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ludlowit
Reviews
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased): Murder Ain't What It Used to Be! (1969)
Not a great episode
This is rather an odd episode, and one that doesn't really work very well. The basic idea, of the ghost of a gangster from the 30s still trying to get revenge on the man who killed him, is potentially quite a good one, but the details get rather confused. For example, why can't Bugsy (the spook) kill his victim himself? Why does he need to get Randall to do it? He seems to have considerable power over inanimate objects, so the explanation that his prey "has nine lives" isn't really credible. And by what chance does Kirstner, the intended victim, hire Randall to protect his daughter? The scenes where Bugsy, whom Randall can't see, beats up Hopkirk are pretty unconvincing. The supporting cast are badly underused, particularly the veteran actress Joyce Carey. Finally, I'd like to know what happened when the police finally arrived, to find someone dead from a ghostly bullet. Not a complete waste of time, but I won't be rewatching it any time soon.
Silent Witness: Brother's Keeper: Part 1 (2021)
Not the best episode, but not bad either
This may not have been a perfect episode, but to say the acting was poor in general is just not correct. I thought that the main weakness was that the fire in the boxing club wasn't carried through - we were never told whether the character who started it survived, and what happened to them if they did. The karaoke scene was a bit odd, but it wasn't really embarrassing either. (I also can't help feeling that Nikki should have mentioned to Simone the high death rate among the lab's employees in recent years!)
Potter (1979)
Not their best work
I think I may have watched this when it was originally shown, but couldn't remember much about it. Seeing it again, I'm not surprised - although not unwatchable, it's far from either Arthur Lowe's best work or Roy Clarke's as writer. The section where Potter returns to his office for his last half-day before retirement is rather silly, particularly where he has a sort of tug-of war over his old office carpet. The "at home" parts are rather better - Noel Dyson as his wife is quite amusing when she comments that all she sees of him at breakfast is his ankle - but the scene at the end where they both get drunk didn't really work.