'Fairly Secret Army' was a spin-off from David Nobbs' 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin' in which Geoffrey Palmer played 'Jimmy Anderson', Reggie's scrounging brother-in-law. "Bit of a cock-up on the catering front!", he would say, before making off with the contents of Elisabeth's fridge. In the second season, the ex-Major formed a right-wing army of malcontents and misfits who wanted to take-over Britain to save us from 'the forces of anarchy' - anyone who was not British, basically.
Nobbs felt the character worth developing. This series, shot on film without a laugh track, and screened on Channel 4, was made by Video Arts, a company owned by John Cleese which specialised in company training films ( later shown on television to capitalise on 'Fawlty Towers' success ).
The only change was that, for copyright reasons, 'Jimmy' had to be renamed 'Harry Kitchener Wellington Truscott'. In all other respects, he was the same man ( I never found out why they gave him a moustache though ); speaking in clipped, militaristic phrases, bitter at having been made redundant from the army after years of loyal service, and, worst of all, losing his wife to an Italian.
The show opened with an animated title sequence in which the face of General Kitchener ( from that famous 'Your Country Needs You' recruitment poster ) was seen to morph into Harry's hangdog features to the accompaniment of Michael Nyman's stirring patriotic theme. That pointing finger would then go to his lips in a gesture of secrecy.
The first episode begins with Harry seeking a job, only to find he is basically unemployable. Harry gives the unhelpful clerk in the Job Centre a lecture about how he fought the Beastly Hun. The young man points out that he was too young to have been in W.W.2. Harry walks out in disgust.
In a church, he is arrested for attempting to make off with a charity box. A magistrate orders him to pay £50, which he does not have. Depressed, Harry tries to kill himself by laying on a railway track. A woman out walking a dog points out that the line is no longer in use.
Harry next contemplates drowning himself in a reservoir. The dog walker reappears, telling Harry that she loves him. He decides not to go through with it. They go to a pub, where she admits that she only said that to save his life. Harry returns to the reservoir to resume his suicide attempt. Here he meets Tim 'Curly' Beamish, an old army colleague, and whom Harry blames for breaking up his marriage. Beamish puts an interesting offer to Harry - he has recently inherited £90,000 and wishes to split it with him...
This first episode establishes the characters, particularly Harry's, who despite being a bit of an oaf is also rather tragic. Geoffrey Palmer is fabulous here, extracting every last drop of humour and pathos from the role. The lovely Diane Fletcher plays 'Nancy', who rescues Harry from suicide, and becomes his love interest for the rest of the series. Jeremy Child is cast as 'Tim 'Curly' Beamish, a man whose motives for helping Harry are not as clear-cut as they first appear.
Later episodes brought in 'On The Buses' star Michael Robbins as the wonderfully named 'Sgt.Major Throttle', Liz Fraser as his girlfriend 'Doris', 'A Bit Of A Do's Paul Chapman as 'Peg-Leg Pogson', and even a young Ray Winstone as 'Stubby Collins'.
The combination of Nobbs' brilliant writing, Palmer's central performance, and the marvellous supporting cast made 'Fairly Secret Army' a delight from start to finish. It really is worth tracking down.
Funniest moment - Harry attempts to steal the church money, only to set off an alarm. He runs, but the vicar comes after him, and brings him down with a flying rugby tackle!
Nobbs felt the character worth developing. This series, shot on film without a laugh track, and screened on Channel 4, was made by Video Arts, a company owned by John Cleese which specialised in company training films ( later shown on television to capitalise on 'Fawlty Towers' success ).
The only change was that, for copyright reasons, 'Jimmy' had to be renamed 'Harry Kitchener Wellington Truscott'. In all other respects, he was the same man ( I never found out why they gave him a moustache though ); speaking in clipped, militaristic phrases, bitter at having been made redundant from the army after years of loyal service, and, worst of all, losing his wife to an Italian.
The show opened with an animated title sequence in which the face of General Kitchener ( from that famous 'Your Country Needs You' recruitment poster ) was seen to morph into Harry's hangdog features to the accompaniment of Michael Nyman's stirring patriotic theme. That pointing finger would then go to his lips in a gesture of secrecy.
The first episode begins with Harry seeking a job, only to find he is basically unemployable. Harry gives the unhelpful clerk in the Job Centre a lecture about how he fought the Beastly Hun. The young man points out that he was too young to have been in W.W.2. Harry walks out in disgust.
In a church, he is arrested for attempting to make off with a charity box. A magistrate orders him to pay £50, which he does not have. Depressed, Harry tries to kill himself by laying on a railway track. A woman out walking a dog points out that the line is no longer in use.
Harry next contemplates drowning himself in a reservoir. The dog walker reappears, telling Harry that she loves him. He decides not to go through with it. They go to a pub, where she admits that she only said that to save his life. Harry returns to the reservoir to resume his suicide attempt. Here he meets Tim 'Curly' Beamish, an old army colleague, and whom Harry blames for breaking up his marriage. Beamish puts an interesting offer to Harry - he has recently inherited £90,000 and wishes to split it with him...
This first episode establishes the characters, particularly Harry's, who despite being a bit of an oaf is also rather tragic. Geoffrey Palmer is fabulous here, extracting every last drop of humour and pathos from the role. The lovely Diane Fletcher plays 'Nancy', who rescues Harry from suicide, and becomes his love interest for the rest of the series. Jeremy Child is cast as 'Tim 'Curly' Beamish, a man whose motives for helping Harry are not as clear-cut as they first appear.
Later episodes brought in 'On The Buses' star Michael Robbins as the wonderfully named 'Sgt.Major Throttle', Liz Fraser as his girlfriend 'Doris', 'A Bit Of A Do's Paul Chapman as 'Peg-Leg Pogson', and even a young Ray Winstone as 'Stubby Collins'.
The combination of Nobbs' brilliant writing, Palmer's central performance, and the marvellous supporting cast made 'Fairly Secret Army' a delight from start to finish. It really is worth tracking down.
Funniest moment - Harry attempts to steal the church money, only to set off an alarm. He runs, but the vicar comes after him, and brings him down with a flying rugby tackle!
