This little gem captured a spot in my memory I thought was deleted but on buying it and watching again I realised how funny this is.This is a typical old English sitcom that uses characters instead of plot. Marvellous cast and exceptional comic timing from the brilliant Ken Jones.Crammed full of laugh out loud moments but not a single piece of smut or innuendo.Office politics run rife and one- upmanship take over as I did not see ANY work done at all.This could NEVER be re-made and SHOULD never be attempted. This for me has better characters then Rising Damp and if Leonard Rositter was here would have topped it off. Paranoia and boot licking typically let us in to the madness of office politics.Bought this as a box set of 3 series and smiled all the way between laughing. What an awesome legacy for these amazing actors to leave the viewer and writers to be.Revisiting all my comedy memories on DVD and this is as good as it gets. Nearest and Dearest..Steptoe and Son...Dear John...Rising Damp...In Sickness...Rab. C. Nesbit...They just DON'T make them like this any more.
6 Reviews
As good as I remembered!
milesahead117 August 2015
I agree with Alan - this is a very enjoyable show with lots of laugh-out loud moments. I remember enjoying it at the time of its first broadcast, but bought it with some trepidation - comedy can date badly and I feared that it would be of its time, as I found with the Dick Emery Show.
I needn't have worried - the scripts by Eric Chappell in particular are very amusing. The cast is excellent, too, with some impeccable comic timing on view. Ken Jones is quite wonderful and Bernard Hepton displays his versatility, but everyone contributes to the fun. Well worth buying!
I needn't have worried - the scripts by Eric Chappell in particular are very amusing. The cast is excellent, too, with some impeccable comic timing on view. Ken Jones is quite wonderful and Bernard Hepton displays his versatility, but everyone contributes to the fun. Well worth buying!
The not so-secret squirrels
ShadeGrenade26 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
"I hope 'The Squirrels' never return. It drove me nuts!" went a letter in 'The People' newspaper in 1976. I suppose it was inevitable that someone would make a crack like that, about a show with such a daft title. Writer/creator Eric Chappell described it as being about 'the paranoia and lust for promotion of white-collar workers in confined spaces.". He based the show on his experiences as a travelling auditor with the East Midlands Electricity Board.
It was his first sitcom hit, the pilot being screened just ahead of the first series of 'Rising Damp'. Set in the accounts department of International Rentals, a television hire company, it focused on the lives of a motley group of characters; 'Mr.Fletcher' was the boss, splendidly played by Bernard Hepton ( his first T.V. role since 'Colditz' ) as a bow-tied, bespectacled lecher, his underling was the nervous 'Rex' ( the wonderful Ken Jones from 'Porridge' ), 'Harry' ( Phil Silvers-lookalike Alan David ) was always on the make, and then there was 'Burke' ( Ellis Jones from the children's sitcom 'Pardon My Genie' ) who read Dracula comics when he was meant to be working. Being a '70's sitcom with an office setting, there just had to be a sexy secretary, and was - 'Carol' ( Karin McCarthy ), whom Fletcher was always lusting after. Rex was married to downtrodden but sympathetic Susan ( Patsy Rowlands - who was also in 'Bless This House' when this was made ). In one episode, Rex had to attend a company conference, which meant him spending time away from home. Susan dutifully packed his belongs, and then secretly followed him to ensure he got up to no naughty business. In another, Rex got so fed up that he resigned, before applying for a similar job. He later found that it was his old job he was applying for. In yet another, Rex meets an old friend and rival ( Philip Madoc ) whom has fallen on hard times and is forced to play 'The Sugar Balls Man' for a breakfast cereal company. Wanting to get time off to watch cricket on television in another episode, Rex feigns illness, only to do the job too well - everyone back at the office thinks he has died.
It was a standard sitcom, boasting a good cast and some occasionally funny lines ( which is more than can be said for some shows I can name ). When Harry complains about Rex's habit of having his hair cut on the firm's time, Rex responds: "Why not? It grows on the firm's time!". The only annoying aspect was the obvious canned laughter - a problem that dogged all A.T.V. sitcoms.
After two seasons, Chappell relinquished the writing duties to others, such as future 'Grange Hill' creator Phil Redmond, actor Kenneth Cope, and Alan Hackney. In 1991, Yorkshire Television remade it as 'Fiddlers Three' starring Peter Davison and Paula Wilcox. The surviving episodes of 'The Squirrels' came out of hibernation for a long-overdue D.V.D. release in 2013.
It was his first sitcom hit, the pilot being screened just ahead of the first series of 'Rising Damp'. Set in the accounts department of International Rentals, a television hire company, it focused on the lives of a motley group of characters; 'Mr.Fletcher' was the boss, splendidly played by Bernard Hepton ( his first T.V. role since 'Colditz' ) as a bow-tied, bespectacled lecher, his underling was the nervous 'Rex' ( the wonderful Ken Jones from 'Porridge' ), 'Harry' ( Phil Silvers-lookalike Alan David ) was always on the make, and then there was 'Burke' ( Ellis Jones from the children's sitcom 'Pardon My Genie' ) who read Dracula comics when he was meant to be working. Being a '70's sitcom with an office setting, there just had to be a sexy secretary, and was - 'Carol' ( Karin McCarthy ), whom Fletcher was always lusting after. Rex was married to downtrodden but sympathetic Susan ( Patsy Rowlands - who was also in 'Bless This House' when this was made ). In one episode, Rex had to attend a company conference, which meant him spending time away from home. Susan dutifully packed his belongs, and then secretly followed him to ensure he got up to no naughty business. In another, Rex got so fed up that he resigned, before applying for a similar job. He later found that it was his old job he was applying for. In yet another, Rex meets an old friend and rival ( Philip Madoc ) whom has fallen on hard times and is forced to play 'The Sugar Balls Man' for a breakfast cereal company. Wanting to get time off to watch cricket on television in another episode, Rex feigns illness, only to do the job too well - everyone back at the office thinks he has died.
It was a standard sitcom, boasting a good cast and some occasionally funny lines ( which is more than can be said for some shows I can name ). When Harry complains about Rex's habit of having his hair cut on the firm's time, Rex responds: "Why not? It grows on the firm's time!". The only annoying aspect was the obvious canned laughter - a problem that dogged all A.T.V. sitcoms.
After two seasons, Chappell relinquished the writing duties to others, such as future 'Grange Hill' creator Phil Redmond, actor Kenneth Cope, and Alan Hackney. In 1991, Yorkshire Television remade it as 'Fiddlers Three' starring Peter Davison and Paula Wilcox. The surviving episodes of 'The Squirrels' came out of hibernation for a long-overdue D.V.D. release in 2013.
Oh, nuts!
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre14 October 2002
"The Squirrels" (ignore its irrelevant title) was a sitcom running on Britain's ITV channel from 1974-77. In Britain, where it's illegal for a household to receive television transmissions without paying an annual television license fee, most people hire (rent) their televisions rather than purchasing them outright. This provides part of the premise of "The Squirrels".
Most of the action takes place in the accounts department of International Rentals, a television hire company. Bernard Hepton plays Mr Fletcher, the boss, nicknamed "Fletcher the Lecher" because he fancies himself with the ladies ... especially sexy Susan, played by Patsy Rowlands. (Fletcher is also a tyrant, of course.) Ken Jones plays Rex, Fletcher's nervous dogsbody assistant.
It was a fairly typical office-setting sitcom. The main characters spent half the time doing everything except their jobs (office intrigue, office romances, skiving off work) and the other half of their time frantically trying to cover up for the cock-ups committed in the rare moments when they actually did their jobs.
The cast was excellent, and the 28 half-hour episodes were briskly directed, but the scripts (primarily by Eric Chappell) left much to be desired. Chappell later went on to create "Rising Damp", one of the most popular sitcoms in British TV history ... so "The Squirrels" is still worth a look as an early example of Chappell's work.
Most of the action takes place in the accounts department of International Rentals, a television hire company. Bernard Hepton plays Mr Fletcher, the boss, nicknamed "Fletcher the Lecher" because he fancies himself with the ladies ... especially sexy Susan, played by Patsy Rowlands. (Fletcher is also a tyrant, of course.) Ken Jones plays Rex, Fletcher's nervous dogsbody assistant.
It was a fairly typical office-setting sitcom. The main characters spent half the time doing everything except their jobs (office intrigue, office romances, skiving off work) and the other half of their time frantically trying to cover up for the cock-ups committed in the rare moments when they actually did their jobs.
The cast was excellent, and the 28 half-hour episodes were briskly directed, but the scripts (primarily by Eric Chappell) left much to be desired. Chappell later went on to create "Rising Damp", one of the most popular sitcoms in British TV history ... so "The Squirrels" is still worth a look as an early example of Chappell's work.
One of the best comedies ever. But then what do you expect from Eric Chappell.
bigckett22 November 2023
I recently revisited this classic, and was not one bit disappointed. It has all the usual Eric Chappell traits we love, and then some, the feet references especially. The cast are wonderful and seem to be enjoying every minute of it, and it shows. Every episode is such a joy to watch, and to say it's funny does not do it justice, it's downright hilarious. I could watch this every day and never stop laughing, every single episode is pure genius. Eric Chappell, Galton & Simpson are, in my opinion, the best comedy writers to ever pick up a pen. If you want to revisit a past comedy, or watch one for the first time, then this is the one, you certainly won't be disappointed.
''It drove me nuts!'' I believe someone once said!
Rabical-9115 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Sitcom writer Eric Chappell will always be remembered with justification for creating the wonderful 'Rising Damp', which starred the much missed Leonard Rossiter. It is easy then to forget that his first sitcom success actually came with 'The Squirrels', an ATV sitcom set in a failing accounts office for a TV rental firm. Having tried to watch it recently, I can understand why it has been forgotten.
Ken Jones at this time was becoming well known to viewers for his role as 'Orrible Ives' in 'Porridge' and around about the same time landed the leading role in this series as Rex, the yes-man to head of International Rentals Mr Fletcher ( Bernard Hepton ). Working with him were troublemaking womanizer Harry ( Alan David ) and the ideally named, comic reading mummy's boy Burke ( Ellis Jones ). Rex's life at home was equally unstable. His wife Susan ( played by Patsy Rowlands ) often bore the brunt of his tantrums.
Every now and then a writer throws up a runt, and this was the case with Eric Chappell here, though considering this was his first show, we can cut him some slack. It was not until the arrival of 'Rising Damp' that things looked to be on the up for him.
It was popular at the time, but looked at now one is put off by the substandard dialogue and below-par acting. In 1991, Chappell revamped the idea for what turned out to be his final sitcom, the short lived, and equally mediocre, 'Fiddlers Three'.
Ken Jones at this time was becoming well known to viewers for his role as 'Orrible Ives' in 'Porridge' and around about the same time landed the leading role in this series as Rex, the yes-man to head of International Rentals Mr Fletcher ( Bernard Hepton ). Working with him were troublemaking womanizer Harry ( Alan David ) and the ideally named, comic reading mummy's boy Burke ( Ellis Jones ). Rex's life at home was equally unstable. His wife Susan ( played by Patsy Rowlands ) often bore the brunt of his tantrums.
Every now and then a writer throws up a runt, and this was the case with Eric Chappell here, though considering this was his first show, we can cut him some slack. It was not until the arrival of 'Rising Damp' that things looked to be on the up for him.
It was popular at the time, but looked at now one is put off by the substandard dialogue and below-par acting. In 1991, Chappell revamped the idea for what turned out to be his final sitcom, the short lived, and equally mediocre, 'Fiddlers Three'.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
