Porterhouse Blue (1987) User Reviews

A blot on the landscape

[Prismark10 · 8/10 · 8 May 2018]

Tom Sharpe's satirical novel has translated well on television thanks to Malcolm Bradbury's stinging adaptation tipped with acid laced hilarity.

Porterhouse College, one of the cash strapped schools at Cambridge University is steeped in tradition and archaic values which is due to be ripped apart by its new liberal Master Sir Godber Evans (Ian Richardson) spurred on by his activist wife. The college sells places, sells degrees and stuck in the middle ages where they feast on swans and ox in grand dinners.

The new Master aims to put an end to all this, make the college a meritocracy and bring it to the 20th century to the horror of the fellow senior tutors of the college who want their ancien regime traditions to continue.

The biggest challenge Sir Godber faces is from Skullion (David Jason) the head porter of Porterhouse who knows all the secrets of the college, the past students and masters. A dim working class man who places great value in the tradition of the college that churns out proper gentlemen.

Porterhouse Blue is biting satire with slapstick and a punch in the gut ending if you are of a progressive type. It is silly, it is fun and wonderful entertainment.

A funny and merciless satire on British class snobbery and Oxbridge traditions

[Terrell-4 · 8/10 · 7 March 2008]

The master has just died...of a Porterhouse Blue. That is, of a stroke brought on by overindulgence. Long tradition insists that the masters of Porterhouse College name their successors, and that is to be the last man named by a dying master. Porterhouse, a very traditional college in the Cambridge mode of English privileged education, depends on all of its complacent traditions. "You know my view," says the Dean of Porterhouse, "if a little learning is a dangerous thing, just think what harm a lot of it can do." The college is so traditional, in fact, that its rights and privileges haven't changed in centuries. The deans and tutors seem just as ancient. However, the dying master did not name a successor. With no successor, the Prime Minister steps in and chooses a new one...Sir Godber Evans (Ian Richardson), a weak but sly fox of a politician with a wife, Lady Mary (Barbara Jeffords), who is as strong-willed and zealous as an executioner's axe. Sir Godber, however, is about to come up against two bastions of self-satisfied tradition, the Dean (Paul Rogers) and the Senior Tutor (John Woodnutt). But not even in Sir Godber's worst dreamings could he envisage the real defender of Porterhouse tradition...Skullion (David Jason), the head porter, a man who has been a fixture at Porterhouse for 45 years, who knows all the secrets and who keeps lists. Skullion is not a man to be trifled with.

Sir Godber and Lady Mary are determined to haul Porterhouse into the Twentieth Century. Finding that the college is in debt by a million pounds -- it maintains a fine cellar and chef for the High Table -- doesn't seem upsetting to those who have the long view. Take the college Feast, a magnificent affair with cooked, stuffed swans with all their feathers replaced, with the great ox cooked on a spit, whose dripping skeleton is festively paraded about the dining hall to the cheers of all. "Don't you find this a little indulgent? Particularly in the present economic circumstances." says Sir Godber. "Oh, we never bother with 'present economic circumstances'." says the Dean. Chimes in the Senior Tutor, "We find that they tend to go away after fifty years or so."

As Sir Godber and his wife set out to bring women into the college and bring financial order to the budget, The Dean, the Senior Tutor and the other Fellows plot...and Skullion is just about to have a fit. He knows a gentleman when he sees one, and Sir Godber is not doing what a gentlemen does. He embarks on a campaign to see that Porterhouse traditions will be protected and that he'll be able to keep his job. In this vicious, amusing satire on class snobbery and England's Oxbridge ways, no one is spared and a few even die. In fact, one of the funniest turns of the knife depends at the conclusion on another episode of a Porterhouse Blue.

The program was adapted from the novel by Tom Sharpe, a British author who specializes in novels which skewer class pretensions. If you like Evelyn Waugh, you'll probably find Porterhouse Blue a rip. David Jason and Ian Richardson are in great form. And only Britain could come up with such a collection of fine actors able to play the aging protectors of tradition and fine wines. I remember years ago seeing Our Man in Havana and being impressed by Paul Rogers, a man I'd never heard of before, playing a key role amidst the star power of Alec Guinness, Ernie Kovacs, Noel Coward and Ralph Richardson. At 70, Rogers plays the Dean of Porterhouse with great, self-serving style and sly humor. He is one of the many actors in Porterhouse Blue who are, as they say, spot on.

Oh my giddy aunt!

[CitizenCairParavel · 9/10 · 21 May 2020]

Oh my giddy aunt! I definitely wasn't expecting this episode to turn out the way it did. It was hysterical! Skullion becoming Master of Porterhouse! The interview on TV! LOL! Hysterical! (I just wish it hadn't been so raunchy in places; the condoms section got a little old as also the scenes with the bedder--otherwise I would have given the series a 10.)

Biting satire with top notch cast.

[nbt97 · 10/10 · 25 May 2001]

Take one college steeped in religion, whose aim is not to produce high class students but to succeed in every master having a stroke brought on by gluttony. When the old master dies, Sir Godber Evans and his fiend of a wife Lady Mary blaze in to take over and soon tradition flies out the window in the face of radical plans: contraceptive machines and scholars! The Faculty aren't happy and neither is Scullion, the head porter, who is eventually sacked. His recompense though is awesome indeed and sparks really begin to fly.

This has to be one of the most biting attacks on the institution ever written. Unbelievably well cast, marvellously acted and directed, it cracks on a pace and runs to a terrific conclusion. Unlike his contemporaries David Jason has a skill with successfully creating many diverse roles. This is one of his best one-off roles. But look out for Paula Jacobs as the "buxom bedder"!!

Sublime

[spanishflea50 · 12 May 2002]

I bought this series very cheap on DVD and it has got to be one of the best things I have ever watched. Most notable in my opinion is the soundtrack which is a fantastic piece of cod choral music and would be worth an entire album to it'self. The acting is also excellant with David Jason bringing remarkable energy to the role. Also amid all the social satire it is deeply amusing with one of the lead characters (Zipser, played wonderfuly by John Sessions) being killed by 4 gross of hydrogen filled condoms. Also notable is the great photography in and around Cambridge making it staple viewing for inhabitants of the city. This is in short a masterpiece and has lead me to read all of Tom Sharpe's books. All I can say is to any film maker PLEASE PLEASE FILM TOM SHARPE'S SEQUEL GRANCHESTER GRIND

You call this further education

[lawrenceconwayvulcan · 10/10 · 31 August 2018]

Based on the novel by Tom Sharpe, Porterhouse Blue is a dark farce about an ancient Cambridge college and it's arcance ways confronted by the modern world. David Jason in a BAFTA winning performance plays Scullion whose devotion to the college even extends to calling the rowdy students 'gentlemen' all because it is the college's way. Things are given a major shake up when an new master of the college and sets to change against the will of the set in their ways staff. The scenes of Scullion and the master confronting each is the showcase of 2 fine actors, Jason and in the role of the master Ian Richardson. Porterhouse Blue is full of moments of dark humour such as the couple killed in the middle of an erotic tryst because one of them had stuffed a chimey full of condoms in order not to be discovered only for them to explode! Also in the cast are Charles Gray, Griff Rhys Jones and playing the unfortunate male half of the doomed couple John Sessions. Porterhouse Blue is scathing of both rigid tradation and PC culture and a great laugh with it.

Clever satire weighed down by intrusive music

[paloma54 · 6/10 · 21 May 2020]

There were some very funny moments in this series. However, the pacing overall is slow thanks to innumerable interruptions of senseless, unfunny, mildly unpleasant music. Cutting out 1/2 hour of the music would have resulted in a more humorous series.

Well Written, Well Acted, Very Funny

[marian-hone1 · 10/10 · 17 October 2017]

I saw this on TV when it was first broadcast and loved how well written it was, how skillfully acted, entertaining and very funny. It's bawdy in parts. Writer Tom Sharpe's humour is earthy and can be savage in satirising characters, institutions and authorities. The best acting, in my opinion, is by David Jason as the Porter (so different from his character in "Only Fools and Horses") and John Sessions as the student Zipser.

One of the darkest satires ever

[misstoes · 9/10 · 28 May 2023]

Brilliant, just brilliant satire of Oxbridge traditions, set here in a Cambridge college famous for not caring about scholastic achievement to the point of the porter having arranged for poor but brilliant students to take the exams for prominent sons.

Along the way we're treated to a randy middle aged lady servant who keeps trying to seduce the student whom she serves, elderly dons who constantly encourage sex without really realizing it (maybe), Elizabethan-style feasts replete with stuffed swans, whole ox etc to the point of inducing strokes in the college masters, hence Porterhouse "blue." Ian Richardson plays the most recent master brought in to replace the recently deceased and he's brought to heel by his wealthy wife who conveniently provided him with a title. But as a reformer, she wants Porterhouse made coeducational + with prophylactics in machines throughout the college (hey, it's set in the 80's). Not one character is let off the satirical hook, including the presumed lower man on the totem pole, the loyal porter.

If you're of a certain age (even American like me) you'll likely recognize most of the players and laugh your head off. Best four hours I've spent in a long time.

Scullion was not dim.....

[cwatson6387 · 8/10 · 12 June 2023]

.....as another reviewer suggested.

Scullion may have served on the "wrong side" of the divide at Porterhouse and thus had no letters after his name but it's quite clear that neither Sharpe (I've read the book) and Malcolm Bradbury who adapted the novel saw him as dim.

Anyway in the best traditions of the underdog turning the table on his "betters" Skullion understands how to deal with TV journalist far better than any of the Masters.

As an aside the acapella music especially dives in Omnia" (Latin for "Rich in Everything") as sung by The Flying Pickets heard throughout the series was excellent.

Not everything translates one from one medium to another

[name99-92-545389 · 5/10 · 7 January 2023]

Tom Sharpe has to be one of the funniest writers in human history, and in my younger days I remember my joy every time a new books came out.

But some works are so rooted in their medium that attempted transplants are essentially impossible, and so it is here.

The screenplay does what it can, and yes, we get the outlines of the story. There are even a few funny scenes. But there's none of the magic, and there's none of gut busting absurdity that hurts your lungs one page after the next, just a somewhat mediocre story. No-one to blame and, hell, valiant effort, but some things just aren't meant to be.