Margery and Gladys

I watched it last night and although it had its funny moments this reworking of the 'Odd Couple' began to sag after an hour. The humour is based around having a a female middle class snob and a very working class woman in the same car when things start to go wrong. The whole plot is too far fetched and the car journey is far too long! So long that I wanted to scream! Both main actresses are good but the problem lies in the length of the film. Penelope Keith plays her usual middle class lady looking down upon all and sundry but her character is one dimensional and there is only so many times that you can chuckle at her snobby sarcasm and her superior tone of voice.This was in essence an hour long comedy, but as it was the humour becomes clichéd and the whole thing becomes laboured. This film should have been entitled 'Audrey Forbes Hamilton meets Dot Cotton.'

This British TV movie is a must for fans of classic Britcoms who will recognize Penelope Keith from various TV series. Here, she plays a 60-something widow who lives in a posh neighborhood that has been the target a recent break-ins. While her cleaning lady (June Brown) is working one day, they catch a punk in the midst of robbing the house. Keith smashes a vase over his head. They think he's dead. What ensues is a mostly comic romp as the mismatched women run from the police. After all, a neighborhood watch meeting recently warned home owners that British laws do not favor them when they defend their homes and lives.

As the women race across the countryside in a beat-up Fiesta, they each learn a whole lot about each other, even though Brown has been Keith's cleaning lady for decades. Aside from hiding from the police, they have to deal with Brown's diabetes and the fact they left the house without any money or credit cards.

Also good are Adam Godley as Keith's repressed son with a cleaning fetish, Roger Lloyd Pack as the detective counting the days til retirement, Peter Vaughan as Brown's smarmy husband, and Martin Freeman as the dumb sergeant.

The journey is quite funny as the ladies travel by train to Blackpool with a bunch of George Formby (a major British film star of the 30s and 40s) impersonators, the perfect touch for their surreal journey. Just outside Blackpool, they make a shocking discovery that changes their lives and destinies.

Keith and Brown work very well together and are a delight to watch as they get deeper and deeper into trouble, in turn bickering with and rescuing each other. For those who know Penelope Keith only as Margo or Audrey from TV, her dramatic moments in this film will be a real eye-opener. Be sure to watch the closing credits where all the characters' stories are wrapped up in a series of post cards. Wonderful surprise ending for the Brown and Keith characters.

The music includes two George Formby songs: "Leaning on a Lamp Post" and "My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock," which is a local hard candy.

Hard to find, but I finally found this on DVD from UK.

The pairing of Penelope Keith and June Brown seemed a bit strange to me, but as there seemed to be nothing else on that night, I watched this, and I'm glad I did.

P.K. and J.B. worked their 'unlikely ladies double act' off perfectly, with Penelope's slightly snobbish employer of June's cleaner character. Going around the country accidentally avoiding the police and leaving a trail of crimes when they were innocent of any crimes to start with.

A funny ITV comedy-drama (I normally hate ITV dramas - heartbeat etc..) that I would love to see again, or more unlikely partnerships perhaps?

8/10

'Margery and Gladys' was transmitted by ITV1 on 21 September 2003. This TV film is a comedy, but it's inspired by a deadly-serious news event. In 1999, a Norfolk farmer named Tony Martin (not the American singer) shot dead a teenage burglar who broke into his property. Because the intruder was attacked from behind, a controversial court decision found Martin guilty of homicide; he served 18 months in prison before the conviction was changed to manslaughter and he was released with time served. The case still inspires angry debate.

Screenwriters Flanagan and McCulloch combined the Tony Martin incident with another real-life news item about two elderly ladies who committed a series of minor robberies across England, incurring bills at hotels and petrol stations and then bunking without paying. The British tabloid press called these women "Hell's Grannies" (after a Monty Python sketch). In this case, Hell's Grannies plus the Tony Martin affair equal hilarity.

The chief appeal of 'Margery and Gladys' is the first-ever teaming of two actresses who have been beloved mainstays on Britain's television screens for many years. Penelope Keith (classy as ever) has played society matrons and snobbish beldames in several long-running sitcoms. (In real life, Penelope Keith recently spent a year as the ceremonial High Sheriff of Surrey!) June Brown has had a long stint as chain-smoking whinger Dot Cotton on 'EastEnders': unlike Ms Keith, in real life June Brown *is* a great deal like her most well-known role.

Ms Keith plays Margery, a tetchy suburban matron -- recently widowed -- who attends a Neighbourhood Watch meeting that leaves her paranoid about burglars. Ms Brown plays Gladys, Margery's cleaning lady. The two women are an odd couple with (they think) little in common, until an intruder enters Margery's house and she coshes him (from behind) with her Waterford crystal vase. Believing that Margery has killed him, both women recall the Tony Martin case and they now realise that they can be charged with murder! Naturally, they must now go on the lam, as fugitives.

'Margery and Gladys' is (among other things) an intentional parody of 'Thelma and Louise', with two unlikely matrons as female outlaws. Instead of Texas highways, their getaway takes Margery and Gladys across the secondary B-roads of the Midlands, en route to sanctuary in (wait for it) Milton Keynes. There are some bizarre incidents, as the two women must commit other crimes to obtain funds and medications.

This TV film is quite funny, although it's a gentle character-driven humour of a typically British variety that doesn't play well in the rest of the world. The interplay between these two veteran actresses is delightful ... especially as they learn they have more in common than they'd suspected. Unfortunately, towards the end the dialogue gets all 'meaningful' in a manner more typical of American TV scripts. I laughed throughout 'Margery and Gladys', and I rate this TV movie 7 out of 10.

It is easy for the frequent viewer of television to become pessimistic about the future of the medium. The proliferation of channels has led to fragmentation of the audience and a general shortage of money for quality programs. But then, along comes a gem like "Margery and Gladys". The story and the humanistic style remind me strongly of the comedy/spy production "Sleepers" (1990) and it comes as no surprise that one of the writers, Andrew McCulloch, contributed to both productions. The direction, camera-work and acting were first rate and the editing (i.e. cutting from scene to scene) was just right for maintaining attention. As a person over 60 with UK background, I was delighted by the snatches of George Formby songs towards the end. Formby was to the 1940s what the Beatles were to the 1960s.

Anyway, the TV industry is not doomed as long as movies like this can be produced. I'm delighted to see that it is liked in the USA despite its rather British flavor.