My fave character was always lucas and I have to say Mike Berry as Spooner is awful.
He doesn't have Bannisters comic timing or style and doesn't have as good a chemistry with the rest of the cast.
Spooner always seemed like an outsider and not really liked by the others whereas Lucas was a charmer and was well liked.
I often wonder what Trevor thought of those later episodes.
Does anyone know?
No doubt Trevor was excellent; you're absolutely correct about his comic timing & style & likability. I just don't think it's a fair comparison between Mr. Lucas & Mr. Spooner. I don't consider Mike Berry as a "replacement" for Trevor--it was never mentioned in any of the later episodes about Spooner "replacing" Lucas; (vs. for example: when Klinger took over Radar's job in M*A*S*H), if I may. Spooner stood on his own, and it just seemed that the producers didn't intend to give him a superior role in things. All told, I'd say that Mike Berry did what he could with the role & I found him likeable & impish enough to qualify his being cast, without the expectation of being a "2nd Mr. Lucas".
shareI really wasn't a fan of either Mr. Lucas or Mr. Spooner. It wasn't that they weren't funny but every sentence out of their mouths was something snide about Mrs. Slocombe. It was like they had never had a normal conversation other than insult someone.
Well, I can appreciate your opinion. But think about the comedic angle of the humor of AYBS? Mrs. Slocumbe is THE absolute perfect foil for Lucas's & Spooner's shenanigans! Also, if you consider looking at it from a "real-life" view--the "juniors" were considered a half-level status above pond scum! Lucas was constantly being threatened with "redundancy", because of his low sales figures, while at the same time, he could serve only whatever "scraps" Grainger & Humphreys left him. (The ol' "Catch-22", thanks to Grace Bros' antiquated rules of sales "etiquette"!) Maybe he figured he wasn't long for keeping his job, anyway, so why not have some fun? :-)
shareSpooner's obviously just reciting lines meant for Mr Lucas at first and that just sticks since their dynamic was not one the writers wanted to replace with something different.
It's a bit forced that Spooner immediately inherits Lucas's bad attitude towards her.
Yes, watching the early Spooner episodes, it's obvious that the writers simply used scripts that had originally been tailored for Mr. Lucas. There wasn't any effort made to delineate Spooner as a character separate from Trevor's, and so the result looks forced and sometimes unpleasant. It's a bit of a pity Mike Berry wasn't given a better chance out of the gate to create his own character rather than simply having Trev's words literally put into his mouth. I think in later episodes he started to integrate the character into the AYBS ensemble somewhat better, but by then the damage had been done, and he could never quite get out from under the perception of just being the substitute Trevor Bannister.
shareMr. Lucas had a few funny lines (the German Air Force one is hilarious), but I don't miss him in the latter episodes. I miss Mr. Grainger more. It's a shame he left after series five.
ROCK STARS HAVE KIDNAPPED MY SON
The show was created as a vehicle for Trevor Bannister after his hilarious and popular run on The Dustbin Men. My family loved him and we hate a scheduling conflict caused his departure. He wasn't always snide. He was Humphrey's friend and he was "against type" by trying but never succeeding in getting a date with Mrs. Brahms. Him and Mr. Humphreys chatting about Trevor's woen problems and Humphrey's comparing it to his mum was hilarious. They played off of each other incredibly well. I've been watching the show for almost 30 years and still miss Trevor Bannister's wit and comic timing!
shareIt's hard for my family to watch the later episodes with Spooner. AYBS was a vehicle for Trevor and they should have allowed him to star on stage so they could have kept him. Of course, Spooner was a replacement for Trevor. He didn't take the same name but that's not what replacement means. He was hired to replace the spot made empty by Bannister. We missed him greatly. Spooner could sing well but his comedic timing was very off. I agree with you 100%.
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