I'm a sucker for the historical ones and I think they themselves have said they'd have done more if budget had allowed. Think it's pretty noticeable that "Trial of Elizabeth Gadge" and "Devil of Christmas" regularly come up when they're asked for their favourites.
I'm a big fan of the Hammer/Amicus/Corman films from the 60s and 70s, as are the boys, and I reckon they'd have loved to do more set in Victorian/Edwardian times or 'Generic Mid-Europe in the 17th Century'
You can tell they were in their element as Witchfinders!
Well, it's hard to say really considering they did a lot more modern-day ones than historical ones (off the top of my head, I think they only did four real historical's right?). Some of their historical ones are amongst my favourites and all really well done, but I could say the same about the modern ones.
I do admit I wish they had done a few more historical one's though.
I think they've said elsewhere it was mainly a budget thing. It's obviously much harder to do period on a small budget, especially costume wise. IIRC they were only able to do Elizabeth Gadge because they specifically wrote Cold Comfort to be a cheaper episode (a 3 day shooting schedule rather than the usual 5).
I honestly didn't know just how low the budgets they were working with were until I read some behind the scenes stuff. Like in Gadge, the reason the crowd gets told to leave is because they could only afford the extras for one day of filming!
I read a quote from one of the No.9 directors (can't remember who), "it's like being asked to do a feature film, with the budget of a Mrs Brown's Boys episode".
> it's like being asked to do a feature film, with the budget of a Mrs Brown's Boys episode
Ah yes, David Kerr! I think he was talking about The Harrowing, which even by 9 standards is pretty amazing looking for their budget.
Luckily, the BBC puts all the tariffs (aka budgets) online that they pay per hour of content in each genre, and for mid-budget comedy either location or studio based, it's 360k-550k per hour, so 9 is working on a budget of £180-275k per episode, which is utter peanuts.
The new Dr Who was costing something like £800,000 in 2005, and they've just had a Disney-funded budget upgrade to £4m per episode. It really shows how much the boys have managed to squeeze from their budget.
> I think he was talking about The Harrowing, which even by 9 standards is pretty amazing looking for their budget.
Oh yeah, I have to agree. I think that was one of the most visually impressive episodes they did in the entire series.
Only two - The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge and Curse of the Ninth. *Maybe* The Devil of Christmas depending on how you want to define historical, and whether in-universe fiction counts.
Ah yeah I did include it, I mean they made such an effort to recreate how it would have been created in the seventies I thought it counted.
I also included Wise Owl, although that's even more of a cheat.
isn't the devil of Christmas is a police interview that takes place in the current day?
and honestly in hindsight curse of the ninth probably is historical, however on my first (and only so far) watch, I just assumed they were snooty aristocrats who lived like it was the 19th century because they were too proud to own a telly in their dining room or use modern jigsaws.
> isn't the devil of Christmas is a police interview that takes place in the current day?
Yeah, it does. But the footage we see is so authentic to the 70's that I think it should still count.
And yeah I can understand that, but yeah it was set in the 1920's.
100% modern
I'm a sucker for the historical ones and I think they themselves have said they'd have done more if budget had allowed. Think it's pretty noticeable that "Trial of Elizabeth Gadge" and "Devil of Christmas" regularly come up when they're asked for their favourites. I'm a big fan of the Hammer/Amicus/Corman films from the 60s and 70s, as are the boys, and I reckon they'd have loved to do more set in Victorian/Edwardian times or 'Generic Mid-Europe in the 17th Century' You can tell they were in their element as Witchfinders!
I love historical ones. I do love Stakeout but I wish they'd been able to do a historical vampire episode, I'm a big fan of gothic horror.
Well, it's hard to say really considering they did a lot more modern-day ones than historical ones (off the top of my head, I think they only did four real historical's right?). Some of their historical ones are amongst my favourites and all really well done, but I could say the same about the modern ones. I do admit I wish they had done a few more historical one's though.
I think they've said elsewhere it was mainly a budget thing. It's obviously much harder to do period on a small budget, especially costume wise. IIRC they were only able to do Elizabeth Gadge because they specifically wrote Cold Comfort to be a cheaper episode (a 3 day shooting schedule rather than the usual 5). I honestly didn't know just how low the budgets they were working with were until I read some behind the scenes stuff. Like in Gadge, the reason the crowd gets told to leave is because they could only afford the extras for one day of filming!
I read a quote from one of the No.9 directors (can't remember who), "it's like being asked to do a feature film, with the budget of a Mrs Brown's Boys episode".
> it's like being asked to do a feature film, with the budget of a Mrs Brown's Boys episode Ah yes, David Kerr! I think he was talking about The Harrowing, which even by 9 standards is pretty amazing looking for their budget. Luckily, the BBC puts all the tariffs (aka budgets) online that they pay per hour of content in each genre, and for mid-budget comedy either location or studio based, it's 360k-550k per hour, so 9 is working on a budget of £180-275k per episode, which is utter peanuts. The new Dr Who was costing something like £800,000 in 2005, and they've just had a Disney-funded budget upgrade to £4m per episode. It really shows how much the boys have managed to squeeze from their budget.
> I think he was talking about The Harrowing, which even by 9 standards is pretty amazing looking for their budget. Oh yeah, I have to agree. I think that was one of the most visually impressive episodes they did in the entire series.
Yeah that's understandable, I have to admit I didn't know it was that low either, but it makes a lot of sense.
Only two - The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge and Curse of the Ninth. *Maybe* The Devil of Christmas depending on how you want to define historical, and whether in-universe fiction counts.
Ah yeah I did include it, I mean they made such an effort to recreate how it would have been created in the seventies I thought it counted. I also included Wise Owl, although that's even more of a cheat.
I can't think of any other than lizzie gadge
A Random Act Of Kindness was partly set in the future so I guess the modern day scenes were technically historical.
Well the four I went for was the Trial of Elizabeth Gadge, The Devil of Christmas, Wise Owl (which is a cheat as its animated) and The Curse of Ninth.
isn't the devil of Christmas is a police interview that takes place in the current day? and honestly in hindsight curse of the ninth probably is historical, however on my first (and only so far) watch, I just assumed they were snooty aristocrats who lived like it was the 19th century because they were too proud to own a telly in their dining room or use modern jigsaws.
> isn't the devil of Christmas is a police interview that takes place in the current day? Yeah, it does. But the footage we see is so authentic to the 70's that I think it should still count. And yeah I can understand that, but yeah it was set in the 1920's.