... The Girls in Their Summer Dresses BBC- 2, July 26, 10.25 I WONDER who wrote it. the little jingle that goes: Hoggamus, Hig- gamus, men are polygamous. Hig- gamus, Hoggamus, women monogamous Whoever it was, that's roughly what this little story was all about. We meet Frances (Ann Bell) and Michael (Anton Rodgers) on a day in summer, but it could equally be a man and a woman anytime, anywhere ...

... A Royal Television Gala Performance BBC-1, July 25, 8.0 IF the athletes representing our Queen and country in the Commonwealth Games do as well as the artists did. who were raising' funds via the special Royal showing of the Harry Secombe Show, we should be well satisfied. The show began with the arrival of the Queen and the Duke at BBC Television Centre; the bouquet was presented and away we ...

... Saturday Variety ATV, January 29 by James Towler I BELIEVE it has been reported that Sir Lew Grade would have liked to have revived his Palladium Show many moons ago. Indeed, had he done so it would have probably been a better idea than Saturday Variety. This second production of the new series stuck me as an uneasy and not particularly successful compromise. Its major shortcoming was one of ...

... Good play, fine acting and distinguished production by John Lawrence Armchair Theatre, The Others, Thames, June 15. ITV's current fashion for deserted houses received yet another airing this week, but on this occasion the play was a very good one, and the production distinguished. It is not easy to describe accurately Richard Lortz's com plex play without taking up much more space than is ...

... The Lotus Eaters A Touch of Home, BBC-2, May 10 by Graham Clarke COMING fresh to a series in part four of a nine-part story is obviously not the easiest road to evaluate its merits. The newcomer must let much be taken for granted and leave as much or more to the realm of intelligent guesswork, but the exercise does at least have one useful aspect. It can show whether the series can win new ...

... You and Me and Him BBC-2, February 22 by Derek Brandon ''THERE are two men in my life ''proclaims the cereal commercial, but for David Mercer's Coster there were three. Or to be more precise. Coster was made up of three Peter Vaughans. Each personality engaged itself in debate with the other two in attempts to find common ground between them. Coster's schizophrenia was made up in three ways ...

... The Upper Crusts LWT, February 25 by James Towler THE great thing about the aristocracy is that they are funny in themselves. The very fact that they appear faintly ridiculous as a matter of course makes them all the more amusing to us lesser mortals. The Upper Crusts opened in grand style amid surroundings of gracious living. The crunch of the vintage Rolls's tyres on the long gravelled drive ...

... Expensive sets add nothing to logic of confused drama by James Preston Whisper, 30 Minute Theatre, BHC-2. April 4 THERE was infanticide at the house of James Hudson, performed with a cut throat razor by his wife, Clara. That much we can allow ourselves to believe. nut writer Patrick hosier confused the preceding 29 minutes by setting the scene in the home of a doubly super-rich couple; made ...

... Genuine variety by James Towler The Good Old Days, BBC- 1. April I THAT The Good Old Days has become something of an institution is beyond doubt. What is surprising is the fact that Britain's longest running television series has managed to retain its sparkle and vitality that goes to make it such satisfactory viewing. One of the reasons for this is that the programme does present genuine ...

... Mandala The Man Outside, BBC-1, August 4 by David Griffiths THIS wasn't edifying entertainment-- there was a scented whiff of Lolita-style corruption about it--so perhaps it's just as well that the style and the production were unconvincing. The opening scene (apart from the preamble by Baker, the narrator oh and I'd better explain that Baker is the name of the curious character played weekly ...

... Plau of the Month, BBC-1, November 24 by Sheldon Larry I CAN'T help feeling that the Play of the Month production of lost far more than it gained through the revolutionary changes rendered to text, time, and setting. In the original play about the man who. unwittinKly, kills his father, andjnarries his mother, Sophocles encapsulates the reli gious, social, and cultural dogma of Greece's ...

... Music hall gaiety by Marjorie Bilbow Carry on Christmas, Thames, December 24. NEITHER your vulgarity nor your old jokes will arouse me to anger, commented Hattie Jacques with icy dignity at approximately 9.40 p.m. on Christmas Eve. She was, I recall, dressed as a nun at the time; the remark was addressed to Scrooge (Sidney James) who was soon to be confronted by the Ghost of Christmas Present ...