"Q5" (1969) TV series 1969-1980

User Rating:

8.8/10   

Director:

Ian MacNaughton

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

24 March 1969 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Spike Milligan	...	Various Characters (32 episodes, 1969-1980)
John Bluthal	...	Various Characters (28 episodes, 1969-1980)
Alan Clare	...	Various Characters (23 episodes, 1969-1980)
David Lodge	...	Various Characters (20 episodes, 1975-1980)
Julia Breck	...	Various Characters (20 episodes, 1975-1980)
Keith Smith	...	Various Characters (19 episodes, 1978-1980)
Robert Dorning	...	Various Characters (13 episodes, 1975-1978)
Stella Tanner	...	Various Characters (13 episodes, 1975-1979)
Ed Welch	...	Himself - Musical Guest (13 episodes, 1978-1980)

Also Known As:

Q6 (UK) (new title)
Q7 (UK) (new title)
Q8 (UK) (new title)
Q9 (UK) (new title)

Runtime:

30 min (32 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Pythons: Somewhere in Tunisia, Circa A.D. 1979 (1979) (TV)

Worth it for 'the bird with the boobs'...

I've never seen the attraction in Spike Milligan, personally. The Goon Show may have been groundbreaking in its day, but listen to it now and it's about as funny as a brick hurtling through your window at three in the morning. A friend lent me a videotape of Milligan's seventies 'Q' series and I was shocked at how creaky, low-budget, unfunny and repetitive it was. Sorry Spike, but sticking a Hitler moustache on your face and screaming things like "Jewish swine!" whenever you play a remotely Teutonic character just isn't funny. Referring to ethnic minorities as "them wogs" isn't shocking or amusing, just tiresome. The only reason for watching these cheapskate exercises in threadbare surrealism is to see the beautiful, mammoth-breasted, often scantily-clad 'glamour stooge' Julia Breck, a pitifully underused actress who had the ability to charm her way through Milligan's dire material, and who was repeatedly referred to as "the bird with the boobs" by the rest of the (male, middle-aged, unattractive) cast. Julia fared better with the Two Ronnies, where she at least had some decent material to work with, but it seems the Q series temporarily or permanently disrupted the careers of everyone who was involved with it. The BBC eventually scrapped the show in 1982, after the final series (titled 'There's A Lot Of It About') was a dismal flop and Milligan's humour was rendered obsolete by the arrival into the television mainstream of the 'alternative' comedians. If you wonder why this one rarely gets repeated, check out the 'Best Of Q' video and you'll see why - it's rubbish!