Catweazle (TV Series) Duck Halt (1971) User Reviews

Classic episode!

[canndyman · 8/10 · 10 November 2023]

I loved seeing this episode for the first time back in 1971, on the LWT re-run in the mid-80s - & now on DVD with my wife!

In this second story of season 2, Catweazle is determined to continue his quest for the signs of the zodiac, and hopes the reluctant Cedric will help with the next sign, the bull.

There's lots of memorable scenes in this, & a couple that definitely have stayed lodged in my mind since 1971!

We get yet another future member of the Last of the Summer Wine actors in the shape of Bill Owen as a rag & bone man.

Catweazle also needs a new den to call his home and, after casting the runes earlier for enlightenment, it all comes to a very memorable ending.

I loved the jaunty incidental music too (reused from an episode in season 1), which evokes the summer fun of the story.

Def one of my favourite episodes!

Duck Halt

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 8 February 2020]

Cedric needs to get to grips with his new friend Catweazle at his ancestral home, Kings Farthing. Cedric wants to tell his dad about Catweazle.

However pretty soon they cut the bull and find the second sign of the zodiac. The problem is retrieving it from the scrap merchant.

Catweazle learns how to go to the pub and order crisps and pop. He also seems to have learned how to ride a bike rather quickly.

As Catweazle tris to get away from the scrap merchant he comes across a small abandoned building by the railway tracks. He calls Duck Halt his new home.

There is a discernable lack of chemistry between Cedric and Catweazle. You can also sense the silly slapstick with the bicycle escape.

Bill Owen is another Last of the Summer Wine mainstay who appears in this series. He plays the scrap merchant who has trouble with hay fever.