Up Pompeii!
Ooo-er, missus! Despite his many successes as a stand-up comic, both in his own
series and as a guest in variety shows, it is with this relatively
short-running comedy that Frankie Howerd made his greatest impact
upon the British public, a sitcom in which he was cast as a Roman
slave serving in Pompeii.
The series owed a huge debt to the Burt Shevelove/Larry Gelbart
and Stephen Sondheim musical A Funny Thing Happened On The Way
To The Forum, in which Frankie Howerd had played two roles (Prologus
and Pseudolus) during its highly successful London stage run from
October 1963.
Up Pompeii! - very loosely based on the 2000-year-old
writings of Plautus, and featuring jokes far older - was written
by Talbot Rothwell, a veteran of the industry who had scripted for
Norman Wisdom, Terry-Thomas (How Do You View?), Arthur
Askey and Ted Ray, but who, more tellingly, was one of the major
writers of the Carry On film series. Radio Times,
indeed, correctly labelled the Up Pompeii! pilot as 'A sort
of “Carry On Up The Forum.”'
Lurcio was the slave for Ludicrus Sextus, a government senator, and
his busty wife Ammonia, and every episode embroiled him as the
innocent pawn in a complex plot that threatened his easy-going
lifestyle, his job or even his life, although all would be happily
resolved at the end of each story, with Lurcio usually escaping
his fate by the skin of his teeth.
Unlike virtually every other sitcom ever made, however, the
storylines were never the essence of this series - Up Pompeii!
was a purpose-built vehicle for Frankie Howerd's distinctive
stage-honed comedic style, giving him every opportunity to share
confidences with the audience (both in the studio and at home) via
constant asides, usually commenting on the improbability of the
plot and the standard of the acting or writing.
In so doing, Howerd constantly stepped in and out of both his
character and the time-frame - this, of course, made a mockery of
the premise, but viewers did not care a jot, since this was what
they wanted and expected from him.
 Similarly, there was no elaborate location filming - the
architectural glories of Pompeii were reproduced as a single
polystyrene set in the BBC's studio in Shepherd's Bush, a fact
that Lurcio was more than happy to point out!
The scripts were laden down with Carry On-style double
entendres, awful puns and generally broad humour. In addition to
the regulars, Up Pompeii! gloried in a visiting cast that
changed with every episode, and these character names reveal all
about the series' level and focus of wit - Ambi Dextrus, Bilius,
Bumshus, Caushus, Daili, Felonius, Filfia, Hernia, Hidius, James
Bondus, Pussus Galoria, Lecherous, Preshus, Lititia, Lusha, Mucas,
Nefarius, Nubian, Nymphia, Odius, Oilus, Pitius, Ponderous,
Scrophulus, Soppia, Spurios, Stovus Primus, Tarta, Tittia, Twiggia,
Verminus and Virginia.
Despite or perhaps because of this 'subtlety', and Howerd's
unique style, the series worked a treat and became a huge hit,
once again demonstrating Britons' unending love for sexual
innuendo and smut.
Following the 1969 pilot episode, both the resulting TV series
were made in 1970 (the second was written by Rothwell with his
regular collaborator Sid Colin, another Carry On alumni),
and a feature film version, Up Pompeii (written by Sid
Colin, directed by Bob Kellett), was released in 1971 with Michael
Hordern in the role of Ludicrus and Barbara Murray as
Ammonia.
Two further movies starring Howerd were inspired by the series
but took the format into different periods of history (a similar
style was employed years later with the Blackadder TV
series): Up The Chastity Belt (director Bob Kellett, 1971,
written by Sid Colin/Ray Galton/Alan Simpson), set during the
crusades, with Howerd as the gormless serf Lurkalot; and Up The
Front (Bob Kellett, 1972, written by Sid Colin/Eddie Braben),
based in the First World War, with Howerd as gormless
under-footman Lurk.
In 1973, back on the BBC, Howerd appeared in Whoops Baghdad,
an Arabian Nights-style variation on Up Pompeii!, and -
following a one-off Further Up Pompeii! special aired in
1975 - he tried to revive the formula again with the ITV
programme A Touch Of The Casanovas.
The following year a four-part Australian TV series Up The
Convicts (written by Hugh Stuckey) featured Howerd as
ex-convict Jeremiah Shirk, who becomes the household help to Sir
Montague and Lady Fitzgibbon in yet another twist on the original
theme, and he also starred in a Canadian series, Oh Canada.
EPISODES
Vestal Virgins | The Ides of March | The Senator and the Asp |
Britaniccus | The Actors | Spartacus | The Love Potion | The
Legacy | Roman Holiday | James Bondus | The Peace Treaty | Nymphia
| Exodus |
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