"Kinvig" (1981) TV series

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Brian Simmons

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

4 September 1981 (UK)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Comedy

Plot:

Des Kinvig, owner of a backstreet electrical repair shop and part-time UFO nut, discovers that one of his customers...

Plot Keywords:

Sitcom

Cast

Tony Haygarth	...	Des Kinvig (7 episodes, 1981)
Patsy Rowlands	...	Netta Kinvig (7 episodes, 1981)
Prunella Gee	...	Miss Griffin (7 episodes, 1981)
Colin Jeavons	...	Jim Piper (7 episodes, 1981)
Danny Schiller	...	Sagga (7 episodes, 1981)
Stephen Bent	...	Loon (7 episodes, 1981)
Alan Bodenham	...	Bat (7 episodes, 1981)
Simon Williams	...	Buddo (5 episodes, 1981)
Patrick Newell	...	Mr. Horsley (4 episodes, 1981)

Runtime:

30 min (7 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

London Weekend Television (LWT)

A neglected gem of gentle TV comedy

First of all, Kinvig was a TV series, not a movie. It ran for one series of seven episodes and disappeared without trace. Presumed lost and forgotten, it recently resurfaced on DVD in the summer of 2006. Kinvig appeared around the same time as the 'Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy' with which it shares only a comedic approach to science fiction. Kinvig is perhaps the more dated of the two and while not really in the same league I remember it with great affection and also recall that no-one else I knew ever watched it. Their loss. The best things about it were Prunella Gee as a very shapely alien (and/or customer of Kinvig's shop,) Tony Haysgarth as the eponymous 'hero,' Colin Jeavons as his UFO-obsessed sidekick played and the fact that it was (deliberately) never made clear whether the sci-fi goings on were really happening or whether they were happening only in the mind of the eponymous character. How it will stand up to 21st century viewing remains to be seen but as an example of gentle British humour depicting strange things happening to (or in the mind of?) a very ordinary man it is an interesting curiosity from simpler times. Shades of HG Wells? Yes, but it's more 'History of Mr Polly' than 'War of the Worlds.' Perhaps the most surprising thing of all about it is that it was written and conceived by the British sci-fi pioneer, Nigel Kneale, more famous for the likes of serious sci-fi work like 'Quatermass and the Pit.' Certainly an aberration for him, it was critically panned and ranks pretty low on his long list of notable achievements but for me it has that unique British charm of poking fun at two somewhat disappointed men while simultaneously celebrating their spirit of 'getting by.'