Dear Ladies with Hinge and Bracket

[George White]

Possibly one of the more peculiar British sitcoms.
Watching Dear Ladies with Hinge and Bracket, which may be one of the most peculiar British sitcoms I have ever seen. It looks very expensive, lots of stuff on film, but it has an almost Chucklevision sense of reality. There's no real notable guest stars (apart from ). It's a series of vignettes. It's like a precursor to Mrs. Brown's Boys, except with actually convincing femulations crossed with Clive Dunn's Grandad, and perhaps those Little Britain sketches set at fetes without the vomiting and xenophobia.

[Ghughesarch]

It's a decidedly curious thing. Hinge and Bracket were really a cabaret act and definitely at their best in live stage performance. It's a bit of mystery as to why a sitcom was devised for them (they'd previously had several hour long 'gala evenings' televised which were more like their usual performances, albeit with a lot of the smuttier material toned down)

[George White]

Yes, I know. Which makes it even stranger. And it being a Northern-made production with lots of Northern faces.

[rectorofstiffkey]

Remember clearly, and fondly, watching this as a child.  IIRC it had some clever bits - my mum and dad liked it - mixed in with some visual jokes and slightly sillier stuff. 

A bit embarrassed to admit this, but it was news to me for about three episodes that they weren't actually women.  Clearly, I wasn't the sharpest ten-year-old.

[Avril Lavigne]

There's no real notable guest stars (apart from ).

What are we supposed to do here?

[Bennett Brauer]

There's no real notable guest stars (apart from ).

What are we supposed to do here?

That's Closing Bracket, Dame Hilda's brother.

[Avril Lavigne]

That's Closing Bracket, Dame Hilda's brother.

Noice ;)

[kidsick5000]

That's Closing Bracket, Dame Hilda's brother.

Olé!

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Hinge and Bracket creeped me out slightly at the time. Not because they were men in drag - even as a child, I was impeccably woke, open-minded and perceptive - but because there was something quite unsettling about their whole demeanour. Admittedly, their subtle humour soared right over my head, so I couldn't make head nor tail of why they were supposed to be funny, even though I knew they must be as they were on TV all the time and people liked them.

Do any other Metro readers who grew up in the early '80s have similarly bemused memories of this double act?

[koeman]

That's Closing Bracket, Dame Hilda's brother.

If ever there were a reason for bringing back karma.

[George White]

That's Closing Bracket, Dame Hilda's brother.

I meant to put, apart from Sheila Keith, after her horror hag notoriety.

[George White]

Hinge and Bracket creeped me out slightly at the time. Not because they were men in drag - even as a child, I was impeccably woke, open-minded and perceptive - but because there was something quite unsettling about their whole demeanour. Admittedly, their subtle humour soared right over my head, so I couldn't make head nor tail of why they were supposed to be funny, even though I knew they must be as they were on TV all the time and people liked them.

Do any other Metro readers who grew up in the early '80s have similarly bemused memories of this double act?

The thing about them is that I've never quite understood what they are parodying.
And the fact that people started to parody them, which didn't make much sense. The Two Ronnies' Ball and Sockett is just a tribute not a parody.

[rectorofstiffkey]

The thing about them is that I've never quite understood what they are parodying.
And the fact that people started to parody them, which didn't make much sense. The Two Ronnies' Ball and Sockett is just a tribute not a parody.

I assume that they are parodying a type of person, rather than anyone too specific; mildly posh women that fancied themselves as very intellectual and would 'treat' their friends to musical performances.  It seems to me to be reminiscent of Mapp & Lucia (if anyone's read the books/seen the adaptations), in which one of the main characters often asks her friends to watch her play the piano, and the style of conversation seems quite similar - lots of calling one another 'dear' in a mildly snappish way. 

[Mr Banlon]

I thought their schtick was a sort of homage to Edwardian music hall acts. I'm sure they got their first TV exposure on The Good Old Days (which was bafflingly popular during my childhood)
Ronnie Barker was a big fan of Edwardian humour, so I'm not surprised Two Ronnies did a H&B tribute sketch, rather than a complete piss-take one.
Their stage act was very Flanders and Swann.

[gilbertharding]

Mark this post 'cool story bro...'

As a kid in the Eighventies, having no TV in my bedroom but having a radio/cassette player I spent a stupid amount of time listening to Radio 2 comedy - eg The Grumbleweeds, Huddlines, It Sticks Out Half a Mile, Michael Bentine etc. I'm not even sure I found it funny - in fact, I'm certain I didn't. Anyway, Hinge and Bracket had a radio sitcom, and I listened to it. I then forgot it.

Fast forward 30 years, and I am confined to bed with the worst flu I've ever had. I'm drifting in and out of consciousness, drenched in sweat, delirious and unable to move for what might have been 5 days, and listening to Radio 4 Extra, who have decided to repeat the same Christmas episode of The Random Jottings of Hinge and Bracket I'd last thought about in 1983 about three times in the course of 24 hours (roughly coinciding with the worst of the fever) I wondered if this was a premonition what my *actual* deathbed would be like.

[studpuppet]

Their stage act was very Flanders and Swann.

I always conflate them with Fascinating Aida and Kit & The Widow. I know I shouldn't, but there it is.

[Norton Canes]

That's Closing Bracket, Dame Hilda's brother

Parent, he, sis?

[Bennett Brauer]

Parent, he, sis?

[Bennett Brauer]

George Logan, some time before he became Dr Evadne Hinge:


Still with us I think, but he retired when Patrick Fyffe/Dame Hilda died in 2002.

[Shaky]

Getting back to why they were a bit scary, for me it was the austere look of the "ladies" along with those claustrophobic, slightly drab BBC period sets. Bracket's rictus grin always made me a bit uneasy as well.

[Chriddof]

Getting back to why they were a bit scary, for me it was the austere look of the "ladies" along with those claustrophobic, slightly drab BBC period sets. Bracket's rictus grin always made me a bit uneasy as well.

The rictus grin was the main thing that unsettled me about that character, along with the faintly demented look in the eyes. Hinge, on the other hand, didn't really bother me too much.

I always conflate them with Fascinating Aida and Kit & The Widow. I know I shouldn't, but there it is.

Now I'm imagining Hinge & Brackett performing a song about the horrific aftermath of nuclear war in front of an appalled, silent studio audience.

[gilbertharding]

George Logan, some time before he became Dr Evadne Hinge:

See, this is what Graham Linehan was warning everyone about and wasn't confused at all.

[Bennett Brauer]

See, this is what Graham Linehan was warning everyone about and wasn't confused at all.

Easily done. 23 minutes in, Albert Steptoe mistakes Dame Hilda for a bird: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3tdjcx

[gilbertharding]

Cor. Old Wilfrid's hardly having to act at all, there, is he?