Rhubarb Rhubarb – 1980 | 28 mins | Comedy | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Rhubarb Rhubarb is a slapstick comedy set on a golf course in which the dialogue consists entirely of the word `rhubarb’. Written and directed by Eric Sykes for Thames Television, the comedy short was remake of Sykes earlier 1969 film singularly titled Rhubarb. Sykes and Jimmy Edwards replicate their roles from the original whilst Bob Todd steps into Harry Secombe’s golf shoes as the vicar seeking divine intervention on the golf course. The word Rhubard appears throughout the film including Royal Rhubarb Golf Club and as the headlines in a newspaper. Sykes was involved in many golf-related comedies starred in the Johnny Speight scripted The Nineteenth Hole (1989). The film was shot on location at the Foxhills Golf Club in Ottershaw, Surrey.

A police inspector (Eric Sykes) is so determined to win a round of golf versus a local vicar (Bob Todd) that he recruits a beat bobby (Jimmy Edwards) to shadow him round the course and cheat as every opportunity. During the course of their round they encounter odd characters including the couple (Roy Kinnear & Beryl Reid) attempting to protect their house with a cricket screen, a short golfer (Charlie Drake) and his leggy female companion and a child with his nanny (Hattie Jacques). Early on the vicar realises he is being cheated, so calls upon divine intervention to level the odds. The round is proceeding excellently for the vicar until he succumbs to a bout of cheating too.