Dreamhouse

Episode Overview

Frankie Farrow, a now outdated pop star is off to Las Vegas for a tour and his manager asks Arthur if Terry can mind his ‘Dreamhouse’, a mansion named after a hit of Frankie’s back in 1965, because Frankie’s housekeeper and chauffeur have retired. When Terry hears noises at the house he soon discovers there is more to the Frankie Farrow story than he first thought and meets a man claiming he is Frankie Farrow’s brother Derek, who lives by his own rules in the ‘Dreamhouse’.

Checking up on Derek, Terry discovers that there is more to Frankie than he first thought, and rather than Las Vegas, it seems Frankie was doing a show at a Workingman’s Club in Oldham and has gone to Spain with the drummer’s wife and that the Dreamhouse no longer belongs to Frankie. Meanwhile, Arthur believes he is on to a great deal with some kid’s flying pig riding machines through local contact Kenny – only to realise he has been hustled and is a few thousand out of pocket while doing all he can to avoid the advances of an old acquaintance Beryl, who has lent him the money he needs to buy them.

Cast

Glynn Edwards as Dave, Richard Griffiths as Derek Farrow, Wanda Ventham as Beryl, Roger Sloman as Silver, Dave Atkins as Kenny, Sandy Ratcliff as Barbara, Emma Williams as Janet, Ken Kitson as Shades 1, Niall Padden as Shades 2, Frank Coda as Woods, Sylvia O’Donnell as Receptionist, Clive Mantle as Bernard, Adrian Mills as Stanley

Uncredited: Joe Bartlett as Park Attendant (who replaces the signs after Arthur’s meet with Kenny and Woods)

Facts

There is a very rare scene at just after 9 minutes where Arthur seems to flashback to the scene where Kenny was waiting outside the lockup for him. In no other episode do Arthur or Terry seem to do this. This episode has rather a memorable scene where Richard Griffiths pushes a grand piano into a swimming pool – a scene shown on the original ITV trailers for this episode.

Bloopers: Watch very carefully at 03m29s when Hatfield approaches Arthur when they get out of the Mercedes. Keep an eye on Arthur’s cigar, as he walks away from the car it is clearly in his right hand and in the next shot it is in his left and there is clearly a continuity problem here. At 28 minutes the cork in the bottle that Richard Griffiths is holding seems to just pop out, which seems as if it could have happened by accident. When Terry, Arthur and Silver watch Frankie Farrow leave the Dreamhouse and they enter, Silver’s American car starts behind Terry’s Capri, but in the next shot it is not there and Silver travels with Arthur instead. Also, watch carefully behind Terry as he phones from outside ‘The Barley Mow’ pub – despite doing this on different days, the cars behind him are still the same.