"Softly, Softly” named best TV show in 1971

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32805, 4 January 1972, Page 4

"Softly, Softly” named best TV show in 1971

(By

ALAN GRAHAM,

N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent)

LONDON, Dec. 30.

The 8.8. C. crime series “Softly, Softly” has been named by British newspapers and magazine critics as the best television drama series of 1971. Other awards went to: Best current affairs series: “World in Action” (Granada). Best light entertainment programme: “The Comedians” (Granada). Best play: “Edna, the Inebriate Woman” (8.8. C. Best documentary: “The Sorrow and the Pity” (produced in France). Special award: “The Search for the Nile” (8.8. C. Worst programme: Peter Cook’s “Where do I Sit?” (8.8. C. The “critics’ circle” gave “Softly, Softly” over three times as many votes as the second contender, “Dixon of Dock Green” (8.8. C. which is also a crime series. Commenting on their

choice, some critics said the strong point of the show is the acting of Stratford Johns (Inspector Barlow) and Frank Windsor (John Watt), who have been together in “Softly, Softly” and its predecessor, “Z-cars,” since Zed-Victor-Two first hit the beat 10 years ago next week.

Others contended that “Softly, Softly” comes closest of the TV series here to portraying life as it is, without giving away any of the excitement that a “cops-and-robbers” show must have.

Some of the critics assembled last night to discuss the awards said that three such shows every week ' (“Z-cars” is still running) is too many for comfort. Their view, however, was in the minority and as one critic observed: “It’s hard to beat a good cops and robbers chase, however you dress it up.”

“World in Action” was praised by the critics for its wide ranging, objective and entertaining reporting of certain world events that are less widely reported than others by the mass media.

Some complained of “World in Action” being “Too dramatic, too theatrical” and objected to its mocking-up of incidents it had not been able to film live. These critics mostly plumped for the 8.8.C.’s “Man Alive” series, or the 8.8. C. science show, “Horizon.” “The Comedians” is a successful attempt by Granada Television, the independent company in Manchester, to harness the considerable talent that exists in Lancashire and Yorkshire clubs without ever coming to the notice of anyone in London. The show’s quickflre patter consists of no more than a half dozen comedians standing up in turn and telling a couple of jokes. After each joke, or maybe two, the camera switches quickly to the next comic, and the next, and the next, until No. 1 is reached again. It runs for half an hour.

Over the year “The Comedians” has used about 20 comics, three of them black men with Lancashire accents who rattle off racial jokes as fast as the Irish comics rattle off Irish ones. Those who praise “the Comedians” say it makes people laugh, and that quick cutting ensures a new joke is always under way before the laughter fades on the old one, or before people realise just how old or how bad the

first joke was. Runner-up was “The Morecambe and Wise Show” (8.8. C. with Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, two comedians who have been together for 30 years. The critics acknowledged that they - also like re-runs of “Steptoe and Son,” and that some of them at least voted for the surrealist goon-like humour of "Monty Python’s Flying Circus” (8.8. C. There were some doubts that a foreign documentary should win a prize, but most critics agreed that the fourhour “The Sorrow and the Pity,” a historical study of Frenchmen who. collaborated with the Germans during the Second World War, was the best documentary they had seen.

The controversial programme has been shown twice in Britain by the 8.8. C. but has been banned in France.

The award to “The Search for the Nile” was made because it apparently fitted into none of the other categories. In six parts, it was a dramadocumentary shot on location in Africa and tracing the steps of six men, including Livingstone who searched for the source of the Nile. All the critics liked it.

The play “Edna the Inebriate Woman,” by Jeremy Sandford, was not a unanimous critics’ choice since some, while they liked it, considered it to be more of a tour de force by Patricia Hayes as Edna than a fully satisfying play. But it was a most popular choice. Some critics praised Peter Cook for his efforts in trying to present a “chat” show live without a script and fully acknowledging that in a live production something would go wrong.

The majority, however, fully agreed with the decision of the 8.8. C. to take the show off the air for ever after only three weeks.

The 8.8. C. for its part, refused last night to allow a clip from “Where Do I Sit?” to be shown on 8.8. C. television along with clips from the winning programmes.

CHTV3 2.00 pjm.: Headline news. 2.03: The Mothers-in-Law. Comedy. 2.28: Survival. Documentary. (Repeat.) 2.54: Hopalong Cassidy. Western. 3.41: Immagini Italiane: Campnaia. Travel. 3.56: Music For You. 4.22: People of Many Lands. Travel. 4.42: Hector’s House. Puppets. 4.47: Looney Tunes. 4.53: Loopy de Loop. 5.00: Cricket—Auckland v. Canterbury. 5.58: Headline news, weather. 6,01: Do Not Adjust Your Set. Comedy. 6.28: Good Sailing—coastal navigation. 7.00: Network news. 7,15: Weather. The South Tonight. 7.28: Coronation. Street. 7.59: Softly, Softly—“ See the Rabbit.” Detective. 8.54: Newsbrief. 8.57: The Morecambe and Wise Show. Comedy. (New series.) 9.29: Bracken’s World—“ Murder Off Camera.” Drama. (New series.) 10.19: Thirty Minute Theatre—“A Matter of Principle” (Griffith Jones, Peter Barkworth, Angela Browne, David Langton). 10.46: Late news, weather.

NATIONAL LINK [lncluding 3YA Christchurch (690 kilohertz); 2YA WeUington (570 kilohertz); 4YA Dunedin (750 kilohertz); and 3YZ Greymouth (920 kilohertz)] 7 p.m.: Sports Review. 7.30: On Stage New Zealand. A showcase of local artists introduced by Peter Brian. 8.30: Weather and News. 8.40: The Sing-a-long Chorus. 8.50: Local Sports Results. 9.0: From Days of Yore. 9.30: Sports ’7l. Comment and highlights covering the last twelve months sports, compiled by Grant Nisbett in Wellington (repeat). 10.0: Jazz Tonight. The Acme Sausage Company of Wellington. 10.30: N.Z.B.C. News, Weather. 10.45: Bowls: New Zealand Championships at Dunedin. 11.0: 8.8. C. News and Commentary. 11.15: Chess: New Zealand Championships at Hamilton. 11.17: Continuous. 3YC, CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz) 7 p.m.: Mendelssohn Organ Music. Philip Dore at organ of Ampleforth Abbey (7) Preludes and Fugues: No. 1 in C minor; No. 2 in G; No. 3 in D minor, Op. 37 (1837). 7.27: Poulenc: Bernard Kruysens (baritone), Jean Charles Richard (piano). 7.36: SaintSaens: Introduction and Rondo capriccioso — David Oistrakh (violin), Boston Symphony Orchestra under Charles Munch. 7.45: Letter from America. 8.0: The Composer Plays Rachmaninov: Prelude in C charp minor, Op.

3 No. 2; Polka de W.R.; (recorded 1928); Prelude in F minor, Op. 32 No. 6; Study in E flat, Op. 33 No. 7 (recorded 1940). 8.34: Josquin: The Cricket: Vecchi: With a voice broken by sighs; Azzaiolo: My sweetheart is called saporita; Vecchi: When I perceive your lovely golden face: Roland de Lassus: My dear lady; Vecchi: My cruel little tyrant — Polyphonic Chorus of Rome under Quinzio Petrocchi. 8.48: Vivaldi: Bassoon Concerto No. 8 in F—Sherman Walt (bassoon), Zimbler Sinfonietta. 9.0: Body Contact and the Human Animal — Desmond Morris talks about his new book “Intimate Behaviour.” 9.16: Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F, Op. 68 (Pastoral) —Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra under Hiroshi Wakasugi. 9.54: Verdi: Sleepwalking Scene (Macbeth)—Regine Crespin (soprano), Paris Con' servatoire Orchestra under Georges Pretre. 10.7: Dvorak: String Sextet in A, Op. 48— European String Sextet. 10.36: Bach: Partita No. 1 in B flat (8WV825) —Dinu Lipatti (piano). 3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz) 8.2 p.m.: Motoring with Robbie. 9.5: Sweet Music. 11.2: Your Own Thing with Jim Smith. 3ZM, CHRISTCHURCH (1400 kilohertz) 7.30 p.m.: Things are Swinging. 8.30: Jazz Scene. 9.0: Current Stream.