Of all the things it’s hard to imagine anyone saying, the words ‘what we really need is a remake of Worzel Gummidge’ must be right up there.
That’s probably at any time during the 38 years since July 31st 1981 (when the final Jon Pertwee episode was screened) and certainly in this day and age.
After all, Worzel Gummidge was never very good or that loved in the first place, even in those dark days when we only had three channels (and one of them was ITV).
Hmm: Of all the things it’s hard to imagine anyone saying, the words ‘what we really need is a remake of Worzel Gummidge’ must be right up there
The ratings may have been high – because of this – but Worzel was always just the un-cool version of Catweazle.
The two protagonists, Worzel and Aunt Sally, were both pretty irritating to be honest. Plus we prefer our scarecrows more like the ones in Children Of The Corn than The Wizard Of Oz.
So we probably thought we were safe.
Sadly we hadn’t counted on Mackenzie Crook.
Reboot: The ratings may have been high – because of this – but Worzel was always just the un-cool version of Catweazle
There’s always one!’ they say, and unfortunately this time that one happened to be not just a Hollywood actor but the star of Pirates Of The Caribbean and other hugely profitable monstrosities.
Mackenzie loved Worzel Gummidge as a boy, suggesting he may well have been a boy with straw for brains too, and even as an adult. An adult who wanted to bring him back.
Once he was, incredibly, prepared to admit it in public, it was only a matter of time before his dream (and our nightmare) became a reality.
TV stations today seem determined to remake, re-boot, and ruin our favourite programmes from the Seventies and 1980s, regardless of how we (the actual viewers) feel about it.
Comeback: Mackenzie loved Worzel Gummidge as a boy, suggesting he may well have been a boy with straw for brains too, and even as an adult. An adult who wanted to bring him back
I hadn’t really noticed any demand from the public for new versions of classics comedies like Porridge, Dad’s Army, or Minder – particularly if Shane Ritchie was in it playing Arthur Daley’s nephew (or at all for that matter).
Whether it’s good news that they’ve now moved on to the less popular, iconic, shows as well is debatable.
Rather this than Catweazle…
Actually the first of the two episodes wasn’t that bad: the type of classic BBC children’s television people generally want it to do more of in fact.
Admittedly, it duly ticked a lot of Politically Correctly, and without a lot of subtlety: children in foster care, the modern plague that is plastic, and need for everyone to just get along. The cornerstone of the plot, and its main message, meanwhile was inevitably global warming.
‘What is it that you’re worried about?’ John, one of the two kids from the city staying on Scatterbrook Farm, asked Worzel after they’d discovered that the scarecrow could talk and was ‘alive’ – something they came to terms with impressively quickly. Quicker than I would have anyway…
Response: Actually the first of the two episodes wasn’t that bad: the type of classic BBC children’s television people generally want it to do more of in fact
‘The same as you,’ Worzel said. ‘The weather. Something’s up with it. The leaves aren’t turning. The blackberries aren’t ripening. And where are the geese? Why aren’t they flying South?’
Surprisingly for two urban youngsters, John and Susan clearly didn’t support Extinction Rebellion or Greta Thunberg enough to know the answer. (Or even just say ‘the Tories!’ or ‘motorists!’)
But luckily Aunt Sally (the excellent Vicki Pepperdine in the role originally played by Una Stubbs) did – even though in the new adaptation she’d been parked in a museum, reduced to a fleeting cameo.
‘We’re stuck in mid summer and nothing’s moving on!’ she told Worzel. ‘The seasons are locked.’
Meeting: Potentially, the combination of a semi-supernatural icon and his two junior assistants could have been like Doctor Who in miniature (younger). It wasn’t quite that good though
Obviously…
‘We’ve got to fix it!’ Worzel told the kids.
Inevitably…
Potentially, the combination of a semi-supernatural icon and his two junior assistants could have been like Doctor Who in miniature (younger).
It wasn’t quite that good though. The highlight was its witty, well-observed, script: the local village having eight charity shops; the museum selling bookmarks; and the crows agreeing to help our heroes in exchange for ‘guns and a chainsaw.’ (Crows, as we know, are after all basically feathered thugs.)
Naturally with any drama involving kids, there were lots of mobile phone jokes.
When John forgot to pack a charger, Susan told him: ‘we’ll survive! It will be like the olden days. Like the 90s or something.’
When he asked the farmer’s wife ‘if there a Wi-Fi code?’ being an easily-confused local yokel in a TV drama, naturally her reply was: ‘a what-fi-what? A why-what-what?’
Mackenzie Crook made an excellent Worzel – more intelligent and articulate than Pertwee’s who was irritatingly stupid (even for a scarecrow).
Wearing what looked like one of Adam Ant’s old red military jackets, with a large floppy hat protecting his blonde locks and sun-scarred skin, he seemed to be styled on Vincent Van Gogh – if Vincent Van Gogh had been a pirate, or liked fancy dress.
Rather than anything made of straw, the scarecrow’s face resembled a giant, wrinkly, pickled onion with strange, straggly, translucent tentacles for a goatee more reminiscent of a sea creature or seaweed than a product of the land.
Whether it was make-up, a latex mask, or some CGi effects I’m not sure but it covered up Mackenzie Crook’s face pretty well – or pretty badly.
Obviously he has other (acting) attributes but Worzel Gummidge was a kid’s show not ‘The Irishman.’
I’m not sure what the point of having Mackenzie Crook playing Worzel Gummidge if you couldn’t actually tell it was him.
He looked more like the scarecrow before he had his make-up done.
Shock: Rather than anything made of straw, the scarecrow’s face resembled a giant, wrinkly, pickled onion with strange, straggly, translucent tentacles for a goatee more reminiscent of a sea creature or seaweed than a product of the land