The Riff Raff Element

If anyone reading this comment ever has the opportunity to get their hands on this wonderfully written and superbly acted comedy/drama, then be prepared to set aside a good few hours of your time. I guarantee the first episode will hook you and then all you will want to do is watch the next and the next until you find your day has passed in the company of possibly TV's most mismatched family to hit the screen. Quality like this is really few and far between and only 2000 Acres Of Sky could be up there with it as offered by the BBC some years later. I felt compelled to write this review/comment having found very little about the show on the internet and even fewer people who have written about it. Everyone i have ever mentioned this series to has never heard of it. I think it will surface again one day on some DVD release and end up in TV reviews 20 years from now as one of those series to receive a possible cult status. It really is that good i assure you. The writing by Debbie Horsfield is akin to the quality of Bruce Robinson. Sentences and catchphrases are well crafted and delivered by a wonderful cast who you instantly want to have in your own life (maybe you do?). The mismatching of a very well to do family with a family down on their luck is a fantastic social commentary. There is not a single character who is misplaced in the whole nucleus. I urge any reader of this to get their hands on a copy (Series 1 ran for 6 episodes with Series 2 also running for 6 episodes but 5 minutes longer in each episode). I wish there were more.

So glad I found these comments, on what can only be described best television so far.

It was a delight to watch all these characters gel together. Their antics left you in a transfixed way. Week after week, it was compulsive viewing.

If only the BBC would have released this on video (at the time), and now hopefully DVD would have followed! It would give me utmost pleasure to hear the views of anyone out there.

Is there anyway one could acquire a copy of the series? What a pleasure and nostalgic trip it would be!

I have visited the locations were the series was filmed, totally delightful. The pub is nice, the hall is wicked. It can only be accessed on foot.

This series was representative of some of the best that the BBC offered in the mid-1990s. Ronald Pickup is fantastic in his role as the titular head of the family, and a great comic foil for the rest of the cast. Celia Imrie has gone on to other things (hurrah for Acorn Antiques!), and some of the unsung heroes of British telly were all involved.

So why have I never seen this repeated on TV, or for sale on video/DVD? I have only my own (very warm) memories of the programme, and would love to re-live those memories - I just hope that it hasn't fallen victim to the BBC's unexplained policy of simply deleting some programmes from its records.

BBC - Let me pay you to buy it...!!

...as Ronald Pickup would have said to his hapless son. In this case it's directed at those losers at the Beeb. Get your fingers out, for goodness sake! Put The Riff Raff Element out on DVD! When you look at the stuff they do put out, it's hard to understand. For instance, I see from Amazon that the Beeb has put out Series 6 of Bergerac this week. You'd think they could spare us that for a month or two (it's always on satellite anyway) and put this wonderful series out instead. It's really hard spinning this comment out to ten lines because of IMDb's rules - I've said all I want to say really, and now I'm just waffling to get the length up. I hope readers will forgive me!

What can i say,Any time any discussion comes up relating to T.V drama i'm in quick as a flash with the Riff Raff. Still after all these years I've only met a few people that actually saw it. I've actually got 70% of it on Video tape but my signal was very iffy back then, so its a bit dodgy&wobbly in parts,and i missed a few episodes due to being on the move.I cant tell you how So so so happy i am to have what i have. It truly is amazing that the BBC haven't released it, criminal in fact.I've certainly not seen a TV comedy drama that comes anywhere close to the quality of this.Every single second is a joy,from the soundtrack to the last word.Each and every performance is first class.Excellent casting, and the writing is hilarious whist touching. I really couldn't get enough of it. If you haven't had the pleasure of watching the Riff Raff Element then i urge you to make noise to the BBC about it,and maybe just maybe they'll stop feeding us One more foot in the grave and all the other stuff they keep endlessly repeating and start to get into that archive of there's,surely we are entitled to watch some of the stuff again that only got one showing, don't let it all just sit there.Re issue Re air.Im absolutely sure that put on at 9pm on any given week day and it will get a huge response.It was ahead of its time, and its now how high time the BBC caught up. So come on Aunty......Sort it out. Give us back the Riff Raff,its not about how many people make a comment on hear but what they are saying and its all pretty obvious what we are saying.You simply can't justify why you haven't.So come on..... Lets be avin it put it back on.ASAP We ve all waited long enough,and to those who haven't seen it,Take it from me.......your being robbed out.........Please