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CHRISTOPHER KENWORTHY
Citizen Smith


click to enlarge

Universal, London, 1978
(price: 75p; 192 pages)

dedication: To our wives, Helen and Sharon, who put up with a great many party meetings in the Vigilante during the writing of this book.
Power to the People!


The blurb on the back:

Citizen Wolfie Smith is the red terror of Tooting, the rabid revolutionary who gives his all to the cause - not that he's got much more to give than his Social Security, of course. His revolutionary army may only be six strong, but with a few hundred more converts, they'll set Tooting aflame.
But until the moment comes, Wolfie'll just have to be content with putting his ideas about the redistribution of wealth into practice - by sponging off everyone in sight. Ken, the aspiring Zen mok, will buy a few rounds if Wolfie manages to convince him that best bitter, being made with hops, really counts as fruit juice. And Shirl is always good for a touch (though she didn't seem to enjoy their romantic night out in Highgate cemetery - Marx's tomstone was a bit cold and damp). In return for a fiver, she's made Wolfie promise to marry her, and he will - when the revolution comes ...


Robert Lindsay (on the right)I'm quite prepared to accept that it's just me, but really Citizen Smith wasn't very funny, was it? It ran on TV for four seasons (1977-80), introduced the world to the talents of writer John Sullivan and actor Robert Lindsay (one of these was a good thing, the other was a pain in the arse), and for some reason is still remembered by a lot of people with some fondness.

The premise was that Wolfie Smith was an unemployed would-be revolutionary living in South London, the founder and sole activist of the Tooting Popular Front. The problem was that Sullivan didn't even get the rhetoric of revolutionaries right, let alone the characterisation. Left activists simply aren't (and weren't) like this - it's as though Sullivan never even went to an SWP meeting. And it's particularly annoying because it could have been so good: revolutionary socialism is a potential gold mine for comedy.

So you've got a sitcom where the situation utterly fails to convince. Which leaves you with a clichéd and predictable comedy, populated by all the stereotypes of British TV comedy.

This novelisation covers the first series, and it's no better than the TV version (though the absence of Robert Lindsay might be considered a blessing). Don't bother.


John Sullivan
John Sullivan

ARTISTIC MERIT: 1/5
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE:
1/5
HIPNESS QUOTIENT:
1/5


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