Any examples? I heard the version of The Navy Lark which was basically the writers saying "Let's set this on an island", "Let's cast Leslie Phillips" and then goes to a story about missing vans.
Also Fawlty Towers' Touch of Class. Does it work as a first episode?
It has always intrigued me that, in the 1st episode of Dad's Army, when enrolling, Frazer is the owner of a philatelist shop rather than being the undertaker into which he subsequently morphed (even as late as the penultimate episode of series 3, "No Spring for Frazer" Mainwaring & Wilson were surprised to discover Frazer making coffins for the local undertaker to whom they then had to rush round and there was still no suggestion of Frazer being the undertaker himself).
Also a character called Bracewell had quite a prominent role in the 1st episode but is never used again although the actor, John Ringham (who went on to play Penny's father in "Just Good Friends"), turned up in several later episodes as Captain Bailey.
Then there was the death of the crew in the pilot of Red Dwarf.
Well, if we're talking about deaths in pilots, PC Dixon was of course famously shot & killed in "The Blue Lamp" and then went on to obtain promotion and star in 432 episodes of Dixon of Dock Green over the ensuing 21 years.
Ahh, Saturday at 6 - I've had me tea and there's Tommy Reilly on the harmonica playing the theme and ......... "Evening all, you know you come across some crooked people in life and................................"
Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 9th July 2017, 5:59 PMAlso Fawlty Towers' Touch of Class. Does it work as a first episode?
Must be the most straight in first episode of any major sitcom I've seen. I even remember watching it when it first aired thinking it was very unintroduced yet brilliant. 'Where did that come from, have I missed one already'. Lately I've tried to convince myself it works because it IS so straight in, from out of the blue we have this fully developed mad new world on our TV sets.
They may have had a logistical reason for starting with it like The Hotel Inspectors ep not being finished yet which would be the natural choice for opener in hindsight. Or perhaps they thought starting with a potential classic ep (that it became) would be wasting it on an audience new to such a unique sitcom? In 75 you didn't get quick repeats like you do now. So the prods may have thought they could double the viewing figures for this ep in the middle instead of first up. Makes sense from a series management point of view, I'd have done the same. But I'd have chosen The Builders to pilot as it's not the strongest ep and works as an intro as it focuses on the physical hotel, itself a pretty mad character. Whichever one to choose to pilot I'd have kept A Touch Of Class back a bit. It's one of my favourites.
I've read A Touch of Class so many times I've lost count. The way each character is introduced so economically is a joy. The episode is a masterclass in sitcom writing, and I think it was the perfect one to start with.
Mia Wallace was in a pilot called Fox Force Five.
She was a knives expert and had to tell a different joke in every episode.
The series was never taken up so she only told one - and it was shite.
Quote: beaky @ 10th July 2017, 9:09 AMI've read A Touch of Class so many times I've lost count. The way each character is introduced so economically is a joy. The episode is a masterclass in sitcom writing, and I think it was the perfect one to start with.
One of my all time favourite actors Michael Gwynn (played Lord Melbury) who I took a shine to when I first saw him as Joe Gargery in the Beeb's 1959 production of Great Expectations - his "Pip old chap" has never been bettered.
Doesn't appear in this first episode "A Touch of Class" until about a third of the way through and without fail sets me off laughing when he has to explain to Basil that he only signs "Melbury", what with him being a Lord and Basil's smarmy reaction and cut off phone call is superb.
If you saw the pilot of The Good Life you might think that Margo Ledbetter would never appear, only her voice is heard.
Maybe she had her best lines OS: 'Well, that's the last time I play the tart for you Jerry'
A Touch of Class seems gentle in comparison with the other episodes but that's classic pilot-in-retrospect syndrome. I was lucky enough to see the first ever Young Ones broadcast Demolition and it seriously rocked, but after watching later ones (especially the last two) it's relatively tame. Not just Rik's hair.
No one gives a f**k what I think anyway.
Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 10th July 2017, 8:38 PMMaybe she had her best lines OS: 'Well, that's the last time I play the tart for you Jerry'
Great line. 