17 - 23 SEPTEMBER 2022

​If you are ready for some light relief, there is an excellent comedy double bill this week!
THE PRODUCERS (1968) Thursday 23 September 9.00-10.30pm BBC 4
BLAZING SADDLES (1974) Thursday 23 September 10.30-12 midnight BBC 4  
BBC 4 has two splendid comedies from Mel Brooks this evening – one featuring a scam that involves setting up a musical based on the life of Hitler; the other is a parody of just about every Western cliché in any given script! In the latter, Cleavon Little is the black sheriff (“you’d do it for Randolph Scott!”) and Gene Wilder the gunfighter. Brooks asked John Wayne to join the project – he declined to do so, but wished the director well. 
NEVER TAKE CANDY FROM A STRANGER (1960) Friday 23 September 9.05-10.50pm TP (Ch 82)
I am expecting this to be an American release print courtesy of Columbia studios as Sweets was in the original Hammer title. Again, it is another example of a film that, like Maniac recently, doesn’t appear too often on network TV. This is a pity because it is a serious, well-made drama that was endorsed by the then director of the NSPCC.