Life is riddled with a procession of minor impediments

[sheridan]

Tordels & The Shark sounds like an American telly programme from the 1980s about a pair of comically mismatched private investigators with wildly differing methods, forced to work together, initially due to reasons outwith their control, but they grudgingly develop a mutual respect for each other over the course of the series, which is probably set in San Francisco.

Wasn't it on at the same time as Dalziel and Makepeace?

[TordelBack]

I think the show lost something when the Shark moved out of that sexy narrow boat in the marina.  Moving into a shed was just a bit too Lovejoy.

[M.I.K.]

Cool theme tune, though. Sort of Crazy Like A Fox meets Scarecrow and Mrs King, with an Airwolfish bit in the middle played on the spoons.

[I, Cosh]

I can never remember which one was the dog.

[The Legendary Shark]

My favourite episode was that one where the one with the flares and the strategic sock kept hitting the one with the perm and the intelligent alien buttonhole over the head with the briefcase that turned out to contain that prototype spangle bomb Dr Klingwomble was looking for in the Balls Pond Road with that Russian public agent with the nose and camoflaged tarpaulin.

IIRC, this is the first episode in which Kenneth Williams appeared as the East End psychotic costermonger Large Richards in one of his few straight roles. He never got the hang of Large Richards and did descend into farce as the series progressed. His death scene in "The Polari Missile Mishap" lacked emotion due to the wasps, which were never adequately explained. Still, this episode was one of the best - no doubt helped along by Williams's Richards and Gabrielle Drake's infamous accidentally backlit lingerie scene - and of course the plot, which was one of the first to make a modicum of sense - except for the robotic barmaid in the Duck and Deviant, which Slopper Dane spent fifteen minutes explaining and which never appeared again.

The dog, of course, was the one with all the pencils.

[TordelBack]

Woof.

[Mikey]

Too good fellas, I'm onto you - you've obviously been working on the series outlines for a while. I believe direct to Netflix is the way to go.

I've started running. I haven't even ran a bath in around eight years and playing sport is a distant memory, preferring to get my activity jollies yomping (slowly mostly ) up hills, over bogs and along beaches an that. It's that 'couch to 5k thing' and as Mrs Mikey wanted to give it a bash, I thought I'd join her like the massive idiot I am. The minor impediment is now my left knee hurts and it's only the start of week two of nine.

[Something Fishy]

Thanks Jayzsus.

As for Tordels and The Shark.  Who doesn't remember that gem of "odd couple" comedy.   

[Something Fishy]

I am very happy the dog has a Cornish sounding name.

I recall his best episode now, you know the one where he flashed back to his origins being rescued from that Chinese puppy sweat shop by the special forces turned slightly bonkers survivalist play by Brian Blessed, who for some reason was still dressed as Voltan.

That was a cracker.

[The Legendary Shark]

That was a good episode, one of the best of Season 5. Adolph Ringpull, director of that episode (The Partially Perspicacious Perils of Penrose), is on record concerning Blessed's Vultan costume:

"There was a strike of the Wardrobe Workers, Pantrights, Dressers and Hosiery Keepers' Union that week over pay and working hours, so the actors were asked to provide their own costumes. Being a contemporaneous drama, most of the fools were able to dress themselves appropriately. The only exceptions were guest stars Nicholas Parsons, who turned up dressed as a Seventeenth Century Prussian admiral and Brian Blessed, who came straight from filming Flash Gordon at Brooklands Industrial Park still dressed as Prince Vultan and, due to a mix-up in communications, thought he was filming pick-ups for the same film. His constantly referring to the pixie mercenaries as his "hawk-men" and occasional and unrelated to the plot ejaculations of "Gordon's alive!" caused me a huge headache at the time but some judicious and quite brilliant editing by T&tS's veteran film editor Slasher Malone turned what should have been a disaster into a BAFTA nominated triumph."

You can read Adolph Ringpull's full musings on the show's fan website here.

[Something Fishy]

Brings back such memories.  Another example of Blesseds creative madness delivering a triumph.

Did they ever talk about why they had to substitute the dog for a (and now we know why) very poorly costumed Barbara Windsor during the orphanage scene?

[The Legendary Shark]

Apparently that was entirely down to budget. New RSPCA rules imposed on the television industry made the cost of insurance prohibitively expensive, whereas Ms Windsor would work for peanuts at that point in her career due to gambling debts owed to the Krays on the weasel rimming circuit. It is said that Ralphie Kray, unlike his brother Rudy, was a big fan of the show and could often be seen in background shots shaking the extras down for pocket money.

[Something Fishy]

What ways amazes me is how effective a poodle she can mak I was utterly convinced even though it all came down to a good hair do.

The biggest surprise though was that none of us, not viewers or critics noticed the dog had changed breed and colour.

Although I have heard that this wasn't the first time. Is it true there was a "shocking" substitute used for Penrose season 3 episode 4?

[The Legendary Shark]

Penrose was actually "played" by twelve dogs over the course of the series. The first was "Sparky," a mongrel picked up by Moomin McGregor, the show's creator and long-time writer, from a whelk-pressing factory in Aberdeen. Sparky played Penrose for just three episodes before being run over by Lionel Blair's souped-up steam-roller, which he drove to all his early jobs in order to stand out from the crowd and save money on petrol.

The dog I think you're talking about, though, wasn't a dog at all but a shaved badger with several differently styled fur coats and stoles glued to it as a kind of costume. Unfortunately, some of these furs transpired to be nylon and not natural, resulting in a build up of static electricity which discharged into the fuel tank of Arthur Mullard's Cessna, causing an explosion that leveled three sound stages at Elstree, sent a cloud of poisonous smoke two miles wide towards Borehamwood railway station and partially blinded the badger. The badger, which was never named, was consequently euthenised in a fit of pique by Lew Grade because his concubine got soot in her stockings.

[Something Fishy]

Amazing!  Thank you.

Now that explains season 4, episode 7 when Edna Everage (pre dame days) in one of her occasional parts was heard to exclaim "Lordy darlings, that man is hotter than a Penrose badger" whilst winking at the viewer!

This show was a masterclass of self referential brilliance.