Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

The Plank

  • TV Movie
  • 19791979
  • 28m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
673
YOUR RATING
The Plank (1979)
Comedy
This is a pantomime about two construction workers, who discover that a plank is missing from the floor they are just building. They discover that two children have taken the plank and use i... Read allThis is a pantomime about two construction workers, who discover that a plank is missing from the floor they are just building. They discover that two children have taken the plank and use it for a seesaw. Instead of taking it back, they decide to go and buy a new one. However, t... Read allThis is a pantomime about two construction workers, who discover that a plank is missing from the floor they are just building. They discover that two children have taken the plank and use it for a seesaw. Instead of taking it back, they decide to go and buy a new one. However, this may not have been a very good idea, for all the troubles and problems they encounter, ... Read all
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
673
YOUR RATING
    • Eric Sykes
    • Eric Sykes
  • Stars
    • Eric Sykes
    • Arthur Lowe
    • Lionel Blair
    • Eric Sykes
    • Eric Sykes
  • Stars
    • Eric Sykes
    • Arthur Lowe
    • Lionel Blair
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 9User reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Photos

    Arthur Lowe and Eric Sykes in The Plank (1979)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Eric Sykes
    Eric Sykes
    • Larger Workman
    Arthur Lowe
    Arthur Lowe
    • Smaller Workman
    Lionel Blair
    Lionel Blair
    • Paint-covered House Owner
    Henry Cooper
    Henry Cooper
    • Beer drinker
    Harry H. Corbett
    Harry H. Corbett
    • Amorous Van Driver
    Bernard Cribbins
    Bernard Cribbins
    • House painter
    Robert Dorning
    • Fork-Lift Truck Driver
    Diana Dors
    Diana Dors
    • Woman with Rose
    Charlie Drake
    Charlie Drake
    • Delivery man with cake
    Jimmy Edwards
    • Policeman
    Liza Goddard
    Liza Goddard
    • Young lady helped across the road
    Deryck Guyler
    Deryck Guyler
    • Milkman
    Charles Hawtrey
    Charles Hawtrey
    • Co-Driver
    Frankie Howerd
    Frankie Howerd
    • Photographer
    James Hunt
    James Hunt
    • One-Eyed Truck Driver
    Wilfrid Hyde-White
    Wilfrid Hyde-White
    • Old man trying to cross the road
    • (as Wilfred Hyde White)
    Joanna Lumley
    Joanna Lumley
    • Hitchhiker
    Kenny Lynch
    • Dustman
      • Eric Sykes
      • Eric Sykes
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    The Plank
    6.7
    The Plank
    Margaret
    6.5
    Margaret
    Not the Nine O'Clock News
    7.9
    Not the Nine O'Clock News
    A Private Affair
    6.6
    A Private Affair
    The Young Ones
    8.2
    The Young Ones
    On the Buses
    5.9
    On the Buses
    The Promoter
    7.1
    The Promoter
    Mr. H Is Late
    7.2
    Mr. H Is Late
    It's Your Move
    7.1
    It's Your Move
    Sweeney!
    6.8
    Sweeney!
    Rhubarb Rhubarb
    6.5
    Rhubarb Rhubarb
    Rhubarb
    6.0
    Rhubarb

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Basically this 1979 TV version was a re-make of the original 1967 Cinema film of the same title. Eric Sykes re-used many of the original locations including many parts of Barnes in South West London. Barnes pond is a good example where scenes were re-shot, recreating as close to the original 1967 film as possible.
    • Connections
      Featured in 40 Years of Laughter: The Sitcoms (1995)

    User reviews9

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    5/10
    I just don't get it, I'm afraid
    The main appeal of this short is probably the cameos from a certain strata of 60s and 70s British comedy that support leads Eric Sykes and Arthur Lowe - Lionel Blair, Harry H. Corbett, Bernard Cribbins, Frankie Howerd, Reg Varney, Joanna Lumley, the guy from GEORGE AND MILDRED etc. Unfortunately, (with the exception of the great Charles Hawtrey) this is the comedy against which I've always defined my own loves - e.g. MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS, REGINALD PERRIN, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE LIKELY LADS, FAWLTY TOWERS etc. - so there isn't much enjoyment for me here. But it's rare that popular TV stars experiment with the riches of short silent comedy, so I gave it a go.

    The first barrier to pleasure is not the profusion of performers I have never found funny, but the aggressive laughter track stuck on, telling me how truly hilarious what I'm watching is, when it clearly, bewilderingly, isn't. The gags are so obvious, and are set up so far in advance, and are executed as precisely as you expected, that not only can you not understand why everybody's enjoying themselves; but you get the feeling that you are not watching a comedy, but a lecture in the mechanics of comedy theorems.

    The plot concerns two builders, Sykes and Lowe, who are laying the wood foundations of a new house, only to find one plank stolen by children to make a see-saw. They head off to the plankyard (or whatever it's called) in their clapped out old car, and the rest of the film details their chaotic, socially disruptive, attempts to bring it back to the house.

    There is some abstract pleasure in seeing a plot dominated not by bewildered comics, but a piece of wood, which probably dramatises some Marxist gubbins about the commodity fetish and the alienation of the worker from his labour. There is an intriguing contrast between the very British cast and their brand of saucy seaside humour, and the very abstract Anywhere-ville that frames their adventures, a new housing estate under construction and some generalsised suburbs.

    This, and the pleasing, bouncy music, give the film a HULOT-esque feel, but there is none of Tati's complex struggle between individual and environment (or hilarity). This rush of new building and the profusion of labourers give some sense of 70s Britain, its anonymity and dehumanisation, while the ultimate circularity of the plot calls into question the very progress (eg economic) that allows the film's content.

    While the leads are sympathetic in their passivity, the jokes and slapstick are so old, corny and uninventive, stolen from hundreds of better 20s comedies. Men get splattered by paint, hit by the plank, are run into a pond etc. The one genuinely funny sequence is when the great Wilfred Hyde-White tries to cross a busy road and his walking-stick is broken.
    helpful•7
    70
    • alice liddell
    • Mar 1, 2000

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 17, 1979 (United Kingdom)
      • United Kingdom
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Barnes Pond, Barnes, London, England, UK
    • Production company
      • Thames Television
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 28 minutes
      • Color
      • Mono

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    The Plank (1979)
    Top Gap
    By what name was The Plank (1979) officially released in Canada in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.