Mike and Angelo S5E1 (1993) - FULL EPISODE

New Kid on the Block. Rita's high-powered international jet-setting businesswoman of a sister comes to visit, and she brings her young son with her for the trip. You may like to think of this as the start of Mike and Angelo: The Next Generation, as this is when we're introduced to Michael Benz in the role of Mike Mason, ultimately the most prolific of all the Mikes. This episode was originally broadcast on Thursday, 7th January, 1993, and is the first to appear under the Tetra banner (Thames having gone belly-up a week earlier). In its own right, I'd describe this one as a bit of a slow burner, as there's a lot of storyline to get through in order to lay the groundwork for the whole series to come. But by the end, though, it's absolutely classic Mike and Angelo, with all the silliness and comedy mixed in with the emotion and pathos that goes with the theme of a child being ignored by his parents. In that sense, although we're settled on the idea of Angelo being an alien, we're sort of returned to the original intended ambiguous concept of whether perhaps he's something of a guardian angel for kids who really need him. ("Angel-o" - geddit?) The pair are treated to a hilarious first impression of each other, in more ways than one, and you just knew they were going to hit it off perfectly. So, Michael Benz. I can't believe how young he looked when he started, and how quickly he grew! Maybe it's just my imagination, but there's a touch of the Macaulay Culkins about him, isn't there? I gather he used that as his starting point, and it proved very successful for him. Where is Michael now? Well: http://www.georgetown.edu/news/michael-benz-hamlet-shakespeare.html His fictional mother in this, meanwhile, is played by Jocelyn Cunningham, who I think was made Director of Arts at Lancaster University earlier this month: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/articles/2016/new-director-of-lancaster-arts-appointed/ Just for clarity, the original Mike was Mike King - Rita's son - played by Matt Wright. He was in the show for three full series, and his departure came in the first episode of the fourth. The rest of that series had no Mike at all, but from the fifth until the end of the tenth, Mike Mason - Rita's nephew, played by Michael Benz - was Angelo's regular partner in crime. There were more Mikes to follow, but I've typed "Mike" so much that it's beginning to look wrong on the page, so let's leave that there for now. Look out for the Children's ITV continuity at the beginning and end featuring - and many thanks to David for the amazingly good knowledge - a certain John Eccleston. John was a presenter on Disney Club (and I really should have recognised him from that) and Run the Risk, but is probably more renowned as a puppeteer. He's plied his trade on the likes of Get Fresh, What's Up Doc?, Live and Kicking, Ministry of Mayhem, and a whole host of more recent stuff including Horrible Histories. Many thanks to Grant for providing this recording. (This is a transfer from an old videotape, so please don't expect full HD quality. To the best of my knowledge, this material is not available commercially anywhere in the world, and has been uploaded for its historic interest. That said, if you are a copyright holder and object, please don't hesitate to contact me.)