Wrinkles Clips

They’re mentioned here. They’re mentioned there. But dammit, these deserve as wide an audience as possible, so I’m mentioning them again. Well done to Mark James (who unearthed the clips) and Cappsy (whose tireless search prompted all this). Two clips from Wrinkles – Rob and Doug’s 1980-81 Radio 4 sitcom.

The first thing that strikes you is how the series almost feels like a relic of the 50s rather than the 80s. The second thing that strikes you is how well the snippets work as seperate little sketches – Rob and Doug’s sketch show background showing there. The third thing that strikes you is a slightly racist joke about a black dog. The fourth thing that strikes you is that Ballard Berkeley is playing exactly the same kind of character as in Fawlty Towers (and very amusingly, too). But the main thing that strikes you is how good it is – not the funniest thing ever, but very pleasant – which is a very good sign for how enjoyable the rest of the series is likely to be, once you’ve got into the characters.

Lest us forget, this is BRAND NEW Grant Naylor writing. Or, rather, brand old Grant Naylor writing. Either way, it’s exciting to have something “new” again, as we’ve all watched each Dwarf ep 25 million times. Let’s hope more turns up soon – no programmes exist in the BBC’s archives, but they must be out there somewhere…