User Reviews

The men of the bus depot vote to wrest control of the canteen away from the management, and run it themselves. Stan Butler is given the job of finding a new cook. A driver, Mr.Sharma, suggests his wife.

Mrs.Sharma is a fine cook, but only knows how to make curry. The men are repelled by the stuff, so Stan is forced to look again. He eventually settles on Olive.

Her first day is a disaster. She cuts her fingers attempting to use the machine for making chips, Stan's Mum wastes time attempting to light an electric cooker, and the fish has not properly been thawed out. When Stan dips a piece in a bowl of what he thinks is batter, it turns out instead to be custard.

In desperation, he nips across the road to a fish and chip shop and buys enough food for the whole depot. But then Mum begins selling at the wrong prices...

Having failed as a clippie, here Olive gets to be an even worse cook. The reactions of the men to Mrs.Sharma's cooking is amusing to watch now; with curry houses on practically every street corner, it is hard to believe there was ever a time when British people did not like the stuff. If I remember correctly, supermarkets began selling curry in dehydrated form before it took off as a post-pub delicacy.

Mr.Sharma is the first comical foreigner to be seen in the show; hear his exclamation of 'goodness gracious me' ( popularised by Peter Sellers and later used as the title of a B.B.C. comedy sketch show ). He is not stupid though. When his wife is sacked he has the good sense to ask for wages. Which naturally come out of Stan's pocket.

Funniest moment - Stan and Jack making repeated stops for water on account of Mrs.Sharma's curry being so hot. We even see them drinking from a stream! Presumably streams in this country were a lot less polluted then than they are now.

One of the better instalments from the first series of 'On The Buses'.

As standards in the staff canteen dwindle, the busmen request to the management that they be allowed to run it themselves, a request with which the management comply with. Stan, who came up with the idea, is obligated to find a cook. Mr. Sharma, a fellow driver, says his wife is a cook and would be suitable for the job. Stan duly takes her on, but what he doesn't know is she is only able to cook curry, which the busmen are disgusted by. Worse, she cannot speak a word of English.

With the busmen finding her unsuitable, Stan is forced to get rid of her and hire someone else. Arthur suggests to him that he should give the job to Olive. Stan agrees, on the proviso that mum helps her.

Their first day on the job is a farce. Olive tries to light the electric stove and leaves a pot on an active hob for so long it burns a hole right through it ( a gag that later made its way into the first 'On The Buses' movie ) and when mum attempts to scrape the burnt pieces of metal from the hob, she blows the fuse in the circuit box. Stan is then forced to buy portions of fish and chips for the entire depot from the local fish bar. Mum starts selling it at the prices listed on the blackboard menu, not realising it actually cost Stan far more, meaning the canteen is out of profit.

The first series of 'On The Buses' was patchy at best, however there were some very good episodes including 'Olive Takes A Trip', 'Bus Driver's Stomach' and this. It is amusing but also surprising to see that there was once a time in Britain when curry was not considered a tasty dish. Nowadays, there are takeaway curry shops virtually everywhere.

Stan's initial reluctance to hire Olive is quite amusing. He reminds mum of when Olive once tried to make an Irish stew, she ended up putting cough mixture in it instead of gravy browning. Mum explains she misread the label as her glasses got steamed up. ''Well she shouldn't have bent over the saucepan then!'' says Stan. ''She had her reading glasses on, she couldn't see the steam!'' replies mum.

Nosher Powell, who first appeared in 'Bus Driver's Stomach' returns as Bert. He has appeared in many British comedies over the years, usually cast as thuggish men, such as 'Are You Being Served?', 'Love Thy Neighbour', 'Doctor At Large' and 'Nearest & Dearest'. He also worked a lot with the likes of Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson on 'The Comic Strip Presents' and 'Eat The Rich'. Sadly, he died in 2013, aged 84. Mohammed Shamsi plays Mr. Sharma. Surprisingly, he is not used as the show's figure of fun. He is in fact a great deal smarter than Stan, as is evident in the scene where he asks Stan for his wife's wages when she is given the sack.

Funniest bit - Stan dipping a cod fillet in what he thinks is batter but to his horror turns out to be custard!