The Minefield of Caddishness

May 4, 2010 |

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Black Adder

One of my friends on Facebook recently posted some swell clips of a BBC show that I hadn’t seen before. I hadn’t seen it yet because a) I don’t live in Britain and b) BBC America is passing off Star Trek the Next Generation as a British show (probably because Patrick Stewart is a limey) instead of showing a broader variety of what makes the BBC unique: British tv culture. Maybe it’s cheaper (maybe it’s a way to draw in potential Doctor Who fans). I didn’t mean to go off half-cocked on BBC America (also, I’ll save my government-owned-tv talk for another venue). They really do have lots of great stuff on the BBC: Doctor Who, That Mitchell and Webb Look, Little Britain, Peep Show (not quite what it sounds like) & the occasional teen discomfort bit, but I’d like to see more of their recent shows as well as their classic-old stuff, heavy on the humor side: Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, My Family, Black Adder, The Thin Blue Line, Father Ted, All Creatures Great & Small. Junk like that. I hear Red Dwarf is cool (in an Anglophile Sci-Fi nerd sorta way). Frankly, I like being surprised by the awesomeness of classic BBC shows from the last 50 years, so I’m open to them mixing it up (instead of showing 4 hours of Top Gear in a row. It’s a fine program, but 4 hours at a go?). It’s television I’ve never seen because I’ve lived my entire life on the other side of the pond. There’s something fun about catching up on the best of another culture and trying to discern what the heck they’re talking about over there, figuring out contexts and values. Then there’s that whole adopted nostalgia thing I’m dealing with. It’s slightly demented.

Anyway, back to the video: This clip is of Harry Enfield doing a fake old-timey PSA thingy called “Women Keep Your Virtue“. It warns women of the minefield of caddishness and of certain men who secretly desire to take diabolical liberties with their knees. So, if you’re going to be caddish, know that women have been warned. Some of them.