Baker’s Half-Dozen

1 9 6 7 (UK)
6 x 30 minute episodes

Joe Baker was not a brilliantly funny comic. He was a mildly amusing fat man, whose largest attraction was his niceness. He may not have been a brilliantly funny comic, but he was a substantial character actor, capable of keeping a half-hour story on its feet and this six-part ATV series was so innocent and well-intentioned that no harm could possibly be done.

He was supported here by a regular supporting cast including Toni Palmer, Brian Murphy, John Carlin, Charles Lloyd Pack and Molly Peters.

The first episode (“One Night With You”) had Joe as a cowardly Pilot Officer in the wartime RAF flying over enemy territory with a sleeping navigator, captured by joke Germans, trying a dozen futile escapes, and finally making it home to his girl, Gladys (Toni Palmer), only to find her married to his chum Roger (John Carlin).

There is always room for the odd half-hour of gentle, undemanding entertainment and Joe Baker was just the chap. But was it funny? Not really.

Only five of the six episodes were screened during the original run. The sixth eventually aired in 1976.