Alfred J Kipper
Sunday 2nd July 2023 10:24am [Edited]
Aldershot
8,312 posts
Was fairly recently rewatching all eps in my boxset and reading up a bit more on FT and somewhere I heard or read that The Anniversary is Cleese's 2nd favourite ep after Basil The Rat because it has his recent wife's greatest input into both the writing and the acting. I think it's a much more coherent ep than the final ep BTR which was really a bit of a wild mess if you critically analyse it, although a very funny one. The Anniversary was the ep most enhanced in my own estimation.
Many people say it's their least favourite, I'd have to guess that's because of one or two quite static patches straight after the very frenetic Kipper & Corpse and a longish scene in a dark room, which often makes for difficult viewing without the usual brightness of studio lights. But it has Polly being manipulative then punching Sybil's best friend and Basil being the worst husband ever (in Sybil's eyes) so I definitely rate it better than The Builders now. In most other sitcoms of course it wouldn't have the level of competition from the other eps it has in this.