Tweet
I am not referring to Freda Payne's 1970 Number One hit (so please don't put this in the "Music" part of the forum, Mods), but the 1990s ITV Monday 9.00 pm drama made by Granada, where the main protagonists were not only in the drama, but were on the game at the same time. Did anyone watch this when it was on, and if you were male, did you find the drama series, a little bit more, shall we say, interesting? Set in Manchester although someone else thought it was set in Bradford which was the wrong side of the Pennines for Granadaland, post-1968. The final series in 1997 was abbreviated to just GOLD, so that it would be the same as Spandau Ballet's hit and not Freda Payne's.
Feminism was not the word: cue Cathy Tyson looking a bit like Mel B but without the leopard camouflage trousers, and Barbara Dickson taking part as well. Prisoner: Cell Block H and Within There Walls might have influenced Band of... And yes, it does spell out the word BOG when abbreviated. YouTube blanks out some episodes due to its adult humour, although we are all grown ups on here, aren't we? And to think that Tyson got a part in Grange Hill a few years later...
I have to admit that one does feel sorry for the characters; having to do what they are doing because the rent, mortgage, council tax and TV Licence need paying, but then again, one also feels sorry for the actresses to take on the parts in the first place, but then again, PCBH did that 15 years previously - Chrissie Latham, anyone? Better still, what about Lily Savage or Pauline Calf? Many years ago over on the DS forum I commented on the series and how it felt too ironic for some viewers.
In true Granada tradition it shares values with Coronation Street - our short-skirted heroes on Band of Gold bear resemblance with various Rovers Return barmaids, and also, it has a character called Curly who was a businessman in a suit who wanted some playtime at the end of work, complete with black briefcase full of hosiery. Tyson's character was dressed in one episode as if she was auctioning for one of Brucie's Dolly Dealers on Play Your Cards Right, but was doing feather dusting as if she was Freddie Mercury in Queen's I want to Break Free. And then she boiled a kettle - but she wasn't going to make a cup of tea with it either. He was in pain, understandably as a result, and the Independent Television Commission also received a few complaints as a result as well, mostly from men we assume.
I think that the main problem was that it seemed to me in that respect to be an ironic parody of a Carry On film, and that was what made it almost feel to me as it was like a comedy drama if anything. It felt like a Carry On to someone like myself, and in response to the kettle of water scene, I half-expected Joan Simms' (as Matron's) voice suddenly being heard, going: "what a bit fuss about such a little thing", and Curly being played by either Kenneths Williams or Connor. Oh, and the Tyson character also wore yellow rubber gloves as well - you know, the ones used for washing up because the it was a supermarket brand and not Fairy Liquid that was supposed to keep one's hands soft. I just cannot help laughing at some of the scenes as "The Game" as we will call it, seems to be such a parodied thing in British society.
Did it make an impression on you if you watched it? - well, it did for me just a little bit...
Feminism was not the word: cue Cathy Tyson looking a bit like Mel B but without the leopard camouflage trousers, and Barbara Dickson taking part as well. Prisoner: Cell Block H and Within There Walls might have influenced Band of... And yes, it does spell out the word BOG when abbreviated. YouTube blanks out some episodes due to its adult humour, although we are all grown ups on here, aren't we? And to think that Tyson got a part in Grange Hill a few years later...
I have to admit that one does feel sorry for the characters; having to do what they are doing because the rent, mortgage, council tax and TV Licence need paying, but then again, one also feels sorry for the actresses to take on the parts in the first place, but then again, PCBH did that 15 years previously - Chrissie Latham, anyone? Better still, what about Lily Savage or Pauline Calf? Many years ago over on the DS forum I commented on the series and how it felt too ironic for some viewers.
In true Granada tradition it shares values with Coronation Street - our short-skirted heroes on Band of Gold bear resemblance with various Rovers Return barmaids, and also, it has a character called Curly who was a businessman in a suit who wanted some playtime at the end of work, complete with black briefcase full of hosiery. Tyson's character was dressed in one episode as if she was auctioning for one of Brucie's Dolly Dealers on Play Your Cards Right, but was doing feather dusting as if she was Freddie Mercury in Queen's I want to Break Free. And then she boiled a kettle - but she wasn't going to make a cup of tea with it either. He was in pain, understandably as a result, and the Independent Television Commission also received a few complaints as a result as well, mostly from men we assume.
I think that the main problem was that it seemed to me in that respect to be an ironic parody of a Carry On film, and that was what made it almost feel to me as it was like a comedy drama if anything. It felt like a Carry On to someone like myself, and in response to the kettle of water scene, I half-expected Joan Simms' (as Matron's) voice suddenly being heard, going: "what a bit fuss about such a little thing", and Curly being played by either Kenneths Williams or Connor. Oh, and the Tyson character also wore yellow rubber gloves as well - you know, the ones used for washing up because the it was a supermarket brand and not Fairy Liquid that was supposed to keep one's hands soft. I just cannot help laughing at some of the scenes as "The Game" as we will call it, seems to be such a parodied thing in British society.
Did it make an impression on you if you watched it? - well, it did for me just a little bit...
Comment