Whoops Apocalypse [DVD]

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The British budget label Channel 5 Video released a compilation cassette of all six episodes edited together into one 137-minute chunk in 1987. Cross in hand, the Bible-bashing Deacon frequently chips in one-liners throughout the series. 'If the Lord had meant for us to be sensible, then he would never have given us credit cards,' he declares in one scene. In another he pipes up, 'If the Lord had meant for us to panic, then he would not have given us clean trousers'. When later in the series, Cyclops fears for the future of the UK, the Deacon declares, 'If the Lord had meant for us to in live in the United Kingdom, he would have given us gills'. Another triumph from Network which is no accident, but is guaranteed to blow you away. You absolutely must get this Apocalypse, now. Whoops Apocalypse painted a frightening but fantastic picture of international politics and brinkmanship, as lunatic world leaders made awesome decisions with nary a prior thought but with devastating effect.

The film of Whoops Apocalypse sees the world brought to the brink of a catastrophic crisis, after the British colony of Santa Maya is invaded by neighbouring Maguadora, which is ruled under the iron fist of the tyrannical General Mosquera (Herbert Lom). After British PM Sir Mortimer Chris launches a Taskforce to recover the colony, Mosquera hires the famed international terrorist Lacrobat (Michael Richards) to exact his revenge, by kidnapping Princess Wendy (Joanne Pearce), a beloved member of the Royal Family. Peter Cook (who looks about as animated as a Thunderbirds puppet) is a barking British PM who thinks pixies are to blame for the country’s problems and launches a lemming-like scheme to improve the jobs market by having folks throw themselves off a cliff. “Uphill battle”The silliest humour in the entire show comes from the two-hander scenes featuring the deposed Shah of Iran ( Bruce Montague) and his faithful companion, Abdab ( David Kelly), who is blindfolded throughout the entire series, feeling unworthy to look upon his master's face. Of course, you wouldn't have a plotline like this these days, and there are a few other moments in the series, such as a real elephant painted pink and a topless newsreader, that will jar to many modern viewers. In the Shah and Abdab's scenes the humour is a little reminiscent of It Ain't Half Hot Mum, but political correctness aside, there remains something very funny - silly, rather than cruel - and oddly endearing about the pair, particularly poor Abdab. They're shafted from pillar to post as no country is prepared to grant them asylum. (Eventually, they're blasted into space.) Woops! - An American sitcom with a similar premise and title that is set after the apocalypse has already occurred. As such, it was then, and remains, an extraordinary sitcom – topical, anarchic, inspired, alternative – of a kind and style familiar, perhaps, to viewers of BBC2 or the emerging Channel 4, but a real departure for ITV.

While not exactly slouching in the casting stakes on TV, the movie of Whoops Apocalypse musters an impressive roster of talent. Cook is just superb as the demented Sir Mortimer, someone who is patently unsuited to the role of PM due to his insanity, and his lust for popularity by launching a major military operation. While not quite as gleefully maniacal as John Cleese in the LWT version, Michael Richards (perhaps best known as Kramer in Seinfeld) still acquits himself well as eccentric master of disguise terrorist Lacrobat. In Whoops Apocalypse, as in then ‘real’ life, the balance of world power is held by the leaders of Russia (the ageing Dubienkin) and the United States.

In 2010, Network released both the complete, unedited series and the movie on a 2-DVD set ( Region 2) entitled Whoops Apocalypse: The Complete Apocalypse. (Rights issues were simplified by the fact that both LWT and ITC Entertainment productions were by this time owned by Granada Television).

Loretta Swit is Barbara Adams, the first female U.S. president. She was only sworn into office when the previous president, a former circus clown (parodying Ronald Reagan's entertainment career), died after asking a journalist to hit him in the stomach with a crowbar as a test of physical strength (a take on the death of Harry Houdini). To satirise the situation further, Swit plays the role straight. Adams, while trying to maintain the peace, is shown to be incompetent, especially when dealing with questions from the press. Her husband runs a weapons company which hired Lacrobat to start the war in the first place. The American president, much despised in his home country and cravenly seeking restoration of his popularity, happens (no coincidence, obviously) to be a former screen actor, the recently lobotomised Johnny Cyclops. Some bits of it may well seem inexplicable unless you remember that it was made in Britain in 1986, with the Falklands War still fairly fresh in people's minds, Di-mania a-booming, and Margaret Thatcher still running the country in demented fashion. If you make it to the end, listen out for John Otway’s closing song, then go and find his extraordinary documentary ‘Otway: The Movie’, which is 100 times more entertaining. Princess Wendy is a parody of Princess Diana, who was at the height of her popularity when the film was made. When kidnapped by Lacrobat, Wendy is placed in increasingly odd disguises, including bondage gear and a King Kong outfit. Rik Mayall is featured playing the commanding officer of an inept SAS squad, most of whom are massacred in a shootout in a wax museum when attempting to rescue Wendy, who has been disguised as an exhibit. (Mayall had a small role in the original as Biff, a guitar player.) Michael Richards plays Lacrobat, the only character from the original series to appear. Lacrobat is partly responsible for the outbreak of war between the two countries, and is seemingly the only intelligent character in the film; he dies when a tiger, which the SAS keep for no reason, rips his throat out. Alexei Sayle, who also appeared in the original series, has a different role in the movie as a Soviet soldier who is hiding nuclear weapons on a Caribbean holiday island. Ed Bishop, who appears as a newsreader in the original series, plays an interviewer in the movie.

The casting of Whoops Apocalypse was exceptional: the players included John Cleese (as Lacrobat) appearing in his only sitcom outside of his own Fawlty Towers, John Barron and Geoffrey Palmer from The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin, Richard Griffiths, Peter Jones, David Kelly, Ed Bishop, Bruce Montague, Richard Davies, Barry Morse and, from the new so-called ‘alternative comedy’ movement, Rik Mayall (who appeared in one episode) and Alexei Sayle. Verses include 'Never flinched from duty and was never scared to act!' to which Rik adds, 'Loves-to-put-the-shits-up-The-War-saw-Pact!' It was his first in a long line of scene-stealing performances and as a consequence he was given a lot more to do in the feature film adaptation of the series that followed in 1986.