Review for Filthy Rich and Catflap 25th Anniversary

Filthy, Rich and Catflap was the short lived follow up to The Young Ones. Written by Ben Elton and starring three of the original cast, Rik Mayall as down on his luck show biz personality Richie Rich, Ade Edmondson as his psychopathic minder Eddie Catflap and Nigel Planer as Ralph Filthy Richie's useless drunken agent.
The show only lasted six episodes which cover Richie's efforts to get to the top of light entertainment alongside Tarby and Brucie and Keith Harris and Orville. Yes you will have to have been a kid of the 80s to get most of the cultural or political references, but if you do you will find yourself roaring with laughter at most of the Thatcher jokes that makes you well aware that 80s Ben Elton and not the musical writing Ben Elton wrote this.

Throughout there are cameos from the likes of The Nolans, Barbara Windsor and Midge Ure which adds a bit of The Young Ones flavour, but it is here where you notice how dated the show is. Hilarious, yes. But horribly dated. The mix of political satire, swipes at the BBC and Richie and Eddie's cartoon violence is nice, but at times you wished the show would pick a style and stick with it.
One of the odd things is despite it being the 25th Anniversary the set doesn't feel like it. All that's included is a photo gallery and cast biographies. A few interviews, commentaries or a retrospective would have been nice, but nothing has been included just the shows and sadly they don't hold up that well.

Filthy, Rich and Catflap is not awful in fact it's hilarious at some points and everyone involved looks like they are having fun. The anarchic and violent duo of Richie and Eddie is obviously the genesis of their Bottom characters and Planer is great in his role. As with The Young Ones what is interesting is seeing some of the old faces such as Chris Barrie turning up before he hit it big as Rimmer in Red Dwarf.

However, the show doesn't hold up against The Young Ones or Bottom and you can see why it only got one series. Though if you want a little light humour, a few jabs at the stupidity that is fame and some out and out Tom and Jerry-like violence then this is the series for you.