Review for Romany Jones: The Complete Series 2

After a few seasons of the grittily working class comedy classic 'On the Buses' you would have been forgiven for thinking that British comedy had reached the bottom of the social barrel, portraying a multi-generational family all squeezed in under the roof of a modest council house where the only mod-cons were on the 'never never' relying on overtime to make the payments. Fag smoking, bird chasing working men at their worst. However, 'On the Buses' was positively posh compared to 'Romany Jones', a British sitcom made by LWT and airing from 1973 to 1975.


It starred Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts as work-shy caravan dwelling 'Wally and Lily Briggs' and their neighbour, 'Romany Jones' of the title played by James Beck (Private Walker in Dad's Army) and his long suffering missus. Wally and Lily are old hands at the caravan game, both working the welfare system to a tee whilst avoiding real work at all costs. 'Romany Jones' is no better though his young wife (Betty) would like more out of life than the wife of an unemployed man living on a farm in a caravan. But Jones has other ideas, desperately avoiding work opportunities and scheming to retain his 'perfect' lifestyle.


Much of the humour comes from either high farce, as Jones lies and schemes his way out of 'opportunities' or through sheer disgust at Wally and Lily's way of life - ash dropping into the butter as they cook for example, or cleaning off a perfectly good sandwich with their hands after its dropped into the manure.


Series two is a lot of fun though with Beck perfectly cast as the feckless, work-shy Jones (with something of 'Private Walker' retained) and Mullard perfect as his dim-witted side-kick.


Just to make sure that no stereotype remains unturned, there's also the Mother-in-Law, perpetually disappointed at her daughters choice of man, being proved right again and again as Jones proves himself to be every bit the man she thinks he is.


It's a mean spirited comedy, where life is tough and Jones is an untrustworthy user with the only real tenderness coming from his wife's relentless adulation - against all the odds.


Apparently, following Beck's untimely death aged 44 (after series 2 was shot but before it aired), Bert and Betty were written out of the series and Jonathan Cecil and Maureen Sweeney took over the lead roles, playing new neighbours, Jeremy and Susan Crichton-Jones, 'posher types' who were increasingly disgusted at their neighbours way of life, changing the tone of the series entirely and leading, eventually , to a spin off, 'Yus my Dear' which showed Mullard's character in a new setting; a real home in the shape of a council house.


For the detail anoraks out there, it's interesting to note that the episode 'Run Rabbit Run' was penned by Chris Boucher, later to write for cult sci-fi shows including Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and Star Cops. Another piece of golden trivia is that Mullard and Watts appeared as their 'Romany Jones' characters in the On the Buses movie, 'Holiday on the Buses', combining the groaning might of the two most 'working class' sitcoms to air on British TV in the seventies.


Picture quality is not great, particularly on exterior shots where 16mm has been used rather than video tape, and where wear and tear is at its worst. The check disc transfer looks a little 'digitised' in places too, with definite artefacting which is unusual for a Network transfer. However, this is never enough to spoil your enjoyment of this classic comedy.


Thanks go out, as always, to Network for releasing such a marginal classic. If you are a fan of seventies TV, and of 'On the Buses' in particular, then you will find much to enjoy. In which case, go to the Network site now and order it. Every little helps!