Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me

This is a wonderful piece that rightly centres Frankie's relationship and his family history. It's isn't a comedy. It's a careful examination of how someone's upbringing informs their choices, and how gay love can be expressed in public and private at this repressive time. Rafe Spall is a revelation.

After the three excellent preceding entries in this quartet, (Steptoe,Hancock,Hughie Green)this was a considerable disappointment.

I've no complaint with the performances, both David Walliams and Rafe Spall as Howerd & Heymer respectively were on top form. Where Rather You Than Me falls down, as opposed to the three previous entries is it's lacklustre script, which can't make up its mind whether to concentrate on Howerd or Heymer and falls limply between the two.

This cramped production lasting barely sixty minutes, seems more interested in Heymer's uninteresting sex life than exploring Howerd himself. So we are then subjected to scenes of dimly lit homosexual nightclubs and sweaty couplings, whilst Howerd sits morosely at home.

Poor old Frank is made to look so miserable and dull, you wonder how he ever made people laugh at all. Further insight into his character by the writers would have revealed that despite his depressive nature, he could also be humorous and great company as his many friends including Cilla Black and June Whitfield would bare witness to. (Happiness doesn't sell progamme's it seems)

I'm sad to say that Rather You Than Me is a kick in the teeth to a great comic.

I feel the other reviewers have been unfair in their reviews of this TV film. It received as many stars in the IMDb ratings as Hancock and Joan but not quite as much as the more viewed Steptoe and Hughie Green films in this quartet of dramatic biographies. These ratings are not reflected in the few reviews so far submitted. The film also received a RTS Television Award for Best Production Design.

The reason to see this film is what all reviewers have agreed on and that is the superb acting involved. David Walliams is far better than could be expected as Frankie Howerd whilst Rafe Spall gives his best performance so far as Dennis Heymer. Mention should also be mentioned of the wonderful acting support from Dilys Laye and Melanie Hill as the two mothers who had such a strong influence on the lives of their sons.

I found this film far less predictable, more dramatic and more satisfying than the other three films (listed in the Trivia section). Yes, the film is really about both Frankie Howerd and Dennis Heymer and perhaps should have been called Howerd and Dennis to complement Hancock and Joan. But this was a wise decision on the part of the filmmakers as it would have been too depressing to dwell on Howerd's depressive character when Dennis's love for Howerd and its many trials is where the drama lies. Although the portrait of a difficult relationship I did find myself laughing aloud sometimes, mainly due to Spall's superb performance.

Criticism has been levelled at the fact that the film dwells on Howerd's troubled personal life and not on his pleasant public persona. That is true just as Michael Sheen's Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! dwelt on Williams's dark side but that is not a criticism but a dramatic choice. However it has to be said that gay love and naked gay sex is portrayed unflinchingly and so this film is crucially different to the other three and will not be liked by anyone suffering from homophobia.

This programme only serves as a kick in the backside to the memory of Frankie Howerd. In this he's portrayed as the most boring person to ever walk the face of the planet, albeit via a pretty decent impression by David Walliams. Good actor, crap script.

If you want to see an inaccurate story (I use the term story very loosely) of a comedy legend interlaced with a load of pointless homo-erotic scenes and watch a pretty good impression of Frankie Howard but doing the worlds unfunniest stand up routines then this is for you. Personally I think its an insult to Mr Howerds memory. He may have been a depressive and he may have been homosexual but if you're going to devote an entire show to Just those two aspects of him and exaggerate them massively, at least have the decency to have some sort of story to it.

It starts , plods along and ends. I finished watching it not two minutes ago and couldn't tell you what it was about! Shame really, because Walliams voice and demeanour were perfect, Rafe Spall's acting was excellent, everything else about the film was not.

RATHER YOU THAN ME concentrates on the private life of comedian Frankie Howerd (David Walliams), a closet homosexual at a time when such practices were against the law in Great Britain. He lived what might be described as a 'discreet' existence with Dennis Heymer (Rafe Spall), making sure that they never embraced in public. Peter Harness' drama focuses on Howerd's tortured mental state: the experience of being abused as a child scarred his existence for life, rendering him both fearful yet disgusted with his sexual tendencies. He had a close attachment to his mother (Dilys Laye) who rarely said anything about her son's proclivities, yet was obviously well aware of them. This play concentrates mainly on Howerd's career during the Fifties, when he was one of radio's top comedians, then experienced a period of alarming decline. It was only when Peter Cook (David Reed) asked him to appear for a season at the newly-created Establishment Club that Howerd's career fortunes improved. The experience of failure rendered him even more bitter - forcing Heymer to threaten to leave him more than once. But the two eventually remained together for many years, right up to Howerd's late-flowering fortunes in the Eighties and early Nineties, when he was invited to perform at the Oxford Union. David Walliams gives a creditable performance as Howerd, even though he tends to put his tongue in cheek (literally) a little too much. What makes this drama so engaging are the quality of the supporting characterizations, from Spall's long-suffering Dennis, to Sally Leonard's Jane (Howerd's long-term female companion). A melancholy tale, certainly, but one which emphasizes the difficulties, both mental and physical, experienced by many personalities at a time when they could not reveal their true sexualities in public.