'Yanks Go Home!' was a short-lived attempt by Granada Television to usurp the golden crown of 'Dad's Army'.
Britain, 1942. A train chugs its way through leafy countryside. Aboard are a group of G.I.'s on their way to the north-west town of Warrington. Among them are bossy 'Colonel Ralph Kruger' ( Alan MacNaughtan ), swaggering 'Sgt.Gus Pulaski' ( Bruce Boa ), fast-talking 'Cpl.Vince Rossi' ( Stuart Damon ), and Jerry Lewis-lookalike 'Pfc.Burford Puckett' ( Richard Oldfield ). The men are studying a guide of do's and don't's on how to behave in England. Kruger is annoyed because it warns against boasting about America having bailed out Britain in its hour of need, and he was looking forward to gloating about this. The train is met by town clerk 'Leonard Chambers' ( Norman Bird ) who bores everyone by making an incredibly long-winded, pompous speech. The G.I.'s put up their flag almost as though they are claiming the town as their own. At the local saloon ( sorry, bar ), they encounter the local broads ( sorry, girls ), one of whom is dippy 'Doreen Sankey' ( Catherine Neilson ), daughter of glamorous barmaid 'Phoebe Sankey' ( Meg Johnson ), whose husband is away at the front. They welcome the G.I.'s with open ( ahem! ) arms. Less happy about their arrival is grumpy pensioner 'Bert Pickup' ( Harry Markham ). He announces that he will not let his wife out of the house from now on...
Written by Michael Carter, a designer who seems to have had no writing credits either before or since, this opener has some amusing moments but not nearly enough of them. The obvious canned laughter annoys from the word go. It sounds like that used on a later Granada show - 'Alfresco' - and crops up in the unlikeliest of places. When Kruger asks Rossi what he is carrying, for instance, the latter replies: "Invites!". Pulaski repeats: "Invites?", and the studio audience convulses. The same problem later blighted another I.T.V. wartime sitcom - 'Backs To The Land'. Among the cast, the one who makes the greatest impression is Ross ( the original 'Kryten' in 'Red Dwarf, incidentally ) as the money-grabbing landlord 'Harry'. One of the local girls is the late Gilly Coman, the first and best 'Aveline' from 'Bread'.
Funniest moment - Harry asks Kruger if he has been in an English pub before. When the latter says no, the former quickly rubs out the price of a pint on the blackboard and replaces it with a much higher one!
Second funniest moment - it again involves Harry. Noticing that half of the G.I.'s are German and the other half Italian, he notes with some incredulity: "Them's supposed to be the ones we're at war with!".
Britain, 1942. A train chugs its way through leafy countryside. Aboard are a group of G.I.'s on their way to the north-west town of Warrington. Among them are bossy 'Colonel Ralph Kruger' ( Alan MacNaughtan ), swaggering 'Sgt.Gus Pulaski' ( Bruce Boa ), fast-talking 'Cpl.Vince Rossi' ( Stuart Damon ), and Jerry Lewis-lookalike 'Pfc.Burford Puckett' ( Richard Oldfield ). The men are studying a guide of do's and don't's on how to behave in England. Kruger is annoyed because it warns against boasting about America having bailed out Britain in its hour of need, and he was looking forward to gloating about this. The train is met by town clerk 'Leonard Chambers' ( Norman Bird ) who bores everyone by making an incredibly long-winded, pompous speech. The G.I.'s put up their flag almost as though they are claiming the town as their own. At the local saloon ( sorry, bar ), they encounter the local broads ( sorry, girls ), one of whom is dippy 'Doreen Sankey' ( Catherine Neilson ), daughter of glamorous barmaid 'Phoebe Sankey' ( Meg Johnson ), whose husband is away at the front. They welcome the G.I.'s with open ( ahem! ) arms. Less happy about their arrival is grumpy pensioner 'Bert Pickup' ( Harry Markham ). He announces that he will not let his wife out of the house from now on...
Written by Michael Carter, a designer who seems to have had no writing credits either before or since, this opener has some amusing moments but not nearly enough of them. The obvious canned laughter annoys from the word go. It sounds like that used on a later Granada show - 'Alfresco' - and crops up in the unlikeliest of places. When Kruger asks Rossi what he is carrying, for instance, the latter replies: "Invites!". Pulaski repeats: "Invites?", and the studio audience convulses. The same problem later blighted another I.T.V. wartime sitcom - 'Backs To The Land'. Among the cast, the one who makes the greatest impression is Ross ( the original 'Kryten' in 'Red Dwarf, incidentally ) as the money-grabbing landlord 'Harry'. One of the local girls is the late Gilly Coman, the first and best 'Aveline' from 'Bread'.
Funniest moment - Harry asks Kruger if he has been in an English pub before. When the latter says no, the former quickly rubs out the price of a pint on the blackboard and replaces it with a much higher one!
Second funniest moment - it again involves Harry. Noticing that half of the G.I.'s are German and the other half Italian, he notes with some incredulity: "Them's supposed to be the ones we're at war with!".