amazon UK, but that’s it. Recently, on my latest hunt for it I did come across ONE clip that included Robin (from "Take Me to your Leader" (#2.3) 6 May 1971 ) which can be found here but I also downloaded it and uploaded it to YouTube in case the original page gets taken down. Ooooh, how I want to see this show!

Here’s a little synopsis of the show I was able to gather:

“ON THE HOUSE" depicted the classic 'them-against-us' situation rife in blue-collar trades in Britain in the post-war years. Kenneth Connor starred as Gussie Sissons, chief labourer for house builders Thomas Clackwood and Sons, who pitches his comrades into a series of 'what-about-the-workers?' skirmishes with the exasperated site foreman Charlie Cattermole (played by co-star John Junkin).

Guest stars throughout the series included Hermione Baddeley, Brian Glover, Milo O'Shea, Madeline Smith, Patrick Troughton and Paula Wilcox. In the second series, Derek Griffiths as a carpenter and Robin Askwith as a long-haired idler were added to the regular cast.

The show aired at 7:00pm and there were two series; the first in September/October 1970 (6 episodes), and the second in April/May 1971 (6 episodes).”

Boon – Season 3, episode 8: “Peacemaker” 20 December 1988

Amazon U.K. has this series for sale so I’d been watching the price on it for the past year to see if it’d come down. It finally did come down to an acceptable price so I bought the complete season 3.

Boon was a show that ran from the mid-80s to the early 90s. The story was about an ex-firefighter, Ken Boon (he’d gotten injured on the job and had to go into some other line of work). During the life of the series, he takes on different jobs. In season 3, he operates the “Texas Rangers” a motorbike courier firm, with young longhaired assistant “Rocky”. A few episodes in, he also joins up with friend Margaret’s detective agency. The title sequence shows Boon imagining himself as a “Lone Ranger” type, riding a horse in the Wild West.

So, in “Peacemaker” Robin plays “Bograt” an Ozzy Osbourne type middle-aged rock star who was getting ready to make a comeback…only to get cold feet and run away. His promoters hire Margaret to find him. Ken’s assistant Rocky turns out to be a huge fan and offers to help. Mainly all they do is pester the girlfriend, who also doesn’t know where he is. But, her walls are decorated with “Bograt and the Necros” posters featuring photos of Robin in heavy metal costume. Wonder where those are now??? Also other real photos of a younger Robin, which I’d seen before. Eventually the girlfriend starts coming on to Rocky, and at that moment Bograt walks in and starts a fight.

In the end, Bograt clims up to the top of a rickety platform on a building which is under construction, intending to kill himself. Rocky climbs up after him and they wind up having a heart-to-heart talk. Bograt reveals his insecurities about the comeback, but eventually Rocky talks him into going through with it for the sake of his fans. As they start to come down, Robin slips and almost falls off the building, only to be rescued by Rocky and Margaret, who has also come up.

Robin was okay in this. He over-acted in parts with the “grouchy rock star” attitude. He was better toward the end when he was talking instead of growling, ha ha. His hair was very long but maybe a wig or extensions? It wasn’t very attractive.

I like this show and don’t mind watching the whole of season 3. If it were readily available I’d probably go on to watch all the seasons! Some day when I’m old I think I’ll just spend a year in England watching all their old TV shows. It gets expensive trying to buy them and watch them here!

Smith’s Crisps ad – 1967

On Robin’s wikipedia page, this is listed as one of the ads he filmed. Now, this is so very early in his career, you might even say it is pre-career! So I’m assuming he did not have a substantial speaking part in it. I’m going to throw this youtube clip out there as the one he is in, as it seems to be the right year. It is a super-groovy mod dancing scene, so whether this is in fact him or not, it’s still pretty cool to watch. I’m thinking he is the guy dancing in the white pants and white shirt sort of at the top left of the quickly moving ad. Near the beginning.