The Crezz ( 1976)

[michaellevenson]

THE CREZZ

This was a comedy/ drama series on ITV centering around the residents of Carlisle Crescent aka The Crezz. Twelve episodes only, but really enjoyable, both funny and entertaining and plenty of drama with a great cast including Peter Bowles, Hugh Burden, Joss Ackland, Elspet Gray, Nicholas Ball, Isla Blair and the wonderful Joan Hickson.



1. The Longest Day
At the committee's annual barbecue, Charles Bronson's impassioned plea for a new community spirit is forgotten. As the wine flows, old rivalries and jealousies come to a head in the course of a disastrous Longest Day...

2. The Spanish Succession
At another stormy committee meeting, Dr Balfour-Harvey, The Crezz's randy doctor , complains that the gardens are teeming with Spanish waiters from the Landseer Hotel, while Lady Clarke complains about Consuela , the Pitman's surly au pair.

3. All Good Nature
Esther, daughter of Charles and Jackie Bronte, invites Geoffrey Ademola to stay. He's West African and, according to Esther, hates white middle class liberals like her parents. Esther adores him but she's in for a shock as Geoffrey's many wives turn up.




4. Night Manoeuvres
Sci Fi writer Ken Green is thrown out by his wife Sue, and goes to live with his mistress Emma Antrobus in her sister Alexandra's flat. Ken and Alexandra get on too well for Emma's liking. Ken struggles to carry on with his latest book, involving demonic rats, which both Emma and Alexandra point out the plot holes, such as saying, " the voice inside him repeatedly urging him on, over and over," is a tautology.



This sends Ken to almost paranoic nervous breakdown.

 

[michaellevenson]

5. Fire Down Below
The wonderful Joan Hickson first appearance as Emily Bronte, Charles' mother. Dr Balfour- Harvey falls in love with her and is forced to admit a secret to Cyril Antrobus, a lawyer, he is married already and wants Cyril to go over his Chinese marriage licence that he obtained during WW2 after marrying a Chinese girl, that he never saw again after the war. Balfour- Harvey hopes the marriage can be annulled. Meanwhile squatters move in next door to the Brontes and start lighting fires that cause smoke to penetrate a broken chimney stack and pour into Emily Bronte's bedroom.



6. Voices From The Past
Miss Hart, Committee Secretary and respected member of the community is horrified by an unwelcome visitor who shatters her orderly existence.
Meanwhile the manager of the Landseer Hotel hears a rumour from Lady Clarke that could lead to a change to the residents access to the Gardens, this Lady Clarke says come from a trustworthy source. But when she is forced to reveal the source, the spirit of a long dead Red Indian chief, all hell breaks out.


7. Gone To The Dogs
George Smith's dreams come true when he becomes owner of a greyhound. However the residents of Carlisle Crescent are furious when he used the gardens to train the dog, with his son Bing as the hare.
Esther Bronte takes a liking to Bing, and Joe Macarthy who sold George the dog makes himself scarce when George decides to actually race the hound.


8. Bent Doubles
Terry and Denny are the Crezz's gay couple, and there's trouble when Denny runs off with the new gardener. But Denny realises the grass isn't always greener elsewhere as the gardener turns out to be a bit of a weirdo to say the least.
Dr Balfour-Harvey shows his total lack of empathy and reveals he didn't even realise Terry and Denny were gay despite being outwardly effeminate.

Roland Curram and Paul Greenhalgh are Den and Terry, the gay couple portrayed very un PC ,but wonderfully camp.



Note: this politically incorrect episode couldn't possibly be made today, even the episode title seems wrong. But it is very entertaining and funny.

 

[michaellevenson]

9. The Battle of Harvey Street
The episode with the potato fight!
It's a bad day for Charles Bronte when Michael his 13 year old son is expelled from school and the homeless Ken Green starts digging up the gardens and decides to plant potatoes. Residents of Harvey Street are furious that their part of the gardens is being dug up and promise reciprocal action. Michael Bronte is revealed as an arsonist and while the residents are engaged in a potato chucking fight , he decides a bit of arson is what is needed.

Ken Green (Peter Bowles) enjoying the potato fight in episode The Battle Of Harvey Street.



10. A Flash Of Inspiration
Police are called in to apprehend a flasher in the gardens. Consuela, the Pitman's au pair is a victim and in describing the flasher using her limited use of English, says the flasher is laurel and hardy.

The stranger sitting in the communal gardens with ladies panties in his briefcase which he blows his nose on , maybe the culprit or not.

With ..er Oliver Hardy and Bob Hoskins.



11. The Newcomers
Denny and Terry are inquisitive about three imposing middle-aged ladies moving into the house next door. They are further intrigued when clergymen arrive with a lorry load of bunk beds. House prices of the Crezz are about to crash as a soup kitchen is opened and the gardens become a magnet for homeless vagabonds.

Denny takes a fancy to one of the clergy which leads to awkwardness. A powerful diatribe at the end about homelessness by the lady running the soup kitchen , and her laying out conditions which would convince her to leave the property and save Crezz house prices. Basically her conditions are blackmail.

 

[michaellevenson]

Final episode : Pitman's Folly
Colin Pitman is in trouble, his advertising business is going down the pan after remortgaging his house to pay for a top of the range camera for a business contract that never materialised. His wife Brenda is in the dark about this but slowly suspects something is wrong when a tearful secretary employed by Colin reveals she hasn't been paid for months and Colin hardly appears in the office. Meanwhile Joe Macarthy has lost his driving job and his wife Bridget isn't going to be pleased when she finds out. In the pub Colin and Joe decided to tackle their wives together.
Also Charles Bronte's mother Emma and wife Jackie fall out , and a drunken Jackie jumps in her car and ploughs into Colin Pitman. Probably the funniest episode, and a good one to end a very entertaining series.