sitcoms made into films, best and worst

[lester m]

i have been on a bit of a nostalgia trip recently and was enjoying a lot of 70's sit coms.

can anyone recomend any film adaptations or warn of any disasters?

i understand they were generslly quite cheesy, but i think that adds to the charm

cheers lester

[Captain Casper]

Bless This House, George and Mildred, Man About the House and Steptoe (x2) were pretty good movies.



Rising Damp was just several programmes rehashed into a shoddy movie. It probably took Eric Chappell around 30 minutes with a pair of scissors and Pritt Stick to write the screenplay. Of course, without the optimistic, naiive performances of the wonderful Richard Beckinsale it would always be flat.

[rbrooks2008]

Please Sir!



It seems to have praise in IMDB but I'm still washing myself off, from it.

[bhowells]

The 1979 Porridge spin off isnt too bad at all.



If you want cheesy the three "On the Buses," films will certainly do the job.



The Nearest and Dearest film is another example of the type of film where several tv scripts from the original sereis were reworked for the film.



Havent seen the Likely Lads movie for years, but it wasnt much good.

[gilly]

Dads Army was pretty good

[Tony Pendrey]

Ah Ha ! The eternal debate !! Let me chuck in my two ha'peth.



Bless this house probably stands as a decent film in it's own right.



The On The Buses films were about as bad as film "comedy" can get.



I really like The Likely Lads film.



I also thought Rising damp was OK. Sure, it was just a collection of the TV material but it was still done pretty well.



It looks like those days are gone. Can you imagine any film company wanting to fianance a big screen version of somthing like My Family ? I go all cold just thinking about it .

[Sleepin_Dragon]

The Steptoe movies were far and away the best, they were amazing. I still watch and enjoy them. Who could forget Zeta and the wippet in glasses!!!

[Steve Crook]

Can you imagine any film company wanting to fianance a big screen version of somthing like My Family ? I go all cold just thinking about it .

I can't even imagine why a TV company would want to finance it as a TV show



I've assumed it's just some deal that Robert Lindsay & Zoë Wanamaker did to provide them with a pension fund. It'll probably be shown forever on various "Gold" channels.



8 years worth of absolute rubbish. How did they get away with it?



Steve

[Captain Casper]

I can't even imagine why a TV company would want to finance it as a TV show



I've assumed it's just some deal that Robert Lindsay & Zoë Wanamaker did to provide them with a pension fund. It'll probably be shown forever on various "Gold" channels.



8 years worth of absolute rubbish. How did they get away with it?



Steve

Dunno, but 2.4 Children, My Hero, Colins Sandwich, Goodnight Sweetheart and the IT Crowd obviously had the same luck.



I was prepared to forgive Robert Lindsay after his p*sstaking performance in Extra's, but he needs a new agent.

[GRAEME]

The film version of The Lovers with Richard Beckinsale and the divine Paula Wilcox was excellent.



The two Alf Garnett movies were rather shoddy IIRC, especially the second one.

[faginsgirl]

Hi.



I loved the likely lads and steptoe and son on film, but I hated the Dads army one!



xx

[Bernardo]

I think Hi de Hi had a celluloid version.

[Steve Crook]

I think Hi de Hi had a celluloid version.

Not that I can find any reference to



Steve

[davidb]

Dunno, but 2.4 Children, My Hero, Colins Sandwich, Goodnight Sweetheart and the IT Crowd obviously had the same luck.



I was prepared to forgive Robert Lindsay after his p*sstaking performance in Extra's, but he needs a new agent.

by complete chance ive recently just watched the dvds of citizein smith and now have just started watching the dvd of GBH .hes a fine actor that robert lindsay ,that citizen smith surprised me the most ,i thought it would be a load of old rubbish but i genuinely warmed to it . hes doing himself a major disservice in that " my family trash " , i had started to think " oh no ! robert lindsay " before i rediscovered his earlier work .

[Steve Crook]

by complete chance ive recently just watched the dvds of citizein smith and now have just started watching the dvd of GBH .hes a fine actor that robert lindsay ,that citizen smith surprised me the most ,i thought it would be a load of old rubbish but i genuinely warmed to it . hes doing himself a major disservice in that " my family trash " , i had started to think " oh no ! robert lindsay " before i rediscovered his earlier work .

See if you can find a copy of Nightingales (1990) with Robert Lindsay, David Threlfall and James Ellis. It's another example of where Robert Lindsay used to be very good - before he started doing My Family



Steve

[davidb]

i will , i think i vaguely remember it

[lester m]

thank you for all your help, looks like personal feelings play a lot into it.

apart from the person who had a go at goodnight sweetheart, a great series in my opinion.

yjanks again

[DB7]

If you click on 'sitcom spin-off' in the tags a few earlier threads will appear.

[Mike Hobart]

I saw the Father Dear Father feature film many years ago in a cinema, and the picture looked suspiciously grainy, as though it was actually the original TV episodes blown up to make a sort of ersatz movie.

[EHV_Emmetts]

IMO the best was Porridge. The worst, for it's total lack of an original script, has to be Rising Damp.