an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Firstly, whilst 'Romany Jones' was not a comedy classic, I do think IMDb user 'jailbo' is rather unjust in classifying this show as 'mean spirited'. True, much of the comedy was culled from the uncouth antics of the characters of Wally and Lil Briggs ( played by Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts ) but it was certainly no worse than what could be seen on something as horrid as 'Little Britain'.Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney's creation came about in 1972 as a pilot. James Beck played Bert Jones, a workshy scrounger who could give 'Rab C. Nesbitt' competition in terms of laziness. His long suffering wife is Betty ( played by gorgeous Jo Rowbottom ) who tries to make the best of her life with the bone-idle Bert. They live in a cramped caravan in a filthy gypsy site next door to the aforementioned and common-as-muck Wally and Lil. Lil is an old harridan with a fondness for gossip while Wally is a drunken layabout light on brain-cells.James Beck made the part of Bert his own but his death in 1973 just prior to the screening of the second series meant a change of character by the arrival of series three. Jonathan Cecil and the lovely Gay Soper replaced Bert and Betty as Jeremy and Susan Chrichton-Jones. an upwardly mobile couple. Whilst not gaining the same affection as their predecessors, they proved popular enough for the show to carry on for another two seasons. Arthur English played Wally in the pilot but when the series began proper, Arthur Mullard was rightly picked to play him. The Briggs were so popular they were later used in Wolfe and Chesney's feature film 'Holiday On The Buses' and then were given their own sitcom spin-off - the much funnier 'Yus, My Dear'.'Romany Jones' if nothing else compensated for the cancellation of 'On The Buses' and should not be judged so harshly. All of the show bar the pilot ( having been wiped ) was released on DVD in 2011 by Network and makes for entertaining viewing.

As 'On The Buses' drew to a close, Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney tried out ideas for other sitcoms. 'Romany Jones' broke new ground in that it focused on the British underclass. It was a vehicle for 'Dad's Army' star James Beck, casting him as the bone idle 'Bert Jones', who lives on a run-down caravan site with new wife Betty ( Lucille Ball-lookalike Jo Rowbottom ). Their neighbours ( and some would say the show's true stars ) were the uncouth 'Wally Briggs' ( Arthur English in the pilot, Arthur Mullard in the series ) and nosey 'Lil' ( Queenie Watts ).The humour was vulgar and rude, but what else do you expect from Wolfe and Chesney? Yes, some of it came from the appalling lack of hygiene and manners from the Mullard character, but it was no worse than you'll find in 'Steptoe & Son'. Beck's character was not far removed from 'Private Walker'; if there was a way to make money by doing as little work as possible, Bert would be sure to find it. The first season alone saw him trying to breed broiler rabbits and keep a goat. With the two Rons busy on other shows, other writers - many of whom had worked on 'On The Buses' - were used, amongst them Chris Boucher, later to write for 'Dr.Who' and 'Blake's 7'. In his 'Radio Times Guide To T.V. Comedy', Mark Lewisohn branded the show an insult to Britain's gypsy population. How many gypsies were offended by it? How many even had access to television? The public liked it enough to put it in The Top 20 of most watched programmes. There never was a 'Romany Jones' film, alas, but Wally and Lil found their way into the final 'On The Buses' picture in 1973.Prior to the transmission of Season 2, James Beck died of peritonitis. This talented comedy actor, once touted as the new Sid James, proved impossible to replace, so Wolfe and Chesney wrote Bert and Betty out, bringing in a new couple - bowler-hatted city gent 'Jeremy Crichton-Jones ( the late Jonathan Cecil ) and débutante wife 'Susan' ( Gay Soper ). The show ran for two more seasons, spawning a spin-off in which the Briggs acquired a council house - 'Yus My Dear'.The first two series are out on D.V.D, with ( hopefully ) the rest to follow. Its pleasant enough viewing, but no comedy classic. Roger Whitaker's title theme is infuriatingly catchy to boot!

This was a very vulgar and mean spirited sitcom. It featured a young couple who move onto a caravan site and find themselves living next door to a horrible pair of old rogues, played to the hilt by Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts. The humour, if you can call it that, consisted of Mullard and Watts being disgusting with food - dropping fag ash onto the bread as they buttered it, dropping sausages onto the floor, etc. - all to the disgust of their neighbours.James Beck died early on on the run, and his place was taken by Jonathan Cecil playing a posh fellow who was forever calling Mullard "you silly arse!" which sent Mullard berserk with rage. Not the most sophisticated comedy in the world, then, but I can remember finding it a rib tickler when I was a little kid. The adults in my family found it perfectly disgusting.It was followed by a sequel series, Yus My Dear, starring Watts and Mullard, who also feature as their Romany Jones characters in the film Holiday on the Buses.