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new season comments

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deanbedfordJun 1, 2015
 

 

A delayed post about the new season - I have been busy at work but now am catching up with the blog.

We've already had three shows and I thought they were each of a high standard. My favourite of the three so far  was today's where I thought Sheila Hancock was again in great form. I like her scrappiness which is reminscent of the great man Sir Clement Freud and DXerek Nimmo - perhaps more Derek. And she is so fluent and hunorous. Pam Ayres is a very special person now on the JAM panel with a unique style that is so delightful. Mike McShane is a favourite of mine from Whose Line days and he is not much of a challenger as yet but he is always entertaining.

The show with Graham Norton and Tim Rice and Liza Tarbuck was also excellent. Graham is a brilliant performer on this show and I thought Tim was very good too. I alos liked the other show which featured the debut of Susan Calman who went really well and I thought was one of the best debutantes in a while.

Some other thoughts and observations..

This is a eight-show season rather than just six. Since the BBC started the late spring/early summer season in 2011, the season has been just six shows. Let's hope this doesn't mean that the late summer season is cut back to six.

Tim Rice returned to the show for the first time since 2009. Tim has had an interesting time on JAM, with gaps between appearances between 1991 and 1998, between 2002 and 2005, and now between 2009 and 2015. In 2009 he was on the first show after Clement's death and I wondered if he could be on a lot more often as a replacement for Clement as an elderly curmudgeon who cares about the rules. Well that was wrong! But he does offer something different and with a new producer, perhaps he will be on more often.

For those interested in who has had longest between appearances, the record is held by Eleanor Summerfield who made her first appearance in 1968 and had to wait 19 years for a return gig in 1987.

Others with more than 10 years between shows are Sheila Hancock, who was rested for 15 years between 1987 and 2002; Gyles Brandreth and Barry Cryer  who both had a 13 year gap between 1986 and 1999, and Alfred Marks who was off for 10 years between 1977 and 1987.

Will anyone pass Eleanor's record? There are a few people who haven't been on since 1995 - can we hope for Lee Simpson or Dale Winton or Hugh Dennis to make an appearance in the next season? Dale would be good fun.

 
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