Best Scenes From 'British TV Comedy Spin-off Films of the 1970s'.
 

Greetings Friends,
At risk of hi-jacking his forum and turning it in to something else (one of my other obsessions apart from porn), I would like to cast readers' minds back to the golden age of the 'TV spin-off' films of the 1970s, which as you may recall gave the big-screen treatment to favored TV sit-coms of the period.
The most famous, of course, are the hysterical 'On the Buses' series of films, but virtually all the popular comedy shows had one ranging from Please Sir!, Bless This House, Man About The House, Love thy Neighbour(!), Porridge, Rising Damp, Likely Lads etc etc.
The all seem to date from 1972 and seem to be made by Hammer studios.
My own favourite is the first Steptoe movie.The scene involves Albert imposing himself on Harold's honeymoon (with a busty stripper), and Albert noisily and disgustingly munches a lobster at the dinner table slurping loudly and picking at the claws with his teeth, giving the immortal quote 'There's more meat in the claws' when reprimanded.The morning afterwards, Albert is violently sick and ruins the holiday, pathetically tellling Harold he is dying.THe conversation goes thus:
ALBERT: Harold, I'm dying, get me out of this place, take your poor old Dad home wiyh you.
HAROLD: But I've arranged for the Doctor to come round and see you.
ALBERT: The Doctor's no good, he's a w*g Doctor.
HAROLD: But your own Doctor's a Pakistani!
ALBERT: But yer Pakistani is yer British sort of w*g.

Yes, in those resolutely un-PC days this was what 'classic British comedy' was all about.

I'm afraid I have always found the Man about the House movie quite amusing. Particually the VW beetle ending up in the water...

The best TV spin-off movie for me is Porridge.

Great script. Great acting.

"Where's the nearest town?" "Oh, there isn't one."

Well, I have to agree the first Steptoe film and Porridge were the best of the big-screen spin-off's.

My favourite scene in the Steptoe movie is at Harold's wedding when he's marrying the stripper (delectable Carolyn Seymour) and, as she begins her wedding march up the aisle, Albert whispers, 'it's a wonder she isn't taking her clothes off,' which is rewarded with a punch in the goolies from Harold.

The best film spin off movie has to be Up Pompeii

Much better girls than the TV series - Julie Ege & Madeline Smith and even a smattering of good character actors to support Frankie Howard

Yes, the late, great Michael Hordern always seemed to pop up in these films playing a fumbling, pompous old duffer - no aspersions on Sir Michael of course.

Too bad they made a vastly inferior movie spin off of Are You Being Served. Unfortunately all I can recall of this movie is that "animated" caterpillar crawling up a tent flap and that Spanish guy from Mind Your Language as the leader of the revolution.
The George and Mildred movie was lame as well which was very sad because of Yootha Joyce pegging out not long after that :(

Michael Hordern stole everything he ever appeared in from its stars - witness his amazing musical turn in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.

Everybody Ought To Have A Maid - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahqu1nd3Zu8

Dads Army
 

Jones on sentry duty challenges a member of the public, 'Halt! Who goes there?'. He insists on seeing the mans id card. Can't read it, so hands the bloke his rifle so he can hold the card up to the light. Lets the guy go on his way and shouts after him, 'I'll send Raymond round with the sausages in the morning'

Not as good as the TV shows but an easy way to while away a hour or two!! :)

What about the first Alf Garnett spin-off film and the scene in which Alf is trapped inside an outside toilet during an air-raid, and he (naturally) is drawn to the nail holding square sheets of cut-up newspapers on the wall.
And Alf lovingly licks his lips as he sees a picture of Adolf Hitler on the sheet of newspaper.
I believe thre was a second Alf Garnett film that wasn't so good - all I seem to remember of it is a scene where Alf and Roy Kinnear, comung home from the docks shout 'Bollocks!' at each other loudly over an argument concerning a bottle of whisky.
One of Spike Milligan's humorous war memoirs was made into a film around about the same time (1972), and featured the classic scene of the Irishman giving the 'meat and potatoes' impression during 'lights-out' in the barracks.
- And I must give a mention to the late, great Dick Emery's 'You Are Awful', which gave Emery a great opportunityto showcase his impressions whilst involving a very funny plot centred on the need to inspect tattoos of bank account numbers written on the arses of some very lovely birds.
The cene with the nude bird on the arse-wobbling exercise-belt machine is a classic!