"Vicious": British comedy with Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi

[southendmd]

PBS has been showing the first season of "Vicious" recently.  Anyone seen it?  It's a somewhat silly sitcom starring Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi as long-time partners.  Of course, they've both been out for some time. 

They've been together close to 50 years and trade nasty insults, but of course they clearly love each other.

I'm sure there are some who will object to the stereotype of bitchy old queens. 

Here are some clips of the first season:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfELk59i45E[/youtube]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-dQ5zDlGMA[/youtube]

[southendmd]

Some IMDb trivia:

-The show was originally titled "Vicious Old Queens", but this was thought of as too obscene and so was shortened to just "Vicious".

-The series is loosely inspired by the film Staircase (1969) which starred Rex Harrison and Richard Burton as a pair of aging queens, exactly like Freddie and Stuart in this series.

-According to Ian McKellen, he and Derek Jacobi (the main couple Freddie and Stuart) went to drama school together and both had crushes on each other but never admitted it at the time, and so never entered into a relationship.

[Jeff Wrangler]

-According to Ian McKellen, he and Derek Jacobi (the main couple Freddie and Stuart) went to drama school together and both had crushes on each other but never admitted it at the time, and so never entered into a relationship.

Seriously? I can't recall knowing that Jacobi is gay.    How 'bout that. Interesting thing to learn.

[southendmd]

It's very un-politically-correct.  In fact, PBS had to bleep out quite a bit of the dialogue.  (Turns out, you can't say "hand job" on TV here.)

I'll always think of Derek Jacobi from the BBC Hamlet around 1980, and also as the emperor in I,Claudius.

Ian McKellen, I saw in a one-man Shakespeare show ("Acting Shakespeare") in the late 80s that was riveting.

[southendmd]

Too bad, but netflix doesn't have "Staircase". 

Just for fun, last I watched the "Fraiser" episode where Jacobi plays "Jackson Hedley", has-been Shakespearean actor.  I almost choked watching his hilariously awful Hamlet death scene. 
Plus, Patrick McNee plays his father in this episode (he's still alive and still not gay).

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnAYYd2LZcs[/youtube]

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'll always think of Derek Jacobi from the BBC Hamlet around 1980, and also as the emperor in I,Claudius.

Ian McKellen, I saw in a one-man Shakespeare show in the late 80s that was riveting.

As poor as my memory is, I did some double checking, but the first role I ever saw Derek Jacobi in was Josef Lanner in the miniseries The Strauss Family, which goes all the way back to 1972, and the first for Ian McKellen was as Chauvelin in the TV movie The Scarlet Pimpernel, with Jane Seymour and Anthony Andrews (1982). Clearly they both made an impression on me since I still remember them after all these years.

I didn't like Derek Jacobi as Brother Cadfael, but that wasn't his fault, I'm sure. I blame it on the way the role was written for the series. I always saw Brother Cadfael as more of a Leo McKern type:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0571674/?ref_=tt_cl_t1

[brianr]

I watched "Vicious" long ago, when I lived in Australia so over 5 years. I thought it funny but did have some issues with the stereotyping. I am a great admirer of Sir Ian McKellen both for his acting and his gay rights campaigning.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

I'm sure there are some who will object to the stereotype of bitchy old queens.

I watched "Vicious" long ago, when I lived in Australia so over 5 years. I thought it funny but did have some issues with the stereotyping. I am a great admirer of Sir Ian McKellen both for his acting and his gay rights campaigning.

What stereotyping??


 

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

By the way, I love Frances de la Tour (of The History Boys fame).

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Ash shirtless:

I'm only doing this for Vi, of course.