Worzel Gummidge is a show that really did capture lightening in a bottle with alot of the people who were involved with making the show believing that the show hit it's stride in it's third series. With the episode that i'm going to be reviewing for you all today being not only one of the more filled episodes of the show but also one of the series most underrated episodes as well and so then join me as I review the episode that sees Worzel Gummidge and Aunt Sally join the Church choir with the episode in question being called simply just "Choir Practice" enjoy.
The plot of the episode is when he's placed in the church's graveyard to scare of some birds Worzel finds out about the Church choir at the same time Aunt Sally joins the church choir just for the free food. Now then inters of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as it gives us everything that we've come to love film this show at this point in time with the plot of episode being as wonderfully done as alot of the series more better episodes and while this episodes plot isn't as good as it really could have been it's alot better then the plots that we would be getting in Worzel Gummidge Down Under's second series with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Doctor Who star Jon Pertwee as Worzel Gummidge and Jeremy Austin as John Peters. Also starring in this episode is Charlotte Coleman as Sue Peters , Norman Bird as Mr. Braithwaite , Jonathan Cecil as The Vicar , Mike Berry as Mr. Peters , Thorley Walters as Colonel Bloodstock , Megs Jenkins as Mrs. Braithwaite , Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally , Michael Ripper as Mr. Shepherd.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally tought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which is really nothing new for this show as alot of the shows episodes including the ones that aren't so good have always had some really good acting in them and alot of that does come down to the fact the actors in this show are a bunch of really good actors who have a really good director who in turn really does know how to get a good performance out of all of his cast members with really even alot of the side characters in this episode giving us some really good performance in this episode as well as the main characters all of which is something that really does raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode what really helps the acting in this episode is the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all this episodes have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this episode.
In what was a shocking move for this episode Aunt Sally is basically that of a side character in this episode. With her character not even showing up until about halfway through the story maybe a little bit less then halfway but even when she does show up she basically acts like a ide character which is the best position for this character to have as she really is a truly awful person and forcing her into a main character role like what happens from the fourth series onwards just doesn't work as there are only so many ways that you can show her acting cruel to over people who truly do love Worzel Gummidge before it starts to get old and it starts to loose any and all impact that something like that should have and yet by having her in a much more smaller role akin to that of a recurring character then she can still be a horrible and it doesn't get old and boring and even here when she does act horrible towards Worzel at the end of the episode it still has some impact to it and alot of that s due to the fact that she wasn't in this third series all that much.
On the episodes DVD commentary it was revelled that this episode is actually Jeremy Austin's favorite episode of the show. With it not being that hard to see why it's so good as it does give you all of things that all of the best Worzel Gummidge episodes have from the greatly written characters to the funny set ups and then some it's all there in this episode and while yes this episode could have been alot better then what it was like for example the episode could have done with spending a bit less time at the Church as that setting really added nothing to the episode it still doesn't change the fact that the episode introduced a new location that could have been a great location to use on a more regular basis and it would have been really good if we got to see The Crowman in this episode as seeing him joining in with the Church Choir could have lended itself to some more humours moments and yet for some unknown reason the character isn't featured in the episode at all when this is the type of episode where that type of character would have worked out wonderfully in.
To give this episode alot of credit the idea of having this episode set in the Church is a solid idea as it does lend itself really well to the more gothic settings that this show does sometimes have. With this setting also playing up it's more spooky which while being very kid friendly is the type of things that does work well enough for a character like Worzel Gummidge that the episode itself does kind of get away with it as Worzel himself is basically one big kid but at the same time the Church itself isn't really explored all that well and as a result of that is the fact that the Church itself does feel rather small when it's opposite that's more then likely true and as a result of that is the fact that the setting itself does feel wasted as it serves no real purpose outside of giving the choir a place to rehearse when the village hall also could have filled that function rather well and while the episode would have to explain why the vicar is having them rehearse at the village hall and not at the church that's something that really could have been done with a single line of dialog.
The episode does drop some plot lines like the fact that we see that Worzel is scared of ghosts something which doesn't really get a pay off in the episode. Nor do we really get any resolution to the fact that Worzel himself is trying to leave the church graveyard because he believes that he doesn't belong there as he's a field scarecrow with this being something that could have been resolved if they had The Crowman in the episode to help to explain it to Worzel why he's being put to work there for the time being and as a result of that is the fact that it would have made the episode feel alot more focused and alot more better then what it already is and yet even tho the makers of this show are usually very good with tieing up lingering plot lines they for some strange reason chose not to do so with this episode which makes this episode feel like it's incomplete or that there are some scenes that would tie up those plotlines and while the episode does give a solid reason for Worzel joining the choir no reason is given as to why Aunt Sally is joining the choir outside of the fact that she wants people to see her in her new white dress and that's really it.
Now then while I cannot for the absolutely life of me remember whatever this episodes grand total running time even was I do know that for a fact that this episode has / had an exact grad total running time of exactly twenty six minuets. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have and to this episodes credit it really does have more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time as every single scene in this episode is all about advancing the episodes plot and just making sure the episode itself is just nothing then pure fun something which might have been lost if this episode was a little bit longer as it would be stretching the episodes plot even thinner then what it already is and the episode would need to be filled with an awful lot filler scenes in order to really pad out the episodes running time which combined would make the episode alot less fun to watch but I will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is comedy that means that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty i in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With this episode having alot of painfully funny moments in it even the fact that having Mr. Peter being unable to sing is funny because his actor Mike Berry was an actual singer who had a few UK top 10 hit songs under his belt before transitioning to becoming an actor with the best joke in the whole entire being when Worzel starts his first rehearsal he gets into argument with Aunt Sally which they do by singing what it is that there going to do to each other which is really nothing more then pure comedic gold and is a very smart joke to include in this episode as it goes to show you that this shows writer Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall really do know how to tell a really good joke in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall it's not hard to see why this episode is beloved by one of the episodes actors as it is a really good episode that is a good example of just good this show really could be when it's at it's best but at the same time tho this episode really isn't as good as it really could have been tho in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , Wikipedia and Google Images. With my personally preferred website that I personally preferred to use to get the images that I personally used in this very review being the wonderful Google Images since all of the images that are currently up and and featured / presented to us on Google Images are all fairly high in quality and as well as being fairly freaking high in definition.