Review for Alcock and Gander: The Complete Series

If you like seventies comedy, and ‘Man About the House’ in particular, then you’re going to love the sadly under-rated ‘Alcock and Gander’. It’s difficult to see why the series was only given a single series of six episodes as it has a sterling cast (Richard O’Sullivan and Beryl Reid in particular who work brilliantly together) and penned by comedy legends Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer.


Maybe it’s because the basic premise is a bit half-baked. Marigold Alcock (Beryl Reid) runs an indefinable, slightly Arthur Daley-ish business out of an office in the midst of Soho, sharing a building with a dingy massage parlour. She inherited the ‘company’ when her decidedly dodgy husband kicked the bucket and she is determined to make a go at it. Schemes include running a dating agency, a taxi service, selling wellington boots and anything else that takes her fancy or which involves something she’s picked up at the local auction.



She is ably abetted by her much younger so-called business partner, the very proper and oddly ambitious Richard Gander (Richard O’Sullivan). He is a classic middle-classed under-achiever, politely dithery and sardonically dry-witted. Indeed, had the series succeeded and continued for more runs, this could well have been how we recall O’Sullivan first, rather than the rather hip flat mate in ‘Man About the House’. 



Making up the company is John Cater (a bit-part TV stalwart – Avengers, Department S, Z-Cars) as the general dogsbody, Ernest, an illiterate old-boy who plays a likable shirker whose only ambition seems to be to use the so-called ‘executive toilet’ rather than the one at the train station, an ambition that remains unfulfilled throughout the series.
The title sequence for the series (both intro and outro) is pure magic with Beryl Reid making her way through London’s Soho with a large sausage poking out of her basket – a good indication of the innuendo fueled humour to follow, not quite Carry-On but certainly a nod to its ilk.


Gander’s dry-wit, Ernest’s stupidity and Marigold Alcock’s acidic and dominating manner all play out against classic seventies style sit-com farce. There are some great guest appearances too, like J. G. Devlin as an alcoholic Irish Safe cracker (you may remember him paired with Leonard Rossiter in the classic Steptoe episode of the same year, ‘The Desperate Hours’) and a youthful looking Brian Cooke appears (George from ‘George and Mildred) as a punter looking for a massage being mistaken as an interviewee in good old fashioned British farce style. The episodes are highly variable and if they are consistently entertaining it’s very much as a result of the brilliance of the cast. The writing is less consistent and the plots seem to lurch from one idea to the next with a lack of narrative coherence.



Here’s what you get, with the origin episode curiously being broadcast last (and last on the disc too).

Image quality if very acceptable throughout but, sadly, there are no extras.

1. The Safe Breaker
First Broadcast: Mon 5th June 1972
Ernest gets stuck in a new safe which doesn’t benefit from the usual convenience’s – like a key!

2. Husband In A Hurry
First Broadcast: Mon 12th June 1972
When Marigold’s landlord is due to turn up for a meeting she needs someone to play the part of her deceased husband. Well, Mr. Gander is just too young. So that really only leaves Ernest. Ernest?!!



3. Soho Is Too Small
First Broadcast: Mon 19th June 1972
Richard is ambitious and threatens to leave when some of his new management initiatives are turned down. However, it’s clear that other companies are not exactly beating a path to his door.

4. Pontoon
First Broadcast: Mon 26th June 1972
Alcock and Gander go into the taxi business – with Ernest as their driver. Only once he’s out of sight he realizes he can get away with anything. Even playing pontoon with friends all day.




5. The Strip Club
First Broadcast: Mon 3rd July 1972
Pure farce when Marigold buys up a load of wellington boots. When just left boots appear a new plan is needed to help recoup costs. And then the right ones turn up!



6. Artistic Books, Soho, Ltd
First Broadcast: Mon 10th July 1972
The clients of Artistic Books feel their "32 un-retouched photographs for lovers of art" are a complete waste of money. Mrs. Alcock tries to juggle her liquid assets, but they look doomed.


If you’re a fan of ‘Man About the House’ , ‘George and Mildred’ and Beryl Reid then you’re going to really enjoy this rarity. Another winner from Network.