Beryl’s Lot (season 1, episode 3, “Box and Cox”) – 1973

In this episode Beryl takes her first night class – only to show up and find its been cancelled. She and another middle-aged woman decide to drown their disappointment at the local pub. Meanwhile, her husband takes advantage of his freedom at home by holding a card party with his buddies. Beryl’s friend passes out at the pub and Beryl has her brought home to sleep it off. Robin has a lot of scenes in this one, milling about, making comments, etc. Lots of nice close-ups, too…you can practically count his eyelashes. Mmm. When Beryl worriedly tells him that daughter Rosie has left word that she will be sleeping over her boyfriend’s place that night, Robin’s “Fred” quickly leaves, saying there’s something he must do. Next day. The point is blatantly made that Fred is very tired by lots of yawning and stretching. At the end Rose arrives home to be questioned by her mum, only to protest that she was NOT with her boyfriend at all, just at his PLACE with his SISTER while he was out of town, and, goodness, did not even get a WINK of sleep what with the phone mysteriously ringing all night, the police and fire brigade showing up at all hours….etc. Much confusion on her part while Beryl and Fred start to giggle.

Had no idea what the title “Box and Cox” even meant, so…internet search to the rescue: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/73300.html says:

Meaning - To take turns.
Origin - The term comes from the comic play 'Box and Cox - A Romance of Real Life in One Act', by John Maddison Morton. This was first produced at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, London, in November 1847. Box and Cox were two lodgers who shared their rooms - one occupying them by day and the other by night.

Still not sure how that describes this episode, but oh well.

Bartelby - 1970

This is actually the movie that got me on my current Robin fascination…the one that got me started on wanting to see ALL his movies. Purely by chance, I had rented this from Netlflix, and was taken aback when I saw his familiar face in it! I then sent it back, but when I decided to do this blog a few months later I refreshed myself re-watching it using Netflix’s “Play it now” feature, which allowed it to come through surprisingly smoothly. I’d never tried streaming their stuff before! But it’s not available for everything.

It’s a weird but interesting movie. About an introverted sort of guy that gets hired in an office but starts telling his boss that he “prefers not” to do the work. The boss is dumbfounded and doesn’t know what to do. He knows he needs to save face by getting rid of the guy, but also is intrigued by him and wonders about his background and why he acts like this. Robin has a small part as an office worker. I just love that suit-and-tie-but-with-long-hair look on a guy. He has a few good scenes of being sarcastic with the guy, and cheeky with the secretary.

So…the boss, instead of forcing the guy out, he decides to avoid conflict altogether and moves his whole office to another building. Bartleby then keeps coming back to the abandoned office, which gets the other workers in the building upset. The original boss finally comes back and makes arrangements for him to be carted off to a mental institution.

Check out the super creepy anorexic girl near the end of the movie, one of the patients at the institution. Now, I’ve always been super-skinny myself, so I hate it when skinny people get accused of being anorexic. But the true anorexic look is scarier than anything you’ll see in a horror movie, and I don’t think I’ve seen anyone this skinny before outside a concentration camp documentary! Who is this girl? Did she die soon after? She has a small speaking part and seems like she’s in a daze. So sad!

Beryl’s Lot (season 1, episode 2), “Quite a Reception” – 1973

Beryl isn’t as angsty as she is in episode #1, but she does decide to sign up for night classes and read the philosophy book Robin’s character Fred had suggested to her. But all that is pretty much the “B” storyline. “A” storyline focuses on her arranging a friend’s daughter’s wedding reception at the hotel where Beryl works as a housekeeper. Bring on the snooty hotel owner that turns the whole thing into a mess….and drives out the entire wedding party to the local pub instead. In this fun scene, Robin lets his hair down (literally, as it’s usually neatly parted and brushed for this character) as he joins in on the drinking and dancing and singing. He even winds up dancing with 17 year old Rosie, who has been ditched by her latest boyfriend. With all the arguments between them and the previous adamant protests from her that “Fred just isn’t my type!” we can now see where this will be going…

Beryl’s Lot (season 1, episode 1, “Getting Up”) – 1973

I was happy to find someone online selling a few episodes from this early ‘70s British TV show. It is not a sitcom, but more of a serious, slice of life hour-long drama. With just a little bit of humor tossed in. The show centers around a woman named Beryl, who upon turning 40 starts to go through somewhat of a midlife crisis. She is married to a nice enough guy, has one grown out-of-the-house married daughter and one 17 year old daughter “Rosie” who is living at home. But she is dissatisfied. In this episode it is revealed that she “had” to get married at age 17 when she became pregnant, and now feels as if her whole life since then was nothing but cooking, cleaning and kids. Her husband doesn’t understand, he’s content with his lot in life.

Robin plays their boarder, Fred Pickering. Somewhat a change from his other 1973 roles, his character is rather conservative and rule-abiding. His hair is short-ish, but long enough to give him a wonderful Brian Jones-circa-1964 look. No backstory for him is given in this episode, but he seems to look to Beryl as a mother figure and tries to look out for the family’s best interests by doing a lot of nose-poking into their affairs. For example, when 17 year old Rosie starts dating a guy who is bad news, Fred makes it a point to tattle on her to her parents in typical big-brother style. Rosie is played by an actress named Verna Harvey and dated Robin briefly during this time. According to his book, it seems as though he pretty much dated every pretty actress he ever co-starred with!

I also loved his sarcastic attitude when kindly Beryl allows a friend to temporarily stay with them after she gets thrown out of her hotel room for nonpayment. Ah, that familiar pissed-off scowl, so reminiscent of Horror Hospital….

It’s a good show. I only have 6 episodes of it, I hope I can find more.

Gozo Adventures – 2008?

Here's something you can watch for free! Robin narrates a little promotional travel video for his beloved adopted country of Gozo, an island near Malta in the Mediterranean.



At first I didn't think it sounded like him, but what do you expect? His voice has deepened and matured. It has the quality of a distinguished English gentleman now. The more I listened, the more I found the familiar inflections of his old self, though! He helps paint an impressive picture of Gozo (well, the video helps too!) as a historical, adventurous but relaxing escape. Looks beautiful there, I would love to visit. We’ve long been talking about a family cruise vacation in the Mediterranean, and I saw where Disney cruises offer a shore excursion to Gozo, so who knows? Maybe we’ll make it there one day. I see myself hopping off the boat, seeing Robin lazily lying on the beach….in skimpy 1970s swim trunks of course….mmmmm…. ;) OK, not to worry, Robin, my husband and son definitely won’t be letting me out unchaperoned!

Oh! Something else Gozo/Robin related I found recently:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-1263711/Confessions-Gozo-Robin-Askwith-selling-flat-Maltas-peaceful-rural-neighbour.html?ITO=1490

Nice photo! Nice peek inside his home! His decorating style is too modern for my liking though.

Carry On Girls - 1973

Not too hard to find, I found an old VHS copy on Amazon for cheap. They also carry it on DVD for American systems for around $11. It was watchable, and gave me a few laughs. Kind of a cross between “Benny Hill” (which I loathe) and “Fawlty Towers” (which I love). Apparently there’s a whole slew of these Carry On movies in England, but thank goodness Robin is only in this one so I need not see any more.

The story is about a gloomy English seaside tourist town (which I could relate to, as I currently live in gloomy coastal Oregon) whose mayor decides to drum up business by holding a beauty contest. Needless to say, a women’s lib group organizes protests and sabotages. Lots of busty women running around in bikinis and dirty old men leering at them. (See what I mean about Benny Hill?) Robin is adorable as the photographer Larry Prodworthy who is hired to take publicity photos. He also inexplicably happens to be the son of the leader of the women’s group protesting the event. It’s not a huge role, but still gets a lot of screen time…always seems to be there flashing away with his camera. His character is pretty benign, unfortunately doesn’t get naked or have any love scenes. There is one scene where he must take photos of one of the contestants who is riding a donkey into a hotel lobby (don’t ask!) and he gets that “Oh my god, I’m in love!” look on his face when he sees her. I thought that may lead to something good between him and her later on, but nope, sorry, that bit of foreshadowing is forgotten.

Benidorm - 2009

There’s a TV series in England right now that will be soon going into its 4th season. When I heard that Robin made an appearance in season 3 I knew I had to get ahold of it. If you go to their website, they meanly do not let anyone outside of the U.K. view its clips, interviews, or anything. So, what’s an American to do? Go underground, of course. I found someone online who converts current British shows to DVRs for Americans to watch. Pretty cool. I bought the entire season 3 for $20. Even though Robin is only in episode 4, I didn’t mind watching the complete season. It wasn’t hard to get into, even if you haven’t seen the prior seasons. It’s about a group of English vacationers who for some reason travel to a Benidorm, Spain resort area every summer. It is absolutely hilarious! The characters are a scream. And oh, so horrible looking! Overweight, tackily dressed, brash personalities, makes me feel a little bit better about being an American – ha ha, those Brits aren’t as dignified as everyone thinks! They’re just as boorish on vacation to foreign lands as we are! Hmmm. Could that be the reason they don’t make it easy for us to view this show? ;)

So…Robin’s role. He plays Gary, a conman who appears at the resort and fast-talks people out of their money. And plays the role so well! He talks so quickly and convincingly you have a hard time figuring out what hit you until he’s gone. All the while still with the same mannerisms he had in his 20s, so cool to watch.

Although…I must admit, he’s looking rather weathered in this. I’m not quite sure I understand that –remember how young he looked in the “Evil Calls” interview from just 3 years ago. Did he really age that fast in such a short time? Or did the Benidorm people try to make him look older for the role? He does have a makeout scene worthy of his ‘70s self, though! In the elevator with one of the main characters who had been in cahoots with him from the start.

Fun show, and I do hope he'll be back on next season!

Evil Calls: The Raven – 2007

Wonderful, just wonderful (said sarcastically). I find that Robin is back to making horror movies in modern times and am thrilled that finally there’ll be something that’ll be easy to just rent off of Netflix, rather than hunting down and purchasing in the back alleys of the internet. Wrong. When it comes to Robin Askwith, apparently nothing is just that simple. Despite coming out 3 years ago, Netflix doesn’t carry it. Neither does Amazon. Someone online mentions you have to buy the DVD through the production company’s website, http://www.houseoffear.co.uk/films/evilcalls/index.htm So I head over, prepared to shell out some money, but am unable to find where it is I’m supposed to buy it. I email someone on the site about it, but they never get back to me. Does anyone WANT this movie to be seen?? Unfortunately, as they’ve been this wildly successful with this one, they’re doing a sequel, this year, 2010, titled “Back2Hell”. Goodness, what exactly do I need to do to SEE these things?

On a “I’ll take what I can get” note: On the website I mentioned above, there are clips from the film, which looks like it could be pretty interesting. AND! An interview with Robin! Who looks absolutely amazing for his 57 (at that point) years. Still his sparkling blond hair, charming wit and dazzling grin. Sigh.

Hopefully coming some day…an update of this “review”.

April 22, 2011 UPDATE!!! Finally saw it! See the review here!

LOOKING FOR…ITV Saturday Night Theatre “The Full Cheddar” – 1969? 1971? (Season 2, Episode 12)

Occasionally I’ll post some movie or TV show I’m having a tough time finding! From my research it seems that the “ITV Saturday Night Theater” was a kind of “movie of the week” type thing. I don’t know if these even exist anymore, or were just played once and erased? One discrepancy is that the IMBD lists this episode as broadcast in 1969, yet Robin, in his autobiography, had it scheduled in his 1971 diary: he has it down to be filmed from May 30 – June 14 of that year! Odd.

The few details IMBD lists: the plot:

“A teacher's concentration frequently wanders as he fantasizes about living a different life.”

And the character Robin plays: “Bassett”. An actor named Daniel Massey plays the teacher character of Fred Instance.

Sorry, that’s it! Can someone help me track this one down?

Hans Brinker - 1969

I guess you could call this Robin’s first real “starring” role. He landed this fresh out of high school and plays the title role. Hans Brinker is a teenaged boy in mid-1800s small town Holland whose father is a brain-damaged invalid as a result of a work accident 10 years prior. The family struggles along until hope comes in the form of a brain surgeon, whom Hans skates all the way to Amsterdam to beg to heal his father. This is a heartwarming, family-friendly musical which showcases Robin’s talent as a serious actor. His more lighthearted comedic roles are great, but I think they caused people to overlook the reality that he is a natural actor and really could have gone on to star in some more substantial leading man type roles.

Reading his autobiography is a must if you want to learn some funny and interesting “behind-the-scenes” tales from when he was making this! Especially amusing was that he and some of the other boys lied when auditioning for their roles, saying that they were advanced ice skaters, while in reality none of them knew how at all. Resulting in some quick “on the job” training in it at the last minute. I did notice that during all the fancy skating scenes, Robin is not given much screen time, even though he IS the star! Ha ha