Top Hat And Tails

Top Hat And Tails

Funny, isn't it? When literary critics talk about robots, which is rare enough, they are more likely to discuss the work of Karel Capek or Isaac Asimov, than they are such names as Bob Block or Jeremy Lloyd & David Croft.

But we are 'Round The Archives' are not afraid to grasp the nettle and, after turning our attention to 'Roberts Robots' in Episode 23 of 'RTA', it's time to talk about The Robots Of Dance in 'Are You Being Served? : Top Hat And Tails'.

Despite the usual parlous state of the sales graphs, Young Mister Grace has splashed out a couple of robots with capabilities that are way beyond the technology of 1976, implying that the combined team of Mister Harman and his chum Mister Ludlowe (spelling taken from IMDb, so there is some room for error, especially as the DVD subtitles render it as simply Ludlow) are two of the most gifted engineers in the world even by today's standards.

Until recently, we weren't familiar with the 1995 'Dad's Army' radio production 'The Boy Who Saved England' which presents us with a storyline involving Winston Churchill robots, an idea which also crops up in 'The Goodies : War Babies'.

But this straying into the realms of fantasy begs some questions about the whole fictional universe of 'AYBS?' as surely a little more development work could see poor Mister Lucas threatened with replacement by an android if he annoys Mrs Slocombe much more in the future.

The strange 1976 US comedy / detective show 'Holmes & Yoyo' sees John Shuck with a cheap-looking control panel in his stomach, and 'Come Back Mrs Noah' is looming on the horizon, so The Robots Of Grace Brothers isn't such a way-out idea, given the general writing climate.

However, this is just a subplot for this week's episode and, perhaps wisely, no-one wastes time following through with the implications.

Though a bionic Young Mr Grace ('The Six Million Y-Fronts Man'?) might have been worth considering. They clearly have the technology...

Our video about 'Top Hat And Tails' can be seen here.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)