Review of Fox (Part 1 Of 4)

Introduction

This series was produced for Thames Television in 1980. It seems to have been a critical success and is remembered fondly. Running to 13 episodes it centred on Billy Fox and his family.

The cast have all become screen stalwarts and include Peter Vaughan, Ray Winstone and Bernard Hill. Trevor Preston previously responsible for the Tom Bell series `Out` wrote this series. The director Jim Goddard went onto helm further TV such as ` Reilly, Ace of Spies`, `Inspector Morse` and `Holby City`. Producer Graham Benson and Executive Producer Verity Lambert produced a long series of hits for Thames TV.
Episode 1 King Billy

Billy Fox is 70 and the family gather to celebrate his birthday. This episode, establishes all the main characters. King Billy, a retired porter, is well thought of in the local neighbourhood of Clapham. Billy has five sons; the three youngest are by his second wife Connie. There is no love lost between Billy and the Macey brothers, who appear to be the local hardmen.

The eldest Vin runs a scaffolding yard. Ray is the manager of a nightclub and has spent some time in prison. Phil is at university. Joey has a black cab and Kenny is a professional boxer.

Episode 2 Arched fingers for Bach, flat fingers for love.

Joey`s tangled love life catches up with him. One of his married girlfriends attempts suicide and her husband comes after Joey.

Meanwhile Phil is involved with a rich young girl from University.

Episode 3 Pugilism not vandalism

Phil decides to miss Kenny`s big fight. Billy tracks him down and has a big row with him.

Meanwhile Joey has hooked up with Bette a fashion designer, and finds she is not as tame as his other women.
Look out for many familiar faces including Nan, Kenny`s girlfriend( Cindy O`Callaghan appeared in Bedknobs and Broomsticks).

Video

The film stock is quite aged and the quality is variable. The toned down use of colour with an emphasis on brown is deliberate according to the writer`s notes featured on disc 2.

All the filming was done in Clapham living rooms and pubs giving the series an authentic feel. It also highlights some particularly hideous 1970`s Novamura wallpaper.

Audio

The sound has not been treated and the dialogue is sometimes difficult to distinguish over the music. As this is mainly dialogue with incidental music and the odd song (and I mean odd) it`s a shame to have to strain to hear it.

The soundtrack is by Thames favourite George Fenton with additional song lyrics by the writer Trevor Preston. The songs date it quite badly.
To compensate there is some good music in the nightclub scenes.

Features

Some on screen notes about the cast.
Good quality animated menus and sturdy Amaray packaging.

Conclusion

Despite the mind numbing awfulness of the Chas and Dave-like rendition of `King Billy `in the opening episode the series was growing on me by Episode Three. The pace of the drama is much slower than we are now used to and I was occasionally impatient with it. However it does build up into an absorbing look at a family just at the start of Thatcher`s Britain.

The DVD is a disappointingly cheap transfer of aging film stock and therefore much depends on the quality of the drama itself to overcome this. At least it is in good solid Amaray packaging.

You have to buy the whole series, as the episodes do not standalone. At approx £10 each it`s a bit steep. The boxed set is now available so shop around for deals around the £30 mark.