The Fenn Street Gang (TV Series) Rough Justice (1971) User Reviews

Dennis In The Dock!

[ShadeGrenade · 9/10 · 23 November 2007]

Left to his own devices one evening in the pub, Dennis falls in with a group of leather-jacketed hoodlums. After plying him with drink, they rob a chocolate machine. The police show up ( how efficient the boys in blue were back in 1971! ), and arrest them.

Poor Dennis goes up before the local Magistrate. But help comes from an unexpected source. Two of his former teachers, Mr.Price and Mr.Smith, are there, and Smithy's impassioned plea for clemency bores the beak so much he lets Dennis off with a small fine...

There was two-way traffic between 'Please Sir!''s last season and 'The Fenn Street Gang''s first, with characters cropping up in both shows. While the former was struggling to cope without 'Hedges' and '5C', the latter was coasting along nicely - mind you, most of its cast was from 'Please Sir!', so this was not surprising.

'Price' had previously worked his Celtic magic in 'Should Auld Acquaintance'. 'Smithy' alas was confined to this Tony Bilbow-scripted episode. Regrettably, 'Potter', 'Miss Ewell' and 'Cromwell' did not appear in the show.

Chocolates machines ( along with cigarette machines ) were a common sight on Britain's streets in the '60's and '70's. They were abolished because people kept on robbing them!

A good episode, although Peter Bayliss seems a bit wasted here.

David Janson, who plays one of the thugs, would go on to star in Esmonde and Larbey's 'Get Some In!'. The beak is Geoffrey Bayldon, who played 'Catweazle' in the hit children's show for L.W.T.

Funniest moment - Smithy's outraged face as the beak refers to him as a 'teddy boy'!

Dennis Goes Delinquent

[alanbnew · 7/10 · 23 October 2021]

Although Dennis is happy in his job tending the brewery horses he is struggling to find friends. This and his gullibility make him easy prey for a group of thugs who draw him into their efforts to break into a machine selling chocolate. The police arrive and arrest Dennis and his new "friends" and he finds himself in court.

A fair episode with a moderate storyline improved by some broader social comments and realism. The three thugs (who rather come across as Frankie Abbott-types who have actually moved to the wrong side of the law) are pretty unconvincing and there are shaky elements more broadly in the story and characterisation but the episode deserves credit for offering a deeper look at Dennis and his life situation. At school in 5C Dennis was well-supported by his classmates and the teachers but the outside world is a tougher place. Dennis's kindly work colleague Charlie (nicely played by Joe Ritchie) enquires about whether Dennis has any friends or girlfriends and can see that while he has acquaintances among his former classmates he doesn't really have any friends at all - certainly not outside of his old school circle. Dennis tries to see if he can go out with a couple of other work colleagues but they are clearly not interested. This makes Dennis vulnerable when he visits the pub and bumps into the thugs. He doesn't understand their real activities, they ply him with drinks and he is easily drawn into their criminal plans.

This is a good depiction of how the period after leaving school can leave some youngsters adrift. The problems are amplified for Dennis because his learning difficulties make others more likely to reject him or at least not pursue firm friendships with him. This can provide a space for unscrupulous people to either bully the likes of Dennis or take advantage of them as these thugs did. Dennis's role in their crime though is not well-defined - one would have assumed he would have been used either as a look-out or to actually break into the machine with them safely at a distance - and therefore only he would carry the can. Instead he just seems to be tagging along as a loose part of the gang and it's unlikely they would have used him in that way. Fortunately for law and order (but unfortunately rather unrealistically) the police are right at the scene and arrest all those involved. The story would have packed more punch if the others had got away and the injustice would have been clearer although maybe it was felt that was too socially realistic.

Given their poor screen presence it's no loss that the thugs are omitted from the trial scenes. Duffy and Craven who caught the end of events speak as witnesses, Dennis's drunken and dissolute father offers his typical lack of moral support. Dennis's former teachers Mr Smith and Mr Price reappear to see the events and the former vehemently asserts that Dennis is incapable of the crime (or indeed any crime) while the latter offers his usual cynical observations. These characters are rather shoe-horned in here and not at their best but it's still welcome to see them in the spin-off show.

Geoffrey Bayldon is an excellent actor and gives a typically fine performance as a frustrated magistrate who is somewhat behind the times while Tenniel Evans also gives a typically good display as Dennis's solicitor who tries against the odds to keep the case on track.

The ending of the episode seems somewhat odd. Sitcoms almost always would end with a gag or clearly funny scene but the last one here falls rather flat. It's rather symbolic of patchy writing and production and maybe a show that was relying chiefly on warmth and nostalgia towards its characters rather than the quality of its stories or scenarios.