The Comic Strip, Part 25 - Transmit the message to the receiver, hope for an answer some day

"South Atlantic Raiders" - February 1st, 1990

This is the start of a new season, the first on the BBC. This is also the first two-parter, which feels like it doesn't count because we're back to half hour episodes.

Looking back over what we've seen so far, I've come to the conclusion that the two themes that The Comic Strip loves to come back to are:

1. People trying to be something that they are not.
2. Crime and how easily plans for such can fall apart.
   

Stan and Frances are two ham radio operators who fall in love over the air. She is a birdwatcher doing research in the Falkland Islands, he is an armored truck driver. When Stan is led to believe that the Falklands are under attack, he devises a plan to rob one of the banks on his route to raise the funds to stage a daring rescue. Chaos ensues.

It might be a result of dropping back to the half hour format, but I thought the pace of this episode was wonderful. It's a great friendly little romp, nothing that needs too much thinking about. Of course, this leads to the question of how much this show has been de-fanged now that it's come over to the BBC. Time will tell.

Finally, this episode sees the first appearance of Lenny Henry. Lenny Henry always seems to have a strange vibe for me - no matter how deeply he is into his character (and make no doubt, he is a talented actor) I can always tell that he is having a jolly time and thinks that the situation that he has to inhabit is an enormous lark.

In this one he has a cameo where he is raped in a prison.