WILL Press Room
Vote for Your Favorite Britcom!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
It’s an election year for British comedies on WILL-TV, the ninth year in a row viewers have the opportunity to vote for their favorite among five British comedies the station is considering airing. During the Great Britcom Vote at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 1, viewers can sample five British comedies and then call in a vote for one of them. WILL-TV program director David Thiel plans to purchase the winning program to air during the next fiscal year.
Some old favorites return this year, along with several new-to-WILL-TV entries.
First up is Mulberry, last year’s runner-up in the Great Britcom Vote. Geraldine McEwan stars as the formidable Miss Farnaby, who is searching for someone to assist with general domestic tasks. Out of the blue, Mulberry appears without any qualifications, except the ability to sweet-talk his way into the job. The old house is not dull any more, and Miss Farnaby’s life will never be the same again.
My Hero, at 7:40 p.m., stars Ardal O’Hanlon as the naïve health-food shop-owner George Sunday, alias the world’s most famous superhero, Thermoman. Thermoman falls in love with nurse Janet Dawkins. The couple has to overcome the conflicts that arise from Thermoman’s double life.
In Open All Hours, at 8:20 p.m., Arkwright’s Emporium is a truly unique shopping experience in the age of the supermarket. Arkwright, the brown-coated, stuttering, Northern shop-keeper is forced to open his corner-shop for as long as the law will permit. But, he still finds time for his passions — parting unsuspecting customers from their hard earned cash, keeping his daydreaming nephew Granville in line, and his tireless pursuit of nurse Gladys Emmanuel.
Are You Being Served, at 9 p.m., returns as a choice this year. Camp Mr. Humphries, Mrs. Slocombe’s pussy and the ridiculous goings-on at Grace Bros. have kept audiences laughing since 1973. A large, old-fashioned department store in London, Grace Bros. is still run on strictly hierarchical lines. Each member of staff knows his or her place — in theory. In practice, they are all engaged in their own private wars with management and with each other. John Inman plays Mr. Humphries, the unforgettable salesperson in Gentleman’s Ready to Wear.
In To the Manor Born, at 9:40 p.m., Penelope Keith is the snobbish Lady fforbes-Hamilton. In the face of her late husband’s creditors, bank, and the government, she has to auction off her estate. A millionaire bachelor of Czechoslovakian extraction who runs a multinational grocery business moves in. Peter Bowles plays Richard DeVere, who represents everything Lady fforbes-Hamilton regards as bad taste.
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Contact:
Mary Barrineau
WILL AM-FM-TV
(217) 333-1070