"Very special episodes" of sitcoms

[Toki]

No, it's an old people's home - in the orginal broadcast, one of the residents is physically assaulted by staff but this was cut from repeats. The scene is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glv5UTHS_60

It is Victor and Mr Swainey, who put the staff in the field and then alert the authorities.

Jesus. I have totally misremembered that. Bloody hell.

[Ignatius_S]

I remember 'Pipkins', but if I remember before the main guy died, it's only on a subliminal level. But:

I'm very fond of George Woodbridge - a really prolific actor, who appears in some stone-cold film classics, such as Green For Danger and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. One of my favourite roles he did was the outgoing chief warder in Two-Way Stretch.

[Fambo Number Mive]

There's a list of sitcom episodes designated as "very special episodes" here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_special_episode

Watching some of WKRP in Cincinnati "In Concert", which campaigned against festival seating following the deaths of 11 people in the Who concert disaster.

[Ignatius_S]

Jesus. I have totally misremembered that. Bloody hell.

The edited version is still showing distressing stuff (Victor sees the man being manhandled by stuff and thrown into a cupboard under the stairs, where they have already put another 'troublemaker') but that that scene is shocking. I remember seeing it and thinking about the juxtaposition of a very humorous scene and the earlier tone, and then being confronted with something so dark.

[Ignatius_S]

There's a list of sitcom episodes designated as "very special episodes" here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_special_episode

Watching some of WKRP in Cincinnati "In Concert", which campaigned against festival seating following the deaths of 11 people in the Who concert disaster.

With The Golden Girls ones, I feel those reflected the overall approach to the show rather than being very special episodes... or at any rate, doing so many stopped them from being quite do special!

[Ignatius_S]

In addition to the points raised above, UK sitcoms usually only have a handful of episodes per series as opposed to the 26-episode seasons required in the pre-streaming era. Taking up 1/6th of an entire run is considerably more disruptive than one episode out of a season that goes for half a year, so it's a harder sell.

I also think it doesn't fit well historically with the tone of a lot of UK sitcoms compared to US ones - would anyone take it seriously if Richie and Eddie stopped to talk to us for a minute about how drugs are bad?


The nearest examples I can think of in the UK are very long running, character-focused sitcoms where serious issues are used to introduce pathos - eg. Cassandra's miscarriage in OFAH, the death of Nan in the Royle Family. But that's not quite the same as the "public information film" vibe of Very Special Episodes.

A key difference is that Steptoe and Son was a real game changer in terms of British comedy - the way that drama could be incorporated and that changed how people viewed what could be done. In something like For the Love of Ada in the 1970s, which was a very gentle sitcom, there were some good points about aging and agism in society, which gave some scenes a surprising amount of heft.

In another post, I mentioned how advanced US comedy was compared to British shows but it became safer and in a lot of cases, blander - but at the same time, it didn't totally abandon having messages.

[Ignatius_S]

dragnet .22 Rifle For Christmas is interesting to read about. thanks for posting it.

i always assumed that (despite its sky-high quality for the time) Dragnet was "our show" for the repubs and the NRA. its weird to think of an episode going against the grain that much and show the consequences realistically. its different from the 60s dragnet "i smoked one joint now i'm holding up the bank" plots

Thanks - most kind! LAPD had control over the stories, which needs to be kept in mind and what was being conveyed was the notion of the police being a stabilising force in society. There are instances that I found interesting - for instance, Joe Friday is talking to a parents at a high school about an influx of red-hot porn and when the floor is opened for questions, one person asks about what the penalties under law are and starts haranguing Friday, saying that that's not good enough, we need 'laws with teeth' (or something along those lines) and harsher punishments to make society safer.

Friday argues that he thinks they had good laws overall in California; not all maybe perfect, but generally good. However, laws do not make society a better place - people do. Schools, parents, churches etc. have a key responsibility in forming the moral character of young people, which can help that. It's a very effective scene - I'm pretty sure it's Harry Morgan, who plays the other person. Morgan would be Friday's partner in the 1960s version and reprise the role in the Aykroyd and Hanks Dragnet film (casting that I really appreciated when I got into the show).

There was other stuff that sounded far more authoritarian to my ears, partly that was me misinterpreting initially (which I realised on subsequent listens). Partly it was due to not appreciating how things have changed - e.g. Miranda warning.

In the 1960s, I think it's fair to say they were having trouble keeping up with the changes in society, as you say! There were still some good points now and then, but think there's a good argument that it has aged far more to the earlier shows.

Going back to the .22 Rifle episode - it was repeated at Christmas for another three years or so and they did a TV version, so they really doubled down. The NRA's complaints were passed to the LAPD and to Chief William Parker, who basically told them to go whistle. Interesting to think how that would play out these days....

[idunnosomename]

The nearest examples I can think of in the UK are very long running, character-focused sitcoms where serious issues are used to introduce pathos - eg. Cassandra's miscarriage in OFAH, the death of Nan in the Royle Family. But that's not quite the same as the "public information film" vibe of Very Special Episodes.

Cassandra's miscarriage always got a lot of flak from us for its extreme change of tone in the 1996 Christmas special, but somehow neglects that One Foot in the Grave already did it with Pippa in the 1991 One Foot in the Grave Christmas special.

merry christmas

[Lordofthefiles]

Educating Oz about Green Monkey Disease!

[Noodle Lizard]

The Vicar of Dibley had one or two of these, but I don't know if it counts if the episode was made for something like Comic Relief. I remember one ending with the characters all watching videos of African poverty and saying things like "oo, that's bad".

[Beloved of Jo]

Tonight, on a very special episode of Clone High...
Loved that little pisstake at the start of every episode.

[Huxleys Babkins]

The Vicar of Dibley had one or two of these, but I don't know if it counts if the episode was made for something like Comic Relief. I remember one ending with the characters all watching videos of African poverty and saying things like "oo, that's bad".

Yeah, and it went down like a lead balloon as it was broadcast amidst a massive appeal for aid to help the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Not Richard Curtis' fault, of course, just incredibly bad timing.

[gilbertharding]

Although the concept is somewhat flawed and there's been some discussion here of that.

Which concept? Jumping the shark?

[Ignatius_S]

Which concept? Jumping the shark?

Yup.

[thenoise]

The Vicar of Dibley had one or two of these, but I don't know if it counts if the episode was made for something like Comic Relief. I remember one ending with the characters all watching videos of African poverty and saying things like "oo, that's bad".

At least one was a proper episode - the one where they decide to install a cheap window instead of expensive stained glass so they could give the money they raised away to some appeal or other.

Then there was the one where they all wear black armbands and do a concerned face at the camera at the end, whatever that was in aid of.

Quick Google shows she done a black lives matter one too, taking the knee and doing a concerned face to camera, attracting the ire of the serial bbc complainers in the process.

Who'd have thought that a sitcom about a Vicar would be so preachy?

[madhair60]

every single episode of Derek but mainly Robot Grief Dog

[Theoretical Dentist]

Not very special because there were so many of them, but most episodes of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister were about real political issues and usually had a message that progress was impossible because of the deep state frustrating common-sense Thatcherite reforms.

I guess that's always a risk for political sitcoms. I think The Thick of It was less like that, but maybe you could see In the Loop as a very special episode about the invasion of Iraq, if you ignore that it's not an episode and not even strictly a The Thic of It film.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

do any Steptoes and Son eps count?

My Old Man's A Tory, Any Old Iron, Porn Yesterday and TB or Not TB maybe

[Ignatius_S]

do any Steptoes and Son eps count?

My Old Man's A Tory, Any Old Iron, Porn Yesterday and TB or Not TB maybe

I would say no. As I mentioned earlier, in contrast to America, the series was a game changer in how people approached sitcoms and saw it was possible to in incorporate drama into it.

In that series, a big factor was getting two actors rather than comedians. As Galton and Simpson said, with comedians, they would be worried about how the public perceived them so wouldn't touch anything political in fear of alienating people - they wouldn't have been able to make Harold very left-wing (in a few episodes, it's heavily implied that he's a communist) and G&S discussed about how much freedom using actors gave them.

[Ignatius_S]

Not very special because there were so many of them, but most episodes of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister were about real political issues and usually had a message that progress was impossible because of the deep state frustrating common-sense Thatcherite reforms....

Nah - the programmes have took a very central approach with the civil service and politicians providing a check and balance on each other. There's a reason Thatcher hated it.

A fair bit of what Hacker wanted to do was shown to be flawed. I suppose you could call his approach 'common sense' because what people tend to mean when they say something is common sense is 'this is perfectly obvious to me, so there is no point considering anything else or listening to other options.'

In the very first episode of Yes, Minister Hacker is amazed how quickly Humphrey has got the ball rolling in regards to he's plans and that he's able to identify the (many) times Hacker said in public, what he's saying to him in their first meeting. He's not expecting hat efficiency.

One of Hacker's flagship policies, which he gets his own way about is a public phone line where people can report 'waste and inefficiency' in public services, which sounds like the main thing to come out of it is good press for Hacker.

There are a lot of times where Hacker is in the right and although in many ways a decent person and means well, he's still a self-serving politician.

[dissolute ocelot]

The Derry Girls final episode about the peace process and referendum had some aspects of very special episode in terms of emotion and telling history (like the Blackadder Goes Forth finale), but was no more topical than M*A*S*H's episodes about the evils of the Korean War in the early 80s.

Brooklyn 99 did a very special episode about how the police might sometimes be racist. I can't even think of a recent British sitcom that would be required to address modern social issues like that.

[Theoretical Dentist]

There's a reason Thatcher hated it.

Everything I've seen about Thatcher and Yes Minister says she liked it, some sources say it was her favourite programme. There's the infamous sketch featuring Thatcher, variously claimed to have been written by her or Bernard Ingham (Thatcher's press secretary) or both, and the introduction to that video describes her as 'the programme's biggest fan'. There are a few other (sourced) claims to that effect in the Yes Minister Wikipedia article. She also provided information to the show's writers about real-world bureaucracy (I don't know if anything based on that ended up in the show).

Regardless of Thatcher's opinions, I agree the show often shows Hacker's suggestions to be flawed, but in a realpolitk sense – they're shown to be unworkable because of various enttrenched interests (often the civil service but also unions, business, other countries, etc) but I think the writers usually want us to think it would be nice if they could be enacted. Hacker is often self-serving, abandoning his proposals when he realises they'll have negative consqeuences for him personally, but that's part of the dysfunctional system the show is trying to portray. There are probably exceptions, but I think generally the show is sympathetic with Hacker's initial ideas – that's the message the writers want to convey, at least, but viewer's reactions will be heavily influenced by their own political opinions.

[Theoretical Dentist]

I think Branded, the Dad's Army episode broadcast today on BBC Radio 4 Extra, qualifies as a very special episode about conscienscious objectors. (It's a radio episode obviously, but adapted from a TV episode of the same title, which happens to have been the first episode in colour, making it special in another way).

In it Godfrey is revealed to heve been a conscientious objector in the First World War, and the reactions of Mainwearing and the rest of the platoon are initially very negative, regarding COs as cowards. Later Godfrey courageously saves Mainwearing during an exercise, and it turns out he volunteered as a medical orderly in the First World War and received a medal for bravery under fire, forcing the other characters to reevaluate their opinion of Godfrey and presumably COs in general.

[gilbertharding]

Regardless of Thatcher's opinions, I agree the show often shows Hacker's suggestions to be flawed, but in a realpolitk sense – they're shown to be unworkable because of various enttrenched interests (often the civil service but also unions, business, other countries, etc) but I think the writers usually want us to think it would be nice if they could be enacted. Hacker is often self-serving, abandoning his proposals when he realises they'll have negative consqeuences for him personally, but that's part of the dysfunctional system the show is trying to portray. There are probably exceptions, but I think generally the show is sympathetic with Hacker's initial ideas – that's the message the writers want to convey, at least, but viewer's reactions will be heavily influenced by their own political opinions.

Don't know if you're the same, but I'm genuinely never quite sure whether I'm more on the side of Hacker or Humphrey. I'd generally be onside with changing the system, but we all know what happened in the 80s when real life reformers get into power.

(I know the writers were seemingly on Hacker/Thatcher's side - but wasn't most of the politics modelled on their insights from pre-1979?)

[Rankersbo]

Not very special because there were so many of them, but most episodes of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister were about real political issues and usually had a message that progress was impossible because of the deep state frustrating common-sense Thatcherite reforms.

I thought it was 50/50. 50% of the time Hacker was a numpty that needed to be steered away from lunacy by the civil service, 50% of the time he was the voice of common sense against "we've always done it this way."

[Famous Mortimer]

Nah - the programmes have took a very central approach with the civil service and politicians providing a check and balance on each other. There's a reason Thatcher hated it.

Not sure that's true. She did a sketch with them, for one thing:

[Ignatius_S]

Everything I've seen about Thatcher and Yes Minister says she liked it, some sources say it was her favourite programme. There's the infamous sketch featuring Thatcher, variously claimed to have been written by her or Bernard Ingham (Thatcher's press secretary) or both, and the introduction to that video describes her as 'the programme's biggest fan'. There are a few other (sourced) claims to that effect in the Yes Minister Wikipedia article. She also provided information to the show's writers about real-world bureaucracy (I don't know if anything based on that ended up in the show).

Regardless of Thatcher's opinions, I agree the show often shows Hacker's suggestions to be flawed, but in a realpolitk sense – they're shown to be unworkable because of various enttrenched interests (often the civil service but also unions, business, other countries, etc) but I think the writers usually want us to think it would be nice if they could be enacted. Hacker is often self-serving, abandoning his proposals when he realises they'll have negative consqeuences for him personally, but that's part of the dysfunctional system the show is trying to portray. There are probably exceptions, but I think generally the show is sympathetic with Hacker's initial ideas – that's the message the writers want to convey, at least, but viewer's reactions will be heavily influenced by their own political opinions.

Virtually all of what's written about Thatcher liking the show is taking what Thatcher said on trust and at face value. I remember seeing one clip of Thatcher talking about when I was quite young about something about the show and believed that was so, but when I looked into it much laterI found that it wasn't that straight forward. I lean towards that she hated it - but if she did like it, it wasn't in the way people assume.

Bernard Ingham, Thatcher's devoted press secretary, said that he came up with the idea of her liking the series as a way to boost her image - and would later dream up the idea of Thatcher doing the sketch.  Yes, Minister was starting to be a very popular show and liking something popular looks good - and the fact that it makes fun of politicians, even more so. However, he also said she couldn't stand the way that politicians were portrayed or came off second best again the civil service - she didn't actually care for the show.

The claims about Thatcher liking the series are based on an extremely small number of press interactions Thatcher had but because there are referenced so much, it gives a feeling of absolute, unquestioned fact. Jay's right-leaning politics has helped compound the notion of why Thatcher loved the series amongst some. But those people overlook that Lynn's was more left-leaning and there's also an argument is that it's a show not really about politics but a satire is about power and the people in power.

Something worth bringing into this, as it often gets no mention, is that Thatcher famously had no sense of humour and didn't get jokes. When she had to quote Reggie Perrin's boss, C.J., 'I didn't get where I am today...' in a speech, she just didn't get it. So even if it genuinely was her favourite comedy show, this doesn't say much by itself as she didn't like comedies. It's very different to if she enjoyed a decent amount of comedies.

Personally, I'm inclined to believe Ingham. However, even if Thatcher did like the series in some way, her public comments weren't entirely out of sheer love and cynicism was at play. People connected to the show feared how she - and politicians - were using it for their own publicity and how it might taint the series. Thatcher didn't necessarily have to chortle at the series to think there was benefit to her.

After Thatcher went public with her praise of the show, telling the Daily Telegraph, "its clearly-observed portrayal of what goes on in the corridors of power has given me hours of pure joy," Lynn admitted to having mixed feelings. On the one hand, being well known as the prime minister's favorite show was great publicity, but he worried that people would begin to view the show as a "conservative" show, despite his efforts to remain politically neutral.

"We started getting praise from so many politicians, it made me feel uneasy," Lynn said. "What were we doing wrong? We were satirizing the system, but it turned out the program wasn't about politcs, it was about government. It was about bureaucracy and how it stifles the political will."

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-xpm-2013-apr-09-la-et-st-yes-prime-ministers-jonathan-lynn-remembers-margaret-thatcher-20130409-story.html

The first time I met Margaret Thatcher, she was already a fan of mine, or so she said. With my co-writer Antony Jay, I had created and written the first seven episodes of "Yes, Minister," a BBC TV comedy series about the British government...

...but to our surprise, it rapidly became a massive hit when it was broadcast early in Mrs. Thatcher's rule.
We learned that when it was on for half an hour every week, the business of the nation came to a standstill while MPs crowded into the many bars at the House of Commons to watch it. Of course, there could be no other possible reason for finding all the MPs in a bar, so that had to be it...

Referring to our show, Mrs. Thatcher was quoted, "Its closely observed portrayal of what goes on in the corridors of power has given me hours of pure joy."
This was stunning. First of all, it suggested that Mrs. T had a sense of humor, something that no one had hitherto suspected. I was surprised that she had time to watch it, as she was now becoming awfully bossy and I was beginning to feel that she should reciprocate: Her government certainly wasn't giving me hours of pure joy...

"Yes, Minister" became known as Mrs. Thatcher's favorite TV show, and this worried me because the program was carefully neutral from a political point of view. I started telling people that Tony Benn, the leader of what was known as "the loony left," liked it a lot, too...

My queasy feeling, as one politician after another queued up to praise us, vanished as I realized why: Politicians love to watch anything about themselves on TV, and they are only interested in politics. Also, because our program showed how the Civil Service really runs Britain – our version of checks and balances and the separation of powers – we had unintentionally given politicians an alibi. The public understood for the first time that if politicians didn't keep their promises, it might be because they were obstructed by the Civil Service...

Subsequently we were invited to dinner there [Number 10] a couple of times. And then came that dreadful sketch. We were to be given an award by the National Viewers and Listeners Association, run by Mary Whitehouse, the UK version of Jerry Falwell.

A scarcely believable message arrived at the BBC from Number 10, saying that Mrs. T would present the award, that she had written a sketch and wished to perform it with our actors Paul and Nigel. It transpired that the scarcely believable message was not, in fact, to be believed: The sketch was written by her press secretary, Bernard Ingham.

I learned recently that she rehearsed the sketch with Ingham and her private secretary no fewer than 23 times. Why were they not running the country instead, you might ask? Answer: She was losing popularity and, though not very amusing herself, she knew the power of humor. She was co-opting the show to make people like her more.

Ingham wasn't a comedy writer, but as a publicist, he knew his stuff. The sketch was reported everywhere, seen on all the TV news shows and was carried live on radio. And when I was given the award, I thanked Mrs. Whitehouse and added, "I should like to thank Mrs. Thatcher for finally taking her rightful place in the world of situation comedy."

There was a huge laugh, broadcast nationwide. The only person in the room who didn't laugh was Mrs. T.

https://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/10/opinion/lynn-yes-prime-minister-thatcher/index.html

Hawthorne said on more than one occasion that he and Eddington resented Thatcher's attempts to 'make capital' from their popularity.

https://tellyspotting.kera.org/2013/04/09/pm-margaret-thatchers-2nd-job-as-comedy-sketch-writer-for-yes-prime-minister/

The Telegraph is behind a paywall but I've read that after papers were released into the public domain, there was an instance where Thatcher said she would have to pass to Jay. Whether she did or not, I have no idea and even if she did, I suspect she wasn't a great arbiter for knowing what comedy gold was...

Re: Hacker - I view him differently. As the show goes on, he becomes a much better political operator and although not perfect, he's shown to be proving to be a very competent minister and I feel it's demonstrated that he works hard; he's a fairly sympathetic character.

What Hacker was to do is kept pretty vague, which I think was key to what they were trying to do with the show - he's a moderate politician near the centre, but we can't say which way he leans. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he doesn't.

[Ignatius_S]

Not sure that's true. She did a sketch with them, for one thing:

Indeed she did - a sketch that her press secretary had the idea for to try and boost Thatcher's popularity.

As per my above post, there have been base cynical suggestions that Thatcher may not have been completely honest when talking about the show. Hard to imagine a politician talking about a TV programme to curry public opinion.... Now where did I put my notes about the 'Free Deirdre Rashid' campaign.

[Famous Mortimer]

Indeed she did - a sketch that her press secretary had the idea for to try and boost Thatcher's popularity.

As per my above post, there have been base cynical suggestions that Thatcher may not have been completely honest when talking about the show. Hard to imagine a politician talking about a TV programme to curry public opinion.... Now where did I put my notes about the 'Free Deirdre Rashid' campaign.

There seems lots of evidence that she did like it, and not much that she didn't. Your "she hated it" idea is entirely your own reading of the situation, right? There are a very long list of things to wish eternal damnation on Thatcher for, but I'm not sure "pretending to like Yes Minister" is one of them. There's nothing in your extensive quotes above that says her enjoyment of it wasn't genuine.

[Ignatius_S]

There seems lots of evidence that she did like it, and not much that she didn't. Your "she hated it" idea is entirely your own reading of the situation, right? There are a very long list of things to wish eternal damnation on Thatcher for, but I'm not sure "pretending to like Yes Minister" is one of them. There's nothing in your extensive quotes above that says her enjoyment of it wasn't genuine.

No, that's based on what Ingham had stated; he explained that Thatcher professing love for the series was a way of making her seem more human to the public and it worked very well. But she hated the way politicians were made to look on it.

Re: 'There seems lots of evidence that she did like it' - that was part of the point I was making. Thatcher talked about the show in a couple of interviews and appeared in the sketch, which gets cited repeatedly. That gives the impression there's a lot of evidence when it's actually a little amount referenced a lot.