This popped up on my feed last week, and it’s worth a watch. Comrade Dad was written by Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent (the creators of Sorry!), and starred George Cole and Barbara Ewing. After a well-received pilot in 1984, it ran for a series of seven episodes in the early months of 1986.
I think this first episode is rather good, with some nice world-building, and some great performances.
Maybe a few years ago this kind of satire would have seemed outmoded and outdated, but at the moment, it feels a bit too close to the nose for comfort really. Not least the blind allegiance to a flawed ideal.
Here’s an appearance of Cole’s on Aspel a couple of weeks before this series aired. There’s no mention of the BBC sitcom, unsurprisingly, although there’s an oblique reference to it by way of an anecdote.
Also interesting in that is the mention of the Bob Larbey play A Month Of Sundays.
Back to Comrade Dad. There’s lots of money on the screen, and the sets are appropriately bleak. I like the signs on the Tube train too.
Even if you are old or disabled, please give up this seat if a party member wants it.
Yeah, this is getting too real now.
