'Allo 'Allo! - Review

"Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once" – A review of 'Allo 'Allo!. 

There is a certain genre of British TV that always makes me think of my dad. I can remember sitting in my PJ's in the living room in the 90s, eating ice cream and hoping my parents would forget about my bedtime, whilst my dad laughed along with a sitcom. Often, that sitcom was 'Allo 'Allo!.

'Allo 'Allo! first aired in the early 1980s and quickly became a popular, light hearted comedy. The show takes place in a small café in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War and follows Rene Artois, a reluctant hero who has become intrinsically entangled in a web of German officers, British spies and resistance fighters.

Full of impeccably timed one liners, memorable catchphrases and ridiculous characters, this is a show which is instantly recognisable and pretty quotable, but I must admit, it's a show that I find familiar rather than overly funny. I don't love it or hate it, I'm relatively ambivalent towards it, and whilst catchphrases such as "good moaning" were perhaps funny the first time, I do find the repetitive nature of the show a bit much.

It's not a terrible show, and the acting isn't bad either. Gorden Kaye is a pretty funny Rene Artois, delivering comedic restraint and a sort of naïve bewilderment which could be occasionally endearing. His wife Edith, played by Carmen Silvera, is warm and witty, and is a source of both affection and frustration to the unwilling hero. The rest of the cast bring eccentricity and comedic flair, and the chemistry between all of them is clear.

'Allo 'Allo! heavily relies on slapstick comedy, and I must admit it's very much a product of its times. Exaggerated accents, stereotypes about race and gender and repeated innuendo just doesn't resonate today in the same way it may have at the time. Take Lt. Gruber, for example; forever flirting with Rene, it was heavily implied that he was a gay man, and he wasn't exactly perfect queer representation, especially as the character appears to go through gay erasure in the end (unless, of course he was bi, which is a possibility.) I must admit though, that despite the flaws in representation, it was very progressive to show a man attracted to another man on TV at the time, so perhaps some grace is warranted.

I'm unsure if a new, modern audience would enjoy 'Allo 'Allo!. I have some nostalgia for it, and I don't think it's awful – it's just aged and is of its time. If you enjoy vintage, slapstick comedy full of ridiculous moments and over the top characters, maybe this is for you. Either way, 'Allo 'Allo! has endured for a reason, and I have no doubt that viewers revisiting it still get a good laugh out of it to this day.

Written by Tam Page

Posted by Mr. Tomney

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