Richard Boden Movies

Time Gentlemen Please was an offshoot of British comedian Al Murray's famously uninhibited standup comedy act. Murray was cast as Guv, a loudmouthed, bigoted, sexist pub keeper who held court over a throng of staffers and customers in his grimy, rundown establishment. Although Guv's wife and children had long since walked out on him, he managed to retain an entourage which included his potty-mouthed Australian barmaid Janet (Julia Sawalha) and rowdy customer Terry (Phil Daniels), who managed to get himself thrown out of the pub in the course of every episode. Broadcast over the anything-goes British satellite service Sky One, the 22-episode Time Gentlemen Please debuted on September 11, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Debuting September 3, 1991 over BBC1, the long-running British sitcom 2.4 Children was all about an ostensibly typical family, the Potters. Despite their veneer of normality, the family invariably found itself experiencing all sorts of abnormal and surrealistic adventures, in the manner of the American comedies Married: With Children and Malcolm in the Middle. For the record, Ben Porter (Gary Olsen) ran a plumbing business with attractive assistant Christine (Kim Benson); Ben's wife (Belinda Lang) held down several dead-end jobs before launching a catering business with her friend Rona (Julia Hills); and the couple's kids, Jenny (played first by Claire Woodgate, then by Claire Buckfield) and David (John Pickard), were like most other wisecracking sitcom kids, only more so. One of the most endearing aspects of the series was its endless stream of pop-culture references, including Ben's referring to son David as "Puggsley," and the contemptuous nickname "Jake the Klingon" bestowed upon Ben's main business rival Jake Klinger (Roger Lloyd Pack). The 57th and final episodes of 2.4 Children was seen on December 30, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Faced with the prospect of joining the AEF in the "big push" against the Germans, Captain Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) goes insane -- or at least he pretends to. Only a last-minute phone call to Field Marshall Douglas Haig (Geoffrey Palmer) stands between Edmund and the Kaiser's guns. Will our "hero" be sacrificed to the Great Cause, or will there somehow be a fifth season of Blackadder episodes? "Plan F: Goodbyeee" was originally telecast on November 2, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fourth series of Blackadder episodes, logically titled Blackadder Goes Forth, commenced on September 28, 1989. Rowan Atkinson was back as the latest in a long line of Blackadders, this one named Captain Edmund. Having joined the Army to meet beautiful and willing damsels, the cowardly Edmund was aghast when Great Britain entered the First World War. In the episode titled "Plan A: Captain Cook," Edmund conspires with his traditional crony Baldrick (Tony Robinson) to avoid combat duty by becoming Official War Artist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anxious to be transferred far away from the trenches of France, Captain Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) arranges a musical show for the top brass. The plan comes acropper when Baldrick (Tony Robinson) stops the show with a disgusting Charlie Chaplin impression. Making matters even dicier, the general (Stephen Fry) falls in love with a sexy female chanteuse -- who turns out to be Lt. George St. Barleigh (Hugh Laurie) in disguise. "Plan C: Major Star" was originally telecast in England on October 12, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide