Headmaster Mr Cromwell decides that to emulate the fee-paying public schools he will create an "Old Fennians" Association". He schedules a reunion, Potter devises some ties and hats to signify the Association while the staff work on some musical numbers...
This episode saw a one-off reunion in "Please Sir" for the six original pupil characters - although only four of the original actors returned. Carol Hawkins had taken the place of Penny Spencer and had indeed already played Sharon in the show's feature film while Leon Vitali replaced Malcolm McFee who was temporarily unavailable to play Craven. Carol Hawkins seems more convincing as Sharon as she has a similar vocal delivery as well as catching the original character's demeanour well but Leon Vitali doesn't convince as Craven aside from hair-colour and might as well be playing a different character.
The rest of the gang are present and correct but it has to be said that apart from the nostalgia value the episode has little to commend it thanks to a weak story which in the later stages degenerates into some awful songs - while these were meant to be funny they are not. It is interesting to have a short scene in which the former pupils meet the new characters of5C and this has some neat interplay but there would probably have been much better ways to have a reunion story.
"Please Sir!" and its spin-off series "The Fenn Street Gang" featuring the former pupils were running concurrently at the time so the old characters hadn't really been away so perhaps this would have packed more of a punch had there been no spin-off or a few years had elapsed. While this was perhaps an attempt to revive interest in the revamped "Please Sir!" by trading on its (recent) history it may also have backfired by showing the decline from the first three series. In terms of actual quality an episode with the new cast would probably have been better than this and it reflected a lack of fresh ideas; however for nostalgia value this will probably still attract more interest than most Series 4 outings.
This episode saw a one-off reunion in "Please Sir" for the six original pupil characters - although only four of the original actors returned. Carol Hawkins had taken the place of Penny Spencer and had indeed already played Sharon in the show's feature film while Leon Vitali replaced Malcolm McFee who was temporarily unavailable to play Craven. Carol Hawkins seems more convincing as Sharon as she has a similar vocal delivery as well as catching the original character's demeanour well but Leon Vitali doesn't convince as Craven aside from hair-colour and might as well be playing a different character.
The rest of the gang are present and correct but it has to be said that apart from the nostalgia value the episode has little to commend it thanks to a weak story which in the later stages degenerates into some awful songs - while these were meant to be funny they are not. It is interesting to have a short scene in which the former pupils meet the new characters of5C and this has some neat interplay but there would probably have been much better ways to have a reunion story.
"Please Sir!" and its spin-off series "The Fenn Street Gang" featuring the former pupils were running concurrently at the time so the old characters hadn't really been away so perhaps this would have packed more of a punch had there been no spin-off or a few years had elapsed. While this was perhaps an attempt to revive interest in the revamped "Please Sir!" by trading on its (recent) history it may also have backfired by showing the decline from the first three series. In terms of actual quality an episode with the new cast would probably have been better than this and it reflected a lack of fresh ideas; however for nostalgia value this will probably still attract more interest than most Series 4 outings.