Dave This is a BBC sitcom set in 1945. It's about a Royal Artillery Concert Party. The first four series are set in India; the latter four are set in Burma.This is painfully bad to watch, because all of the members of the concert party are appallingly bad entertainers. After I watched it, I read that the characters are supposed to be awful entertainers - and that's what's meant to be the main source of the show's humour. However, that makes them unpleasant to watch and listen to - and it's just the same bad joke repeated in every episode. It's also unrealistic - if all members of a concert party were bad entertainers, they'd be fired.

katslaterc acting very good windsor davies very good as williams and others actors were very good I like it I thought the writing is good very good series

Markhoni This was the follow up to the immortal 'Dad's Army'and while sharing a wartime setting and comedy based on character had a somewhat harder and cruder edge and was less reliant on whimsy. Perhaps as a result of this, despite the fact that it lasted several series it never gained a real place in the nation's affections to the same extent as Dad's Army. It also straddled a changing period in Britain's attitude to racial stereotyping. The 1970's had begun with the crude 'Love Thy Neighbour' but ended with the first sitcoms featuring more than token black casts (e.g 'The Fosters') and 'It Ain't Half...' was increasingly criticized for its attitude even though as another correspondent says, the Asian characters usually outwit their British 'masters'. Michael Bates as Ranji Ram is probably the last comical asian character to be played by a white actor in makeup a la Peter Sellers. (Bates had lived in India as a boy). Interestingly 'The Simpsons' contains an Indian family whose 'jolly good, sahib' voices and behaviour would be pretty much unacceptable on a British TV programmae today and is very similar to the portrayal of the asian characters in 'It ain't half hot...'. The pint size singer Don Estelle formed an unlikely duo with Sergeant Major Windsor Daies for a few UK hits. Sadly Don is now reduced to busking round Lancashire towns in his 'It Ain't Half...' costume these days.

de_niro_2001 Dad's Army may be a classic but this series by the same scriptwriters involving a similar but more youthful crowd of army misfits generally has more laughs per episode and is a lot funnier. The scene after the closing titles where Sergeant Major Williams barks "shut up" at Char Wallah Mohammed never ceases to be funny. The series lost something when Michael Bates died (you know, there's an old Hindu proverb....). Don Estelle has a marvellous singing voice and another running joke in the programme was the performances where he played romantic heroes like Nelson Eddy or Ivor Novello and he'd have Melvyn Hayes (Gloria) as his leading lady. This programme has been frequently criticised as racist but frankly the various Indians, Malaysians and Burmese who used to appear in it were usually portrayed as smarter and more sorted out than the Sergeant Major and his platoon. Sergeant Major Williams has a fair bit of trouble with the King's English (degrading to the Welsh?), Gunner Atlas Mackintosh takes offence very quickly, particularly with Gloria (insulting to Scots?) and Captain Ashwood is an upper-class twit (so that degrades the English?). The BBC seems to show Dad's Army practically every waking day and "It Ain't Half Hot Mum" should be seen more often too. It's a classic and has a big fan following.