"Consuela" (Or 'The New Mrs Saunders')

When I were lad, I was browsing the comedy section of my local video store when I happened upon a double feature called The Comic Strip Presents... Mr Jolly Lives Next Door and Consuela. This was my introduction to Comic Strip. I'd just reached the point where I'd seen every episode of the Young Ones and the Dangerous Brothers to death and was desperately in need of something new. This was long before I discovered Filthy, Rich & Catflap and shortly before Bottom and Ab Fab were conceived. Needless to say that I'd just stumbled upon a British comedy goldmine that had me wetting myself uncontrollably for 90 minutes. After watching Mr Jolly and seeing Rik & Ade doing what they do best, I watched Consuela and saw a side of Rik & Ade that I'd never seen before... "serious" acting. Ade's character seems to be ripped straight out of Monty Python's Upper-Middle Class Twit of the Year and Rik plays the ultra- sensitive, ultra-sensible hero of the piece, which as you can imagine, is ball-bouncingly hilarious.

Written by Dawn & Jen, Consuela is a loving spoof of Hitchcock's "Rebecca" (because they'd just watched it the night before). Jen portrays Jessica (a.k.a. the New Mrs Saunders), whilst Dawn takes on the role of Mr Saunders' creepily over-bearing housekeeper Consuela. Jessica just wants to be the lady of the house, but not only is she living in the shadow of the old Mrs Saunders, she's also forced to contend with "The Help". Obviously in the absence of his first wife, Mr Saunders has become far too reliant on Consuela, leaving Jessica feeling redundant. She becomes increasingly paranoid and suspicious of Consuela's actions and attitude towards her. Come to think of it... whatever happened to the old Mrs Saunders?

Needless to say that everyone is on fire in this episode. Dawn is almost too good at portraying the sinister Consuela. Peter Richardson is a riot as Consuela's ultra-sleazy beloved son Julio. I'd also like to add that Jennifer looks truly beautiful in this episode. Nearly as hot as Helen Mucus. If I was Ade, I would've been all over that!

Consuela will never get old! Consuela will never die?

RICHARD: Jessica... do you know what this is?..... It's my shoulder.......... and it's yours... anytime that you want to use it.

I don't hate this episode but I don't really like it either.The story seems to almost be a parody of The Screaming Skull but that can't be right.Maybe it is, who knows?It starts off good.Ade's character has just remarried and all he cares about are his dogs and estate.When he tries to introduce his new wife to Rik he can't even remember her name.Dawn French(Consuela) is always showing up wherever Saunders' character is and beating her to everything.One time Saunders is writing in her diary and looks away for a second and French has read and replied to what she was writing.Stuff like that is really funny but the story isn't that great.This episode actually made me laugh out loud a lot more than most.Peter Richardson's character is hilarious and at one point they keep cutting to Rik Mayall running way too many times and that cracked me up.But the ending was extremely predictable.To me the twist ending is the most important thing about this series and this episode failed at it.This is worth watching at least once but it's nothing you would tell your friends about.