Michael Jayston

This review contains spoilers...

Albert's Memorial was a bodysnatching road movie starring David Jason, David Warner and Michael Jayston as Second World War veterans who, 45 years earlier, had abjectly failed to rescue a young German girl from murderous Soviet troops. When Jayston's character dies, the remaining two must fulfil his dying wish and bury their comrade in the same field outside Berlin where the atrocity occurred.

Which is one hell of a great opening for a drama. Unfortunately, this was one corpse that had been embalmed in saccharin, for the story was soon floundering beneath a wave of sweetness and sentimentality. The jokes were of the "Quiet, you'll wake the dead!" variety, and the plot had holes big enough to drive a hearse and cart through.

My patience finally expired when the mystery hitch-hiker sharing their road to redemption turned out to be the ghost of the murdered German girl.

It is a tribute to the talents of Warner and Jason that they actually succeeded in delivering very moving performances among all the unadulterated tosh.

Harry Venning, The Stage, 20th September 2010

This one-off drama might not have had the sexiest pitch ever: two World War II veterans honour their friend's dying wish by taking his body for burial in Germany. However, a cast led by David Jason, a nice splash of dark humour and the skilful unravelling of a mystery made it well worth watching.

The film kicked off with the dying Albert (Michael Jayston) asking his mates Harry (Jason) and Frank (David Warner) to bury him on the hillside near Berlin where they met the advancing Russian army. However, it was clear that the three men had a secret: something happened there that had haunted them ever since.

With Albert's death, the film edged into more farcical territory. Harry and Frank stole his body to prevent his cremation, and before long he was boxed up and strapped to the top of Harry's London cab for the road trip. Along the way, with the intervention of Vicki (Judith Hoersch), a young German hitch-hiker, Harry and Frank gradually came to terms with the events of 1945.

The mystery unfolded quite nicely, with clever editing reflecting the way memory works and inviting the viewer to piece together the tragic events. However, despite strong performances from Jason and Warner, the film relied too much on Last of the Summer Wine-style capers and creaky banter.

Worse of all, the plot leant on too many coincidences and contained too many moments that strained credibility. And after a moving climax, the clumsy revelation in the final minutes overshadowed the touching human drama of old men coming to terms with the past. A disappointing end to an otherwise engaging drama.

Tom Murphy, Orange TV, 12th September 2010

Lord Emsworth (Martin Jarvis) is getting Empress of Blandings, his prize pig, ready for the Shropshire Agricultural Show. He's worried about possible nobbling by rival breeder Sir Gregory Parsloe (Michael Jayston). Meanwhile scandal looms if Emsworth's brother Galahad (Charles Dance) publishes his memoirs so Parsloe hires private detective Percy Pilbeam (Matt Lucas) to nick the manuscript. And love, as ever in a PG Wodehouse comedy, is making life very complicated for the younger set. Dramatised in two star-studded episodes by Archie Scottney, made by glamorous independents Jarvis and Ayres Productions.

Gillian Reynolds, The Telegraph, 4th July 2010