Vincent Price, seemingly in the UK for "The Abominable Dr Phibes" (an extract from which, with Peter Gilmore plainly trying not to hurt the rats that are eating him alive, is shown) was tempted to front this summer special in which he pretends he's hosting a dinner party at a country house. The ill-assorted guests don't always look as though they're having a great time, particularly when The New Seekers launch into their new hit "Never Ending Song of Love". TV satirist Ned Sherrin really doesn't want to clap along. Pat Routledge tells unfunny show biz stories; cackling writer Margaret Powell is embarrassing; and a snarky, unknown, (drunk?) director called Michael Ayrton has been cut down to almost nothing. Cleo Laine sings (a lot). But Price (then 60) is the consummate professional. He acts out (with Ciaran Madden) the final scene of his stage hit "Gaslight"; waltzes with Routledge in a number they performed in the Broadway musical "Darling of the Day" (nobody mentions it closed after 31 performances); and most spectacularly performs a brilliant opening number written (as is all Price's material) by the great Dick Vosburgh. The show is as naff as it is mainly because of the involvement of the hack light ent director Bryan Izzard. But if revived the format of dinner table chat and variety interludes in an unusual location could work again. The programme was discovered by the BFI's Dick Fiddy and shown at London's BFI Southbank on 11.12.21. The audience was astonished and very receptive.
