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Two's Company: Complete Series Four (TV)
R2 - United Kingdom - Network Review written by and copyright: Paul Lewis (20th August 2009). |
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The Show
 
Please see our reviews of series two and three of Two’s Company. In this final series of London Weekend Television’s popular situation comedy Two’s Company (one of LWT’s more ‘upmarket’ 1970s sitcoms), Elaine Stritch and Donald Sinden return as American author Dorothy McNab and her butler Robert Hillier. Broadcast between 1975 and 1979, Two’s Company has acquired a strong following; the series’ popularity led to an American remake, the short-lived The Two Of Us (CBS, 1981-1982). However, despite the involvement of Peter Cook (in his only appearance in a situation comedy), The Two Of Us is largely regarded as little more than a pale imitation of Two’s Company. The humour in Two’s Company largely revolves around the culture clash between the brash American Dorothy and the stereotypically English Robert. Dorothy is a strong-willed, bolshy and scatty modern woman, and Robert is conservative, sarcastic, repressed and stubborn; throughout each episode, the two engage in games of one-upmanship and bouts of verbal sparring. However, both Robert and Dorothy learn from each other, with Robert often teaching Dorothy about the eccentricities of issues such as the British class system. Respectively, Dorothy and Robert represent the archetypal (over)confident American and the stiff-upper lipped Englishman. The clash between these two cultures is depicted in a satirical, but never didactic, manner. 
Most of the episodes are essentially two-handers, and Stritch and Sinden are a delight. The series refers back to the conventions of the drawing-room comedies (especially in its focus on the relationship between a servant and his master) but deploys those conventions in a very modern context. Despite being dominated by Strich and Sinden, some episodes paint on a broader canvas, bringing in other characters to contrast with Robert and Dorothy; in such episodes, Dorothy and Robert often find themselves overcoming their differences and working together against the other characters. For example, in ‘The Salesman’ Robert and Dorothy are forced to work together in order to evict a particularly persistent door-to-door salesman from Dorothy’ s Chelsea townhouse. Likewise, in the series’ final episode, ‘The Friendly Aristocrats’, Dorothy and Robert are forced to collude in order to perpetuate the masquerade that they are in fact a couple named Margaret and Herbert. It is testament to the writing by Bill MacIlwraith (and the performances by Stritch and Sinden) that by this fourth series, the verbal sparring between Dorothy and Robert is still fresh and witty. Never sentimental, the series has plenty of bitingly sarcastic wit mixed with some very astute social observation. Episodes: 1. ‘The Club’ 
Irritated by Robert’s insistence on turning down the central heating in her Chelsea townhouse, Dorothy tells Robert to ‘Stop messing around with my thermostat’. Robert complains about the heat, asserting that ‘In here you can grow palm trees’. When Dorothy asks Robert, ‘If we’re going to grow palm trees in here, why do you have your overcoat on’, Robert informs her that he is ‘going to my club, madam’. ‘You’re going to your club? Robert, you lead a tough life’, she retorts sarcastically. ‘The central heating in my club, madam, does not have to conform to Sahara desert standards’, Robert quips. He also informs her that his club doesn’t allow entry to women: ‘In my club, madam, I am glad to say it is still the Nineteenth Century’. When Dorothy asks Robert ‘Has a dame ever managed to get into your club’, Robert quips ‘You may find her head in the trophy room, madam’. When Robert asserts that the club is for the ‘crème de la crème’, Dorothy asks him ‘How did you get in?’ Dorothy wagers Robert that she ‘can get into your club’. If Dorothy wins, Robert vows ‘never [to] touch your thermostat again’. Dorothy develops a variety of schemes in order to gain access to Robert’s club, including masquerading as a cleaner. 2. ‘The Clergy’ 
Dorothy and Robert find themselves bickering over how best to carry Dorothy’s old dressing table downstairs, in preparation for its collection by the local boy scout troop. Dorothy complains that Robert’s suggestion as to how to carry the table will result in ‘All the big weight of the table’s [being] at my end when we take it down the stairs’. ‘It is your dressing table, madam’, Robert reminds her. However, the table becomes stuck, and Dorothy is unable to descend the stairs. At that moment, the doorbell rings; Robert answers it and finds Reverend Robinson and Father O’Shea waiting on the doorstep. Reverend Robinson wishes to thank Dorothy for ‘your very generous donation to my scout troop’. However, Father O’Shea believes that Dorothy has donated the dressing table to his charity. Dorothy finds herself split between donating the table to the Anglican Reverend Robinson or the Catholic Father O’Shea. Robert suggests that they ‘play a game of cards’ in order to determine which charity receives the money from the sale of the table. ‘How about poker?’, he asks. When both Reverend Robinson and Father O’Shea magnanimously assert that they do not gamble, Robert tells them, ‘You’ll both have beginner’s luck’. Meanwhile, the local Baptist arrives. Dorothy finds herself having to decide which church charity she should donate the money to. 3. ‘The Salesman’ 
A mysterious man (John Ringham) rings the doorbell to Dorothy’s house and tells her that she has won ‘a major prize’; he also tells Robert that he has won a major prize. Dorothy lets the man into her house; Dorothy has won a jar of pickled onions and Robert has won twenty-five toothpicks. Realising that the man is a salesman, Robert tries to force him out of the house; but the salesman refers to Robert as ‘a stupid man […] because he wants to get me out of the house before he realises what I am selling’. The salesman is a former Royal Navy careers officer named Neville. After some time, Robert and Dorothy discover that Neville is selling encyclopedias. When Robert and Dorothy tell Neville that ‘You are leaving’, Neville dismisses their order as a ‘classic buyer’s ploy: pretend not to be interested’. Dorothy and Robert find it impossible to eject Neville, who ‘will not take “no” for an answer’, from Dorothy’s house. 4. ‘The Visiting Scots’ 
Dorothy is visited by Mr Campbell (Robert James), her Scottish accountant. Campbell has arrived to check both Dorothy and Robert’s accounts prior to sending their tax returns to the government. When Dorothy complains that Robert’s tea is too strong, Robert asserts that ‘Scots prefer their tea strong, madam: it helps to soak up the porridge’. Whilst Campbell is inspecting Dorothy’s accounts, two drunken Scotsmen turn up on her doorstep. They are Bob (Iain Blair) and Sandy (Andrew McCullough); Bob claims to be Dorothy’s ‘third cousin […] from Glasgow’. Whilst Campbell tries to sort through Dorothy’s accounts, Bob and Sandy take root in Dorothy’s house. 5. ‘The Silence’ 
Dorothy and Robert find themselves disagreeing over the style of wall tiles that will be fitted in the kitchen in Robert’s basement flat: Robert likes a set of ceramic tiles with a large dragon motif, but Dorothy thinks that ‘It will be like having breakfast with Charlie Chan’. Against Dorothy’s wishes, Robert has the tiles delivered. ‘Put another one of those up, and I may never speak to you again’, Dorothy threatens. ‘I may never speak to you again, madam’, Robert retorts. Thus begins a period of silence, with neither Robert nor Dorothy speaking to one another. Dorothy hires a pair of intermediaries to allow her to communicate with Robert: Robert has made plans for a reception, and Dorothy needs to find out what Robert has planned. When the intermediaries arrive, Robert’s behaviour antagonises them; the woman declares ‘You’ve no right to vilify my husband […] You couldn’t hold a candle to him’. ‘There would be no point’, Robert asserts: ‘He’s so wet it would go out’. 6. ‘The Rolls-Royce’ 
Dorothy has received a letter from a television company: she submitted a synopsis for a six-part drama and has been invited to arrange an appointment to discuss her idea. Dorothy is also considering buying a new car. Robert tries to persuade her to buy a Rolls-Royce: ‘Madam, you’re surely not contemplating buying an American car’, he scolds her. However, Dorothy thinks that a Rolls-Royce would be too extravagant: ‘I would feel self-conscious… even guilty’, Dorothy declares. ‘I don’t know why you should feel guilty, madam. I shan’t feel guilty’, Robert tells her. ‘You don’t feel guilty about anything’, Dorothy reminds him. As Dorothy examines the literature brought to her house by the representatives of different car manufacturers, Robert telephones the television company to arrange an appointment for Dorothy. When he finds the operator being obtuse, Robert asserts that ‘We are talking about Dorothy McNab, whose novels have been translated into eight hundred and twenty-four languages’. ‘There aren’t eight hundred and twenty-four languages’, Dorothy observes. ‘He’s ITV, madam: he won’t know that’, Robert tells her. On their way to the television company’s headquarters, Dorothy and Robert stop off at a Rolls-Royce showroom. At the television company headquarters, Robert accuses the egotistical commissioning editor, Mr Rawlings (Bernard Kay), of commissioning ‘rubbish’ and Dorothy exposes the man as a philistine. 7. ‘The Friendly Aristocrats’ 
Dorothy and Robert are travelling to spend ‘a weekend in the country with the English aristocracy’, Gregory (Paul Hardwick) and Felicity (Renee Asherson). Robert is concerned that, as Dorothy’s butler, he will be expected to wait on the other guests. However, upon arrival Dorothy and Robert discover that their hosts believe them to be a couple named Margaret and Herbert. Robert relishes being waited on for a change, until one of the hosts’ butlers recognises him. To assuage the other servants’ doubts about Robert’s identity, Dorothy and Robert must masquerade as lovers. However, Robert becomes perturbed when he is forced to give up his room and share a bedroom with Dorothy.
Video
The episodes are presented in their original broadcast screen ratio of 4:3. The original break bumpers are intact. 
The episodes are consistently well-presented: colours are natural and the image is crisp and detailed, although as these episodes were predominantly shot on videotape (with some inserts shot on 16mm film) the episodes bear the deficiencies associated with VT-recorded programmes. There is little to no damage evident.
Audio
Audio is clear, but there are no subtitles. Audio is presented via a two-channel monophonic track.
Extras
There is no contextual material.
Overall
As noted above, it is testament to the writing and the lead actors that this fourth series is still fresh. In fact, Two’s Company arguably improved with each passing series, with Stritch and Sinden growing into their roles as Dorothy McNab and Robert Hillier. This fourth series is a delight, and the verbal sparring between Dorothy and Robert is as funny as ever. Fans of the earlier releases of Two’s Company will not want to miss this release. For more information, please visit the homepage of Network DVD.
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