Charles Paris was created by Brett for his first published novel; Cast, In Order of Disappearance, whilst working for BBC Radio (famously green-lighting The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy and producing and directing the first episode). It was while working on Lord Peter Wimsey he had the idea for an actor-detective and his BBC background gave that character the perfect environment.

He’s an unhappily separated (but not divorced more than 30 years on), moderately successful actor with a slight drinking problem, who gets entangled in all sorts of crimes and finds himself in the role of unwilling amateur detective. With an off and on supporting cast of his estranged wife Frances, grown-up daughter Judith and agent, Maurice Skellern, there is a familiarity to these books that is at once warm but given an edge by expertly witty dialogue and inventive plots. One of the things I find most fascinating about the CP novels is the cynical, yet highly believable insight they give into the workings of not just the BBC but the whole television and radio industry. Charles’ world-weary journey through the somewhat murky echelons of Television Centre and Broadcasting House are witty, clever and unputdownable.

Charles features in 17 novels (the majority of which have been out of print for some time, albeit recently reissued in a not-very-nice print on demand capacity) and it’s surprising, given how popular the author is, with another continuing series proving to be regular bestsellers, that they haven’t seen a proper re-issue – although they are on Kindle if you’re into that sort of thing…

Cast, in Order of Disappearance (1975), So Much Blood (1976), Star Trap (1977), An Amateur Corpse (1978), A Comedian Dies (1979), The Dead Side of the Mike (1980), Situation Tragedy (1981), Murder Unprompted (1982), Murder in the Title (1983), Not Dead, Only Resting (1984), Dead Giveaway (1985), What Bloody Man is That? (1987), A Series of Murders (1989), Corporate Bodies (1991), A Reconstructed Corpse (1993), Sicken and So Die (1995), Dead Room Farce (1997)

I first discovered Charles in 1983, when I was ten. My Dad had been reading the first novel, borrowed from the local library and when he finished it, I sneaked it away to read, as I’d heard him chuckling throughout. Although much of the humour passed me by, I had started reading Agatha Christie so was getting into murder-mysteries. As I grew older, I was able to appreciate them so much more. Since then barely has a year gone by without me revisiting this series at some point and it saddens me to think that people are missing out on these wonderful books, especially as the last novel - Dead Room Farce - was published as far back as 1998. I’ve longed for his return and, in an interview last year, Brett acknowledged: “I get attached to my characters. I really feel I should go back to Charles Paris at some point. I get a lot of letters and e-mails encouraging me to do so . . . and, of course, I owe it to him—I’m the only person who ever gives him any work. So that’s a plan for the future.”

In the last decade he has been beautifully brought to life on Radio 4 by Bill Nighy and scriptwriter Jeremy Front. The first adaptation, 1999′s So Much Blood, was recorded at the Edinburgh Festival, where the story is set. This has been followed by A Series of Murders, Sicken and So Die, Murder Unprompted, The Dead Side of the Mike, Cast In Order of Disappearance, Murder in the Title and the recently aired A Reconstructed Corpse. Although the stories have been modernised (the novels were mostly written in the 1970s and 80s), Nighy is probably one of the very few people who could realistically carry him off and he does so brilliantly.

To top it all, Simon Brett announced in 2011 that the publication of the 18th entry in the Charles Paris canon, A Decent Interval, wasn’t too far away. And now it’s finally here! About time too, Charles has been “resting” far too long and I literally cannot wait.

~

If you’re already a fan of Charles Paris, I can highly recommend Nev Fountain‘s excellent Mervyn Stone trilogy. 

And that show is…?

The Avengers

The Avengers was a 1960s adventure series set in cold war Britain, produced by ABC Television, a principal contractor within the ITV network. It was screened in fifty-minute episodes from 1961 to 1969 and by its final year was shown in more than ninety countries. It preceded the first James Bond film, Dr No, by one year and its stars; Patrick Macnee, Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg all later co-starred in Bond films.

The series began in 1961 with medical doctor, David Keel (Ian Hendry), investigating the murder of his fiancée by a drug ring. A stranger named John Steed, who was investigating the ring, appeared and together they set out to avenge her death in the first two episodes. Afterwards, Steed asked Keel to partner him as needed to solve crimes and, as the series progressed, Steed’s importance increased and he carried the final episode alone. Production of the first series was cut short by a strike and by the time production began on the second series, Hendry had quit to pursue a film career. Macnee was promoted to star and Steed became the focus of the series, working with a rotation of three different partners.

Dr Martin King (Jon Rollason), a not-very-well-disguised rewriting of Keel, only appeared in three episodes using scripts written for the first series. Nightclub singer Venus Smith (Julie Stevens) appeared in six episodes and was portrayed as a “complete amateur” with no professional crime-fighting skills. She was excited to be participating in an adventure alongside secret agent Steed and definitely seemed to find him attractive.

The first episode of the second series introduced the partner who would change the show forever. Honor Blackman played Dr Cathy Gale, a confident, quick-witted anthropologist, skilled in judo and a passion for wearing leather clothes (ahem). Widowed during the Mau Mau years in Kenya, she was the “talented amateur” who saw her involvement in Steed’s cases as a service to her nation. In contrast to female characters in similar series who tended to be younger, Cathy was in her early-to-mid 30s. She was unlike any female character seen before on British TV (who largely tended to be wives, mothers or scarlet women) and Honor Blackman became a household name almost overnight. The series established a level of sexual tension between Steed and Cathy, but the writers weren’t allowed to go beyond flirting and innuendo. Despite this their relationship was extremely progressive for the early Sixties and from Series 3 Cathy became Steed’s only regular partner.

During the Cathy Gale era Steed was transformed from a rugged trenchcoat-wearing agent into the stereotypical English gentleman, complete with Savile Row suit, bowler hat and umbrella (the bowler and umbrella were always full of tricks, including a sword hidden within the umbrella handle and a steel plate concealed in the hat). With his impeccable manners, old world sophistication and vintage cars, Steed represented the traditional Englishman of a bygone age. By contrast his female partners were youthful, forward-looking and always dressed in the latest fashions.

In 1965 the show was sold to US network, ABC. The Avengers became one of the first British series to be aired on prime time US television and ABC paid the then-unheard of sum of $2 million for the first 26 episodes. The average budget for each episode was reportedly £56,000, very high for the British industry. The US deal meant that the producers could afford to start shooting the series on 35mm film. The 405-line videotape, multi-camera setup of the earlier series meant there was little provision for editing and virtually no location footage and, as was standard practice at the time, videotapes of early episodes of The Avengers were often wiped and reused (all Doctor Who fans will know the misery caused by that decision). Of the first series, only two complete episodes still exist, as 16mm film tele-recordings along with the first fifteen minutes of the first episode. As was standard on British television filmed production through the 1960s, all location work on Series 4 was shot mute with the soundtrack created in post production. The transfer to film meant that episodes would be shot using the single camera setup, giving the production greater flexibility and allowing more outdoor location shots, sophisticated visuals and camera angles, all of which greatly improved the look of the series.

Towards the end of Series 3, Honor Blackman won the role of Pussy Galore in the third James Bond film, Goldfinger, and left the show. Steed’s new female partner, Mrs Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), debuted in the fourth series opener The Town of No Return, in October 1965. Emma Peel, whose husband went missing while flying over the Amazon, retained the self-assuredness of Cathy Gale, combined with superior fighting skills, high-intelligence and a contemporary fashion sense.

In contrast to the Cathy Gale episodes, there was a lighter comic touch in Steed and Peel’s interactions both with each other and their reactions to other characters and situations. Earlier series had a harder tone but this almost completely disappeared as Steed and Peel visibly enjoyed each others company and the witty banter they shared. The sexual tension between Steed and Cathy disappeared and with Emma the exact relationship between the two was left ambiguous. Although nothing that could be perceived as “improper” was displayed, the obviously much closer chemistry between Steed and Emma constantly suggests intimacy between the two. Brian Clemens has said many times that he always envisaged them as having had a wild affair that had naturally burnt out, leaving them as friends who shared a bond but could carry on with their lives.

Clothes began to take on more significance in the show’s style, with the noted fashion designer John Bates brought in to design Diana Rigg’s costumes. In Death at Bargain Prices, Mrs. Peel takes an undercover job at Pinters department store. Her uniform for promoting toys is an elaborate leather catsuit plus silver boots, sash, and welder’s gloves. The suit minus the silver accessories became her signature outfit, which she wore, primarily for fight scenes, in early episodes, and in the title sequence. Emma’s avant-garde fashions emphasized her youthful, contemporary personality. She represented the modern England of the Sixties – just as Steed, with his vintage style and mannerisms, personified Edwardian era nostalgia. Alun Hughes, who had designed clothing for Diana Rigg, was suggested by the actress to design Emma Peel’s “softer” wardrobe for Series 5 and Pierre Cardin was brought in to design a new wardrobe for Patrick Macnee. Another memorable feature of the show from this point on were its cars. Steed’s signature vehicles were vintage 1926–1928 Bentley racing or town cars, while Emma drove a sporty Lotus Elan convertible which, like her clothes, emphasized her independence and modernity.

After one filmed series of 26 episodes in black and white, The Avengers began filming in colour for the fifth series in 1966. It would be three years before the ITV network began full colour broadcasting but the producers could see where technology was heading and (wisely, in hindsight) felt this change would extend the life of the show for repeat runs.

Alongside the move from black and white to colour came other changes. The first sixteen episodes of Series 5 begin with Emma receiving a message from Steed: “Mrs. Peel, we’re needed.” Emma would be going about her day when she’d unexpectedly receive a message on a calling card or within a delivered gift, at which point Steed would suddenly appear from nowhere (usually in her apartment). These messages would be delivered in increasingly bizarre ways as the series progressed and the episode’s tag scene would often return to the situation of the “Mrs. Peel, we’re needed” scene. These were eventually dropped after a break in production for financial reasons. The series also introduced a comic tag line caption to the episode title, using the format of “Steed [does this], Emma [does that].” For example The Joker had the opening caption: “Steed trumps an ace, Emma plays a lone hand”.

Increasingly the stories became characterised by futuristic, science fiction-y tales, with mad scientists and their creations causing havoc. Steed and Emma dealt with being shrunk (Mission… Highly Improbable), pet cats being electrically altered into ferocious and lethal ‘miniature tigers’ (The Hidden Tiger), killer robots (Return of The Cybernauts), mind-transferring machines (Who’s Who???), and android duplicates taking over from their creators (Never, Never Say Die).

At the end of the fifth series in 1967, Diana Rigg left to pursue other projects. This included following Honor Blackman to play a leading role in a James Bond film (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service). However, her tenure on the show became the peak of its success and is, arguably, the period for which it is best remembered all over the world. With her departure the British network executives decided that the current formula, despite being highly popular, could not be pursued further and that a “return to realism” was necessary for the sixth series (1968–69). Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell were fired and replaced by John Bryce, producer of most of the Cathy-Gale era episodes.

Bryce had to find a replacement for Diana Rigg and shoot the first seven episodes of the new series, which were supposed to be shipped to America together with the last eight Emma Peel colour episodes. He signed 20-year-old Canadian newcomer Linda Thorson to play Tara King. Thorson gave the role more innocence and, unlike the previous partnerships, the writers allowed subtle hints of romance to blossom between Tara and Steed. Tara also differed from Steed’s previous partners in that she was a fully fledged agent working for the same organization as Steed.

Production of the first seven episodes of Series 6 began but financial problems and internal difficulties undermined Bryce’s effort. He only managed to complete three episodes: Invitation to a Killing (a 90-minute episode introduction for Tara), The Great, Great Britain Crime (some of its original footage was reused in the 1969 episode Homicide and Old Lace) and Invasion of the Earthmen (which survived relatively intact). After a rough cut screening of these episodes to studio executives, Bryce was fired and Clemens and Fennell were hastily called back. At their return, a fourth episode called The Murderous Connection was in its second day of production. After revising the script, it was renamed as The Curious Case of the Countless Clues and production was resumed. Production of the episode Split!, a leftover script from the Emma Peel colour series, proceeded. Two completely new episodes were also shot: Get-A-Way, and Dennis Spooner’s excellent Look (Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers...

Clemens and Fennell decided to film a new episode to introduce Tara for the beginning of Series 6. This was titled The Forget-Me-Knot and bade farewell to Emma and introduced her successor. No farewell scenes for Emma had been shot when Diana Rigg left the series and she was recalled for The Forget-Me-Knot, through which she acts as Steed’s partner as usual.At the end it was explained that Emma’s husband, Peter Peel, was found alive and rescued, and she leaves to be with him. Emma visits Steed to say goodbye (a very emotionally charged scene) and while leaving she passes Tara on the stairway giving her the advice that “He likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise.” The original episode introducing Tara, Invitation to a Killing, was revised as a regular 60-minute episode called Have Guns Will Haggle.

During the first series there were hints Steed worked for a branch of British Intelligence, and this was expanded in the second series. Steed initially received orders from different superiors, including someone referred to as “Charles”, and “One-Ten”. By the third series the delivery of Steed’s orders was never shown or explained. For Series 6 the government official who gave Steed his orders was once again shown on screen. “Mother”, introduced in The Forget-Me-Knot, is a man in a wheelchair. The role was taken by Patrick Newell who had played different roles in two earlier episodes (The Town of No Return and Something Nasty In The Nursery). “Mother’s” headquarters would shift from place to place, including one episode where his complete office was on the top level of a double-decker bus. There was one appearance by an agency official code-named “Father”, a blind older woman played by Iris Russell (who had appeared in the series several times previously in other roles) and in the episode, Killer, Steed is paired with Lady Diana Forbes Blakeney (Jennifer Croxton) while Tara is on holiday.

The episodes with Linda Thorson as Tara were a ratings success in Europe and the UK, however in the US, ABC chose to air it opposite the number one show in the country at the time, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Unable to compete, the show was cancelled. Without this vital commercial backing, production could not continue in Britain either, and the series ended in May 1969. The final scene of the final episode (Bizarre) has Steed and Tara, champagne glasses in hand, accidentally launching themselves into orbit aboard a rocket, as Mother (breaking the fourth wall) turns to the audience and says “They’ll be back!” True to their word, Clemens, Fennell and MacNee returned seven years later with The New Avengers – but that’s another story entirely…

I can’t find enough words to describe just how impressive and entertaining this series is. Colossal fun, witty, imaginative, influential, iconic and stylish it changed women’s roles on television, broke many rules and started countless trends. It also had a stellar cast of directors (Charles Crichton, Ray Austin, John Hough, Cyril Frankel, Robert Fuest…), writers (Brian Clemens, Roger Marshall, Dennis Spooner, Terry Nation, Malcolm Hulke, Robert Banks Stewart, John Lucarotti, Tony Williamson, Terrance Dicks, Philip Levene, Richard Harris, Terence Feely…) and quality actors all queuing up to be involved: Peter Cushing, Donald Sutherland, Frederick Jaeger, Andre Morell, T.P. McKenna, Charlotte Rampling, Peter Jeffrey, Michael Gough, Angela Douglas, Roger Delgado, Allan Cuthbertson, Liz Fraser, Geoffrey Palmer, John Woodvine, Peter Barkworth, Burt Kwouk, Peter Bowles, Barbara Shelley… It’s a Who’s Who of British TV. Have a look at this and be amazed at the casting.

I only have to listen to the theme tune (the Tara King arrangement being my favourite, along with the title sequence) and I immediately feel a friendly warmth in my body and a smile on my face.

I adore this series. It is, quite simply, superb.

This wonderful series was produced by Southern Television and Portman Productions for the ITV network (with money from a German co-funder, where The Famous Five are hugely popular) in 26 thirty-minute episodes. I have a deep fondness for this series as it reminds me of growing up in the late-Seventies/early-Eighties. I had all the books with the TV Tie-In covers, the TV Tie-In annuals, and read about them in Look-In almost every week. Nowadays The Famous Five would be treated as a period piece (indeed, the 1996 series was set in the 1950′s) but back then it was a contemporary production, recorded all on location and on film, with each of the two series reportedly costing £1 million pounds, making it – at the time – the most expensive children’s programme ever.

It starred Michele Gallagher as George, Marcus Harris as Julian, Jennifer Thanisch as Anne, Gary Russell (a name all Doctor Who fans know) as Dick, Toddy Woodgate as Timmy, Michael Hinz as Uncle Quentin and Sue Best as Aunt Fanny. It also featured Peter Jeffrey, Ronald Fraser, John Carson, Patrick Troughton, James Villiers, Geoffrey Bayldon, Cyril Luckham, Rupert Graves and Brian Glover (amongst many other familiar faces).

The screenplays were written by script editor Gail Renard, the late, great Richard Carpenter (Catweazle, Black Beauty, Dick Turpin, Robin of Sherwood) and Richard Sparks, and directed by Peter Duffell, Don Leaver, James Gatward and Mike Connor. The first series was produced by Leaver and Gatward (with Sidney Hayers taking over for Series 2). Most of the outdoor filming was done in the New Forest and parts of Dorset and Devon.

The first series was shown on ITV in July 1978 at 4:45pm. This was a year after it had been filmed and mid-way during production of the second series. The first episode was Five Go to Kirren Island (an incorrect spelling – naughty), although this wasn’t the first episode filmed – that honour went to Five Go to Mystery Moor. The first series proved popular and ran until the end of the year with a six-week break during October and November. Due to a lack of remaining stories, the second series consisted only of seven episodes and was broadcast from June to August 1979 (again, a year after production). The Famous Five was sold to many overseas countries such as Ireland, Canada and Australia and was dubbed into many languages for the European market such as German, French and Spanish.

All the books were dramatised apart from Five On A Treasure Island, Five Have a Mystery to Solve and Five Have Plenty of Fun. The first two were excluded because the Children’s Film Foundation still had the film and TV rights to the books, and the third because it could not fit in the production schedule. Plans to make a third series which would have included this story plus new ones written purely for television were abandoned after the Blyton estate exercised its veto. This was an interesting decision because, in 1981, French author Claude Voilier’s Famous Five continuation novels were translated into English by Anthea Bell. Voilier (actually a woman called Andree Labadan) began writing these in the 1970s and there are 24 books in the series, only 18 of which were translated into English. As far as I can tell, no rights challenge was ever made so the natural assumption is that they were authorised.

Jennifer Thanisch is now a mother and works as a school teacher (only twenty minutes up the road from me, as it happens). Gary Russell retired from acting in the mid-Eighties to concentrate on writing as well as being the editor of several magazines (including the official Doctor Who Magazine). He has been script editor on the successful revival of Doctor Who, as well as being involved heavily with Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Wizards Vs Aliens. Marcus Harris embarked on a number of business ventures and later became a town councillor. Michele Gallagher had a son and soon disappeared from the public eye. Sadly, it’s reported that she died in 2001. The surviving cast members were recently reunited with script editor Gail Renard and the excellent interview can be heard here.

The series was released on video by Portman Productions between 1983 and 1989, many of which are still easy to find second-hand, although the sound and picture quality are, unsurprisingly, pretty dreadful.

Finally, after many years in the wilderness, the tortured history of getting the series released properly on DVD (involving extinct companies, confused legal rights, lost prints, damaged prints etc) came to a happy end with a 7 disc Blu-Ray and DVD set containing the entire series and extensive bonus material being released in October 2010 – in Germany! Unfortunately, although this was readily available through Amazon, you’d have to put up with English subtitles on screen through each episode. Blast!

It was beginning to look as though this most British of creations was going to be denied a release in its home country again… Fortunately, Koch Media decided to go ahead with a UK release (although sadly no blu-ray) and, after the search for a suitable distributor, May and June 2012 saw the release, at long last, of an important part of my childhood.

I waited a very long time for this and it’s been great to have them back! The icing on the cake to this story is that for several years I’ve been reading the books to my step-daughter and the only Famous Five she knew on TV was the 1996 version that was released on DVD – not in the UK, unsurprisingly – but in Holland! Fortunately De Vijf is in English with removable subtitles. She saw two episodes of the 1970s Famous Five and immediately declared: “These are the best Famous Five!”

How true…

Classic late-90s/Early 00s Line-up: Alan Coren, Jeremy Hardy, Francis Wheen, Linda Smith, Simon Hoggart and Andy Hamilton

Created in 1977 by John Lloyd (who also created The News Huddlines, Not the Nine O’Clock News, Spitting Image and QI), the idea was to pit the then-editors of the two most famous satirical publications of the day, Alan Coren of Punch and Richard Ingrams of Private Eye, head-to-head in a quiz about the news.

In the early days, there was an unwritten rule that only journalists would be allowed onto the show each week and within the first three weeks it attracted a million listeners. Ingrams was the ferocious satirical killer of the day; Coren more conversational and witty – and the style of their magazines fitted them perfectly. The balance between the two team captains was provided by the original host, Barry Norman.

At its most basic level The News Quiz makes jokes about the news which allow the panellists – usually politicians, journalists and comedians – to take the mickey out of current affairs. It’s also one of the few (if not only) arenas in which Radio 4′s newsreaders (or “Hacks Neutrals” as Alan Coren once described them) can get a laugh, reading out bizarre quotations culled from the press by the production team and audience. Highly respected and established voices, such as Peter Donaldson, Brian Perkins and Charlotte Green, Harriet Cass and Corrie Corfield have all regularly read out the cuttings, Green becoming an infamous giggler, much to the delight of everyone listening.

Usually recorded in front of a live audience on a Thursday evening at the BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House, it is then edited, broadcast first on Friday evening, then repeated on the Saturday lunchtime. The official aim of the show is to test contestants’ knowledge of the events of the previous week by asking questions which are usually oblique references to those events. However this often gives way to a free-for-all where the panellists chime in with their own funny and satirical remarks. At the end of the show, before the host announces the (largely symbolic) scores, the panellists read out funny newspaper cuttings.

After eight series hosted by Barry Norman, the role of chairman was taken over by Barry Took – and in this period the show transcended from daring, edgy, new kid on the block to old guard almost seamlessly. Took was the perfect chairman for the show – witty and ruthless – and under his chairmanship the show made it to TV in 1981, renamed as Scoop! Much like the ill-fated attempt to transfer Just A Minute to TV it only lasted two series which made the BBC, compulsive even then about messing with a winning formula, want to make changes to the quiz. In 1995, Took left – replaced by previously occasional host Simon Hoggart – and Ingrams, Coren and other panellists were no longer booked as regulars with new blood being added to the mix. This was intended to make the show less stuffy and traditional (a rather bald example of “what goes around comes around” considering that they were all considered razor sharp and new when the series first started) and allow it to compete with younger formats with younger presenters and regulars in other quiz shows that were seen as more cutting edge.

Changing Barry Took for Simon Hoggart and revitalising the panel (with talent such as the late and much missed Linda Smith) made the series sharper and even more popular. With Hoggart’s departure after ten years and former panellist Sandi Toksvig taking the chair in 2006, The News Quiz once again got a new lease of life and with it, another new generation of panellists, including Sue Perkins, Susan Calman, Danielle Ward, Bridget Christie, Roisin Conaty, Paul Sinha, Andy Zaltzman, Miles Jupp, Sarah Millican, Carrie Quinlan, Will Smith, Hugo Rifkind, Simon Evans, David Mitchell, Phill Jupitus and many others. The idea of team captains has long since disappeared, although the always brilliant Jeremy Hardy (first appearing in the mid-90s) has been pretty much a constant since 1997, and regulars like Andy Hamilton, Fred Macaulay, Sue Perkins and the wonderful Susan Calman have continued to keep it fresh and funny while other formats have long disappeared.

The influence of The News Quiz has been enormous. Its original transfer to TV might not have worked, but it directly influenced the creation of Have I Got News For You (created and produced in 1990 by former News Quiz producer Harry Thompson, with former News Quiz regular Ian Hislop as one of the team captains) and, indirectly, the enormous rise in comedy quizzes. Of course, depending on whether you like or loathe comedy quizzes will decide whether you praise The News Quiz or hold it responsible!

Almost four decades on The News Quiz remains my absolute favourite radio show, largely because it has stayed true to itself; incorporating pun-based questions, razor sharp wit and fearlessly sacrificing sacred cows – but also because it’s managed to adapt and change as the style of comedy has changed – remaining edgy, but not too much. It’s like getting together with your friends at the end of the week and pulling apart all the nonsense going on around us. There’s a warmth amongst the panellists and the satire that helps to make it what it is and the BBC would be poorer without it.
~

You can hear new episodes every Friday night at 6.30pm on BBC Radio 4 or subscribe to the Friday Night Comedy podcast.

England: 1950. George ‘The Great’ Brain (Sid James) and his cohorts (Dick Emery and Lance Percival) rob a local bank stealing £50,000. However, after a bungled getaway, they are caught by the police but not before George manages to hide the money in the trunk of a hollow tree. Up before the magistrate the gang are sentenced to serve fifteen years in Wormwood Scrubs.

Upon their release in 1965, the gang go back to the spot where George hid the money, only to find it is now the new town of Oldfield, and that the all-important tree is in the grounds of the local police station, invitingly close to the wall. George and his gang take up rooms in a nearby house rented by a widow (Joan Sims) and her daughter (Edina Ronay). In order to provide a respectable front, George is forced to marry his longtime girlfriend Myrtle Robbins (Sylvia Syms) who is not so keen about the idea of recovering the loot, and wants George to settle down with her.

Unsurprisingly the incompetent criminals fail in their numerous attempts to get over and under the wall, all the while trying to conceal their true activities from their landlady, her daughter and a local police constable (Jim Dale) who also stays there. Eventually when the men have botched an attempt to tunnel into the grounds, the frustrated women hatch their own plot to gain the money.

This film has a tremendous cast with the ever-reliable Sid James proving yet again why he was so popular. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him give a bad performance, even if some of the films he did weren’t so great, but it’s Dick Emery and Lance Percival who provide some of the best one-liners and make a lovely double act. Sylvia Sims is sexy and fun as George’s much put upon fiancé, Myrtle, and I wonder why she never appeared in a Carry On, given her great comic timing. Joan Sims gives a lovely performance as the husband-hunting landlady, Mildred Gamely, with Edina Ronay able filling the small part of her alluring, unattached daughter. With lovely cameo appearances from Deryck Guyler as Jim Dale’s superior officer (more interested in the inter-departmental singing competition than in doing any actual police work), Brian Rawlinson as the unlucky tree-feller and the gorgeous Wanda Ventham attempting to elope with her boyfriend whilst in possession of a dirty great ladder, I can’t think of anything that drags this film down.

Shot between Carry On Cleo and Carry On Cowboy this is essentially an early-style Carry On film, written by Talbot Rothwell and John Antrobus, directed by Gerald Thomas, produced by Peter Rogers, with music by Eric Rogers. In fact Cowboy would go into production next, utilising the talents of James, Sims, Dale, Rawlinson and Ronay. I won’t spoil the ending if you haven’t seen it but if you’re looking for a fun way to spend an hour and a half then The Big Job should definitely be on your list.

Artwork for Spanish Dr. No poster by Macario Gomez

Written by Alastair Dougall with Quantum of Solace and Skyfall‘s Production Designer Dennis Glassner as Consultant Editor, this is the movie poster book all Bond fans really want in their collection. Taking each film in turn (including the unofficial entries Never Say Never Again and the original 1967 spoof of Casino Royale) the authors provide insight into the design process and branding of the series.

Including posters from all over the world, door panels, US lobby cards, bus posters, Italian photobustas and unused concepts, 50 Years is a very extensive 320 pages long, with the chapter on Dr. No alone containing 37 different posters! Although not definitive (with a few curious omissions here and there) you won’t find a more detailed and fascinating record of Bond’s artwork history in one place. Which is probably for the best, as it’s large and extremely heavy – thanks in part to the lovely slipcase and the high-quality paper used throughout to show the images off at the best.

Having read this cover to cover, it’s clear though that the posters become less interesting once we reach 1989′s Licence To Kill, where the artwork implying comic-strip escapism gave way to the latest techniques of cut-out photographic images and, in more recent times, computer manipulated images intended to reflect the contemporary relevance of the storylines. There’s no denying that some of the later films have extremely impressive posters but they lack a certain something, a warmth perhaps, for me at any rate.

It’s fair to say that not all the artwork produced for Bond posters (or indeed, any film poster) is spectacular but in some cases it is truly exceptional. I find it sad that the likes of Macario Gomez, Renato Fratini, Bob Peak, Frank McCarthy and Robert McGinnis are names that remain relatively unknown to the general public when their creativity helped to define the world’s image of Bond.

This wonderful, life-changing event has sparked a chain of thought that’s made me decide to start afresh with a lot of things and there are a few things I want to change in 2013. For a start I want to read more. I was a librarian for nine years, a bookseller for two years, buyer for the largest book wholesaler in Europe for five years and I now work in publishing – yet I’ve read fewer books this year than ever before! Life gets in the way, of course, and spending time with my family is wonderful but… I’m a reader. The house is FULL of books. I mean everywhere, and I actually feel bad that they are currently just decorating the walls, as that is not like me at all.

I also want to go for more long walks. We live on the coast and there are many good walks to be had, all of which we managed to avoid this year, despite having been regular walkers in 2011. The television is another area of change. Watch less crap and more interesting stuff. That entirely depends on the programming presented to us by the networks of course, but I have drifted into less stimulating viewing this year. I can’t stand gritty dramas (certainly the shows we get at the moment) and prefer documentaries, so I will be scanning the Radio Times for more of that.

The runners and riders include: being less disappointed by Doctor Who and enjoying the anniversary year; keeping up the momentum on my podcast; winning the pub quiz more than once; seeing my friends a bit more often; tweeting more regularly; not letting work drive me crazy; and being less offended by human nature (there’s an outside chance of those last two being successful but I’ll give them a go).