tonyinblack

The idea that something may be patiently waiting for you to visit a physical location and will take advantage of your presence when you do is an unnerving one and should take more than a short TV play to fully exploit. But The Witch's Bottle is so taut and economical that you don't feel you've missed out on anything. Georgina Kean is exceptional in the possession scene, it could have torn the atmosphere to pieces, but instead adds a layer to everything else. Jasper Jacob is more CFF 1955 than Thames 1975, but is clearly just doing what has been requested of him. And it all ends with a wonderful question mark.

Appearing in a Whodunnit? play was the TV equivalent of treading the boards in a provincial theatre, and whether you were in the play or on the panel was often a unnervingly accurate indication of where your career was at that particular point in time. Occasionally, faces in the plays would surprise you and, in The Q45 Experiment, it is Linda Hayden who seems oddly out of place. But she was no longer the star she had been or the cult figure she would become, so perhaps we should just enjoy seeing her in a minor role in an intimate setting.

If you had any doubt that the 1970s were a halcyon time for UK sitcoms, A Change Is As Good As A Rest will settle the matter for you once and for all. There is no plot, nothing happens and its still very funny. Such is the confidence in the programme at this point that no attempt is made to actually make the toy department set look like a toy department. It's Lydon's cheap essential scenery to a tee, but actually fits the puerile fun perfectly. Are You Being Served was never very self-conscious: if we get a laugh the first time, fine, if not, dumb it down until we do. Life with never be this simple again.