Frances de la Tour

Rising Damp was more than a sitcom

Writer Eric Chappell perfectly captured our all-too-human foibles, failures and frustrations.

The grand bow-out of ITV's Vicious arrived in a "special" that wasn't at all. Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellen and Frances de la Tour are all close to beatification in the British acting world and it says much about their talent that they have almost made this slipshod monotonal excretion watchable.

Almost. That's a qualification up there with saying McKellen might be "almost pregnant". Such a shame for him, for them all. Two elderly gays in a flat, camping it up with exaggerated moues and eyebrow-raising, and so very 1970s, but it might have worked with decent writing, or an any-way decent script. This one has apparently been written throughout by low-functioning and homophobic bacteria. They do try, the dear boys, but they're merely putting greasepaint on a pig.

Preview - Vicious: A Year

ITV doesn't produce many sitcoms, but when they do they tend to pull in the viewers. Most TV critics may not be fans of Vicious, Benidorm or the revived Birds of a Feather, but the public like them.

Every Home Should Have One: DVD review

The humour is adolescent throughout. A movie that ought to have given the increasingly tired-looking Carry On series a run for its money is a curious period piece that captures the ad game well it has it has its brighter moments like the take-offs of Ken Russell, Benny Hill, a Swedish nudist picture and a hell-for-leather Buster Keaton-like fight sequence in the BBC props room. It was ad guru David Ogilvy who said that advertising was 'the best fun you can have with your clothes on'. Every Home Should Have One proves him wrong.

Radio Times review

There are some hilariously catty insults this week (inevitably one or two misfires, too) but the novelty of seeing Sir Ian and Sir Derek as two seniors behaving badly still hasn't quite worn off - especially when blurting out the odd expletive.

The entire cast decide to attend a ballroom-dancing class, where ever-game Violet (Frances de la Tour) gets the hots for a very camp dance master. When Stuart shows his prowess, Freddie flounces off. Home alone, however, he soon finds he doesn't even know how to make tea.

We've been asked to keep schtum about a surprise development in this edition. Don't worry, Vicious fans. Nobody dies.

Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi star as cohabiting actors Freddie and Stewart in this otherwise traditional comedy. Really, though, the thespian pair are straight men to Frances de la Tour, who owns the show as the endearing Vi, and gets most of the best lines. That's all particularly true in tonight's episode, as the pair participate in a ruse to help Vi deceive her sister Lillian, who believes Vi lives a glamorous life. With Stewart playing the role of Vi's husband and Freddie as the butler, what could conceivably go wrong?

Radio Times review

Loathe it or love it (and I'm in the latter camp), Vicious is back for a second run. It's been a long time coming - it isn't easy coordinating the diaries of this stellar cast. Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen are back chewing the scenery as bickering couple Stuart and Freddie, with Game of Thrones' Iwan Rheon as their doe-eyed neighbour Ash and Marcia Warren upstaging all as the forgetful Penelope.

Tonight, their voracious best pal Violet (Frances de la Tour) panics when her long-absent sister Lillian pays a visit. Violet pleads with Stuart to butch up - it's a struggle - and pretend to be her husband. Mirth ensues, not least because Lillian is played by goddess of camp, Celia Imrie.

Radio Times review

Ofsted inspection tomorrow: an announcement that scares the teaching staff at Greybridge School more than most. And with good reason - the most positive comment in the entire report is that the school has an adequate number of bins.

You can see exactly where this episode is going even before chemistry teacher Mr Church dresses up as a hydrogen atom (but looks more like a sperm) and Miss Postern makes a lame attempt at playing Le Bingo (she forgot to tell the class the numbers were in French). But Frances de la Tour is as wonderful as ever, especially after she samples the drugs she has confiscated from a pupil.

Radio Times review

Greybridge School's embarrassing Parent Teacher Consultation Night is something all the staff would like cancelled... especially as it's held on the same night as Bake Off. Even head teacher Ms Baron (Frances de la Tour) hates the occasion, although her hilarious description of what she'd rather do is too disgusting to repeat here.

However, PE teacher Mr Gunn (Philip Glenister) is anxious about it for a very personal reason. He believes he is the father of a boy he teaches at the school. "Oooh, it's better than an episode of Waterloo Road," squeaks the comely Miss Postern (Catherine Tate) when he confides in her. She's right - it's much, much better than that.