A Ripping Tale

I grew up in the 1970's. Everything was orange and brown, in fact mostly brown. We were subjected to situation comedies with casual racism, sexism and frequent use of the swannee whilst every time a gentleman brushed past a young woman. There were gentle situation comedies such as The Good Life that were funny but never truly cutting edge. There were true comic geniuses such as Tommy Cooper, Eric and Ernie, Eric Sykes in the forefront of British comedy. Brilliant ground breaking comedies such as Porridge and of course the timeless genius that was Fawlty Towers.

John Cleese wrote or rather co wrote with Connie Booth, a comedy that was so tight, so excruciatingly funny, it has now achieved an almost cult status. Monty Python had faded and ended as a TV comedy series in 1974. The team had disbanded and two of the Pythons, Michael Palin and Terry Jones conceived an idea for a TV series. The concept was based on the Boys Own storybooks of the early 20th Century. Tales of bravery and daring do. The BBC took up the idea and Ripping Yarns was tentatively born in 1976. It was shown on BBC2 and the pilot episode Tomkinson's Schooldays was first aired in 7th January 1976. The remainder of series one wasn't broadcast till the following year with episode two, The Testing of Eric Olthwaite airing in September 1977.

I remember watching the series as a 13 year old and at first didn't always get the more subtle humour hidden in the more obvious Pythonesque comedy style. Eric Olthwaite left me in hysterics, particularly as I was from an exiled West Yorkshire family. The story of an incredibly boring young man with an interest in rainfall and shovels, who transformed into a bank robber is utterly brilliant. I found myself remembering large sections of dialogue as any true Monty Python fan always did. Comments about how black mothers black pudding was and how Eric's father used to speak French to avoid talking to his son stuck in my head from the very start.

Clip from The Testing of Eric Olthwaite 

Other episodes in the first series Murder at Moorstones Manor, The Curse of the Claw, Escape from Stalag Luft 112B and Across The Andes By Frog were equally as funny and left field. There was something about the humour that touched me. It was silly for silly sake. There was no predictability about it.

The second much shorter series of three classic episodes was aired in 1979. Whinfrey's Last Case, Golden Gordon & Roger of the Raj, were in some ways even funnier than the first series. Golden Gordon is probably my favourite episode of all the Ripping Yarns. The tale of an utterly devoted fan of a completely hopeless Yorkshire football team, Barnstoneworth United. Gordon Ottershaw longed for the glory days of the 1922 Yorkshire Premier League.
The team of Hagerty R, Hagerty F, Thompson, Noble, Carrick, Robson, Crapper, Dewhurst, McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt.
He regularly smashes up his house and the clubhouse in desperation at the hopeless state of his club. His only son is named Barnstoneworth (middle name United).
It captures the perfect blind devotion of millions of football fans who follow their teams through thick and very thin. As a faded Leeds United fan, I can identify with the desperation felt when a once successful team is less so.

Clip from Golden Gordon.

There is a childish silliness to the comedy which highlights the absurdity of serious matters. It pokes fun at the British class system better than any other comedy I've ever watched. Ripping Yarns was generally well received but not with the enthusiasm as Fawlty Towers had been. The birth of video and subsequent DVD sales and rentals, saw a resurgence of interest in Ripping Yarns. It is now regarded with more affection. Like many great works, it is often not appreciated as much until much later. I am a long time fan of the genius that was Nick Drake yet he remained fairly niche for many years following his death in 1974. He is now regarded as a seminal folk singer songwriter and consummate musician. Popular culture in the 1970's can often smother the odd nuggets of true originality from that time. Creativity that was in some ways, groundbreaking. TV was still fairly crude in presentation, with little or no special effects. The great quality of Ripping Yarns is that it never suggests this crudity. It is as original as more modern series such as Black Books, The Mighty Boosh & IT Crowd.

It is a great example of comic writing and acting. The actors were brilliantly portrayed with just the right amount of character and absurdity. Michael Palin and Terry Jones truly showed the depth of their input to Monty Python when allowed to express themselves outside of Python. Both would go onto to have success in TV, cinema and writing till this day.
I urge you to delve into the delights of Ripping Yarns. Go and get yourself the boxset of them. Watch them on YouTube, steal copies from public libraries, use whatever means you feel necessary to watch them. But most of all, give them a watch. You will not be disappointed.