Not how I remembered it (Chucklevision)

Member Name: Deb_C

Product:	Chucklevision
Date:	19/10/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Eccentric storylines, good acting

Disadvantages: None really

If you'd asked me about Chucklevision a few days ago, I'd have said it was a show I sometimes watched as a child, but found a bit boring & too silly, & it was never one of my favourites. As far as I could remember, the Chuckle brothers basically spent most of the time carrying round a ladder/plank of wood/sheet of glass & saying "To me! To you! To me again!", & generally breaking things & falling over.

I was very surprised, then, when I happened to watch 2 episodes of the programme this weekend, for the first time in at least 10 years. When it first came on I thought "Oh no, not Chucklevision, that'll just be really boring & annoying", but my boyfriend insisted he used to love it & that we should watch it, so I reluctantly agreed.

What most surprised me was the eccentricity & complexity of the storylines, & the very high standard of acting from all the supporting characters. This show had a lot more to it than I'd previously thought.

For those completely unfamiliar with Chucklevision, it's a children's television programme about two brothers, Paul & Barry Chuckle (played by real-life brothers Paul & Barry Elliot), who make a living doing various odd jobs. Both are particularly clumsy & stupid, & most of the comedy comes from their innocent mistakes causing lots of trouble for other people. The show was first broadcast in 1987 & is still going.

In the first of the two episodes I saw, the brothers were called to a lady's house to do a plumbing job, but ended up discovering a giant man-eating caterpillar & chasing it around town. In the second, they were accidentally frozen for 300 years, & woke up on board a space station, becoming involved in an important struggle to stop Ping the Pitiless from destroying the Earth. Much more imaginative than simply breaking windows & pouring buckets of water over people, which was the sort of thing I'd expected.

I was extremely impressed by the standard of acting from the supporting characters in each episode, & pleasantly surprised how the episodes were actually filmed almost as if they were a serious drama, which the Chuckle Brothers turned up & spoiled with their antics. In the space one, I even found myself wishing Paul & Barry would stop being so silly so the other characters could get on with the important task of saving the world.

Although it is still very much a children's programme, which I wouldn't specifically seek out to watch, it is a much more intelligent programme than I previously thought & if I accidentally came across it on television I'd happily watch it.

Summary: Unexpectedly entertaining!