My opinion of Les Dawson has gone down since watching all of The Dawson Watch.
Series 1 contained some great sketches introduced by Dawson, belonging to the same style as The Frost Report and Not the Nine O'Clock News, but series 2 and 3, with Dawson appearing in the sketches and joining the writing team of Andy Hamilton and Terry Ravenscroft, were miserable affairs. Overlong sketches, Dawson often underrehearsed, the jarring slapping of the ladies' bottoms in the 'control room', and not particularly funny recurring characters all added up to a show that almost sent you to sleep to miss the few good lines that made it through.
There are some notable cameos in the sketches, such at Johnny Ball, Robin Parkin, and Peter Blake who plays a DJ in one episode almost identical to his character in the excellent Agony.
I am grateful to Simply Media for releasing these shows on DVD, but cannot imagine wanting to sit through it all again.
