It Ain't Half Hot Mum

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It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Aint Half Hot Mum television comedy.jpg
Title card of Series 1 and Series 2
Format Situation Comedy
Created by Jimmy Perry & David Croft
Written by Jimmy Perry & David Croft
Directed by David Croft
Graeme Muir
Bob Spiers
Ray Butt
Paul Bishop
John Kilby
Starring Michael Bates
Windsor Davies
Melvyn Hayes
George Layton
Don Estelle
Donald Hewlett
Michael Knowles
Christopher Mitchell
John Clegg
Stuart McGugan
Kenneth MacDonald
Mike Kinsey
Opening theme Meet the Gang
Ending theme Land of Hope and Glory
Country of origin UK
Language(s) English
No. of series 8
No. of episodes 56 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s) David Croft
Graeme Muir
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel BBC1
Original run 3 January 1974 (1974-01-03) – 3 September 1981 (1981-09-03)

It Ain't Half Hot Mum was a British sitcom about the adventures of a Royal Artillery Concert Party, broadcast on the BBC between 1974 and 1981, and written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army. It was set in British India and Burma, towards the end of the Second World War, in a similar scenario to that of the Peter Nichols play and film Privates on Parade.

It Ain't Half Hot Mum was one of three sitcom series produced and written by David Croft and set in the Second World War, along with Dad's Army (1968–1977) and 'Allo 'Allo! (1982–1992).

Contents

[edit] Situation

The first four series of It Ain't Half Hot Mum were set at the Royal Artillery Depot Deolali,[1] a place where British soldiers stayed before being posted up the jungle. The Royal Artillery Concert Party, consisting of several soldiers who would rather sing, dance and dress up as women than fight, are stationed permanently in Deolali to keep the troops entertained. In the first episode of the fifth series, the concert party are posted up the jungle, and from then on It Ain't Half Hot Mum is set in Tin Min, Burma close to the front line.[2]

[edit] Reception

Some people have perceived the casting of the white actor Michael Bates as the Indian bearer Rangi Ram to be an example of blackface,[3] a perception that may have contributed to the programme being infrequently repeated on British television.[4] The show's producers had been very averse to the idea of casting a white actor to play one of the Indian characters, but were forced to relent owing to the lack of high-profile Indian actors available at the time. Since the Anglo-Indian Bates, a popular actor of the day, was born in India and spoke Hindi before learning English, he was cast in the role as a trade-off between giving the series greater credibility and giving the character a degree of Indian authenticity.[3]

[edit] Cast

Actor Character Duration
Michael Bates Bearer Rangi Ram Series 1 - Series 5
Donald Hewlett Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Reynolds Series 1 - Series 8
Michael Knowles Captain Ashwood Series 1 - Series 8
Windsor Davies Battery Sergeant Major 'Shut up' Williams Series 1 - Series 8
George Layton Bombardier 'Solly' Solomons Series 1 - Series 2
Melvyn Hayes Gunner/Bombardier 'Gloria' Beaumont Series 1 - Series 8
Don Estelle Gunner 'Lofty' Harold Sugden Series 1 - Series 8
Christopher Mitchell Gunner 'Parky' Nigel Parkins Series 1 - Series 8
John Clegg 'La-dee-da' Gunner 'Paderewski' Jonathan Graham Series 1 - Series 8
Stuart McGugan Gunner 'Atlas' Mackintosh Series 1 - Series 8
Kenneth MacDonald Gunner 'Nobby' Clark Series 1 - Series 8
Mike Kinsey Gunner 'Nosher' Evans Series 1 - Series 8
Dino Shafeek Char Wallah Muhammad Series 1 - Series 8
Babar Bhatti Punkah Wallah Rumzan Series 1 - Series 6
Andy Ho Ah Syn, the Chinese cook Series 7 - Series 8

[edit] Characters

[edit] Commanding Officers

Colonel Reynolds is the leader of the concert party and enjoys their shows immensely. He thinks army life in India is very hard, while all he does is sit around sipping pink gin and dining with the elite. He is having an affair with Daphne Waddilove-Evans, whose husband, Major Waddilove-Evans, has left for the Punjab. He is the stereotypical British Army Officer, very stiff upper lip and prim and proper. Captain Ashwood's utter stupidity does occasionally infuriate him, but he is effectively good-natured and tries to avoid leaving the easy life he has at any cost.

Captain Ashwood is an even bigger fan of the concert party than Colonel Reynolds, especially when they dress up as girls. He is not very bright, and often unknowingly ruins other people's plans, especially the Sergeant Major's. He occasionally writes skits for the concert party, which they reluctantly accept, as they are, on the whole, absolutely awful. He has absolutely no military bearing in him, which makes it very easy for the Sergeant Major and the others to manipulate him into using his authority to achieve their own ends.

The Sergeant Major is the only real, professional soldier among the concert party and its officers. He is somewhat bigoted in his views, making every effort to bully the Indian camp staff and remind everyone of British supremacy in India. He seems to have only one goal in life, namely to get his soldiers posted up the jungle as fast as he can. He is disgusted by the fact that his soldiers prance about on the stage wearing dresses and make-up all the time, and frequently calls them a "bunch of poofs". He dislikes all members of the concert party equally, apart from Parkins, who he believes to be his son. He has a particular loathing for Gunner "Lah-De-Dah" Graham, owing to his university education, although Williams will praise Graham for it if it serves his purposes.

[edit] Concert party

'Solly' is a Jewish showbiz man who always plays the male leads in the concert party's shows and is also the party's producer. He is a very intelligent individual and often has some sort of devious plot to avoid being posted or getting one over on the Sergeant Major. He left at the end of Series 2 when he was demobbed back to Britain.

'Gloria' Beaumont is a very effeminate person who cannot handle the violence, heat and mosquitoes of army life in India too well. He considers himself an artiste, and doesn't believe he should be in the Army, often trying to emphasize his show-business angle and ignore the "soldier" parts of his job. He has a passion for show business and always dresses up as famous film stars during the concert party shows, especially as Ginger Rogers. He later succeeded Bombardier Solomon's rank when George Layton left the series.

'Lofty' is a soldier whose appearance can be summarized by means of quoting the Sergeant Major: "Is it a mushroom? No. Is it a soldier? No. It's Gunner Sugden." Lofty is the tiny, rotund lead singer of the concert party usually seen in an old-fashioned pith helmet, and has an amazing tenor voice which even the Sergeant Major cannot resist when he sings. Unfortunately, he is always picked out by the Sergeant Major as a "volunteer" when there is a particularly nasty or dangerous task to be carried out.

'Parky' is the youngest member of the concert party and has tried everything to become part of them, including being a ventriloquist, comedian, and singer, although he is very clumsy and never does anything right. The Sergeant Major has reason to believe that Parkins is his son, which is why he treats him much better than he treats the others, and keeps telling him he has "a fine pair of shoulders", and becomes very selective about Parkins' achievement - praising him when he does something right and ignoring when Parkins makes huge blunders. An example of such a situation comes when Parkins is appointed as Battery clerk - since he has no exploitable talent for the concert party - and, having misunderstood an order from the Sergeant-Major, proceeds to have the Officer's Mess demolished. (Sergeant - Major Williams had told him to "remove the mess by the Officer's lines", referring to a pile of old beds that were to be discarded.) Parkins references the show's title in the first ever episode when he signs off a letter to his mother with the words "I've been in India now two days, and it ain't half hot, Mum."

  • Gunner 'Paderewski' 'La-De-Dah' Jonathan Graham (John Clegg)

Gunner Graham is the concert party's pianist. His appearance - bald and bespectacled - marks him out as a stereotypical boffin. He has a university degree in English literature and is very smart, speaking with a very upper class accent. This is why the Sergeant Major always mockingly repeats what he says, as well as mockingly addressing him as Mister La-De-Dah Gunner Graham. Graham often has difficult and ingenious plans to solve the concert party's problems, but these plans never seem to work and often result in his saying "oh well, bang goes that theory". The others (even the Sergeant Major and the Officers) often rely on his intelligence to get them out of awkward situations.

'Atlas' Mackintosh does the strong man act in the show, which involves tearing telephone directories in half. He is rather short-tempered, especially when Beaumont calls him a "great, big, butch, hairy haggis". He is very masculine, and is a bit of a contradiction to what Beaumont thinks is right for the concert party. Nevertheless, Mackintosh always tries his best and copes with what is given to him.

'Nobby' Clark does a whistling act in the show, and can do excellent bird impersonation. He is not particularly clever, and often makes nonsense comments or observations about situations they find themselves in.

'Nosher' Evans does a paper tearing act. He is always eating something (and once stayed on punishment in the Canteen four hours after he was relieved as he was enjoying himself) resulting in him spraying the contents of his mouth all around him when he speaks.

[edit] Natives

Rangi Ram is the concert party's native bearer, and very proud to be of service to the army. He feels so connected to them that he often talks about "we British". The Sergeant Major shouts at him more than at anyone else, but Rangi is also the one he confides in when he wants to talk about problems. Rangi often provides the audience with an "old Hindu proverb" at the end of the episode, such as "There is an old Hindu proverb which say that if you see two eyes looking at you in the dark, it is not always a Tiger. It might be two one-eyed Tigers!" He is a devious individual, who can often manipulate the situation for his own ends (usually money). Though he often speaks of himself as British, he will show divided loyalty when his Indian aspect is under threat - when asked to burn the Indian flag by the Sergeant Major, he refused.

Muhammed the char wallah walks around the camp all day, selling tea from his urn. We can also hear him sing the musical interruptions between the scenes, which are mostly popular American hits, accompanied by a sitar. At the end of the credits he starts to sing "Land of Hope and Glory" only to be interrupted by the Sergeant-major shouting "SHUTUPPP!!!". He became the bearer when Rangi Ram left the series (Michael Bates died after Series 5).

Rumzan the punkah wallah always sits outside the officers' quarters, pulling a string that is attached to a large fan indoors. He comments on everything in Urdu, and always adds a few words in English at the end. Rangi often tells him to "sit up straight while you are punkah-ing" and not to "be such Clever Dickie". He is far more intelligent than the others give him credit, and much of what he observes early on is often borne out in the end, but no-one notices.

  • Ah Syn, the Chinese cook (Andy Ho)

The Chinese Cook who appears in Series 7 to replace the punka wallah from Series 8 onward.

[edit] Series and episodes

Main article: List of It Ain't Half Hot Mum episodes

[edit] DVD releases

All 8 Series have been released on DVD region code 2 by 2|entertain. All eight series have also been released in region 4. A Complete Series Collection Box Set containing all 8 series of the show has been released on 4 October 2010.

Master copies of the fourth and sixth episodes of series one ('A Star is Born' and 'It's a Wise Child') were lost after first broadcast and have not been recovered. VHS copies recorded at home by a viewer in Australia were found in 1988. They are not of broadcast quality, but are included as extras on the series 1 DVD.

DVD Title Code No. of discs Year No. of episodes Release date
Region 2 Region 4
Complete Series 1 CCTV 30213 1 1974 8 5 September 2005 2 March 2006
Complete Series 2 CCTV 30227 1 1975 8 10 October 2005 5 October 2006
Complete Series 3 CCTV 30269 1 1976 6 13 February 2006 7 March 2007
Complete Series 4 CCTV 30295 2 1976 8 1 May 2006 5 September 2007
Complete Series 5 CCTV 30328 1 1977 6 31 July 2006 5 March 2008
Complete Series 6 BBCDVD 2645 1 1978 7 9 June 2008 4 September 2008
Complete Series 7 BBCDVD 3008 1 1980 6 24 August 2009 3 September 2009
Complete Series 8 BBCDVD 3047 1 1981 7 5 October 2009 4 March 2010
Complete Series 1–4 CCTV 30532 5 1974–1976 30 30 October 2006 N/A
Complete Series 1–8 BBCDVD3329 9 1974–1981 56 4 October 2010 N/A

[edit] Songs

Because It Ain't Half Hot Mum was a sitcom about a concert party, many old music hall, musical and traditional songs were performed by the actors, including:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Deolali is pronounced "doolally"; this is widely believed to be a pun on the term for insanity, but it is in fact a real place and actually the source of the term.
  2. ^ It Aint Half Hot Mum BBC Comedy
  3. ^ a b See comments by actor Renu Setna in the documentary on Comedy Connections "It Ain't Half Hot, Mum" (#5.3), original air date: 26 January 2007
  4. ^ Jeffries, Stuart (3 February 2003) "Some like it hot" The Guardian —Stuart Jeffries interviewed Jimmy Perry, creator of Dad's Army

[edit] External links
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