If the performances in this revamp of the Torquay hotel sitcom aren't impersonations per se, they're near as dammit. But they're very good ones, and audiences who already love the material (most of them, let's face it) will not be disappointed.
That's no mean achievement. The danger in trying to recreate the original, as Ranger's production (of an adaptation by John Cleese) does, is that the performances of Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs and co cannot, at least as far as fans are concerned, be bettered. So why not just watch the DVD? This revival makes the answer self-evident. Cleese and Connie Booth's series had its roots in theatrical farce, and its frantic comings and goings, its slapstick and mounting chaos, feel at home on stage. And the DVD wouldn't afford you the pleasure, a very keen one, of seeing Adam Jackson-Smith in the Basil role, as astonishing an act of mimicry-cum-resurrection as you're ever likely to encounter.
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Carse gives thanks after England return
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Evenepoel and Brown win races against time once more
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Let's start by going back to December 2016.
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Losses from obesity higher than weight loss jab costs
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Diesel and petrol prices fall at fastest rate since December
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Tech firms must help refund victims of fraud, says HSBC
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Succession drama Fox News fate at stake as Murdochs take family shares to court
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Leftist Dissanayake wins Sri Lankan presidential election after historic runoff
A Marxist leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has won Sri Lanka's presidential election, in what is being seen as a widespread rejection of the old political elite blamed for the country's continuing economic woes.
Gaza Seven killed in Israeli airstrike on school shelter
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