Tuesday, October 04, 2005
...and it's goodnight from him
It's a shame to see that Ronnie Barker died yesterday, at the age of 76, from heart trouble. He was one of Britain's funniest comedy-actors.
I used to love watching his shows on TV - The Two Ronnies was good, and I always preferred him over Ronnie Corbett. Open All Hours has proved to be a classic of it's time; the character Arkwright stuck in the Northern stereotype time-warp that we all know and love - Memories of Hovis music, bikes flying down cobbled hillsides, men walking home each evening from the pit, that sort of thing. And there he was, in his corner shop, selling anything and everything, trying to get into the pants (or bra mainly) of the district nurse, taking it out on the bumbling juvenile assistant (a fabulous David Jason). Classic.
But there was better to come - Porridge. Originally made as a one-off pilot, this series ran for a few years in the end. Stuck inside the imaginery Slade Prison, Barker's cockney character Fletcher was a magnificent portrayal of what can go wrong in life to an old lag when the world is (perceivably) against you. Great scripts, fine back up from old hands at character acting, and we had one of the most endearing of all British comedies. Dateless. We can still watch it and laugh, endlessly.
Without a doubt, Ronnie Barker was a fine comedian, a very good actor, a wonderful script writer, and by all accounts a very nice person. I'll miss him.
I used to love watching his shows on TV - The Two Ronnies was good, and I always preferred him over Ronnie Corbett. Open All Hours has proved to be a classic of it's time; the character Arkwright stuck in the Northern stereotype time-warp that we all know and love - Memories of Hovis music, bikes flying down cobbled hillsides, men walking home each evening from the pit, that sort of thing. And there he was, in his corner shop, selling anything and everything, trying to get into the pants (or bra mainly) of the district nurse, taking it out on the bumbling juvenile assistant (a fabulous David Jason). Classic.
But there was better to come - Porridge. Originally made as a one-off pilot, this series ran for a few years in the end. Stuck inside the imaginery Slade Prison, Barker's cockney character Fletcher was a magnificent portrayal of what can go wrong in life to an old lag when the world is (perceivably) against you. Great scripts, fine back up from old hands at character acting, and we had one of the most endearing of all British comedies. Dateless. We can still watch it and laugh, endlessly. Without a doubt, Ronnie Barker was a fine comedian, a very good actor, a wonderful script writer, and by all accounts a very nice person. I'll miss him.
