Second in the BBC2 chart with 5.55 million viewers, this pilot episode achieved higher ratings than any of the subsequent series.
A one-off pilot for the subsequent series, the Daily Mirror (3rd December 1984) published a brief article which suggested that Colin Blakely was committed to the part:
"ACTOR Colin Blakely is hoping for big things from the character he brings to our screens tonight. George Vance is one of life's little men ... yet he's convinced that he's destined for greatness. And he gets it-after a fashion-in THE NEW STATESMAN (BBC-2, 8.30). George, a museum curator, suddenly inherits an earldom, a seat in the House of Lords and a mobile fish and chip shop from an uncle he never met. Says Colin: "The programme is a pilot for a series and it could take off. George is a rich character and there should be plenty of mileage in the part. He is lazy, arrogant and a bit of a big-head. In real life, he would be an absolute pain to live with." His screen wife, Enid, is played by Gwen Taylor, who appears as Amy in ITV's hit comedy show Duty Free.
"ACTOR Colin Blakely is hoping for big things from the character he brings to our screens tonight. George Vance is one of life's little men ... yet he's convinced that he's destined for greatness. And he gets it-after a fashion-in THE NEW STATESMAN (BBC-2, 8.30). George, a museum curator, suddenly inherits an earldom, a seat in the House of Lords and a mobile fish and chip shop from an uncle he never met. Says Colin: "The programme is a pilot for a series and it could take off. George is a rich character and there should be plenty of mileage in the part. He is lazy, arrogant and a bit of a big-head. In real life, he would be an absolute pain to live with." His screen wife, Enid, is played by Gwen Taylor, who appears as Amy in ITV's hit comedy show Duty Free.
The Daily Mirror (12th September 1985) reported that Colin Blakely and Gwen Taylor weren't able to reprise their roles when a full series was commissioned as Blakely was committed to a play and Gwen Taylor was busy with Duty Free (1984).
The recasting of the leads necessitated the pilot episode being remade, with I Came, I Saw, I Conquered (1985) using the same script, with only minor changes.
The recasting of the leads necessitated the pilot episode being remade, with I Came, I Saw, I Conquered (1985) using the same script, with only minor changes.
The pilot received a generally positive review in the Daily Mirror (8th December 1984), with columnist Hilary Kingsley writing: "Colin Blakely is OK in the lead role. But Gwen Taylor, who raised Duty Free from a cheap package to a real spree, plays his whiny-voiced, concrete-cored wife to perfection."
When The New Statesman was taken up as a series, it was with an almost entirely new crew. Only film cameraman Michael Radford, VT editor Derek Orman, music composer Richard Harvey (uncredited here), producer-director David Askey and, of course, writer Douglas Watkinson crossed over.