Comedy Connections (2003) s04e08 Episode Script
Ever Decreasing Circles
1 PHONE RINGS Ah! Ah! Ah! All comedy is about frustration, failure, disaster.
I don't know why.
We have to play failures to get laughs.
On the face of it, Ever Decreasing Circles was a classic suburban sit-com, yet central to its everyday situations were some odd characters.
None more so than the obsessive and insufferable Martin Bryce.
What is the matter with you? PHONE RINGS The number of letters I got from people saying, "He reminds me of my husband.
" People were very fond of Martin.
He's just the most marvellous comedian - Richard.
Sometimes when we were recording, he would do something that would make me laugh so much, we had to stop.
What's more, I didn't feel you kiss me goodnight.
Ever Decreasing Circles ran for 27 episodes between 1984 and 1989.
After a slow start, 12 million viewers were eventually inviting Martin Bryce into their living rooms as they had a decade earlier with Tom Good in The Good Life.
The modern master of tragic comedy failure, Ricky Gervais, includes Ever Decreasing Circles high on his best ever comedy list, describing Briers as the greatest living British sit-com actor.
Given a choice between Martin and Tom, for Richard there'd be no contest.
My favourite would be Martin Bryce in Ever Decreasing, rather than Tom Good, because he was a wonderful character to play, but he was very much me, as it were, slightly exaggerated, whereas Martin Bryce was a genuine character.
They'd written much more of a character.
THEY were John Esmonde and Bob Larbey who had created perennial BBC favourite The Good Life starring Richard Briers in 1975.
By that time, Briers had already made a name for himself in TV comedy.
Our story starts in the '50s with Richard a humble clerk with a keen interest in theatre and amateur dramatics.
His life changed when he auditioned for RADA on the advice of a famous relative.
I know a friend who arrived here in Paris, two hours later the door opened, his wife dashed in and said, "Hello, darling, surprise!" Gosh, how super! Super?! It was disastrous.
Caught with his trousers down, literally.
My father's cousin was Terry Thomas.
A huge star.
Terry said, "I think you've got something.
"I don't quite know what it is but I think you need a polish, "a kind of college or school.
" From alongside Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Peter O'Toole at RADA, his first TV break came in 1961 courtesy of Denis Norden and Frank Muir, then TV's most successful writers, who were looking for a young actor to join June Whitfield in a series they were writing for Jimmy Edwards.
I don't think I can take this much longer, Sally.
Have you seen some of the jobs he's put me on? I know.
That pick-up he handed you after the international rugger match.
Six drunken Irishmen in one cab! 'That led the boys to have faith enough to give me my own series,' so before I knew where I was I think I was only about 27, I got my own TV show, which was marvellous.
The following year Muir and Norden wrote a sit-com that was the perfect vehicle for Richard, as a young, naive barrister in Brothers In Law, he played opposite more-experienced Richard Waring.
Why should he endanger his client's case by entrusting it to you? Well, he may have been impressed by my performance last time I was in court.
You've only been in court once and that performance wouldn't have impressed your mother.
AK Butterworth wouldn't be your mother? No, he isn't.
He's my uncle.
Through Brothers In Law I met Richard Waring who was an actor-writer and he didn't want to go on acting.
He found it embarrassing.
He was a good writer of his genre.
He wrote light comedy stuff.
He talked this idea up of a young couple and all the vicissitudes and problems and ups and downs of a very young couple getting married.
George.
I'd like to get something straight.
But, George I can do what I want, so please, darling.
I just want to think for a moment.
I suggested the pictures, right? But you didn't want to go.
I did want to go.
So we're doing what you wanted.
It's just the way things turned out.
Prunella Scales co-starred and Richard could demonstrate his trademark rapid-fire delivery.
I did suggest the pictures, so presumably I wanted to go.
We're not going, as you wanted.
Darling! I wanted the pictures.
We're going to your mother's tomorrow, which you wanted.
Listen.
We're not going to the King's Head, which I wanted.
You wanted the pictures.
We're not going there.
That got us very well known.
That series ran for over 40 episodes, which was very long then.
While Richard was making a name for himself, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey also met Richard Waring, wearing his comedy executive hat.
He commissioned a pilot which became their first sit-com series Room At The Bottom.
That led to a meeting in 1968 with Frank Muir who by now was London Weekend TV's head of comedy.
He commissioned Please, Sir - Esmonde and Larbey's first big hit.
How are we going to balance their survival against the increasing rate of civilisation? I don't know the answer to that.
What is it, chief? I dunno.
I'm asking you.
Well, leave it with me.
I'll have a think.
Because of that the BBC thought, "I wonder if they could do anything for us that was any good.
" They called us up and said, "We're looking for a series for Richard Briers," who we'd never worked with but who we obviously knew about.
After Marriage Lines, Richard polished his talents in the theatre and films such as Fathom.
He'd starred in the sit-com Birds On The Wing when the BBC put him with Esmonde and Larbey, flavour of the month.
Esmonde and Larbey were from heaven, as far as I was concerned.
We collided, as it were, in our careers at their absolute peak.
I was, at that time, nearly reaching a peak.
Do you know my biggest regret? It seems surprising that Richard considered turning down the role that would make him a household name.
but he was torn between his love of theatre and the financial rewards TV success could bring.
In a funny sort of way, I, too, am very happy.
I wondered about The Good Life.
It's a funny thing about young actors, you get very pretentious, "Should I do Shakespeare? "Should I go to the RSC and starve?" Go in peace, but tell thy sorry lady this, if she doth bite her thumbs, do we unto her, our thumbs bite? Don't call us, we'll call you.
I thought, "Well, it could be rather good.
" By golly, it turned out to be a smasherooney! Like Richard, his Good Life co-stars, Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington, had strong theatre roots and had all been regulars in Alan Ayckbourn's West End plays.
Their stage experience meant a level of comic acting unusual in sit-com at that time but perfectly suited to Esmonde and Larbey's writing.
Shall we ask Tom and Barbara? Good idea.
.
.
Care for a lunchtime drink? We've discovered a super little pub.
Right, lovely.
Smashing.
Good.
Come on.
We'll come in our own car.
You don't know the way.
OK, we'll follow you.
I still haven't seen their new car.
Haven't you, darling? LOUD ENGINE ROARS Oh, my God! Drive on.
But they don't know the way to the pub.
I know.
Drive on! To the audience, Tom Good was a loveable eccentric.
But Richard Briers saw the character in a different light.
I'm not a great fan of Tom Good as a character.
He was selfish, he was always on the touch with Margo and Jerry, always eating their food and drink.
It was just him - my big idea! They're not like us, Margo.
They mustn't touch or they go bad.
Most of the parts I played aren't that likeable, which is odd because I've made a living by being likeable.
After the success of The Good Life, the cast were rewarded with their own sit-coms.
Carla Lane wrote Solo for Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith scored a major success in To The Manor Born and Paul Eddington's politician Jim Hacker bumbled memorably in Yes, Minister.
Esmonde and Larbey also enjoyed phenomenal success on ITV with Get Some In - a sit-com about national service - which gave Robert Lindsay a starring role, so expectations were high for their next project with Richard Briers - The Other One in 1977.
Richard was paired with Michael Gambon, another stage actor and Alan Ayckbourn regular, who was relatively new to television.
He played the most boring man in the world and I played the most rambunctious, pushy, ghastly man in the world and it was beautifully written by Esmonde and Larbey and became our favourite.
But it was a flop.
Buenos noches.
Buena.
Sit down, Brian, old man.
Sit down.
THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH: The Other One was a glorious failure.
Richard wasn't very loveable.
And the first time we did it in the studio, you could actually feel the studio audience recoil when Richard came forward with the moustache and a smarmy look about him.
There was an, "Ooh! No, that's not Richard!" After The Other One it would be seven years before Richard Briers had another hit TV series.
He appeared in the TV adaptation of Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests, alongside Penelope Keith and Penelope Wilton.
but Goodbye Mr Kent, co-starring Hannah Gordon, lasted only one series.
Esmonde and Larbey weren't faring much better, though Larbey had a solo hit in 1981 with A Fine Romance, starring Judi Dench and Michael Williams.
Then, in the early '80s, Esmonde and Larbey happened upon a scene they thought would make not only a great situation comedy but a perfect role for Richard Briers.
'They were walking along Clapham Common one day, ' going somewhere, and there was a football match on.
'In the middle was this referee' Pick it up! Dribble it! '.
.
shouting and nagging, blowing his whistle, "This is offside.
' "What are you doing?" ' WHISTLE BLOWS Offside! WHAT?! At the end of the match they ran into the distance, leaving this chap saying, "Wait for me, lads! "Don't rush off!" They couldn't wait to get away from the bugger.
All right, you've asked for this.
So Martin was born.
In 1984, Esmonde, Larbey and Briers combined the lessons they'd learned from the success of The Good Life and the failure of The Other One to create the strangely endearing, obsessive-compulsive Mole Valley Valves middle-manager oddball Martin Bryce for Ever Decreasing Circles.
A lot of series are about what people do what they try to get done.
This was about the inside of his head, more than anything else! Are you untangling the phone? Things like colour-coding, counting, clean shoes.
Everything in its place and a place for everything.
Bob Larbey said, "You're the only actor we can think of "Who will give some kind of charm to this appalling character!" I've often thought if I hadn't gone into valves, I'd have done psychiatry.
They knew I could be vulnerable.
And so I employed vulnerability into Martin.
Ever Decreasing Circles was directed by Sydney Lotterby - a legendary name in TV comedy.
One of his many career highlights was Sykes And A Plank.
Aye, aye.
This is gonna be funny.
'Ere, I could have walked right into that plank! Why didn't you warn me? Plank? What plank? Sydney Lotterby's CV was a roll call of all the big BBC sitcoms of the '70s and '80s, including Up Pompeii, Porridge, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em .
.
and Yes, Minister, starring The Good Life's Paul Eddington.
Our audience could recognise the character of Martin and probably knew someone like him.
And you had the added thing, of course, of this poor woman living with him.
That was another The reason the audience took to the scripts.
Do you know what I'm going to do now? No, Martin.
I'm going to make us both a nice cup of cocoa.
Martin's long-suffering wife was Anne, an attractive, intelligent woman, aware of Martin's shortcomings, but who loved him nonetheless.
Is anything getting you down? Now, come on, if you can't talk to me who CAN you talk to? Now tell me.
Well You're looking at your bloody watch! I'm just checking.
How long have we got? Oh, 20 minutes! Oh, forget it.
Forget it! Forget it.
Free time, love.
Oh, go to Brighton! Penelope Wilton's television career started in adaptations of stage classics, like Mrs Warren's Profession.
Frankly, I'm not going to stand any more of your nonsense As soon as you drop it, I won't expect you to stand any of mine.
She had first appeared opposite Richard Briers, needless to say, in the TV version of Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests, before her career changed direction with Ever Decreasing Circles.
You took me as your prisoner.
At first, I hated everything you stood for.
But, physically, I am a womanafter all.
You make me your mistress.
And since then, I've followed you from battlefield to battlefield like a slave.
Crumbs! 'He's married to me and I'm a bit younger.
' And I also yearn for something, perhaps, a bit more than was going on in this little cul-de-sac we lived in.
Yes, Martin? I've got the milk on.
Good.
In other words, I am making the Ovaltine.
Not for me, thanks, I've got a gin and tonic.
'Like many women, she realised she'd married a child.
' So she coped with this, as women do.
Come on.
Hello, Martin.
How are you? Caught into a pint pot, my friend! The unsophisticated world that Martin and Anne inhabit is turned upside down by the smooth and suave Paul Ryman who seems as different from Martin as it's possible to be.
I must have done something really terrible in a previous life and he's been sent to punish me in this one.
What I was saying, in the most neighbourly way I could think of, was to point out that a community like ours does have its little dos and don'ts.
And house names are one of them! Peter Egan's first major TV role was in the 1968 BBC adaptation of Cold Comfort farm, which would help him carve out a niche in smarmy characters.
Aye, women's nonsense! Women be all alike.
Fussing with their filals and be-dazing a man's eyes.
Another graduate of RADA, his background was mainly classical theatre and period TV dramas, such as the character of Oscar Wilde in the mini series Lillie in 1978.
And Prince Regent in '79.
Peter Egan, like Penelope Wilton, had also worked with Richard Briers on the stage, this time in George Bernard Shaw's Arms And The Man.
My agent rang me up and said, "Do you fancy doing a comedy for the BBC?" And I said, "Well, I've never done comedy.
" I was always doing period stuff like The Prince Regent or Oscar Wilde.
Long live His Majesty, King Charles I.
'So they said, "Richard Briers is in it.
" And I said, "OK.
I'll do it.
"' The great thing is they're actors from the stage.
They're used to audiences and they're used to interacting with others.
The great thing about comedy is the way the way you react.
Hello, Martin.
Going fishing? I can't walk past you carrying anything, can I? If it's a board, it's, "Hello, Martin, going to a board meeting?" If it's a pole it's, "Hello, where's the pole from - Warsaw?" If you were carrying a whale I'd probably say, "Hello, Martin, are you having a whale of a time?" Yes, you probably would.
As usual, you've gone straight down Silly Avenue! Where would I get a whale from? Wales? Lunatic! You could have caught it with your fishing rod.
Loony.
That's what you are.
You're a loony.
'I think, "My God! This is a very good double act.
" ' This little ratty man and this wonderful 6' 2" wonderful man.
"Hello, Martin.
" You know.
Hello, Martin.
Situation comedy is one of the hardest things to do.
it forces you to use yourself a lot, which is very, very good for modern acting, as opposed to period acting.
So you learn an awful lot about acting by doing it.
Stop that.
Just stop it! Martin, could you be masterful without shaking me? It's wonderful to go to somebody who you know you'll get a reaction from.
It worked every time.
This is the life, eh, Martin? Busy doing nothing! 'You need good actors to do lightweight stuff.
' It's very, sort of, thin ice stuff.
it can go out of the window, be lost, unless you've got people who know their technique and craft.
So we got a very high standard, as in The Good Life.
Good morning, Anne.
I hope you don't mind us coming in the back way but we saw Martin up a tree.
Two of the more memorable characters were Howard and Hilda Hughes, naive, infuriating and a little bit odd.
IN HIGH-PITCHED NORTHERN ACCENT: Hey up, lad! My name is Nathan Sidebottom.
You see, I'm becoming terrified that I'm being touched by dark forces.
Both Geraldine Newman and Stanley Lebor came from the theatre and had small parts in a number of TV series, such as Dr Finlay's casebook and The Naked Civil Servant.
But their big break came when they were offered the parts of devoted couple Howard and Hilda.
Yodel-hey-hi-hi! HE BLOWS HORN BADLY Just a minute, Howard.
Just a minute, Hilda.
Howard and Hilda were amazing cos they were both mad.
Howard and Hilda were part of a world that Martin COULD control, before Paul came along and disrupted it.
Howard, uma simple man! An enthusiast.
I used to think that a Jacuzzi was a little, hopping animal, you know! Howard is a kind of disciple to Martin.
He sort of, um will do whatever Martin asks him to do and Hilda tags along.
Howard and Hilda, you really are a couple of funny old buckets! They're the sort of couple who in real life you'd find deeply frustrating.
They also wore exactly the same clothes.
They both looked like twins! It's not always pleasant when someone comes up and says, "I loved your matching costumes.
" "Well, what about my acting!" Yes! I can see it's going to be one of those days when you keep me laughing endlessly! HOWARD LAUGHS A HIGH-PITCHED GIGGLE The only thing I think I put to them was I said, "You ought to be wearing the same clothes.
" We talked about this before, didn't we? Geraldine thinks it was her idea.
It was my idea.
May they find great happiness in their new home.
And garden.
And garden.
It may be that I just thought of it at the same time.
With the cast now in place, there was one important ingredient missing for a hit series - an attention-grabbing title.
Titles are terribly difficult.
We went through something like 39 titles.
E=MC2 was one of them, um Oh, I can't tell you the trouble we had! After much head scratching the writers settled on the cryptic, Ever Decreasing Circles, a canny reference to Martin's tendency to disappear into his own anal little world.
All I said was, "Why were there mole hills on my lawn and not on Paul's.
" You did not, you claimed the moles knew which lawn was which.
AUDIENCE LAUGHS You claimed that they had decided not to dig hills on Paul's lawn.
The competition between Martin and Peter's part was that Egan's part was good at everything.
He was what they called at school an all-rounder.
He'd be very good at mathematics, he'd be very good at football, very good at cricket.
'My favourite episode was the cricket match.
' Will somebody please tell me the bowler's name?! Howzat! Out.
It was only during filming they discovered a potential problem.
Peter Egan, unlike his character, couldn't actually play cricket.
Sydney Lotterby was terribly worried.
He said, "He can't play cricket! He's no good! He can't play cricket!" I said, "Can't you do some magic with the camera? Something?" And then somebody said, put some music on the top.
This was wonderful.
This great man doing these great And it looked wonderfully good.
Like a great batsman! And it worked a treat.
But for Martin, it was his worst nightmare.
It was like cutting him through with a knife.
He - the captain.
He - the man who'd arranged all the teas.
He - the man who varnished the stumps.
And his wife, trying to make it all right for him said, "Look, never mind.
You're good at playing the piano.
"You go next door to the bar "and give us a tune on the piano.
"You've always been good at that.
You know you're good.
" And he says, "Yes, I am good at that.
" And at that very moment, through the door, you hear PIANO PLAYS AND PEOPLE SING CHEERILY Yes, it is him.
The question that was also asked an awful lot was about the relationship between Paul and Anne, Martin's wife, cos there was always a teasing kind of relationship.
Tricky, isn't it, when you come to think of it.
It's not so easy.
Take your time.
Take your time.
'It's an odd situation.
There's a single man 'and then sometimes he's rather flirty with me.
' And then you wonder whether I'll go off with him - a constant interest in that area.
I seem to remember somewhere that in the first series, there was a final episode where Paul and Anne actually eloped together and by the time we got to the fourth episode, they realised that would be a total disaster.
So it was never made.
But that kind of underlying, umtease was always threaded through the whole series.
One of these days, I'm going to call your bluff.
Who's bluffing? Slightly disappointing audiences of around 5 million watched the first series of Ever Decreasing Circles.
The BBC would have expected more but they were willing to give the series every possible chance of success.
They decided to go for a second series, so they repeated the first series again and the repeats of the first series got 7 million, which is quite remarkable, because then people talked about it and more watched the second series.
'The second series itself got 9 million.
' AUDIENCE LAUGHS Anybody ever got 147 here? No.
Hmm.
And then it went from 9 million to 11 million to 13, 15 and so on and it was just wonderful.
AUDIENCE LAUGHS That's four away.
That's four away! Foul stroke, four away.
Well, don't just say it, put it up! Put it up! After the second series, the cast realised the show was a hit.
But when they returned for series three, there had been an unexpected change in personnel.
Director, Sydney Lotterby, had left.
I don't know why Sydney left.
I don't know.
I left because I was given the sack.
I was called into the office one day, out of the blue, and told that, um I wasn't giving enough direction to our principal actor.
It hurt at the time but there we are.
Sydney had been replaced by Harold Snoad, another of the BBC's most prolific and reliable comedy directors.
Sydney, I always thought, by nature, was an introvert which is rather funny considering the wonderful comedy he produced.
And Harold is an extrovert.
So it was just a basic change of energy, I think.
Harold's first major sitcom was Oh, Brother! starring Derek Nimmo in 1968.
The following year, he directed Dad's Army, before moving on to Are You Being Served? In 1978, Harold worked with writer Richard Waring and the series Rings On Their Fingers, then helped the doctors sitcom Don't Wait Up continue its smooth run through the '80s.
He brought his experience and energy to an increasingly popular show.
My favourite was when Martin has to go to Belgium, to Bruges, to attend a conference and, uma colleague of his does the dirty on him, in as much as he encourages him to get drunk and then gets a local good-time girl to come into Martin's bedroom.
MARTIN GROANS And he's so distraught at the fact that he thinks he's been unfaithful to Anne How many did you have? I can't remember.
Did you meet this girl in the bar? Can't remember.
Somewhere else? Can't remember.
We're certainly piecing this together, aren't we, Martin? It's only later on that Paul's character finds out, from the same man who put Martin into all this, that it was a prank and didn't really happen.
Rex! Rex Tyler.
Yes, who wants to know? Paul, I'm Martin Bryce's neighbour, remember? Oh, yes, hello, squire! All right? Rex, since Martin came back from Bruges, he's been like a frightened rabbit! Well, come on! Let us in on it.
I got him drunk and paid some Belgian bird to go into his room! He wakes up in the morning she says, "Thanks for a wonderful night.
" And he, prize prune, believes her! Oh, come on, darling, don't say you don't get it as well? Oh, yes, I get it.
Then why aren't you laughing? I'm Anne Bryce.
If someone takes over from you, you think, "I bet he's not as good.
" But, of course, he was! Damn him! Say you laugh, you must by the very nature of laughing go like this HE LAUGHS EXAGGERATEDLY No.
When we laugh, we always lean forwards.
Like this.
HE LAUGHS EXAGGERATEDLY Esmonde and Larbey, teamed with Briers, had struck gold with their balance of dark humour and farce, where the comedy was more in the characters than the situation.
Nothing's ever made us laugh that much.
Well, a good sitcom should be about people who you know - people that you've met, people you work with - recognisable people.
people used to say on Ever Decreasing Circles, "I love you as Martin Bryce cos I've got an uncle like that.
" "I like Martin Bryce cos I've got one in the office - drives us mad.
" You know, Howard, some people would laugh if they could see us now.
Why? We don't look particularly silly, do we? No, but they think we do.
Who? People like those so-called alternative comedians.
Les Dawson - that crowd.
By 1987, and the end of the fourth series, the comedy landscape was undergoing a transformation.
Alternative comedians were elbowing in.
Sofa-driven sitcoms like Ever Decreasing Circles just weren't fashionable.
When the fourth series ended, everyone moved onto their separate projects and it looked like the end of Ever Decreasing Circles.
Esmonde and Larbey had already been enjoying success with Brush Strokes.
Peter Egan co-starred in BBC Sitcom Joint Account with Hannah Gordon.
And Richard Briers returned to the theatre, as well as indulging his taste for villainy in Doctor Who.
But such was the lasting popularity of Ever Decreasing Circles that in 1989 it was brought back for a one-off Christmas Eve special.
It was an episode that saw major changes ahead for the Bryces because the normally super-careful Martin got Anne pregnant.
Oh, Anne! He'd heard his firm was relocating and he had to move away from his friends and his house and there are a lot of emotional moments in it as well.
What hadn't changed was the one-up- manship between Martin and Paul.
Sorry, long queue.
Did you see Roland Twining? He was incredible! That wasn't Mr Twining.
He twisted his ankle just before he was due to go on.
But if that wasn't Roland Twining, then who on earth? You have to say he's a brilliant actor who got what was necessary out of this extraordinary character Esmonde and Larbey had written.
So, after 27 episodes, it was an emotional goodbye to the close but not to the cast.
After Ever Decreasing Circles, Esmonde and Larbey continued the run of Brush Strokes, produced at times by both Harold Snoad and Sydney Lotterby - the best of both worlds.
Snoad then took charge of Keeping Up Appearances, while Lotterby worked with Bob Larbey on As Time Goes By.
The last series that Esmonde and Larbey wrote together for Briers was an anti-climax as Down To Earth ran for just seven episodes.
Gave myself a bit of a scare, there.
Peter Egan mixed theatre with television and film and in 2000 made a not altogether successful return to sitcom with Cry Wolf but returned to TV comedy with Home Again.
Geraldine Newman returned to the theatre as did Stanley Lebor, who also appeared alongside Penelope Wilton in the children's classic The Borrowers.
Penelope Wilton recently popped up as Simon Pegg's mum in the movie Shaun Of The Dead, which established a new genre - the genre romantic comedy, or zom-rom-com.
I'm sorry, Mum.
Do it! BANG! After Down To Earth, Richard got himself going again with a number of critically-acclaimed performances.
And exhibited a darker side to his acting talent in Inspector Morse.
Any time you want to do it again Once was quite enough.
Well, if that's your attitude Actually, you could do it a thousand times and I still wouldn't support Dennis! You Americans are so naive.
What the hell do you mean? Dennis once had an affair with my wife.
Never told you that, did he? He ruined my marriage.
I've awaited a long time for the chance to ruin his.
Thank you for being so obliging.
But you said you You sold yourself like a common whorefor nothing.
Dennis will never be master.
You bastard.
See you at Founders' Feast, my dear.
I was opening a fete in Scotland and two dear old ladies my age came up and said, "Oh, Mr Briers, we saw Morse.
" I said, "Oh.
" She said, "I wish you wouldn't do those parts.
" Do your worst! In 2000, he returned to our television screens to delight audiences as eccentric Hector in Monarch Of The Glen.
Monarch Of The Glen turned up and I thought it was a very nice script, a wonderful part, a character part where I could pinch scenes! A scene-stealing part, which I like at my age now! I've got no shame any more.
DOG WHIMPERS Useless? Useless?! Ah.
No-one can teach you timing.
It's just something you have, or you haven't.
And Richard has it in spades.
He knows it all.
He knows ever nuance of comedy.
Richard Briers is absolutely superb, wonderful, a great joy to work with.
And Richard has been keeping younger viewers happy with the cartoon series Roobarb which he's voiced with his loveable side since 1974 and continues today as Roobarb and Custard Too.
I do now 27 voices.
AS CUSTARD: Of course, Custard's always been a great voice to play because he sends up Roobarb rotten.
Custard, the ringmaster, announced that, "The fantastic Roobarb # of the one dog slippers company would, "juggle for their entertainment.
"be fired from a canon for their excitement" And he has this terrible laugh when Roobarb does something wrong.
He goes, "Oh, there he goes again.
All right, clever guts?" HE MIMICS CUSTARDS LAUGH Stay there, mate, I'm coming round that side of the table.
The quality of Richard Briers' unique performance as Martin Bryce is one of the many elements that makes Ever Decreasing Circles a classic and well-remembered sitcom.
I'm going to do something now, mate.
'Wonderful scripts' Wonderful directors.
A terrific cast.
'It just worked.
' And even though Richard Briers has left the young sitcom leads behind him, he hasn't ruled out a comeback if the right role comes along.
'Yes, I would go back.
' I'd like to be an old, cantankerous grandpa - not a lot to say but all the best lines.
That would suit me fine! This sort of thing requires a bedrock, Martin.
You are one.
Well, it's very nice of you to say so.
Thank you, Martin.
That's quite all right, Howard.
And a big thank you from me, Martin.
I don't know why.
We have to play failures to get laughs.
On the face of it, Ever Decreasing Circles was a classic suburban sit-com, yet central to its everyday situations were some odd characters.
None more so than the obsessive and insufferable Martin Bryce.
What is the matter with you? PHONE RINGS The number of letters I got from people saying, "He reminds me of my husband.
" People were very fond of Martin.
He's just the most marvellous comedian - Richard.
Sometimes when we were recording, he would do something that would make me laugh so much, we had to stop.
What's more, I didn't feel you kiss me goodnight.
Ever Decreasing Circles ran for 27 episodes between 1984 and 1989.
After a slow start, 12 million viewers were eventually inviting Martin Bryce into their living rooms as they had a decade earlier with Tom Good in The Good Life.
The modern master of tragic comedy failure, Ricky Gervais, includes Ever Decreasing Circles high on his best ever comedy list, describing Briers as the greatest living British sit-com actor.
Given a choice between Martin and Tom, for Richard there'd be no contest.
My favourite would be Martin Bryce in Ever Decreasing, rather than Tom Good, because he was a wonderful character to play, but he was very much me, as it were, slightly exaggerated, whereas Martin Bryce was a genuine character.
They'd written much more of a character.
THEY were John Esmonde and Bob Larbey who had created perennial BBC favourite The Good Life starring Richard Briers in 1975.
By that time, Briers had already made a name for himself in TV comedy.
Our story starts in the '50s with Richard a humble clerk with a keen interest in theatre and amateur dramatics.
His life changed when he auditioned for RADA on the advice of a famous relative.
I know a friend who arrived here in Paris, two hours later the door opened, his wife dashed in and said, "Hello, darling, surprise!" Gosh, how super! Super?! It was disastrous.
Caught with his trousers down, literally.
My father's cousin was Terry Thomas.
A huge star.
Terry said, "I think you've got something.
"I don't quite know what it is but I think you need a polish, "a kind of college or school.
" From alongside Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Peter O'Toole at RADA, his first TV break came in 1961 courtesy of Denis Norden and Frank Muir, then TV's most successful writers, who were looking for a young actor to join June Whitfield in a series they were writing for Jimmy Edwards.
I don't think I can take this much longer, Sally.
Have you seen some of the jobs he's put me on? I know.
That pick-up he handed you after the international rugger match.
Six drunken Irishmen in one cab! 'That led the boys to have faith enough to give me my own series,' so before I knew where I was I think I was only about 27, I got my own TV show, which was marvellous.
The following year Muir and Norden wrote a sit-com that was the perfect vehicle for Richard, as a young, naive barrister in Brothers In Law, he played opposite more-experienced Richard Waring.
Why should he endanger his client's case by entrusting it to you? Well, he may have been impressed by my performance last time I was in court.
You've only been in court once and that performance wouldn't have impressed your mother.
AK Butterworth wouldn't be your mother? No, he isn't.
He's my uncle.
Through Brothers In Law I met Richard Waring who was an actor-writer and he didn't want to go on acting.
He found it embarrassing.
He was a good writer of his genre.
He wrote light comedy stuff.
He talked this idea up of a young couple and all the vicissitudes and problems and ups and downs of a very young couple getting married.
George.
I'd like to get something straight.
But, George I can do what I want, so please, darling.
I just want to think for a moment.
I suggested the pictures, right? But you didn't want to go.
I did want to go.
So we're doing what you wanted.
It's just the way things turned out.
Prunella Scales co-starred and Richard could demonstrate his trademark rapid-fire delivery.
I did suggest the pictures, so presumably I wanted to go.
We're not going, as you wanted.
Darling! I wanted the pictures.
We're going to your mother's tomorrow, which you wanted.
Listen.
We're not going to the King's Head, which I wanted.
You wanted the pictures.
We're not going there.
That got us very well known.
That series ran for over 40 episodes, which was very long then.
While Richard was making a name for himself, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey also met Richard Waring, wearing his comedy executive hat.
He commissioned a pilot which became their first sit-com series Room At The Bottom.
That led to a meeting in 1968 with Frank Muir who by now was London Weekend TV's head of comedy.
He commissioned Please, Sir - Esmonde and Larbey's first big hit.
How are we going to balance their survival against the increasing rate of civilisation? I don't know the answer to that.
What is it, chief? I dunno.
I'm asking you.
Well, leave it with me.
I'll have a think.
Because of that the BBC thought, "I wonder if they could do anything for us that was any good.
" They called us up and said, "We're looking for a series for Richard Briers," who we'd never worked with but who we obviously knew about.
After Marriage Lines, Richard polished his talents in the theatre and films such as Fathom.
He'd starred in the sit-com Birds On The Wing when the BBC put him with Esmonde and Larbey, flavour of the month.
Esmonde and Larbey were from heaven, as far as I was concerned.
We collided, as it were, in our careers at their absolute peak.
I was, at that time, nearly reaching a peak.
Do you know my biggest regret? It seems surprising that Richard considered turning down the role that would make him a household name.
but he was torn between his love of theatre and the financial rewards TV success could bring.
In a funny sort of way, I, too, am very happy.
I wondered about The Good Life.
It's a funny thing about young actors, you get very pretentious, "Should I do Shakespeare? "Should I go to the RSC and starve?" Go in peace, but tell thy sorry lady this, if she doth bite her thumbs, do we unto her, our thumbs bite? Don't call us, we'll call you.
I thought, "Well, it could be rather good.
" By golly, it turned out to be a smasherooney! Like Richard, his Good Life co-stars, Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington, had strong theatre roots and had all been regulars in Alan Ayckbourn's West End plays.
Their stage experience meant a level of comic acting unusual in sit-com at that time but perfectly suited to Esmonde and Larbey's writing.
Shall we ask Tom and Barbara? Good idea.
.
.
Care for a lunchtime drink? We've discovered a super little pub.
Right, lovely.
Smashing.
Good.
Come on.
We'll come in our own car.
You don't know the way.
OK, we'll follow you.
I still haven't seen their new car.
Haven't you, darling? LOUD ENGINE ROARS Oh, my God! Drive on.
But they don't know the way to the pub.
I know.
Drive on! To the audience, Tom Good was a loveable eccentric.
But Richard Briers saw the character in a different light.
I'm not a great fan of Tom Good as a character.
He was selfish, he was always on the touch with Margo and Jerry, always eating their food and drink.
It was just him - my big idea! They're not like us, Margo.
They mustn't touch or they go bad.
Most of the parts I played aren't that likeable, which is odd because I've made a living by being likeable.
After the success of The Good Life, the cast were rewarded with their own sit-coms.
Carla Lane wrote Solo for Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith scored a major success in To The Manor Born and Paul Eddington's politician Jim Hacker bumbled memorably in Yes, Minister.
Esmonde and Larbey also enjoyed phenomenal success on ITV with Get Some In - a sit-com about national service - which gave Robert Lindsay a starring role, so expectations were high for their next project with Richard Briers - The Other One in 1977.
Richard was paired with Michael Gambon, another stage actor and Alan Ayckbourn regular, who was relatively new to television.
He played the most boring man in the world and I played the most rambunctious, pushy, ghastly man in the world and it was beautifully written by Esmonde and Larbey and became our favourite.
But it was a flop.
Buenos noches.
Buena.
Sit down, Brian, old man.
Sit down.
THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH: The Other One was a glorious failure.
Richard wasn't very loveable.
And the first time we did it in the studio, you could actually feel the studio audience recoil when Richard came forward with the moustache and a smarmy look about him.
There was an, "Ooh! No, that's not Richard!" After The Other One it would be seven years before Richard Briers had another hit TV series.
He appeared in the TV adaptation of Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests, alongside Penelope Keith and Penelope Wilton.
but Goodbye Mr Kent, co-starring Hannah Gordon, lasted only one series.
Esmonde and Larbey weren't faring much better, though Larbey had a solo hit in 1981 with A Fine Romance, starring Judi Dench and Michael Williams.
Then, in the early '80s, Esmonde and Larbey happened upon a scene they thought would make not only a great situation comedy but a perfect role for Richard Briers.
'They were walking along Clapham Common one day, ' going somewhere, and there was a football match on.
'In the middle was this referee' Pick it up! Dribble it! '.
.
shouting and nagging, blowing his whistle, "This is offside.
' "What are you doing?" ' WHISTLE BLOWS Offside! WHAT?! At the end of the match they ran into the distance, leaving this chap saying, "Wait for me, lads! "Don't rush off!" They couldn't wait to get away from the bugger.
All right, you've asked for this.
So Martin was born.
In 1984, Esmonde, Larbey and Briers combined the lessons they'd learned from the success of The Good Life and the failure of The Other One to create the strangely endearing, obsessive-compulsive Mole Valley Valves middle-manager oddball Martin Bryce for Ever Decreasing Circles.
A lot of series are about what people do what they try to get done.
This was about the inside of his head, more than anything else! Are you untangling the phone? Things like colour-coding, counting, clean shoes.
Everything in its place and a place for everything.
Bob Larbey said, "You're the only actor we can think of "Who will give some kind of charm to this appalling character!" I've often thought if I hadn't gone into valves, I'd have done psychiatry.
They knew I could be vulnerable.
And so I employed vulnerability into Martin.
Ever Decreasing Circles was directed by Sydney Lotterby - a legendary name in TV comedy.
One of his many career highlights was Sykes And A Plank.
Aye, aye.
This is gonna be funny.
'Ere, I could have walked right into that plank! Why didn't you warn me? Plank? What plank? Sydney Lotterby's CV was a roll call of all the big BBC sitcoms of the '70s and '80s, including Up Pompeii, Porridge, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em .
.
and Yes, Minister, starring The Good Life's Paul Eddington.
Our audience could recognise the character of Martin and probably knew someone like him.
And you had the added thing, of course, of this poor woman living with him.
That was another The reason the audience took to the scripts.
Do you know what I'm going to do now? No, Martin.
I'm going to make us both a nice cup of cocoa.
Martin's long-suffering wife was Anne, an attractive, intelligent woman, aware of Martin's shortcomings, but who loved him nonetheless.
Is anything getting you down? Now, come on, if you can't talk to me who CAN you talk to? Now tell me.
Well You're looking at your bloody watch! I'm just checking.
How long have we got? Oh, 20 minutes! Oh, forget it.
Forget it! Forget it.
Free time, love.
Oh, go to Brighton! Penelope Wilton's television career started in adaptations of stage classics, like Mrs Warren's Profession.
Frankly, I'm not going to stand any more of your nonsense As soon as you drop it, I won't expect you to stand any of mine.
She had first appeared opposite Richard Briers, needless to say, in the TV version of Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests, before her career changed direction with Ever Decreasing Circles.
You took me as your prisoner.
At first, I hated everything you stood for.
But, physically, I am a womanafter all.
You make me your mistress.
And since then, I've followed you from battlefield to battlefield like a slave.
Crumbs! 'He's married to me and I'm a bit younger.
' And I also yearn for something, perhaps, a bit more than was going on in this little cul-de-sac we lived in.
Yes, Martin? I've got the milk on.
Good.
In other words, I am making the Ovaltine.
Not for me, thanks, I've got a gin and tonic.
'Like many women, she realised she'd married a child.
' So she coped with this, as women do.
Come on.
Hello, Martin.
How are you? Caught into a pint pot, my friend! The unsophisticated world that Martin and Anne inhabit is turned upside down by the smooth and suave Paul Ryman who seems as different from Martin as it's possible to be.
I must have done something really terrible in a previous life and he's been sent to punish me in this one.
What I was saying, in the most neighbourly way I could think of, was to point out that a community like ours does have its little dos and don'ts.
And house names are one of them! Peter Egan's first major TV role was in the 1968 BBC adaptation of Cold Comfort farm, which would help him carve out a niche in smarmy characters.
Aye, women's nonsense! Women be all alike.
Fussing with their filals and be-dazing a man's eyes.
Another graduate of RADA, his background was mainly classical theatre and period TV dramas, such as the character of Oscar Wilde in the mini series Lillie in 1978.
And Prince Regent in '79.
Peter Egan, like Penelope Wilton, had also worked with Richard Briers on the stage, this time in George Bernard Shaw's Arms And The Man.
My agent rang me up and said, "Do you fancy doing a comedy for the BBC?" And I said, "Well, I've never done comedy.
" I was always doing period stuff like The Prince Regent or Oscar Wilde.
Long live His Majesty, King Charles I.
'So they said, "Richard Briers is in it.
" And I said, "OK.
I'll do it.
"' The great thing is they're actors from the stage.
They're used to audiences and they're used to interacting with others.
The great thing about comedy is the way the way you react.
Hello, Martin.
Going fishing? I can't walk past you carrying anything, can I? If it's a board, it's, "Hello, Martin, going to a board meeting?" If it's a pole it's, "Hello, where's the pole from - Warsaw?" If you were carrying a whale I'd probably say, "Hello, Martin, are you having a whale of a time?" Yes, you probably would.
As usual, you've gone straight down Silly Avenue! Where would I get a whale from? Wales? Lunatic! You could have caught it with your fishing rod.
Loony.
That's what you are.
You're a loony.
'I think, "My God! This is a very good double act.
" ' This little ratty man and this wonderful 6' 2" wonderful man.
"Hello, Martin.
" You know.
Hello, Martin.
Situation comedy is one of the hardest things to do.
it forces you to use yourself a lot, which is very, very good for modern acting, as opposed to period acting.
So you learn an awful lot about acting by doing it.
Stop that.
Just stop it! Martin, could you be masterful without shaking me? It's wonderful to go to somebody who you know you'll get a reaction from.
It worked every time.
This is the life, eh, Martin? Busy doing nothing! 'You need good actors to do lightweight stuff.
' It's very, sort of, thin ice stuff.
it can go out of the window, be lost, unless you've got people who know their technique and craft.
So we got a very high standard, as in The Good Life.
Good morning, Anne.
I hope you don't mind us coming in the back way but we saw Martin up a tree.
Two of the more memorable characters were Howard and Hilda Hughes, naive, infuriating and a little bit odd.
IN HIGH-PITCHED NORTHERN ACCENT: Hey up, lad! My name is Nathan Sidebottom.
You see, I'm becoming terrified that I'm being touched by dark forces.
Both Geraldine Newman and Stanley Lebor came from the theatre and had small parts in a number of TV series, such as Dr Finlay's casebook and The Naked Civil Servant.
But their big break came when they were offered the parts of devoted couple Howard and Hilda.
Yodel-hey-hi-hi! HE BLOWS HORN BADLY Just a minute, Howard.
Just a minute, Hilda.
Howard and Hilda were amazing cos they were both mad.
Howard and Hilda were part of a world that Martin COULD control, before Paul came along and disrupted it.
Howard, uma simple man! An enthusiast.
I used to think that a Jacuzzi was a little, hopping animal, you know! Howard is a kind of disciple to Martin.
He sort of, um will do whatever Martin asks him to do and Hilda tags along.
Howard and Hilda, you really are a couple of funny old buckets! They're the sort of couple who in real life you'd find deeply frustrating.
They also wore exactly the same clothes.
They both looked like twins! It's not always pleasant when someone comes up and says, "I loved your matching costumes.
" "Well, what about my acting!" Yes! I can see it's going to be one of those days when you keep me laughing endlessly! HOWARD LAUGHS A HIGH-PITCHED GIGGLE The only thing I think I put to them was I said, "You ought to be wearing the same clothes.
" We talked about this before, didn't we? Geraldine thinks it was her idea.
It was my idea.
May they find great happiness in their new home.
And garden.
And garden.
It may be that I just thought of it at the same time.
With the cast now in place, there was one important ingredient missing for a hit series - an attention-grabbing title.
Titles are terribly difficult.
We went through something like 39 titles.
E=MC2 was one of them, um Oh, I can't tell you the trouble we had! After much head scratching the writers settled on the cryptic, Ever Decreasing Circles, a canny reference to Martin's tendency to disappear into his own anal little world.
All I said was, "Why were there mole hills on my lawn and not on Paul's.
" You did not, you claimed the moles knew which lawn was which.
AUDIENCE LAUGHS You claimed that they had decided not to dig hills on Paul's lawn.
The competition between Martin and Peter's part was that Egan's part was good at everything.
He was what they called at school an all-rounder.
He'd be very good at mathematics, he'd be very good at football, very good at cricket.
'My favourite episode was the cricket match.
' Will somebody please tell me the bowler's name?! Howzat! Out.
It was only during filming they discovered a potential problem.
Peter Egan, unlike his character, couldn't actually play cricket.
Sydney Lotterby was terribly worried.
He said, "He can't play cricket! He's no good! He can't play cricket!" I said, "Can't you do some magic with the camera? Something?" And then somebody said, put some music on the top.
This was wonderful.
This great man doing these great And it looked wonderfully good.
Like a great batsman! And it worked a treat.
But for Martin, it was his worst nightmare.
It was like cutting him through with a knife.
He - the captain.
He - the man who'd arranged all the teas.
He - the man who varnished the stumps.
And his wife, trying to make it all right for him said, "Look, never mind.
You're good at playing the piano.
"You go next door to the bar "and give us a tune on the piano.
"You've always been good at that.
You know you're good.
" And he says, "Yes, I am good at that.
" And at that very moment, through the door, you hear PIANO PLAYS AND PEOPLE SING CHEERILY Yes, it is him.
The question that was also asked an awful lot was about the relationship between Paul and Anne, Martin's wife, cos there was always a teasing kind of relationship.
Tricky, isn't it, when you come to think of it.
It's not so easy.
Take your time.
Take your time.
'It's an odd situation.
There's a single man 'and then sometimes he's rather flirty with me.
' And then you wonder whether I'll go off with him - a constant interest in that area.
I seem to remember somewhere that in the first series, there was a final episode where Paul and Anne actually eloped together and by the time we got to the fourth episode, they realised that would be a total disaster.
So it was never made.
But that kind of underlying, umtease was always threaded through the whole series.
One of these days, I'm going to call your bluff.
Who's bluffing? Slightly disappointing audiences of around 5 million watched the first series of Ever Decreasing Circles.
The BBC would have expected more but they were willing to give the series every possible chance of success.
They decided to go for a second series, so they repeated the first series again and the repeats of the first series got 7 million, which is quite remarkable, because then people talked about it and more watched the second series.
'The second series itself got 9 million.
' AUDIENCE LAUGHS Anybody ever got 147 here? No.
Hmm.
And then it went from 9 million to 11 million to 13, 15 and so on and it was just wonderful.
AUDIENCE LAUGHS That's four away.
That's four away! Foul stroke, four away.
Well, don't just say it, put it up! Put it up! After the second series, the cast realised the show was a hit.
But when they returned for series three, there had been an unexpected change in personnel.
Director, Sydney Lotterby, had left.
I don't know why Sydney left.
I don't know.
I left because I was given the sack.
I was called into the office one day, out of the blue, and told that, um I wasn't giving enough direction to our principal actor.
It hurt at the time but there we are.
Sydney had been replaced by Harold Snoad, another of the BBC's most prolific and reliable comedy directors.
Sydney, I always thought, by nature, was an introvert which is rather funny considering the wonderful comedy he produced.
And Harold is an extrovert.
So it was just a basic change of energy, I think.
Harold's first major sitcom was Oh, Brother! starring Derek Nimmo in 1968.
The following year, he directed Dad's Army, before moving on to Are You Being Served? In 1978, Harold worked with writer Richard Waring and the series Rings On Their Fingers, then helped the doctors sitcom Don't Wait Up continue its smooth run through the '80s.
He brought his experience and energy to an increasingly popular show.
My favourite was when Martin has to go to Belgium, to Bruges, to attend a conference and, uma colleague of his does the dirty on him, in as much as he encourages him to get drunk and then gets a local good-time girl to come into Martin's bedroom.
MARTIN GROANS And he's so distraught at the fact that he thinks he's been unfaithful to Anne How many did you have? I can't remember.
Did you meet this girl in the bar? Can't remember.
Somewhere else? Can't remember.
We're certainly piecing this together, aren't we, Martin? It's only later on that Paul's character finds out, from the same man who put Martin into all this, that it was a prank and didn't really happen.
Rex! Rex Tyler.
Yes, who wants to know? Paul, I'm Martin Bryce's neighbour, remember? Oh, yes, hello, squire! All right? Rex, since Martin came back from Bruges, he's been like a frightened rabbit! Well, come on! Let us in on it.
I got him drunk and paid some Belgian bird to go into his room! He wakes up in the morning she says, "Thanks for a wonderful night.
" And he, prize prune, believes her! Oh, come on, darling, don't say you don't get it as well? Oh, yes, I get it.
Then why aren't you laughing? I'm Anne Bryce.
If someone takes over from you, you think, "I bet he's not as good.
" But, of course, he was! Damn him! Say you laugh, you must by the very nature of laughing go like this HE LAUGHS EXAGGERATEDLY No.
When we laugh, we always lean forwards.
Like this.
HE LAUGHS EXAGGERATEDLY Esmonde and Larbey, teamed with Briers, had struck gold with their balance of dark humour and farce, where the comedy was more in the characters than the situation.
Nothing's ever made us laugh that much.
Well, a good sitcom should be about people who you know - people that you've met, people you work with - recognisable people.
people used to say on Ever Decreasing Circles, "I love you as Martin Bryce cos I've got an uncle like that.
" "I like Martin Bryce cos I've got one in the office - drives us mad.
" You know, Howard, some people would laugh if they could see us now.
Why? We don't look particularly silly, do we? No, but they think we do.
Who? People like those so-called alternative comedians.
Les Dawson - that crowd.
By 1987, and the end of the fourth series, the comedy landscape was undergoing a transformation.
Alternative comedians were elbowing in.
Sofa-driven sitcoms like Ever Decreasing Circles just weren't fashionable.
When the fourth series ended, everyone moved onto their separate projects and it looked like the end of Ever Decreasing Circles.
Esmonde and Larbey had already been enjoying success with Brush Strokes.
Peter Egan co-starred in BBC Sitcom Joint Account with Hannah Gordon.
And Richard Briers returned to the theatre, as well as indulging his taste for villainy in Doctor Who.
But such was the lasting popularity of Ever Decreasing Circles that in 1989 it was brought back for a one-off Christmas Eve special.
It was an episode that saw major changes ahead for the Bryces because the normally super-careful Martin got Anne pregnant.
Oh, Anne! He'd heard his firm was relocating and he had to move away from his friends and his house and there are a lot of emotional moments in it as well.
What hadn't changed was the one-up- manship between Martin and Paul.
Sorry, long queue.
Did you see Roland Twining? He was incredible! That wasn't Mr Twining.
He twisted his ankle just before he was due to go on.
But if that wasn't Roland Twining, then who on earth? You have to say he's a brilliant actor who got what was necessary out of this extraordinary character Esmonde and Larbey had written.
So, after 27 episodes, it was an emotional goodbye to the close but not to the cast.
After Ever Decreasing Circles, Esmonde and Larbey continued the run of Brush Strokes, produced at times by both Harold Snoad and Sydney Lotterby - the best of both worlds.
Snoad then took charge of Keeping Up Appearances, while Lotterby worked with Bob Larbey on As Time Goes By.
The last series that Esmonde and Larbey wrote together for Briers was an anti-climax as Down To Earth ran for just seven episodes.
Gave myself a bit of a scare, there.
Peter Egan mixed theatre with television and film and in 2000 made a not altogether successful return to sitcom with Cry Wolf but returned to TV comedy with Home Again.
Geraldine Newman returned to the theatre as did Stanley Lebor, who also appeared alongside Penelope Wilton in the children's classic The Borrowers.
Penelope Wilton recently popped up as Simon Pegg's mum in the movie Shaun Of The Dead, which established a new genre - the genre romantic comedy, or zom-rom-com.
I'm sorry, Mum.
Do it! BANG! After Down To Earth, Richard got himself going again with a number of critically-acclaimed performances.
And exhibited a darker side to his acting talent in Inspector Morse.
Any time you want to do it again Once was quite enough.
Well, if that's your attitude Actually, you could do it a thousand times and I still wouldn't support Dennis! You Americans are so naive.
What the hell do you mean? Dennis once had an affair with my wife.
Never told you that, did he? He ruined my marriage.
I've awaited a long time for the chance to ruin his.
Thank you for being so obliging.
But you said you You sold yourself like a common whorefor nothing.
Dennis will never be master.
You bastard.
See you at Founders' Feast, my dear.
I was opening a fete in Scotland and two dear old ladies my age came up and said, "Oh, Mr Briers, we saw Morse.
" I said, "Oh.
" She said, "I wish you wouldn't do those parts.
" Do your worst! In 2000, he returned to our television screens to delight audiences as eccentric Hector in Monarch Of The Glen.
Monarch Of The Glen turned up and I thought it was a very nice script, a wonderful part, a character part where I could pinch scenes! A scene-stealing part, which I like at my age now! I've got no shame any more.
DOG WHIMPERS Useless? Useless?! Ah.
No-one can teach you timing.
It's just something you have, or you haven't.
And Richard has it in spades.
He knows it all.
He knows ever nuance of comedy.
Richard Briers is absolutely superb, wonderful, a great joy to work with.
And Richard has been keeping younger viewers happy with the cartoon series Roobarb which he's voiced with his loveable side since 1974 and continues today as Roobarb and Custard Too.
I do now 27 voices.
AS CUSTARD: Of course, Custard's always been a great voice to play because he sends up Roobarb rotten.
Custard, the ringmaster, announced that, "The fantastic Roobarb # of the one dog slippers company would, "juggle for their entertainment.
"be fired from a canon for their excitement" And he has this terrible laugh when Roobarb does something wrong.
He goes, "Oh, there he goes again.
All right, clever guts?" HE MIMICS CUSTARDS LAUGH Stay there, mate, I'm coming round that side of the table.
The quality of Richard Briers' unique performance as Martin Bryce is one of the many elements that makes Ever Decreasing Circles a classic and well-remembered sitcom.
I'm going to do something now, mate.
'Wonderful scripts' Wonderful directors.
A terrific cast.
'It just worked.
' And even though Richard Briers has left the young sitcom leads behind him, he hasn't ruled out a comeback if the right role comes along.
'Yes, I would go back.
' I'd like to be an old, cantankerous grandpa - not a lot to say but all the best lines.
That would suit me fine! This sort of thing requires a bedrock, Martin.
You are one.
Well, it's very nice of you to say so.
Thank you, Martin.
That's quite all right, Howard.
And a big thank you from me, Martin.