Mike and Angelo S12E1 (2000) - FULL EPISODE

Box of Tricks. Angelo's got himself a new board game, and he and Mike sit down to play it straight away. After all, who reads the rules before trying that sort of thing, anyway? Unfortunately, a 13 is rolled and they get more than they bargained for in the shape of one fierce-looking knight. Meanwhile, Katy's at her angry angriest while trying to clean the house, so perhaps her vacuum cleaner could do with some modifications. This episode, the first of the final series, was originally broadcast on Tuesday, 4th January, 2000. For those taking notes, we're now in series 12, and the more sharp-eyed of you will have noticed something different compared to the eponymous Mike of series 11: she's now a he again. Gemma Gregory didn't return to reprise her role as neighbour Daphne's niece Michaela (Mike the Third), so Steven Geller was brought in as Katy's nephew (Mike the Fourth). Not that any of that seems to be explained in the episode, but whatever. Now, about Stephen Geller... There's no easy way to say this, but I'm sorry to have to tell you that he's sadly no longer with us, having passed away towards the end of 2015. I gather he'd been unwell for some time. After appearances in the likes of Microsoap, Bootleg, and Crossroads, Stephen went on to make quite a name for himself on the club scene as a DJ of note - even winning awards, as alluded to in this interview: http://www.teeco71.com/2012/07/steven-geller-djs-heard/ Some of his output remains available here: https://soundcloud.com/steven-geller Rather bittersweet seeing all that still up, and I hope people can still enjoy it despite the tragic news, and his episodes of Mike and Angelo, too. And what an episode this is! The board game tips obvious nods to both Jumanji and T-Bag, and also to that Mike and Angelo in which Thor escapes a computer game, but it's the character played by Gareth Marks that drives the show. Gareth had previously appeared as a Darth Vader wannabe, but this time he takes the role of the campest baddie ever to grace our screens - and he does it brilliantly! The Terminator 2 and "Yes, you're a mad woman" lines particularly made me laugh, not to mention the mini Shining parody, and as guest stars go, very few nailed the all-round tone as well as Gareth did (twice). Top marks to him, woeful pun intended. On a bit of a tangent, how do you think this late episode compares with the early ones on my channel? I find it fascinating to chart the paths taken by long-running shows, and it seems to me that Mike and Angelo started life as a comedy drama with a proper underlying emotional story arc and ended up as a full-on sitcom with the reset button pushed at the end of every episode. The best balance was perhaps struck during the Michael Benz years, but by this final series the pace was absolutely relentless, the plots crazier than ever, and characters behaving in ever more bizarre fashion - and all unashamedly so! On the one hand, this is because the instructions coming from on high were to make the episodes just as mad as possible, and then a little madder still, because that's what brought in the ratings. (Around the five million mark, since you ask - absolutely unheard of these days.) But the level of farce shouldn't come as a surprise for a second reason: many of these later episodes were directed by one Iain McLean, who earlier in his career had been assistant floor manager on none other than Fawlty Towers. (In fact, he's the crossword expert who famously came up with the anagrams for the sign during the opening titles.) Speaking of which, is the "Sybil the Pythoness" mentioned in this episode two John Cleese references rolled into one? Many thanks to Grant for providing this recording. (To the best of my knowledge, the contents of this video have never been available commercially anywhere in the world. Please also note that I don't monetise any of my uploads. Nevertheless, if you are a copyright holder and have an objection, please don't hesitate to contact me.)