Chris Barrie’s Motoring Wheel Nuts Reviews Posted by Ian Symes on 18th May 2003, 23:00 Oh dear. This video was produced by Ross McGinley (now the producer of the Red Dwarf DVDs) and Mike Stephens (Brittas), and starred Chris Barrie. So what went wrong? Well, all the characters have been taken from The Comedy Video Cliché Emporium: an old drunken aristocrat, the nerd, the aggressive scouser, the hippie, the yuppie, the beatnik, etc. Chris performs them well, but even he can’t disguise the lazy writing, and the over-riding impression of cheapness. The situation seems contrived – it’s an invitation-only classic car meet in the grounds of an old mansion, so why are there people from so many different backgrounds there? Besides, some of the cars are far from being in a fit state for exhibition – the entire video is an excuse for Chris Barrie to do funny voices. Don’t get me wrong – Chris is good at doing voices. But the voices are only funny when they are giving material written by people such as Grant Naylor or Fegen & Norris, and Paul Tibbey (the writer of this video) is far from their level. This video was destined for the bargain basement the moment it was released, which, incidentally was late 1995; round about the time Chris decided to leave Red Dwarf to move on to bigger and better things. Hmmm.
Much as I’d love to do that – it’s not exactly the kind of thing that’s likely to be re-released – I suspect that might be pushing copyright a bit too far. Dunno why I feel like that, when all the Wrinkles eps are up here. But it feels safer sticking up radio shows than entire commercial releases…
Can’t you just include a watermark or something that reads “UPLOADED BY JONATHAN CAPPS” along with his telephone number and home address? Legally they wouldn’t touch you.
Six years and differing attitudes to online content and copyright infringement later…. http://youtu.be/hikgtw85mhE
