In hindsight it is surprisingly that Only When I Laugh lasted for so long when it involved three people in a hospital ward.
It is a surprisingly strong opening episode with several laughs. It starts with naive Norman Binns (Christopher Strauli) entering the hospital ward and he encounters the working class Roy Figgis (James Bolam) who is eyeing up Binns hospital bed as it has a view of the garden.
The more urbane, middle class and hypochondriac Archie Glover (Peter Bowles) also has his eye on that bed and manages to scare Figgis out of it.
The result is that staff nurse Gupte becomes exasperated and confused with all the patient bed hopping. Dr Thorpe (Richard Wilson) is not impressed with new boy Norman, he certainly dislikes Glover as there is nothing wrong with him and Figgis who is always moaning.
As for Glover, he wished he stayed in his own bed.
Bolam is not that far removed from his character Terry that he played in The LIkely Lads. It was a well made opener. However I always had issues with this show and it might explain why it might not be as well loved as the other sitcoms that some of the cast has been involved in.
The character of Gupte with his Peter Sellers Indian accent was always problematic with me. Take it this way, the next day at school, the asian kids got the Gupte treatment as people mimicked his accent to them. Then there was the casual sexism with Glover always reading soft porn magazines in the ward. This occurs in the subsequent episode.
It is a surprisingly strong opening episode with several laughs. It starts with naive Norman Binns (Christopher Strauli) entering the hospital ward and he encounters the working class Roy Figgis (James Bolam) who is eyeing up Binns hospital bed as it has a view of the garden.
The more urbane, middle class and hypochondriac Archie Glover (Peter Bowles) also has his eye on that bed and manages to scare Figgis out of it.
The result is that staff nurse Gupte becomes exasperated and confused with all the patient bed hopping. Dr Thorpe (Richard Wilson) is not impressed with new boy Norman, he certainly dislikes Glover as there is nothing wrong with him and Figgis who is always moaning.
As for Glover, he wished he stayed in his own bed.
Bolam is not that far removed from his character Terry that he played in The LIkely Lads. It was a well made opener. However I always had issues with this show and it might explain why it might not be as well loved as the other sitcoms that some of the cast has been involved in.
The character of Gupte with his Peter Sellers Indian accent was always problematic with me. Take it this way, the next day at school, the asian kids got the Gupte treatment as people mimicked his accent to them. Then there was the casual sexism with Glover always reading soft porn magazines in the ward. This occurs in the subsequent episode.
