Oh god, the Goon Show - I was effectively raised on the output of the late Spike Milligan, so that's been brain tape to me since I was tiny. ENJOY.
You might be right about Elton; he's slid gently into the role of by-appointment provocateur and, of course, West End fixture. I'm not complaining, as such: Upstart Crow isn't a LOL, but I'm definitely still smiling. Mitchell... is doing that permanently-baffled-intellectual thing he does, and that's fine, it works well here even if it's a bit toothless. Maybe that's it: Mark Heap is great at playing slightly ineffective, self-defeating villains who send themselves up at every turn, and Mitchell has a sort of gentility to him, and the two of them are compounding Elton's having grown up a bit. (Although the older lad who's playing the senior Shakespeare is doing a fine old job, and I prefer Marlowe to Flash any day.) It all has a sort of cosy repertory-theatre feel, which is fine - but not terribly exciting.
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You might be right about Elton; he's slid gently into the role of by-appointment provocateur and, of course, West End fixture. I'm not complaining, as such: Upstart Crow isn't a LOL, but I'm definitely still smiling. Mitchell... is doing that permanently-baffled-intellectual thing he does, and that's fine, it works well here even if it's a bit toothless. Maybe that's it: Mark Heap is great at playing slightly ineffective, self-defeating villains who send themselves up at every turn, and Mitchell has a sort of gentility to him, and the two of them are compounding Elton's having grown up a bit. (Although the older lad who's playing the senior Shakespeare is doing a fine old job, and I prefer Marlowe to Flash any day.) It all has a sort of cosy repertory-theatre feel, which is fine - but not terribly exciting.