Slimming Down starring Prunella Scales, Ian Richardson and Nicholas Lyndhurst (1984)
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Mr. Shrigley (Ian Richardson), a small businessman dealing in office equipment, believes that the recession happens to other people. Unfortunately he is wrong, and, when it catches up with him, he comes up with a plan for some unusual cutbacks....
A rather dark satirical comedy drama also featuring Nicholas Lyndhurst (Frasier) and Prunella Scales (Fawlty Towers). It served as a backdoor pilot for the later Channel 4 series, "Tickets for the Titanic", made by the same production company.
Broadcast 20th June 1984
Lovely to see Prunella Scales so young and healthy, it’s really sad she’s become so ill in recent years.
Thank you from across the pond for sharing these gems. As an American I feel I was deprived growing up without them.
I hope you feel more fulfilled after seeing these. Sarah Across the pond 🇬🇧 😊
Hope you enjoy more British TV, especially from the 70s onwards. Take care from a brit to a yank ❤
I miss the one off stories which were under a bland heading, Armchair Theatre, Play for Today, etc. you never knew what was coming up next.
Nowadays the economics of single dramas and tight budgets/profit margins have conspired to kill this off. An apt turn of phrase in relation to this play. This was also a mirror held up to the petit-bourgeois aspirations of the middle classes and the reductio ad absurdum of everything in immediate financial terms. We saw ourselves reflected as in a fairground distorting mirror in tales such as this. Uncomfortable. Thought provoking. Thank you for sharing this little gem.
Well said.
Another great show, thank you so much CBT, keep 'em coming and stay lucky
Thank you for posting, excellent and relevant today too. If people liked this I suggest the Play for Today's 'Dog Ends' with Leonard Rossiter
Excellent. Witty and sad. Great writing.
Nice to see the late Mike Walling in something other than Brush Strokes.
Could not take to him odd looking fella
Good actors. Enjoyed that.
Brilliant play and oh, such dark humour.
23:48 these table mats!! Everyone had them those days. 😊
The actors had to eat quite a bit of that dinner, so I hope they didn't do "take 40"😂
That was darkly funny 😁
What a fantastic drama/ tragedy.
The scene with the Daddy explaining to the family that _father_ is the sole bread winner (the *Only person working* ) and the _rest of family_ are... *nonproducing* & *non earning*
Please share more (of this series/ similar 1980s stories)
Many thanks
Lol, and people wonder why women don’t want to stay at home with the babies any more-
Is this where starmer is getting his ideas 😂😂😂
Black comedy absolutely brilliant ❤
Nick Lyndhurst is far better known for his portrayal of Rodney [Dave] in Only Fools & Horses and preceding this, in Butterflies as one of the teenaged sons.
I was just about to say that.
And Goodnight Sweetheart.
Del-boy's little brother!
Plus going straight
A shame about the reboot of Frasier…..
I heard an interesting comment on radio 4 today. "The rich can go to Switzerland to end their suffering but if found out, a spouse or family member will go to court for easing a loved ones pain.......
The writer Barry Pilton is very underrated. This was superb. I guess a dark satire on Thatcherism. Didn’t see that ending coming. Waste of a good chocolate cake.
That was very good
40 years on in England and disillusionment, depression and despair seem pretty common
And the people don’t dress or talk as nicely as they did back then
But I guess that’s progress
Right now reminds me VERY much of the mid seventies to mid eighties in northern UK. Unemployment, poverty lack of hope, subsequent racism when immigrants were blamed for the bad situation. Really similar
A real gem😊
Brilliant! 🤩
Gosh that was a really dark comedy and I’m Canadian so we are a bit used to the weird British humour. We have our own that Americans don’t get either. Poor dears. I totally called it when they were discussing the father and his costs to upkeep - euthanasia, no way.
I worked for a small stationary store that provided office supplies, equipment and furniture to local businesses much like this guy did, but got laid off at the start of the pandemic. I’ve survived many of these economic downturns in my “career” since I graduated high school in 1988. I tell younger people now to get into a trade. They are always looking for good people and you will never be out of work. One nephew did follow my advice and is doing HVAC. Another young man I know is now considering getting his truck driving license. If I was younger, I’d get my DZ and work a septic truck. Everybody poops! Or I’d be a good plumber or chimney sweep. My guys around here can’t find people to apprentice.
Now - let’s see how this ends…
Oh geez - that was a wee bit disturbing and depressing.
Yep, become a plumber/electrician/chippie there’s loads of work out there and no university loans to pay off.
That was very shocking and I wish, I hadn't seen it.
It it shocked you then it was worth seeing 🙂
46:30 - 47:15
Dystopian monologue.😢 It doesn't give away the story.
Very good. Although a rewrite of history. I was 16 in 1980. Tough up North with factory closures. . But there are plenty of jobs available in the South, where this was set.Loads of mates loved being dole boys, though. Money for nothing and casual jobs on the side.Then, later, even Wham rapped about what a great life it was for the young. Still brilliant play and a nice twist at the end.
Oh my word.
Nicholas Lyndhurst that guy from Frasier.. 99 out of 100 people would have said "Only Fools and Horses" but you do you.
Most of our subscribers are actually outside the UK.
That took a dark turn. And with the loosening of euthanasia laws in Canada an UK, a bit scarier.
It’s all part of the globalists’ plan.
Nicholas lyndshurt now living in the states in series of frasier return of the old series nick no longer wishes to work for the bbc and who could blame him
I felt sorry for granddad, and the son and his friend!!!! Such an unfeeling couple!!!!
It’s metaphorical. The parents are simply applying Thatcherism from the macro/national level to the micro-family level. That’s the dark “joke.”
Tories
Fantastic acting from all cast, yet very sad, as there are so many people like this who value material things and as they live in, what looks like, most residential areas, they have delusions of grandeur and so sad to also see that they’re not paying any attention to their son at all, because of being unemployed. So many people are so narrow-minded. It’s now interesting to see the plot developing and things are clearly taking a downturn for this couple.
Someone should tell this couple there is more to life than money and position in society!
It’s metaphorical. The parents are simply applying Thatcherism from the macro/national level to the micro-family level. That’s the dark “joke.”
Epitome of England.
Ah, economic rationalism. A metaphor for Britain’s austerity policy?
Yep, in those days it was the government keeping unemployment nice and high to control wage growth and inflation
How bloody awful! One profit-driven narcissist, coupled to a most stupid woman - and one young man with whom they have no contact! Oh...the humanity
They say the English are a cold blooded race...
It's a black comedy. Seemingly a forgotten art.
This is a comedy. I know it doesn't have a laugh track and our humour may be a bit deadpan and dark at times but that's what's happening here. This is all in humour.
It’s metaphorical. The parents are simply applying Thatcherism from the macro/national level to the micro-family level. That’s the dark “joke.”
Rodney
Sybil
Ooh I know, Yes, I know....
@@SarahDixon-tx4zx’BASIL!’ 😅
This is literally what Justin Trudeau has done to Canada.
That Sunday roast looks awful, who puts green beans with peas and the beef looked rock hard🤮
And the actors had to eat it. I hope it was covered with very strong gravy to make it brown, and it wasn't so hard, as they don't chew it for ages. 😊
Welcome to infamous English cooking.
Depressing
Interesting. I know how black comedy works but it doesn't feel like it works that well here, when things take such a dark turn it feels altogether too jarring. Also I feel sorry for Grandad but not really so much for Rodney - sorry Sebastian, he's too obviously a mouthpiece character. Ian Richardson is great
A lot of 80s satire now looks very heavy handed, such as this one. We're consciously presenting a range of archive tv that covers many different areas, and some examples of which are showing their age a little!
But we should not hide our past culture. Thank you for your channel 👍
Rodney? Do you mean Dave?
@@ClassicBritishTellya sort of middle-class version of Boys from the Black stuff.
Thatcher made poor peoples lives miserable, nothing’s changed since,
Starmer seems to be making the majority of people miserable nowadays.
@ to be fair starmer has increased the minimum wage, that’s putting food in people’s mouths who otherwise would go hungry.
How peculiar. No job doesn't mean you have to sit around doing nothing.
He was depressed. Depression can make it almost impossible to do anything.
@@jorasparents True and his mum was hiding him from the neighbours. A dark piece ........
@@jorasparents Depressed because you're not doing anything.
@@irenemorley75he wouldn't be depressed if he had found a job in the first six months. It weighs a person down, plus having the parents like that. If his father cared he could have offered him a part time job when he finished school.
@@jorasparents that character has 1) youth
2) health
3) a Safe home
What's he gotta be depressed About?
Get up - be productive!
Very depressing episode.
CYBIL FAWLTY RODNEY THE PLONKER AND JACKOS MATE IN BRUSHSTROKES
They say the English are a cold race...
Who's they? I would argue 'they' say that out of jealousy down to some ancient defeat at our hands. It's all very pathetic. 🏴
@@rnw2739cold answer 😅
That’s because we always go for a night out with no coat on - even in the middle of winter!!!
Who are “they”?!!!
Malthusian myopia
' Unemployed shall inherit the earth' what left wing crap. Otherwise, the show is good. Anti Mrs T script writer of course....However each actor is acting as themselves, including the Sad Nick Lyndhurst.
Rodney
Dave.