Dear Ladies

Superb early 1980's comedy from the BBC, combing the gentle but often slightly caustic world of Dr Evadne Hinge and the wonderful Dame Hilda Bracket (sadly no longer with us) a crying shame that this has never been released on DVD, thank goodness for the Hinge and Bracket fan club for us fans. If you ever get the chance to see these episodes, look out for a pre corrie Kevin Kennedy and Beverly Callard in minor roles. My favourite moments are Dame Hilda's many conflicts with the ever shssshing librarian. As Dame Hilda herself would have said..ah quality. So settle down with a glass of sherry and a roaring fire to enjoy those dear ladies at their very best.

Dr Evadne Hinge (George Logan) and Dame Hilda Bracket (Patrick Fyffe) were a well regarded and extremely funny drag act whose act revolved around anecdotes from the past and the occasional song - Dame Hilda having been in grand opera during the war and Dr Evadne having been a great pianist.

'Dear Ladies' was the first attempt to open out their act beyond the confines of the stage and give a sense of their background away from the bright lights. Co-written with Gyles Brandreth, it is undemanding, funny, and likable - much like their stage act. Here we see them shopping, attending the village fête, bickering over their house, and so on.

There's nothing offensive or ground-breaking here, and if you're familiar with the ladies' stage act, you'll probably like this. Fyffe in particular made a very convincing woman, and both had voices in perfect range for the popular standards and operetta they sang. This series should raise a few smiles and laughs if you're so inclined.

Dear Ladies is a quite wonderful BBC sitcom, made at a time when the BBC knew how to make a sitcom, provide escapism, and knew how to make us laugh.

The series focuses on the goings on at Utopia Ltd, a country cottage, home to Dame Hilda Bracket and Doctor Evadne Hinge, set in the quirky fictional village of Stackton Tressel.

Patrick Fyffe and George Logan are just magical as the comedy duo. Their delivery is flawless, the situations always hilarious, it is just feel good comedy. For me, the biggest enjoyment comes from Dame Hilda's constant jibes towards Evadne, always putting her down, in the most wonderful, caustic manner. I always love the phone calls to Teddy, and the subsequent acid remarks towards poor Peggy.

My DVD's are so overplayed I should consider investing in a second set, it doesn't matter on my mood, this duo always make everything seem so much better, a vision of a gentler, more simple life.

Classic comedy, 10/10

Hinge and Bracket enjoy a well-deserved cult following in the UK for their extraordinary act. This consists of two quite obviously camp men pretending, with staggering verisimilitude, to be two bickering elderly spinsters who perform as a musical duo. Dame Hilda Bracket and Dr Evadne Hinge are singer and accompanist respectively, inhabiting a world of old-fashioned gentility in the fictional home-counties village of Stackton Tressell. It is difficult to convey the essence of their brilliant act, but it arises both from the tension between their creators' real and assumed identities, and that between the sexless gentility of their surroundings and the raunchy innuendo of their catty exchanges. "Dear Ladies" was an attempt to distil their stage act into a situation-comedy format. I was an avid admirer of the show when it was originally screened, but have not had the opportunity to re-view it, since it has never, to the best of my knowledge, been repeated. (I sincerely hope that the videotapes have not been wiped.) I do recall, however, that it was one of the most consistently hilarious comedy shows I have ever seen, and I would dearly love to see it again.

Whilst not an uproarious comedy or one of the 'golden classics', this is, nevertheless, a quaint, enjoyable, gentle comedy build on characters rather than just two men dragging up as women. In fact, contra one of the other very negative reviews, I don't consider this as 'drag' at all. It's more of a gentle pastiche of Miss Marple of Midsommer Murders territory with a comic twist. Sometimes the writing can sag a little, but the joy in watching this comedy comes from the performance of Fyffe and Logan and conjures up a feeling of innocence and charm (despite the double-entendres). Also recommended is the radio show The Jottings of Hinge and Brackett. (Having been born and raised in rural Northern Ireland, I never quite took to the occasional shows where it was mostly musical performances, but the comedy hooked me.)