Well,im writing this as as 37 year old nostalgic man and always had vague albeit good memories of this insane British sitcom with Jim Davidson from 1983/84/85 and for so long I wanted to see it again.Through a friend of a friend I was able to see it once again a great DVD compilation which has all 22 episodes.....WHY DO I LIKE THIS SITCOM????.....I find the cockney rhyming slang dialogue hilarious....eg: "oh my gawwwd,he's elephant's trunk...get him away from me ".......its amiably played with John Bardon (jim brennan in East enders) as Jim's dad....and Sue Nicholls from Coronation Street (Gail Platt's mother) as sexual predator neighbour Wanda Pickles :) its,surreal....bizarre its brilliant......its insane......its chocka block full of great British actors.I love this mad comedy. Its certainly better than Surgical Spirit check it out and revel in British comedy
2 Reviews
''Good morning world!''
Rabical-9125 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
After failing to impress Hughie Green on Thames Television's 'Opportunity Knocks', Jim Davidson landed a far more successful audition on ATV's 'New Faces'. His first regular comedy series was 'The Jim Davidson Show' which had our man singing, performing sketches and doing stand-up routines. It was a modest success and ran on Thames Television for four series. Eventually, he moved into the world of sitcom with 'Up The Elephant & Round The Castle' in which he played Jim London, a Cockney scallywag who spends much of his time on the dole, getting drunk, chasing women and getting into all sorts of trouble with the law ( not exactly far removed from Davidson himself, but never mind ).
Jim gets himself into all manner of scrapes, and not always legal ones at that. In one episode, he is dating a young woman who unbeknownst to him has a jealous boyfriend who is built like an army tank and who looks as though he would pulverise someone if they so much as looked at his girlfriend and on another occasion he is mistaken for a terrorist when a siege takes place in his street.
In the first series, Jim has a girlfriend in the shape of Lois Tight ( played by future 'Eastenders' star Anita Dobson ), however the relationship seemed to flounder as the show progressed. Jim's friends include petty criminal Tosh Carey ( Brian Capron ) who sometimes is the cause of Jim's misdemeanours, busty Wanda Pickles ( Sue Nichols ) whose husband Stan ( who is never seen ) is serving time in prison and Vera Spiggot ( Sara Corper ), a dowdy young woman who has a massive crush on Jim.
Also on the scene are Jim's dad ( the late John Bardon ) who is often dossing at Jim's house to escape from his dragon of a wife ( Rosalind Knight ), snobbish local Councillor Bertram Allnut ( Roger Sloman ) who is later replaced with the even more conceited Councillor Arnold Moggs ( Nicolas Day ) and Brian ( Brian Hall ), the landlord of the Freemason's Arms, Jim's local pub.
In his autobiography, 'Close To The Edge', Jim said he never enjoyed working on sitcoms - claiming that 'they are not real' and he 'doesn't feel at home in them!'. It's a shame he feels that way as in my view, 'Up The Elephant & Round The Castle', whilst not a classic, was a good vehicle for his talents.
Three series of 'Up The Elephant & Round The Castle' were made in total. Not long after its conclusion, the character of Jim London went on to appear in the long running sequel 'Home James' in which he was a chauffeur for wealthy businessman Robert Palmer ( I wonder if he was any relation to the late singer? ). After 'Home James' ended in 1990, Jim's only regular television appearances were as host to the game shows 'Big Break' and 'The Generation Game'.
Having been re-watching the series recently, I think it stands up reasonably well, with only the obvious canned laughter letting it down.
Jim gets himself into all manner of scrapes, and not always legal ones at that. In one episode, he is dating a young woman who unbeknownst to him has a jealous boyfriend who is built like an army tank and who looks as though he would pulverise someone if they so much as looked at his girlfriend and on another occasion he is mistaken for a terrorist when a siege takes place in his street.
In the first series, Jim has a girlfriend in the shape of Lois Tight ( played by future 'Eastenders' star Anita Dobson ), however the relationship seemed to flounder as the show progressed. Jim's friends include petty criminal Tosh Carey ( Brian Capron ) who sometimes is the cause of Jim's misdemeanours, busty Wanda Pickles ( Sue Nichols ) whose husband Stan ( who is never seen ) is serving time in prison and Vera Spiggot ( Sara Corper ), a dowdy young woman who has a massive crush on Jim.
Also on the scene are Jim's dad ( the late John Bardon ) who is often dossing at Jim's house to escape from his dragon of a wife ( Rosalind Knight ), snobbish local Councillor Bertram Allnut ( Roger Sloman ) who is later replaced with the even more conceited Councillor Arnold Moggs ( Nicolas Day ) and Brian ( Brian Hall ), the landlord of the Freemason's Arms, Jim's local pub.
In his autobiography, 'Close To The Edge', Jim said he never enjoyed working on sitcoms - claiming that 'they are not real' and he 'doesn't feel at home in them!'. It's a shame he feels that way as in my view, 'Up The Elephant & Round The Castle', whilst not a classic, was a good vehicle for his talents.
Three series of 'Up The Elephant & Round The Castle' were made in total. Not long after its conclusion, the character of Jim London went on to appear in the long running sequel 'Home James' in which he was a chauffeur for wealthy businessman Robert Palmer ( I wonder if he was any relation to the late singer? ). After 'Home James' ended in 1990, Jim's only regular television appearances were as host to the game shows 'Big Break' and 'The Generation Game'.
Having been re-watching the series recently, I think it stands up reasonably well, with only the obvious canned laughter letting it down.
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