Review for Pardon My Genie - Series 1

During the mid-1960's, the U.S reflected the optimism and positivity of the era by creating programmes like 'I Dream of Jeannie'. Based on the simple Aladdin style conceit of 'man finds lantern/bottle', it reflected every man's dream of the near perfect life. Glamorous Barbara Eden appeared, skimpily clad, to answer her master's every whim, and the master in question was a NASA astronaut living the bachelor high-life on yachts and dinner parties. 'Pardon My Genie' was the UK's grim early 1970's version of the same conceit. Instead of a bottle, we get a watering can. Instead of a manly astronaut we get an underpaid, down-trodden assistant in a sparsely stocked hard-ware store. Instead of Barbara Eden we get a camp old Window Twanky-esque end of the pier version of the genie. Instead of the beautiful house with a manicured lawn and smart car in the drive we get a creaky old bedsit, damp and sparsely furnished.


And as if that isn't all magnificent enough, the three central characters (Roy Barraclough, Hugh 'Sandy to Kenneth William's Julian' Paddick and Ellis Jones as the hapless master, ('Hal Adden' - gettit?) are so drippingly camp that you are left with the glorious conclusion that this series could only have been produced and watched in Britain. Pure pantomime and seaside farce, as an adult watching it again some 35 years on, it's as near perfect a way to spend 25 minutes as I could possibly imagine.


Created by Bob Block, who went on to create the slightly irritating 'Rentaghost', 'PMG' is an absolute gem of a series, that despite its creaking jokes and sets, had me laughing aloud with alarming frequency. Watching the under-rated comedic talents of Roy Barraclough, as he suddenly finds himself clad in a dinner suit in his bath, or mopping his brow in disbelief as a fish pokes its head out of a dolls-house and speaks to him, it's difficult to believe that an almost forgotten gem such as this has not seen the light of day since its original airing in 1972.


Network should be loudly applauded for re-introducing such delights via DVD and I hope that this sells by the bucket load to spur them on with their endeavours to unearth other all but forgotten gems.


The plot is pure Aladdin, though many of the jokes are based around misunderstandings by the Genie who thinks he is following his master's commands though he has often mis-understood. (So when Hal wants to get Mr. Cobbledick (Roy Barraclough) the store owner a Boxer for his birthday, rather than conjure up a dog, the Genie blunders and gets a human boxer. Well, you get the idea!)


A nice feature of the programme is that, despite the farcical plots and high-pressure mistakes, not a single character seems to have an ounce of malice. Odd because comedy relies so heavily on humiliation, embarrassment and insult these days. This was a refreshing change.

Of course, it might be a bit juvenile for some tastes, but I must confess to thoroughly enjoying it.


Whilst Roy Barraclough and Ellis Jones seem to put a great deal of effort into the gig, Paddick looks disinterested half the time, though it may have been directed that way. Whatever the case, for the following series (which I can't wait for if Network bring it out), Paddick was replaced by Arthur White, a prolific 'jobbing actor' who is actually David Jason's older brother.


Despite the high camp, a little search on the IMDB shows that, whilst Ellis Jones didn't have the glittering TV career that we may have expected, he is now a big-wig at RADA and a terribly well respected actor. I wonder what he would make of the high camp of 'Pardon My Genie'.



The two disc set houses all 13 episodes of the series and it's a nice transfer, looking as good as its ever likely to get. Purists will be happy to know that all the advert bumpers have been included too. (One of these days, someone will get clearance to actually place period TV adverts in the breaks to make the whole nostalgic time travel aspect as convincing as possible).

Thoroughly recommended!!