Flickers

This 6-part series is a joyous spoof of the beginnings of the British film industry with low-born Arnie Cole (Bob Hoskins) and sidekick Llewellyn (Fraser Cains) desperate to become filmmakers. Arnie is so desperate, he even forms a loveless marriage with a well-to-do spinster Maud (Frances de la Tour) to get the money to start his film company.

Many film "types" are spoofed, including the little comedian who's quite nasty in real life, the adult woman posing as a child star, the foreign-born auteurs, the great star who deigns to be in films ... for a price, and the unsung technical genius behind the camera who makes it all work.

Plot also shows what a cutthroat business it really was in those early years with sabotage and theft as usual business practices.

Driven by catchy music by Ron Grainer and star-making performance by Hoskins and De la Tour, the six episodes whiz by, leaving the audience wishing for more.

The subplot of the loveless marriage and how it grows makes the characters human and lovable.

Besides Bob Hoskins, Frances de la Tour, and Fraser Cains, there are many familiar faces in the large cast. Sherrie Hewson plays the hapless Letty, Andy de la Tour plays Maud's brother, Dickie Arnold plays Corky Brown, Jim Hooper plays Percy, Sheila Reid plays Lily, Philip Madoc plays Jack, Granville Saxton plays Legendre, Sheri Shepstone plays Violet, Peggy Ann Wood play nanny, Teddy Turner plays Eddy Marco, Joanna Foster plays Clara, and Maxine Audley plays the imperious Gwendolyn Harper.

Great fun. Not to be missed.