Fulton Mackay reigns supreme in Mann's Best Friends
Published: Sunday 10th April 2022
Roy Clarke is without question the most prolific comedy writer in Britain, possibly the world. Scripting all two hundred and ninety-five episodes of Last Of The Summer Wine over thirty-one series from 1973 to 2009, he also penned much loved sitcoms Open All Hours and Keeping Up Appearances.
However, in between these huge hits, he found time to craft various curios that, whilst filled with his trademark witticisms and inflections, for one reason or another didn't find their way into the public consciousness. One such show is Mann's Best Friends, produced by Thames and first broadcast on Channel 4 in 1985.
Henry Mann, a meek landlord, calls upon the services of officious executive Hamish James Ordway to bring some semblance of law and order to his guest house. This is easier said than done, with the eccentric oddballs who populate it refusing to conform. Fulton Mackay stars as Ordway, a character not dissimilar from his most famous role as Officer Mackay in Porridge. Dour and domineering, it might be Mann's name in the title, but this is Ordway's show. There is an ensemble around him, but Mann's Best Friends is Mackay's first leading role in a sitcom.
Up to this point, Clarke had achieved more than a many writers do in their entire career. Last Of The Summer Wine had been running for more than a decade and with Mann's Best Friends, Clarke aimed to "try something a little wilder". Aside from Mackay, the cast was drawn from the cream of the crop of British comic character actors, including Bernard Bresslaw and Clive Merrison.
Clarke is one of the few screenwriters whose onscreen voice is so distinct you can identify him as the writer within seconds of watching an episode. While there is always a plot, the joy of watching a Clarke comedy is revelling in the lilt of his language. Characters engage in long, discursive scenes and he isn't afraid to have them speak with eloquence. Last Of The Summer Wine was built around characters engaging in drawn out discussions, Clarke preferring to use badinage and bonhomie rather than pithy punchlines. For example, this exchange in which Mann tells Ordway about his mother:
ORDWAY: I'm sorry your mother died.
MANN: Oh, it wasn't your fault. Mrs Aspinol said she was called by God. I thought 'My God, if that's a call I hope he sends me a telegram!'
In the case of Mann's Best Friends, the plots are always secondary to the character arc of Ordway, who must learn to fit in with this bunch of oddballs and misfits. As Clarke himself said, "Characters are my main armament, more so than plot. I have to think hard about them until I know how they speak. Once I can hear their voices then I've got them". Aside from the first episode, which sets the scene with Ordway searching for a new residence, the entire series takes place inside The Larkins Guest House. This means that the only guest role of note is the appearance of veteran character actor Reginald Marsh as an irritable estate agent.
Barry Stanton is Henry Mann who, given his name is in the title, is a surprisingly ineffectual figure with very little agency. This means that when Ordway enters the frame the conflict is established immediately and a comedy of manners begins to play out. Mann is haunted by visions of his late mother, played by Barbara Hicks, in scenes that reveal the reason for his timidity, having spent a lifetime being harried and harassed under her thumb.
As with all of Clarke's comedies, the supporting cast is made up of familiar faces. Liz Smith, for example, is the high class sophisticate Mrs Anstruther, with whom Ordway manages to clash at every meeting.
On the opposite end of the scale is Irvin, an eccentric chancer who believes himself to be a dwarf, played with some relish by Clive Merrison. He is the kind of character who is a gift in a sitcom like this, able to inject a gag into any scene that may be flagging.
Screen legend Bernard Bresslaw appears as the monosyllabic Duncan, a gentle giant who, despite his immense physical presence, has a docile demeanour. Bresslaw is - and was - of course far better known for his film work. A stalwart of the Carry On series, his only other sitcom roles were The Army Game and the short lived Mum's Boys alongside Irene Handl, all episodes of which are now sadly lost.
Patricia Brake rounds out the cast as Dolly Delights, a call girl who, despite her name and frequent male visitors, Mann believes to be an acting student. Brake was also a veteran of Porridge, having played Fletcher's daughter Ingrid - a role she reprised in sequel Going Straight.
A true ensemble comedy, in the tradition of Clarke's best work each episode meanders from character to character, each person getting their moment in the spotlight. But unlike many of his comedies, Mann's Best Friends leans towards surrealism, as in the case of an unspecified number of waiters gliding around the guest house, their number changing every episode.
The show only ran for one series, which is a shame because as Ordway ingratiates himself into the house, there are many potential plots and areas of character left unexplored. As Clarke explained, "It takes time to get the viewers to follow you down unfamiliar paths and time is not what expensive TV productions can afford. Enjoyed it though".
It would be Mackay's final sitcom role and he sadly died just two years after its transmission.
As for the rest of the cast, Stanton went on to star in 1994's Ain't Misbehavin, another Clarke comedy, alongside Peter Davison. Merrison found great success as a character actor, including as a main cast member in Andy Hamilton's Kit Curran, while Liz Smith found fame in her later years as eccentric cook Letitia Cropley in The Vicar Of Dibley, and Nana in The Royle Family.
Clarke continued to up his workload, not only creating Keeping Up Appearances, but other one offs including what would turn out to be the final sitcom role for Roy Kinnear, The Clairvoyant, the following year. And all of this was written in the midst of the huge popularity of both Last Of The Summer Wine and Open All Hours.
Mann's Best Friends may only be seen as a curio, and certainly it is worth watching to see Clarke write something with clear differences to his other work. It is best thought of as a sitcom very much of its era; the epitome of a gentle comedy where the joy comes not from a convoluted plot, but the company of the characters. More than anything else, though, it stands as a fitting tribute to the skills and comic timing of Fulton Mackay.
Where to start?
Series 1, Episode 3
This episode has perhaps the best coalescence of cast. Ordway clashes repeatedly with Irvin, so Irvin recruits Duncan as his bodyguard. Meanwhile, Ordway takes it upon himself to put an end to Dolly's promiscuous proclivities.
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Love comedy? Find out moreMann's Best Friends - The Complete Series
Penned by Last Of The Summer Wine creator Roy Clarke, Mann's Best Friends stars Barry Stanton as the inheritor of a rambling old house along with its menagerie of strange animals... and even stranger humans!
Also starring the scourge of HMP Slade, Fulton MacKay, with fellow Porridge veteran Patricia Brake, BAFTA winner Liz Smith and Carry On stalwart Bernard Bresslaw, this delightfully offbeat sitcom is made available here for the first time.
When Henry Mann inherits The Laurels he also inherits its assorted resident oddballs, who include ill-tempered alcoholic Duncan, blonde temptress Dolly Delights and several Chinese waiters. Then comes the arrival of retired Water Board official Hamish James Ordway, a nosey parker and colossal fusspot with a flair for what he euphemistically calls 'organisation' - and Mann offers him free accommodation at The Laurels in returning for straightening out the chaos prevailing within...
First released: Sunday 13th April 2014
DVD- Distributor: Network
- Region: 2
- Discs: 1
- Catalogue: 7954071
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