Each week, we will be taking an in depth look at some of the best sitcoms and comedy shows from both the UK and the USA.

Today we will be looking at a comedy that was full of catchphrases and innuendoes –   ‘allo ‘allo

Opening title Sequence / Theme Tune

About the Show

Summary of Plot

In WW2 France, Rene Artois runs a small café where Resistance fighters, Gestapo men, German Army officers and escaped Allied POWs interact daily, ignorant of one another’s true identity or presence, exasperating Rene. – IMDb

Number of Seasons / Episodes

9  Seasons

Characters:

Gordon Kaye – Rene Artois

Carmen Silvera – Edith Artois

Vicki Michelle – Yvette Carte-Blanche

Richard Marner – Colonel Kurt Von Strohm

Trivia

+When Edith catches René embracing another woman and asks for an explanation, one writer sets up the situation, while the other writer writes the excuse René gives.

+ There is a restaurant on the Great Square of Kortrijk in Belgium named “Bistro Allo Allo” after the series. The inside of the restaurant is decorated with black and white photos of a few of its most hilarious scenes.

+”Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once” was never meant to be a catchphrase, it was said once and it got a laugh, so the character of Michelle said it in every episode after. Many famous catchphrases were created by accident.

+  The original painting of The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies, which features in many episodes, was given to production designer Shaun Moore after the series ended in 1992. In April 2007, he auctioned it for £4000 to raise money for the charity the Ace Centre, which helps children with communication problems in Oxford.

+Series 5 was commissioned with the intention of syndication in America. As a result, it aired as a single long series of twenty six, twenty five minute shows, from September 1988 – February 1989. The attempt to air the show in America failed but it did get a cult following later on when shown on PBS.

+ Madame Edith (Carmen Silvera,1922-2002) and Madame Fanny La Fan (Rose Hill,1914-2003) are only 8 years apart in age in real life, yet they played mother and daughter in ‘Allo ‘Allo.

Classic Clips

Someone with a plan

Good Moaning Compilation