John Cleese, in need of money following a disastrous business venture, accepted Humphrey Barclay's offer to write several episodes of 'Doctor At Large' in 1971. Among them was the classic 'No Ill Feeling!', later to inspire 'Fawlty Towers'.
Also that year Cleese penned this episode of 'Six Dates With Barker'. Ronnie plays 'Dr.Swanton', a money-grabbing psychiatrist who gets a visit from the gas man ( Michael Bates ). Only he is not really a gas man, but someone with dreadful psychological problems. He claims he is being followed everywhere by a little man in a Robin Hood hat with binoculars.
Swanton tries to assure him the watcher is only a figment of his imagination, and appears to be having some success, but then, bizarrely, he starts seeing him as well...
Remember the 'Argument' sketch from 'Monty Python's Flying Circus'? Blow that up into ten times its length and you have this. It is basically a two-hander with Bates' character protesting he must be a looney and Ronnie's trying to persuade him he is not. As was the case with 'All The World's A Stooge', the joke wears off quickly and the episode is left all at sea. I loved the ending though!
Energetic work from the late Michael Bates as the paranoid gas man. I do wish Network would release 'Turnbull's Finest Half-Hour' on D.V.D. as it featured one of his very best performances ( check out my I.M.D.B. review for my thoughts on the show ).
Funniest moment - Dr.Swanton trying to prove the imaginary man really exists by tipping him upside down.
Also that year Cleese penned this episode of 'Six Dates With Barker'. Ronnie plays 'Dr.Swanton', a money-grabbing psychiatrist who gets a visit from the gas man ( Michael Bates ). Only he is not really a gas man, but someone with dreadful psychological problems. He claims he is being followed everywhere by a little man in a Robin Hood hat with binoculars.
Swanton tries to assure him the watcher is only a figment of his imagination, and appears to be having some success, but then, bizarrely, he starts seeing him as well...
Remember the 'Argument' sketch from 'Monty Python's Flying Circus'? Blow that up into ten times its length and you have this. It is basically a two-hander with Bates' character protesting he must be a looney and Ronnie's trying to persuade him he is not. As was the case with 'All The World's A Stooge', the joke wears off quickly and the episode is left all at sea. I loved the ending though!
Energetic work from the late Michael Bates as the paranoid gas man. I do wish Network would release 'Turnbull's Finest Half-Hour' on D.V.D. as it featured one of his very best performances ( check out my I.M.D.B. review for my thoughts on the show ).
Funniest moment - Dr.Swanton trying to prove the imaginary man really exists by tipping him upside down.