The title of this show describes it perfectly. Hyacinth Bucket (“It’s pronounced Bouquet!”) is a middle-aged, middle-class housewife. Nothing is more important to her than keeping up appearances. She’s obsessed with perfection and proper etiquette. She’s a high maintenance woman who always has to be the center of attention, the most important person in the room, unless there’s someone of even higher social status nearby. If you don’t have a title, Hyacinth Bucket couldn’t care less about you. She’s desperate to climb the social ladder, even if while she’s trying she almost always falls off. She’s known far and wide for her tasteful candlelight suppers served on her Royal Doulton china with the hand-painted periwinkles.
What makes this show so funny is that no matter what Hyacinth does to impress everyone, the harder she tries, the more she embarrasses herself. And unbeknownst to her, most people, including the vicar, either dislike her or are afraid of her, trying to avoid an encounter with “The Bucket Woman” at all cost.
The rest of the characters are equally as entertaining. There’s Hyacinth’s family, a constant source of embarrassment to her. She once said, “I love my family, but I don’t have to acknowledge them in broad daylight.” She’s ashamed of how they look and live – in a rundown council house with a broken down car parked in the front garden. Brother-in-law Onslow never wears a shirt, spends most of the time either in bed or watching the telly. Sister Daisy is a romantic, married to the “bone-idle” Onslow and loves reading romance novels. Sister Rose is man crazy, always waiting on phone calls from different men, most of them married. And their senile father keeps running away and getting into all kinds of mischief, including dressing up in a spaceman outfit at a department store.
The only sister Hyacinth is not ashamed of is Violet. Hyacinth boasts that Violet owns a Mercedes and a house big enough for a swimming pool, a sauna, and room for a pony. One thing she doesn’t boast about is the fact that Violet’s husband Bruce seems to have a penchant for cross-dressing.
Hyacinth is always gushing over her beloved son, Sheridan, who is never seen. He’s at 
university taking courses in needlework. He’s always calling his “mummy” asking for money.
Next door neighbor, Elizabeth, can never say no to Hyacinth who’s always inviting her over for coffee. But Elizabeth is so nervous being around her that she never fails to spill her coffee or break something. Elizabeth’s divorced brother, Emmet, lives with her and directs the amateur operatic society. He tries so hard to avoid interactions with Hyacinth because she keeps “singing at him” trying to get him to include her in one of his musical productions.
And then there’s Richard, Hyacinth’s long-suffering, hen-pecked husband. He’s so beaten down that he just does what he’s told without argument. Like when Hyacinth makes him call the Chinese ambassador because she’s tired of getting wrong numbers, people calling in orders for a Chinese takeaway restaurant.
This is one of the classics of British TV, one you’ve probably seen airing on PBS. One of my favorite episodes is when Hyacinth finds out her neighbor is going on a lavish Caribbean holiday. Hyacinth will not be outdone. She gets some travel brochures, even though she’s not taking a holiday, and tries, in so many ridiculous ways, to get everyone to happen upon them and be impressed by her own lavish holiday.
The laugh track is a bit overdone here, but that was expected on situation comedies back then. It’s a funny show. You can’t wait to see what kind of embarrassing situation Hyacinth gets herself into. But don’t watch too many in a row, like I did. Hyacinth can really get on your nerves.
MAIN CAST:
Patricia Routledge – Hyacinth
Clive Swift – Richard
Geoffrey Hughes – Onslow
Judy Cornwell – Daisy
Josephine Tewson – Elizabeth
David Griffin – Emmet
Shirley Stelfox – Rose (Series 1)
Mary Millar – Rose (Series 2-5)
Total Seasons: 5 (44 episodes)
Seasons Available on US Formatted DVD: 5
In Production: 1990 – 1995
Viewer Discretion: Suitable for all audiences
The unseen narrator and interviewer is Roy Mallard, played flawlessly by Chris Langham. He travels Britain talking to ordinary people in their ordinary jobs: a police officer, photographer, teacher, vicar, airline pilot, mother, managing director, estate agent, solicitor, journalist, actor and bank manager.
around Roy considers him to be somewhat unattractive. The running joke throughout the series is that nobody can believe he’s actually married. He’s also rather accident prone – getting hit in the face with a golf club, spilling coffee all over himself or getting covered in acidic photo developer – and the comments made about his appearance are laugh out loud funny.
actor Bill Nighy.
“It’s not a Great Wall. It’s an alright wall. It’s the Alright Wall of China.”
This show made me laugh out loud. It’s so ridiculous, so filled with nonsense, you can’t help but be amused. And it is shot in the retro style of the late 1970s, early 1980s, with the hairstyles, fashions, and props of the time period.
In the quaint English village of Clatterford, the local town Women’s Guild is a place where ladies gather to gossip, learn about their family trees, hear talks on various topics, trade recipes, and help with church and charity functions. But as guild leader Eileen Pike says, “It’s not all jam and Jerusalem.” (Jam & Jerusalem is the original UK title for this show.) To Eileen, the guild is the most important thing in her life and she wants her members to feel the same way.
French), a daffy cheese factory worker who’s also a schizophrenic. Her alter-ego, Margaret, is incredibly hostile and everyone dreads her “coming out.” There’s Tip who, as the receptionist at the local surgery, knows the ailments of everybody in town. She even files the medical records based on patients’ conditions rather than their names. And if you’re a fan of Absolutely Fabulous, you would never recognize the beautiful Joanna Lumley who plays geriatric Delilah Stagg, who bangs out hymns on the church organ. Then there’s Kate, a lonely, clingy young woman who became a bereavement counselor after her husband died.
The only somewhat sane member of the guild is Sal. She’s a nurse at the Clatterford Health Center, working with her husband Mike. When Mike suddenly dies, Sal’s son James (the wonderful David Mitchell – 
The series starts off with Victor being forced into early retirement. He’s been replaced with a black box! While trying to keep himself busy, he gets himself into some of the most outrageous situations, many caused by ridiculous misunderstandings. No episode is complete without Victor crying out the words, “I don’t believe it” or “Un-be-lievable!” For those of you who may be fans of Merlin, Victor is played by Richard Wilson, Gaius on Merlin.
suffering wife Margaret. She works part-time at a florist shop, thankful for the time away from her husband and his antics. She attempts to keep the household calm while dealing with Victor’s issues. How she’s stayed with Victor all these years is a mystery. But she really does love him, showing her jealous side when she thinks Victor’s been unfaithful. These two lines describe their relationship perfectly, 
“Victor is the most sensitive person I know, and that’s why I love him. And why I continually want to ram his head through a television screen.”
the main character is named “Victor,” since he almost always ends up a loser. I had never thought about that, but it’s so true!
Has this ever happened to you? You want to tell the girl you’ve had a crush on since you were 8 years old that you love her. So, you get drunk, go to her house to reveal your feelings and end up puking all over her little brother’s head. Or have you ever walked around an amusement park carrying the door of your new car? Has your dad ever asked to borrow your laptop to watch porn? Or have you ever punched a fish to death? No, well, maybe we Americans are not so similar to the British after
all.
Jay is an exceptional liar. He lies about everything but mostly he brags about sexual exploits he’s never had. Neil is a break-dancing fool who’s about as smart as a bag of spanners (wrenches.) Everyone thinks his dad is bent (gay.) Simon is a nice, semi-normal bloke who just wants a girlfriend, well, actually, just wants to get laid which is high priority for all the boys.
freely) it was covered with beeps. I was so glad to find at least the first two seasons available on Netflix streaming totally uncensored. Though some might be turned off by the foul language, I found this show hilarious.
Back and Forth was produced 10 years after series four. It takes place on New Year’s Eve 1999. Blackadder is hosting a party. He claims he’s built a time machine and he will go back in time and retrieve any items his friends wish. Of course, he bets them each 10,000 pounds that he can bring back this proof of his travels through time. It is intended as a scam. But unbeknownst to Blackadder, the time machine that Baldrick built does indeed work.
their old stomping grounds, the palace of Elizabeth I, to Roman times and to the Battle of Waterloo. All the while quite possibly changing history.
misunderstandings. When Sybil storms off after an argument with Basil (she thinks he forgot their anniversary) Basil recruits Polly to play an ill Sybil to fool the guests coming for the party he’s planned.
His crew includes: First Officer York, second in command and a sociopath who’s obsessed with weapons and violence; Diplomatic Officer Teal who has a huge crush on her captain, but the feeling is not mutual; Navigator Vine and Technical Officer Jeffers round out the bridge crew along with Sandstrom, a female cyborg/human interface that runs the ship.
everyone. The Queppu dress in red latex suits and have a “Doom Ray” that will kill Henderson, York and Teal in under three days. The Lallakkis threaten the crew with their battle song, “Kill the Humans.” (Jeffers enjoys listening to the song over and over again.) The Red Shiny Robots of Vortis are kind of like Star Trek’s Borg, absorbing the knowledge of various species and then killing them.
