Astonished to find three episodes of this on an old videotape I bought the other day. Even more astonished that the first one on the tape was one that I actually remembered quite well from 1970. I wouldn't have believed that I saw it later than 1967, but a reference to 'Midnight Cowboy' places the recording date after 1969. I was a kid during this series' run, and could never get enough of Charlie Drake. He was a brilliant comic in both the physical and verbal sense, and I remember once seeing him carrying on with the comedy while bleeding from the head after jumping through a prop window (in an episode of this series). Each episode of The Worker adhered to a formula: Charlie strides into the Employment Exchange, makes a misery of the life of the official (Henry McGee, playing Mr Pugh, or 'Mister Poo' as Drake's character calls him), is sent to try out another job, fails with varying degrees of hilarity (so my memory informs me), then returns, apparently full of cheer that he is unemployable.
The stunts and slapstick seem eclipsed, at least in TV terms, by the later series 'Some Mothers do 'ave 'em', but it's fascinating to watch Drake and McGee performing their surreal double-headers. Drake is a species of his own, and the closest his character comes to anything resembling a human being, is a sort of overgrown mischievous baby, his brilliant blue eyes defying the monochrome medium. He has a language all his own, and it seems to have come more from a refusal to talk normally than an inability to do so (much more rebellious than the uniform slang used by teenagers).
I was hoping to show the tape to my 11-year-old stepson, who actually loves vintage comedy, but to be honest, there are many elements of the first episode that I found problematic. Charlie decides he wants a sex change - this is proposed from such an innocent angle ('cos I ain't done very well as a man!') that it's disarming, but a scene following an incident in which his clothes shrink in a car wash (causing him, for some reason, to be mistaken for a woman) is rather disturbing: he is waylaid by a gang of skinheads (who were, at that time, the emergent yob element - there had been a considerable lacuna since the decline of the teddyboy, and they had a lot of catching up to do), and it is quite clear ('just relax, darlin'') that their intention is rape. A farcical rescue has them each deposited in a dustbin, but the scene is much too menacing, and the intended juxtaposition of silly comedy doesn't cancel it out.
However, this is worth seeing, if you can track down the cassette (I don't know how many other episodes survived). Drake is supremely confident in his performance, and draws us onto his side to tease the long suffering Mr Pugh.
The closest talent I've seen to Drake in delivery and physicality in recent years is Lee Evans. Both stars are great when they're in the right setting, that is to say, contexts that use such tremendous energy to good effect. Anything else is a disaster.
The stunts and slapstick seem eclipsed, at least in TV terms, by the later series 'Some Mothers do 'ave 'em', but it's fascinating to watch Drake and McGee performing their surreal double-headers. Drake is a species of his own, and the closest his character comes to anything resembling a human being, is a sort of overgrown mischievous baby, his brilliant blue eyes defying the monochrome medium. He has a language all his own, and it seems to have come more from a refusal to talk normally than an inability to do so (much more rebellious than the uniform slang used by teenagers).
I was hoping to show the tape to my 11-year-old stepson, who actually loves vintage comedy, but to be honest, there are many elements of the first episode that I found problematic. Charlie decides he wants a sex change - this is proposed from such an innocent angle ('cos I ain't done very well as a man!') that it's disarming, but a scene following an incident in which his clothes shrink in a car wash (causing him, for some reason, to be mistaken for a woman) is rather disturbing: he is waylaid by a gang of skinheads (who were, at that time, the emergent yob element - there had been a considerable lacuna since the decline of the teddyboy, and they had a lot of catching up to do), and it is quite clear ('just relax, darlin'') that their intention is rape. A farcical rescue has them each deposited in a dustbin, but the scene is much too menacing, and the intended juxtaposition of silly comedy doesn't cancel it out.
However, this is worth seeing, if you can track down the cassette (I don't know how many other episodes survived). Drake is supremely confident in his performance, and draws us onto his side to tease the long suffering Mr Pugh.
The closest talent I've seen to Drake in delivery and physicality in recent years is Lee Evans. Both stars are great when they're in the right setting, that is to say, contexts that use such tremendous energy to good effect. Anything else is a disaster.