No Sex Please We're British (1973)

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Written by Brian Cooke, Alistair Foot, Anthony Marriott

Directed by Cliff Owen

Running Time: 100 minutes (approx)

Production Year: 1973

Rating: PG Certificate

Production Country: UK

Filmed in Colour

Although No Sex Please, We're British is best known as the phenomenally successful stage comedy which ran in London's West End from 1971 to 1987 (it remains the longest-running comedy ever, with 6,761 performances to its name), it was also adapted into an equally farcical movie, starring RONNIE CORBETT (replacing Michael Crawford, who had featured in the original stage version), ARTHUR LOWE and BERYL REID. If you're wondering why the film has rarely been shown on television, that's because the stage producer John Gale used to pay TV companies not to show it while his play was still packing 'em in during its West End run.

Ronnie Corbett plays Brian Runnicles, a bank clerk who's perplexed when a wrongly labelled package of dirty postcards arrives at his workplace. With his boss Mr Bromley (Arthur Lowe) a stout anti-pornography campaigner, Brian struggles to dispose of the blue material without arousing his suspicions. Complicating the matters further are a couple of newly-weds (IAN OGILVY and SUSAN PENHALIGON) and their visiting mother-in-law (Beryl Reid) who live in the flat directly above the bank. As more and more blue material arrives, the clerk's increasingly erratic behaviour even manages to attract the attention of the local police.

The Sunday Telegraph called No Sex Please, We're British "fast, funny and lunatic in the best tradition of British farce, splendidly played by Ronnie Corbett, Beryl Reid and Arthur Lowe." Writing in the Evening Standard, meanwhile, Alexander Walker praised Cliff Owen, calling him "our best director of comedies. He handles his cast like clockwork - but clockwork in which no fly-wheel moves at quite the same rate as the others, yet all function perfectly together."

Cast

Image for Ronnie CorbettRonnie CorbettBrian Runnicles
Beryl ReidBertha Hunter
Image for Arthur LoweArthur LoweMr. Bromley
Ian OgilvyDavid Hunter
Susan PenhaligonPenny Hunter
Michael BatesMr. Needham
Cheryl HallDaphne
David SwiftInspector Paul
Deryck GuylerPark Keeper
Valerie LeonSusan
Margaret NolanBarbara
Gerald SimReverend Mower
Michael RobbinsCar Driver
Frank ThorntonGlass Shop Manager
Michael RipperTraffic Warden
Lloyd LambleAmerican Man
Mavis VilliersAmerican Lady
Sydney BromleyRag & Bone Man
John BindonPete
Stephen GreifNiko
Brian WildePoliceman
Eric LongworthMan with Lighter
Edward SinclairPostman
Fred GriffithsDelivery Man
Lucy GriffithsSpinster Lady
Robin AskwithBaker's Delivery Man
Bart AllisonCouncil Workman
Joe ReahDrum Major

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Comments

  • Use www.gravatar.com to create an Avatar for your e-mail address and use it on many supported sites June 20th, 2008 - 10:27pmmarianyama said...

    I would like to buy the DVD No Sex We're British. A group of 30 we think it is good fun.

  • Use www.gravatar.com to create an Avatar for your e-mail address and use it on many supported sites August 20th, 2008 - 12:18amL Powell said...

    Does anyone recall the 1981 or 1982? off-b'way NY showcase of No Sex Please We're British at the Quaigh Theatre at the Hotel Diplomat?

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