I picked up a dvd I’d borrowed from my local library. It was the complete series of the old British sitcom, Please Sir, a show I feel very nostalgic about. I watched the first four episodes that night. The first series was in black and white and it was good to be back in the company of the Fenn Street gang of 5C and bumbling though idealistic Mr Hedges, as played by John Alderton. The show’s creators, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, went on to make the even better The Good Life. In this early stage of the show they seemed to be going for a certain realism rather than the broad farce it became. At one point Mr Hedges even mentions the film Up the Junction, a gritty kitchen sink drama from around that time, as if to conjure the milieu the show was aiming at. It was an incredibly raw-looking show, with cheap sets, camera booms in shot, and even the occasional fluffed line from the actors, who were performing live to camera. I plan to watch the lot eventually, if I can keep up the interest. My favourite character is 5C student Dennis Dunstable, a simple but kind-hearted lad ground down by poverty.
I watched four more episodes of Please Sir. These were the last of season one – it was a short season. The Fenn Street gang’s term finishes out with Mr Hedges possibly not wanting to return to teach 5C, and they’re a bit resentful of the fact. But it’s all a misunderstanding, he definitely wants to teach them again, and all’s well. I’m finding it a bit contrived, and it’s hardly an accurate reflection of teaching in real life. Although I recognize the camaraderie of the teachers in their staff room from my own teaching days, some of the things they do or say would get them the sack in real life. Yes, I’m over-analysing, so what’s new?
I’m still watching that British sitcom Please Sir, but I’m skimming a lot of the episodes for time. I just watched the last ep of season 3, plus the Christmas special where Mr Hedges gets married. These were in black and white, whereas previous eps had been in colour. Wikipedia tells me it had something to do with some strike they were having at the Beeb, so they could only broadcast in black and white for the last three episodes. Have to say, the nostalgia value is wearing off. I was mainly hanging on for what I remembered was the transition from Penny Spencer’s schoolgirl Sharon character to her replacement Carol Hawkins in the fourth season. It turns out, again thanks to Wikipedia, Carol replaced her for just one episode in season two and also appeared as Sharon in the film at the end of that season. She actually went on to appear as Sharon in the spinoff to Please Sir, the Fenn Street Gang, which is what I must have been thinking of. Memory plays tricks sometimes. I remember the transition being a big deal for me at the time, like I’d imprinted onto the first Sharon and was mightily disappointed she was gone. I guess it was the first time I encountered the discontinuity that afflicts tv shows (actually, it wouldn’t be – there was Doctor Who before that, but that’s another story). I was also going through puberty, so there was that too. Because the show was focussed on a classroom with students I think I used it as a guide for how to behave in class. Maybe that’s why I identify with Dennis as the ‘awkward’ one. Season four saw the end of Mr Hedges on the show and a new focus on some younger students. I gave it a miss. With 5C and Sharon gone, something was missing.