Ready When You Are Mr McGill They have finally decided to release the classic Ready When You Are Mr McGill on DVD — not the rather lame 2003 re-make but the original 1976 Granada production with Jack Shephard. For those who may not know RWYAM is a drama written by Jack Rosenthal about a location film crew shooting a simple sequence for a TV costume drama on location and the original play became something of a minor cult within the TV industry. However, nothing goes quite to plan and what should have been a strait forward mornings work turns into an all day calamity. We see a temperamental director going into a state of nervous break down as jaded technicians battle with the demands of shooting on location, but the central dramatic device is manifest in the form of Mr Joe McGill himself. A nervously incompetent but hugely ambitious extra with his first modest speaking part which seems to be totally beyond his capabilities though his modest roll is critical to the narrative logic of the scene being shot. A situation thus develops which is both hilariously funny but also genuinely unnerving.
The original has the gritty dramatic quality that was such a great feature of the TV play in the 70s as opposed to today’s candy floss celebrity obsessed crap with relativistic narratives concentrating on the minutia of personal trivia and the workplace politics of the crew.
The original cast was mostly comprised of unknowns (at the time) thus lending a sense of increased realism. Ready When You Are Mr McGill was offered up as part of ITVs Red Letter Days strand which was their counterpart to the BBCs excellent Play For Today series. Of course it was all shot on 16mm film with sep-mag sound, a much more enchanting medium than over sterile video or contemporary digital video.
Things maybe improving for me soon though I do not want to be counting any chickens until they have hatched so I will shut it for now!