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Sexy French resistance girls in berets and raincoats, bespectacled Gestapo
agents with pronounced limps and well-meaning but dim-witted British agents were
just a few of the wartime stereotypes sent up in this French resistance
comedy.
Most of the action took place in the Café René and followed the misadventures
of its philandering proprietor René Artois and his mismatched assemblage of
associates, including his tone-deaf singer of a wife, Madame Edith; her invalid
mother Fanny; lovesick waitresses Yvette and Maria (later Mimi); the ineffectual
bunch of German officers in charge of the town, and various other colourful
local characters. The reluctant René finds himself repeatedly entangled in the
exploits of both the resistance, who use his café as their local headquarters,
and the occupying Germans, who treat it as a secret hiding-place for their
lucrative war spoils.
The show featured a large cast, each member of which had at least
one catch phrase to deliver per episode, which inevitably took up a significant
proportion of the running time. Plots were often deliberately and farcically
complicated (typically episodes would begin with René giving a direct-to-camera
recap of recent unlikely events), and usually alternated their focus between two
recurring storylines: repeated abortive attempts to return two stranded British
airmen to London, and various shambolic endeavours to steal and hide the famous
and valuable portrait of the 'Fallen Madonna With the Big Boobies', by Van
Klomp, concealed in a Knockwurst sausage.
'Allo 'Allo was originally conceived as a spoof of the drama series Secret
Army (BBC, 1977-79), and other similarly earnest occupation dramas like Enemy at
the Door (ITV, 1978-80), from which it borrowed its situation, many of its
characters, and even some of its actors. However, despite its repetitive,
predictable gags and incessant crude innuendoes, 'Allo 'Allo surpassed its
austere forerunners in both longevity and popularity, and has been much more
widely and fondly remembered, enjoying nine series, frequent repeats,
international success and a long-running touring theatre
adaptation.
Hannah Hamad
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1. The ambush (4:41)
