The
lowdown: 'Big Jim and the Figaro Club' is a British comedy
series that was broadcast on BBC2 from 8 July
to 12 August 1981. The six
episodes of the series were preceded by a pilot episode, which was broadcast
on 24
June 1979 as part of the
Turning Year Tales series of television plays. Set in the post-war Britain
of the 1950s, it
features the exploits of
a group of builders who work for the local council and are members of the
exclusive Figaro
Club, which has its own
code of morality and behaviour. The Figaros are very loyal to each other
and are always
ready to drop everything
when of their own needs help. The Figaro Club includes Big Jim (Norman
Rossington), a
carpenter and the group's
leader; Turps (Sylvester McCoy, in which he is billed as Sylveste McCoy),
a painter who
keeps ferrets and entertains
the local women by putting it down his trousers; and College (Patrick Murray),
while
Bob Hoskins was the narrator.
The
episode: The pilot episode is presented from the point
of view of College, looking back on the 1950s from the
benefit of hindsight in
1979. College returns to his home town after three years at Cambridge University,
and he had
been among the first generation
of working-class people to be admitted to the more exclusive of Britain'
universities.
College wants to holiday
in France before signing up for national service, and decides to earn some
money by going
back to work on the building
site with the Figaro Club. He soon learns that their foreman, Harold Perkins,
is having
an affair with Big Jim's
wife. The Figaros decide to put Perkins in his place, and get the entire
neighbourhood to take
part in "rough music", a
traditional shaming ritual in which people stand outside an adulterer's
home and bang pots
and pans together. Meanwhile,
Big Jim is planning his own revenge, and reveals to College that he has
built a giant
catapult and uses it to
bombard Perkins' house with bags of cement.
The
verdict: 'Big Jim and the Figaro
Club' provides a wonderful nostalgia trip for those who remember the 50s,
and
offers a tantalising glimpse
of a bygone era for people who are too young to remember this time. The
gentle humour
and the exploits of the
Figaro Club are very reminiscent of the early episodes of Last of the Summer
Wine, but with
younger cast members. Sadly,
it has never been repeated on British TV, and is yet to be released on
DVD (hence
the poor quality of these
screencaps and video clips.
Video clips: Meet
the Figaros 8.9mb |
 |
