Filthy Rich & Catflap - Forgotten Sitcoms

The spiritual middle child between The Young Ones and Bottom, Filthy Rich & Catflap managed one lonely series in 1987. With Ben Elton writing and the funny three from The Young ones all involved, what could possibly go wrong?
Gareth steps up to the mic to give his analysis of the show and his controversial opinions of Rik Mayall.
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[@HOPsnc]

My dad instilled a huge love of the young ones in me very early on and through natural progression I remember seeking this out and absolutely loving it.

[@jackmoore6982]

Rik Mayall was a genius, I think that everything he did was brilliant.

[@HeelTurnTitan]

Love Filthy rich & catflap…way ahead of it’s time!

[@TheClipKing]

Didn't think it was cruel in the slightest. The show is a masterpiece, probably the best thing they ever did.

[@galesito1733]

I loved this. I recorded every episode and I had a VHS of all of them along with the magnificent masterpiece Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door, which you should also do a review of.

[@anaccount8474]

I grew up watching the appalling crap on TV in the 70s and 80s and FRAC was a welcomed antidote to it. It might seem nasty and cruel now but I understood what they were attacking and they were legitimate targets. They didn't throw an indiscriminate hand grenade at the light entertainment of the previous generation, they took precision sniper shots at very specific people. Not only were the targets appalling and unfunny they were generally hideous people as well. It was a house clearing that was necessary and the truly talented older comedians survived and even found a new audience. It also helped clear a path for 1990s, arguably the greatest decade for comedy.

[@AlohaBlade]

They spent a lovely lifetime of literally and figuratively turning over tables. God love them for it.

[@squirrelarch]

A very fair review. Good stuff.As somebody who was young in the 80s (where did the time go? Down the plughole at breakneck speed matey) & loved the Young Ones (though its punkesque anarchy felt almost too late.5 years behind the zeitgeist really) I remember sitting down to watch Filthy Rich & Catflap and lasted just 2 episodes. In retrospect it now seems lost in all that post 1985 hubris and is a tad self indulgent and a bit too “knowing”. Maybe Ben Elton needed a collaborator to reign it in a bit or maybe that arc of Rik & Eddie still playing the cartoon anarchists was entirely wrong for this. Enjoyed your critique. Keep up the good work.

[@jamesatkinsonja]

Very enjoyable episode. 'The True History of the Blackadder' by JF Roberts [2013] covers this show briefly and says it was supposed to be written by Ben Elton and Rik Mayall [Lise Mayer having dropped out having split from Mayall] but Elton ended up writing most of it and Mayall said it was only fair Elton got full credit. Elton felt that he'd been writing assuming he was part of a team [as was the case in Blackadder] and said this is partly why the show didn't quite work. [TV tropes alleges Mayall and Elton fell out but given both contributed to the book I'm inclined to believe that version]. Update: Elton said in 2023 that the series wasn't recommissioned but neither him or Mayall wanted to do a second series after the difficulties in production and there writing partnership had come to a natural end [hence why Mayall was in later Blackadder as they hadn't fallen out but Ade Edmondson took over as co-writer for Bottom].

[@alanlawson8213]

I love this show - I prefer it to "The Young Ones" and "Bottom". The "Oo-er, Sounds a Bit Rude" and the Jumbo Whiffy (played my Mel Smith) segments are, to my mind pure comedy gold. I was interested in your point about if being cruel. To be honest, I'd never considered that. Which is possibly because I thought the members of the "old guard", as well as more mainstream contemporaries (like Bobby Davro and Michael Barrymore) that they had a go at deserved it for being, well, a bit rubbish, ending up doing game shows etc. There's plenty of older high-profile British comics they didn't have a go at - Morecambe & Wise, The Two Ronnies, Tommy Cooper, Dave Allan, Billy Connolly, the Pythons, Spike Milligan etc etc - even the "Carry On" mob - they weren't trashing everything that went before. On reflection, maybe they were a bit mean to Brucie (who I always kinda liked). But I still think the rest of them had it coming. Good review though - I enjoyed it thanks. I will check out more!

[@CarolAllenFeet]

Loved this episode. Couldn't agree more.

[@daveangus5701]

Sorry, got to disagree with you. This was a great series, and giving a much needed kick in the b****x to the Celebrity culture of its time. The piss-take of Blankety-Blank, and the type of celebrity that frequented it, and TV in general up to that time was spot on. It/they got the much needed kicking they deserved, in the same way the Sex Pistols did to the established, pretentious, self-indulgent rockers/prog rockers of the time, and you didn’t have anyone complaining about it being cruel etc.. Stripping away the characters, it’s still Rik & Ade and their brand of humour, which I personally love(d).

[@lettucefire]

i dont really remember it much. i would have been about 14 at the time and a big young ones fan so its odd i have no memory of watching it. incidentally not a bottom fan at all its too loud and slapstick although i remember going to a live version in 92 and oddly it worked on stage as i think you pointed out in the bottom episode

[@PlayCONtent]

I watched this about 16 years ago, at the height of my Young Ones and Bottom love (I still love both) and mostly disliked this but I feel like I'd like it quite a lot if I rewatch, even if it's not flawless. There is a bit of a weird tonal clash between scathing showbiz satire and trademark anarchic slapstick...it also feels weird that someone as deranged as Catflap would even notice washed up comedians patronising/humiliating guests on gameshows, let alone apparently be offended enough by it to deliver an impassioned monologue which doesn't really even seem to be played for laughs

[@JackRascal]

I love The Young Ones and the first couple of series of Bottom, but this was very much hit and miss. You're right in the way it took shots at the establishment... in order for it to work, the people taking the shots at least have to be funnier. Edmondson wasn't great in this, so he wasn't offering much of an alternative. (No pun intended). Nigel Planer was good, though.

[@britcompod]

Planer is always solid.

[@rangeboy7210]

You missed out Lee Cornes as the binman. I recognised him from playing "Paranoia" in the classic Red Dwarf episode Confidence and Paranoia (S01 E05)

[@britcompod]

We spotted him in the edit so made sure we got a clip of him in. Pops up in Blackadder a couple of times as well.

[@rangeboy7210]

@@britcompod he looks like the one who played Henry Tudor in ep1 'The Foretelling' but I think that is another actor? Who's also in Heartbeat

[@pchilds80]

Please do a program on red dwarf!

[@britcompod]

Keep an eye out in the next couple of months

[@jamesatkinsonja]

6:20 The 'Two Ninnies' sketch on 'Not the nine o'clock news' made a similar point to this show, though that only lasted about three minutes compared to 3 hours! I get what you mean about the satire. It probably played very well in 1987 [The Two Ronnies finished that year and Benny Hill stopped 2 years later-both way past there prime] but not so much now comedy has evolved even past the alternative circuit [and even The Office is now 20 years old!].

[@britcompod]

The Two Ronnies has held up more than anything from the seventies. Nobody really looks down on them the way you would a Benny Hill.

[@jamesatkinsonja]

@@britcompod The classics still hold up for sure-That David Renwick penned Mastermind sketch for example.

[@johnnyBgoodson]

@@jamesatkinsonja Can't argue with that.

[@therocketboost]

Ben Elton is a troubling creature to get to grips with. He is incredibly talented but his smug superiority is lathered over everything he touches, making his creations slightly unlikeable when noticed. Perhaps the only reason Blackadder doesn't suffer from this is that Edmund Blackadder (from Season 2 onwards) is the absolute ultimate cynic in legitimately stupid or insane eras, which provides enough camouflage.

[@jokaute70]

This was bloody brilliant for it's time and still stands up today. What a who's who of the era, don't start sounding like a modern snowflake, the little snipes they took in fun were the truth!

[@jamesatkinsonja]

In fairness I think they were trying to bring a 2020's perspective to it and acknowledged that the satire worked at the time [for example Benny Hill is viewed with nostalgic affection now but when this was made was widely considered to be an out of date dinosaur]. It's similar to how 'When the Whistle Blows' in Extra's felt like a very spot on and needed satire of dated 'studio sitcoms with a laughter track' in 2006 [when things like 'My Family' were very popular] but might not hit the same now [as there made much less frequently with 'single camera, no laugh track' being more typical], especially as Extras-given it's a showbiz satire and hence quite topical-has dated itself when viewing it now [Stephen Merchant has said while he was very much into mocking older sitcoms in his younger days he quite likes them now!].