Finger Mouse, Schadenfreude and Harry from Spooks

I hope you saw Justin Lee Collins on tele last night? Once more sinking another pint at the damp wake of good drama the west-country comedian sought to reunite the cast of another classic television show, in this case Fingerbobs. When we were children we learned about mass displacement, gravity and what was soft or spiky from this the best of Watch With Mother. Its erudite presenter Yoffy changed his name shortly thereafter and famously became a folk/rock performer called Rick Jones. Rick Jones shook the world, but most loudly with the theme from The Flipside of Dominick Hide*.

But it’s not Rick that the show concentrated on, so much as the ensemble cast that were central to the series. The Friends of its day, Fingerbobs was not afraid to tackle the tough issues. But whilst in Friends we shared the agony of bad hair, chairs, some shit about whoever that annoying one was (the one in all the rom-coms, face like a Star Trek alien? Her) then in Fingerbobs things were more real. It was the zeitgeist of our generation. Like Will Self we smirked, revelling in the schadenfreude of it all. Each of the cast took turn to step forward, each had their own set of shows each dealing with another tough topic of concern to us wee'uns, they being -

Fingermouse: String, Shadow, Shapes, Bricks.

Gullivar: Bumpy, Stones, Feathers.

Scampi: Sounds, Wood, Shiny.

Flash: Guns, Grindhouse, Pornography.

Clint Poppie From Pop Will Eat Itself: Paint, Seeds, House.

I don’t want to spoil the show as it’s doubtless on 4Again (or whatever you kids with sound cards can use to watch things again, doubtless whilst swooning in the throes of consumption) but it was rather shocking. Fingermouse is still trying to crack LA (as most know he did at least play the Witch King of Angmar in Return of the King – the original fight with Arwen is so much better - we see here - than the final print where they over-dubbed him with Andy Serkis). Gullivar died pecking at his own vomit. Scampi makes the best of it but the secret foot6age of him offering up in S&M clubs is a little saddening. I won’t ruin Flash, and Clint Poppie has been scoring for dozens of films since for example Moon, The Wrestler and most recently Black Swan.

If you missed it then next Wednesday they’re doing the same with Bod.   

*A play in which Harry from Spooks travels in time and is amazed when his immediate subordinate betrays him, probably for a girl. And walking into a hippy because in the future people with guitars are holograms. Hell, if you don’t remember Dominick Hide then you won’t have a clue who the Fingerbobs were either.