With the opening scene of Carrott and Catweazle fishing, I did come back to a theory I had been pondering on that maybe, just maybe the character of CATWEAZLE is a complete figment of Carrott's imagination, but there have already been too many scenes of others seeing the wizard for this to be a valid reading of the show.
It would, I think, have added an extra dimension to the show if this had been considered, but would also have made the scripting a real challenge for it to work and still be as entertaining, I guess. Just me pondering aloud!
Blimey! Hattie Jacques! Nice to see her outside the realms of HANCOCK, SYKES and the CARRY ON universe, although she did play an identical fortune teller in a blink and you miss it cameo in THE PUNCH AND JUDY MAN movie with Hancock, as I recall. Hattie casually smoking on kid's tv I see. How the world has moved on!
Sam is a likeable character, albeit a slow-witted one.
I like how Catweazle is much more adapted to things and routinely interprets the 20th Century world around him by filtering it in a way that he can understand, applying a "magic filter" to everything that is happening to him.
I like that Carrott is also believing Catweazle's interpretation of the horse racing and has total faith in the gobbledegook he came out with. Or is it? Perhaps Catweazle really can see who the winners are? Am writing this during the commercial break, so things could still go awry prediction wise!
Geoffrey Bayldon looking across a field at a scarecrow at the start of the second half. If only the actor had known what lay in the future. Unintentional foreshadowing, but to be expected in a show set around a farm.
A side mention here of Bayldon's absolute commitment to the role. He has yet, so far as I can see, to miss a beat in his absolute consistency of character, in addition to which he has wisely started to tone down the hysterical reactions to new things, such as getting on a bus. A mildly shocked reaction, but Catweazle is definitely starting to take things more in his stride now.
I like the fact that Catweazle can see through Hattie's fraudulence and maybe I am missing something, but how the heck did he know her real name and about the scam she and the bookie were working, unless he is indeed gifted. My powers of observation can be a bit useless though, so I may have missed something.
Another entertaining episode, although I felt it kind of evaporated a little, story wise - but we are left at the end with an ongoing nod to what seems to be a season arc, before there were such things, of Catweazle planning his - and Touchwood's - return home.
A nice episode in a season that seems to be filled so far with nice episodes. Adding up to a nice series!
Grade B- (The minus tacked on, only because I felt it fizzled out somewhat near the end. Otherwise up to the usual standard.)
