“Rentaghost was camp," says actor Christopher Biggins, approvingly. “It was so theatrical, it was so outrageous. I think that’s why the kids loved it so much. I mean, what other show has a pantomime horse?”
“A technician once described it to me as ‘Plonky actors standing in a straight line, bawling their lines out front,’” recalls the show’s producer, Jeremy Swan, with a smirk. “Well, that’s what I wanted.” Swan directed episodes in each of the nine series, and was the producer for eight years.
Rentaghost debuted in 1976. Writer Bob Block’s pilot script was originally titled Second Chance, reflecting the original, more downbeat, premise of perpetual loser Fred Mumford (Ivor The Engine voice artist Anthony Jackson) trying to forge success in death, having failed to do so in life.
DEAD SERIOUS
In surprisingly bleak territory for a children’s slot, Fred was said to have drowned on a cross-Channel ferry trip, with his body never found. His long-suffering parents, not knowing that their returned son was dead, were seen bemused, frustrated and occasionally even traumatised by Fred’s attempts to keep both his afterlife and Rentaghost’s day-to-day misadventures a secret.
Offering ghostly services to the public, Fred was aided and abetted by colleagues Hubert Davenport (Michael Darbyshire), a fussy Victorian gent decked out in peach, and Timothy Claypole (Michael Staniforth), a hyperactive medieval jester. Darbyshire was a veteran of the Players Theatre and performed vintage music hall routines on the BBC’s The Good Old Days.
この記事は SFX UK の May 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は SFX UK の May 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Spooks Ghouls & Freaks Fools
WITH ITS ECLECTIC cast, broad comedy and supernatural farce, Rentaghost was a mainstay of BBC children’s TV from the late ’70s to the mid-’80s and like nothing else.
LOST IN THE SHADOWS
THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS OF INTERDIEW WITH THE DAMPIRE DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF LESTAT, LOUIS, CLAUDIA AND WHERE THE ANNE RICE UNIVERSE IS HEADING
NINE LIVES
ON SET FOR THE FINAL SERIES OF INSIDE NO 9. STEVE PEMBERTON AND REECE SHEARSMITH REFLECT ON THE TYRANNY OF THE TWIST
NOA'S ARC
CAESAR'S STORY MAY BE DONE AND DUSTED, BUT AS HIS CREATORS RICK JAFFA AND AMANDA SILVER TELL US, THERE'S STILL PLENTY OF TERRAIN TO EXPLORE IN - KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
TICKET TO RIDE
DIRECTOR BEN CHESSELL TAKES THE TARDIS BACK IN TIME IN HIS TWO EPISODES
SERVING FACE
HAIR AND MAKE-UP DESIGNER CLAIRE WILLIAMS ON NEW LOOKS
BABY BOOM
The TARDIS lands on a spaceship. It was very, very hard to shoot. We used real babies! I like to do things that I’ve never done before and sometimes that’s quite hard, with such a long career as mine.
BOXING CLEVER
DOCTOR WHO IS BACK AND THIS TIME IT'S TAKING OVER THE PLANET
WELCOME HOME
THE CREATIVE MINDS BEHIND THE LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATION OF THE FALLOUT GAME SERIES EXPLAIN THEIR ORIGINAL TAKE ON BETHESDA'S POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD
MONSTERS INC
THE TITANS UNITE IN HOT COLLAB GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE