Up Pompeii Coll

Having only ever "experienced" Frankie Howerd once before (in 1978's ill-fated Sgt. Pepper movie), my expectations for this series were none too high. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised to find such a cute series as this one. Frankie Howerd is (in my view) simply unsurpassed as a comedian, and in my opinion this series is quite hilarious. On the one hand, it is a situational comedy, and as such it is extremely zany and light but with an abundance of wit (mostly in the form of puns, double entendres, and other such wordplay). On the other hand, the series also has elements of stand-up comedy, with Howerd frequently speaking in asides to the audience in addition to addressing them outright.

One example of the type of jokes to expect: Howerd says to a messenger who's been stabbed, "You can't die here, it's the living room." It's the type of humour that would have one groaning in less skilled hands (okay, it has one groaning even here), but Howerd is able to carry it off. This example notwithstanding, the humour is generally fairly bawdy, though in the nicest possible way. In other words, any bawdiness is usually the result of the viewer/audience "catching" a second meaning for a word or phrase! (I have, by the way, also seen the Up Pompeii movie, which I also enjoyed although I found it to be somewhat more sexually explicit (with some nudity) and the bawdy humour seemed a little more daring in places. Although personally I preferred the series, the movie is certainly worth seeing if you enjoy bawdy British humour).

Each video in this set consists of three 30-35 minute episodes for a total of six episodes. The plots of each episode are very simple and usually of the "comedy of errors" variety, and as is typical of many British comedies, variations of the same jokes appear in each episode. Finally, an interest in classical Roman history is not required, for the setting (and indeed the story-lines themselves) are merely a vehicle for Howerd's talents and for the jokes.

As a point of interest, some of the episodes were produced by David Croft, and those familiar with Are You Being Served? may (or may not!) recognise Mollie Sugden (Mrs. Slocombe) and Larry Martyn (Mr. Mash) who make a very brief guest appearance. A very slim and young Lynda Baron (Nurse Gladys from Open All Hours) also briefly appears in an episode.

Personally, I really enjoyed this light, zany series. If you enjoy bawdy puns, innuendo and double entendres, I really do recommend checking it out.


Sit back and let it flow   September 19, 2000
Richard Gonzales (Las Vegas, NM)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Frankie Howard plays both actor and narrater in this risque and somewhat ludicrous account of the last days of Pompeii. Frankie is a slave, Lurcio, in the household of Ludicrus Sextus, (Michael Hordern, (A Funny Thing Happend on the way to the Forum, Where Eagles Dare)), Ammonia (Barbara Murrey) wife of Sextus and Erotica (Madaline Smith), and Nausius (Royce Mills) the children of Sextus and Ammonia. Nearly every thing said in this film has a double meaning and if your mind is any where near the gutter when you watch it you will catch most of them the first time around. It is one continous laugh or snicker through-out; I don't believe their is three minuets between gags anywhere in the picture. Pure humor through and through. Lurcio has an encounter with Bilbius who was delivering a scroll, listing the names of everyone who was ploting to over throw Nero, to the governor of Pompeii who is also in on the plot. Hastely picking up his vegitables, and accedently the scroll, Lurcio becomes the object of a man hunt by Bilbius and some soldiers to regain the damaging evidence. As the story proceeds, we meet the disfunctional family of Sextus and some of the off-beat inhabitants of Pompeii. In fact, the only person in this story who seems to have both feet on the ground is a slave of Prosterous Maximus, (Bill Fraser), Governer of Pompeii. She only appeared for four minuets or so in this film which was a shame for she is very pretty and more character development could have been done between her and Nausius who wants to marry her but wouldn't know what to do with her after he did. So, we have Lurcio hiding out from Bilbius, Sextus lashing out at the moral decay of Pompeii while hosting orgies at his home, (sound like someone we may have heard of?), Ammonia planning these parties with concern only of what the Daily Tablet (their newspaper) has to say about what she was wearing, Erotica's insatiable desires for men, Nausius who has the hots for a woman and we wonder for half the picture if he even knows what the differences are, Cassandra, first of the red hot lovers and wife of Maximus who when asked to entertain Bilbius says " I'm sure I can fit him in,,, somewhere!", and on and on and on. Buy it, don't rent it. These people are on a moon someplace and your sure to want to keep it.