ITV sitcom Vicious has been branded "homophobic" by comedian Barry Cryer.
78-year-old Cryer criticised the comedy series - which stars Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi - in a piece written for the Radio Times.
"A sitcom with two old gays could be really good and moving," the comic wrote. "With two great actors in Sir Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi it should be fantastic.
"But it was insult, insult, insult every other line. You don't believe in them. You don't like them, for a start."
Cryer went on to call Vicious "positively homophobic", adding: "It made [Are You Being Served? star] John Inman look restrained."
Vicious is yet to be recommissioned by ITV, though a Christmas special will follow the first series, which concluded its run on June 10.
> Vicious review: McKellen, Jacobi can't save ITV's tired, lazy sitcom
Watch a clip from Vicious below:...
78-year-old Cryer criticised the comedy series - which stars Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi - in a piece written for the Radio Times.
"A sitcom with two old gays could be really good and moving," the comic wrote. "With two great actors in Sir Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi it should be fantastic.
"But it was insult, insult, insult every other line. You don't believe in them. You don't like them, for a start."
Cryer went on to call Vicious "positively homophobic", adding: "It made [Are You Being Served? star] John Inman look restrained."
Vicious is yet to be recommissioned by ITV, though a Christmas special will follow the first series, which concluded its run on June 10.
> Vicious review: McKellen, Jacobi can't save ITV's tired, lazy sitcom
Watch a clip from Vicious below:...
- 6/18/2013
- Digital Spy
Actor best known as the haughty department store supervisor Captain Peacock in the TV comedy Are You Being Served?
The actor Frank Thornton, who has died aged 92, had a flair for comedy derived from the subtle craftsmanship of classical stage work. However, he will be best remembered for his longstanding characters in two popular BBC television comedy series – the sniffily priggish Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served? and the pompous retired policeman Herbert "Truly" Truelove, in Roy Clarke's Last of the Summer Wine.
Robertson Hare, the great Whitehall farceur, told him: "You'll never do any good until you're 40." And, said Thornton, "he was quite right." In the event, he was 51 when David Croft, producer of another long-running British staple, Dad's Army, remembered the tall, long-faced actor from another engagement and decided to cast him as the dapper floor-walker in charge of shop assistants played by Mollie Sugden, Wendy Richard,...
The actor Frank Thornton, who has died aged 92, had a flair for comedy derived from the subtle craftsmanship of classical stage work. However, he will be best remembered for his longstanding characters in two popular BBC television comedy series – the sniffily priggish Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served? and the pompous retired policeman Herbert "Truly" Truelove, in Roy Clarke's Last of the Summer Wine.
Robertson Hare, the great Whitehall farceur, told him: "You'll never do any good until you're 40." And, said Thornton, "he was quite right." In the event, he was 51 when David Croft, producer of another long-running British staple, Dad's Army, remembered the tall, long-faced actor from another engagement and decided to cast him as the dapper floor-walker in charge of shop assistants played by Mollie Sugden, Wendy Richard,...
- 3/19/2013
- by Carole Woddis
- The Guardian - Film News
If the year's two biggest blockbusters strive to be meatier than Transformers, hooray. But great pop shouldn't be too po-faced
As 2012's bum end approaches, I've been getting up to speed with some of the thrilling cultural phenomena that somehow passed me by, months after everyone else got bored of them. My life's been one big catch-up channel. It's not just idle curiosity: I'm preparing an end-of-the-year TV show, so I have to digest this stuff quickly: Homeland. Gangnam Style. The dog that won Britain's Got Talent. Brand new items in my mental trolley.
Some patterns emerge. Recently I watched The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall and realised they're essentially the same. In both films a screen icon gets the shit knocked out of him early on and spends much of the second act intermittently clutching his back and complaining. You might as well be watching a $200m advert for Voltarol.
As 2012's bum end approaches, I've been getting up to speed with some of the thrilling cultural phenomena that somehow passed me by, months after everyone else got bored of them. My life's been one big catch-up channel. It's not just idle curiosity: I'm preparing an end-of-the-year TV show, so I have to digest this stuff quickly: Homeland. Gangnam Style. The dog that won Britain's Got Talent. Brand new items in my mental trolley.
Some patterns emerge. Recently I watched The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall and realised they're essentially the same. In both films a screen icon gets the shit knocked out of him early on and spends much of the second act intermittently clutching his back and complaining. You might as well be watching a $200m advert for Voltarol.
- 12/10/2012
- by Charlie Brooker
- The Guardian - Film News
Co-writer of TV sitcoms On the Buses and The Rag Trade
At the height of his writing partnership with Ronald Chesney, Ronald Wolfe, who has died aged 89 after a fall, enjoyed huge success with the sitcom On the Buses; its bawdy humour was panned by the critics but lapped up by the viewing public. Originally turned down by the BBC, the idea for a comedy based around the antics of a driver and conductor giving their inspector the runaround at the Luxton Bus Company appealed to Frank Muir, head of entertainment at the newly launched ITV company London Weekend Television.
Reg Varney played Stan Butler, at the wheel of the No 11, and Bob Grant was his lothario conductor, Jack. The pair made life hell for the miserable Inspector Blake (Stephen Lewis). Blakey's "Get that bus out" and "I 'ate you, Butler" were two of the most frequent lines that flowed...
At the height of his writing partnership with Ronald Chesney, Ronald Wolfe, who has died aged 89 after a fall, enjoyed huge success with the sitcom On the Buses; its bawdy humour was panned by the critics but lapped up by the viewing public. Originally turned down by the BBC, the idea for a comedy based around the antics of a driver and conductor giving their inspector the runaround at the Luxton Bus Company appealed to Frank Muir, head of entertainment at the newly launched ITV company London Weekend Television.
Reg Varney played Stan Butler, at the wheel of the No 11, and Bob Grant was his lothario conductor, Jack. The pair made life hell for the miserable Inspector Blake (Stephen Lewis). Blakey's "Get that bus out" and "I 'ate you, Butler" were two of the most frequent lines that flowed...
- 12/20/2011
- by Anthony Hayward
- The Guardian - Film News
Here’s a list of some of the new DVD and Blu-ray releases this week we’re particularly interested in. Plus, some old favorites (and not so favorites) coming out this week for the first time on Blu-ray.
Movies
About Last Night… ~ Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, James Belushi (Blu-ray)
Alien Trespass ~ Eric McCormack, Dan Lauria, Robert Patrick, and Jenni Baird (DVD and Blu-ray)
Blue Thunder ~ Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, Candy Clark, and Daniel Stern (Blu-ray)
Chaos ~ Jason Statham (Blu-ray)
The Class (Entre Les Murs) ~ François Bégaudeau, Agame Malembo-Emene, and Angélica Sancio (DVD)
Cutthroat Island ~ Geena Davis, Frank Langella, Matthew Modine (Blu-ray)
Eagles Over London ~ Van Johnson, Frederick Stafford, Francisco Rabal, and Luigi Pistilli (Blu-ray)
Gigantic ~ Zooey Deschanel, Paul Dano, John Goodman, and Ed Asner (DVD)
I Love You, Man ~ Paul Rudd, Jason Segal (DVD and Blu-ray)
Katyn ~ Artur Amijewski, Maja Ostaszewska, and Andrzej Chyra (DVD)
Michael Jackson: Moonwalking – The...
Movies
About Last Night… ~ Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, James Belushi (Blu-ray)
Alien Trespass ~ Eric McCormack, Dan Lauria, Robert Patrick, and Jenni Baird (DVD and Blu-ray)
Blue Thunder ~ Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, Candy Clark, and Daniel Stern (Blu-ray)
Chaos ~ Jason Statham (Blu-ray)
The Class (Entre Les Murs) ~ François Bégaudeau, Agame Malembo-Emene, and Angélica Sancio (DVD)
Cutthroat Island ~ Geena Davis, Frank Langella, Matthew Modine (Blu-ray)
Eagles Over London ~ Van Johnson, Frederick Stafford, Francisco Rabal, and Luigi Pistilli (Blu-ray)
Gigantic ~ Zooey Deschanel, Paul Dano, John Goodman, and Ed Asner (DVD)
I Love You, Man ~ Paul Rudd, Jason Segal (DVD and Blu-ray)
Katyn ~ Artur Amijewski, Maja Ostaszewska, and Andrzej Chyra (DVD)
Michael Jackson: Moonwalking – The...
- 8/11/2009
- by Joe Gillis
- The Flickcast
Sitcom legend Mollie Sugden passed away yesterday, following a long battle with illness. The Yorkshire-born star first found fame in Liverpool-based comedy The Liver Birds as Mrs Hutchinson, but it wasn't until she took the role of snooty purple-rinsed Mrs Slocombe in 1972 that she really captured the public's imagination. Thanks to a seemingly never-ending list of double entendre gags about her "pussy" Tiddles, she provided comedy gold for millions of viewers of Are You Being Served? for 13 years. Double-teaming with camp co-star John Inman, she turned a dreary '70s British sitcom into a saucy delight. During her pomp, Sugden starred in pretty (more)...
- 7/3/2009
- by By Alex Fletcher
- Digital Spy
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