The Incredible Mr Tanner

Brian Murphy was one half of a sit-com couple in GEORGE AND MILDRED ( He played George if you can't remember ) with Yootha Joyce playing Mildred . Joyce died in 1980 and you can't help thinking if she hadn't then THE INCREDIBLE MR TANNER would never have been produced . The two shows had the same writers and much of the same regular cast . Only thing is I vaguely remember GEORGE AND MILDRED being funny and this show isn'tThe title itself is a steal on THE INCREDIBLE HULK which smacks of desperation along with the premise of an escape artist who " Has problems getting out of an sports jacket never mind a strait jacket " . Mr Tanner and his promoter spend most of their day in a cafe where the only thing on the menu seems to be corny jokes . Take this one : " It' was the dirtiest fight I ever saw . Kicking , biting , punching below the belt I don't know how the referee just didn't stop it there and then . They're playing Arsenal next week " If you didn't understand the joke , the audience are lulled into thinking the character is talking about a boxing match when in fact he's talking about a football match , and that's as funny as the jokes got