Kingswood Country
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| Kingswood Country | |
|---|---|
 Opening Title Card |
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| Format | Comedy |
| Starring | Ross Higgins Judi Farr Peter Fisher Lex Marinos Maggie Dence Laurel McGowan Sheila Kennelly |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of episodes | 89 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Seven Network |
| Original run | 1980 – 1984 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
Kingswood Country was an Australian sitcom that screened from 1980 to 1984 on the Seven Network. The series started on 30 January 1980 and was a spin-off from a sketch on comedy program The Naked Vicar Show that had featured Ross Higgins as a blustering bigot.
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[edit] Premise
While some condemned its racist and sexist humour, this was often simply a plot device to show the bigotry of the main character, Edward Melba "Ted" Bullpitt (Ross Higgins), a white Australian, conservative, bigoted, Holden Kingswood-loving putty factory worker and WWII veteran who recalls his difficult childhood in ever more exaggerated ways.
He lives for three things: his beloved chair in front of the TV, his unsuccessful racing greyhounds and his worshipped Holden Kingswood car (late in the show's run Ted traded-in the Kingswood, which had gone out of production around the time the series began, for Holden's replacement mid-range family car, the Commodore). His long-suffering wife, the vague and dithering Thelma (Judi Farr), was cast as a traditional housewife trapped by Ted's conservative family views, but she often got her own back on Ted.
Humour was generated by the conflict of Ted's traditional views and his children's progressive nature. For example, his son Craig (Peter Fisher) is portrayed as a sexually rampant medical student and is referred to as an "Al Grassby Groupie", a reference to a progressive politician of the time. His daughter, Greta (Laurel McGowan), is portrayed as a feminist and is married to Bruno (Lex Marinos), the son of Italian immigrants, to which Ted strongly objects (often referring to him as a "bloody wog"). Other politically-incorrect humor includes Ted's references to Neville, the Concrete Aboriginal garden statue.
At other times, humour was based on the more traditional comedic methods of poorly thought-out schemes of Ted's (usually get-rich-quick); class differences (between the suburban Bullpitts and Ted's upwardly-mobile sister-in-law Merle) and simple misunderstandings leading to a chain of humorous events.
Reruns currently air on cable and satellite channel FOX Classics.
[edit] Analysis
The series reflected the changing culture of Australia through Ted's inability to accept this change from traditional culture to multiculturalism, from basic to advanced education levels and from conservative to more liberal politics.
Several elements of the show, and indeed the overall premise and the character types of the show, were similar to British sitcom Til Death Us Do Part. Coincidentally, just as the wife character in Til Death Us Do Part left the series before its end, so too did Thelma in Kingswood Country when Judi Farr decided to leave the series. Her absence was explained in the story by having Thelma going on an extended cruise, with Bruno's mother Rosa (Sheila Kennelly) moving in to look after Ted. Thelma much later sent word she would not be returning to Ted.
Guest stars in the series included Graham Kennedy, Robert Hughes and Noeline Brown and Ray Meagher and Bruce Spence. The show won the Most Popular Comedy Award in 1981 and 1982 at the Logies.
[edit] Catchphrases
The series has spawned some catchphrases such as:
- "Don't call me Dad, I'm your father!"
- "Pickle me grandmother!"
- [when surprised from behind] "Give a man a heart attack!"
- "Strike me Catholic!"
- [when someone asks to drink his beer] "Leave your money on the fridge!"
- "Somebody/someone should blow [current object of annoyance] up!"
- "The Kingswood! You're not taking the Kingswood!..." [insert far-fetched excuse] e.g "I've just ducoed the tyres"
- "When I was a boy... " [insert long-winded, far-fetched story]
- "Hate, hate, vomit!"
- [when asked how his day went] "Bloody shambles, of course!"
- [the universal insult for a miserable, miserly old man] "Grumblebum!"
- Leave the money on the fridge when someone other than Ted consumes his beer.
- This is Ted Bullpit...No!Bull-PIT...yeah, everyone says that
[edit] DVD
A 'Best Of' DVD was released in 2003 featuring 13 out of the 89 episodes as well as the original skit on The Naked Vicar Show that spawned the series. A second 'Best Of' featuring an additional 13 episodes was also released in 2006[1].
[edit] Bullpitt!
A spin-off to the series was the short-lived, much panned Bullpitt! in 1997. Of the original shows cast only Ross Higgins had a regular role; Elaine Lee also co-starred.
