unreasonableboy

When it became obvious that the pupils at Fenn St school were not believable as 16 year olds ( some were pushing 30 by this time) because of the success of the characters in Please sir they decided to continue the antics out of school in the real world where they could chance their arm trying to earn a living. (please sir actually continued for another season but without Duffy ( awhh rabbishhh sir!) and co it bombed and was axed shortly there after.) The problem is that they all went their separate ways and it was difficult to keep the chemistry together especially with so many plots going on. When the main characters all jell in the school environment it all falls apart when they are not together. As with the ill fated Tuckers luck in the early 1980's (a spin off from Grange Hill) high school pranks do not transfer well out off school. You can't get away with school shenanigans in the work place.! The Fenn st Gang did run for a respectable 40 episodes over a two year period but it was not as popular as please sir and found itself relegated to Sunday afternoons. It just goes to show that tinkering with a popular show is risky and even transferring the same characters into a different setting has it's limitations.

Not yet available on DVD, whether it will be is any bodies guess.

The Freewheelers, that certainly brings back memories! I have not seen the show since it was canceled nearly 30 years ago so I might be disappointed if I was to see it again. This show was consistent with the times as Enid Blyton and "boy's own" adventure story books were popular in those days. Today most kid's shows are about drugs, teenage pregnancies, problems with dopey or abusive parents and whose making out with who (for the British reader" who fancies who") I can't remember the theme song for the show although I do remember Holtz's haunting classical piece "Mars, the bringer of war "which was often played either during a tense moment or else when an episode was coming to a climax. I also remember the evil Von Gelb who lived on what can best be described as a World war II E-boat, (the mounted gun turret was a dead give-away) which looking back must have given the harbor master cause for concern. Nobody who remembers the Freewheelers can for get the infamous rouges Ryan and Burke,who had the limp wrist-ed 'karate-chop' on the back of the neck down to a fine art. Even as an eight year old I was often surprised at how these two clowns were able to get the better of people, because by today's standard these two looked as hard as Laurel and Hardy.

During it's run the team changed over the years, (presumably the rotation was due to the fact that that some of the freewheelers eventually passed their A-levels and went to University, although how they had time to study is any bodies guess, wish I could have devoted so little time) which I think added to it's interest. Never the less despite some flaws the freewheelers 5-year run reflected how popular this show was for the 8-14 year olds ( and perhaps older) during the late 60's and early 70's and I looked forward to watching it during the children's hour in the early evening.