This is a stand-alone episode from a series of (as far as I am aware) one-off plays, each of which was centred around events taking place in a different village hall. In this, the first to air, a national election is taking place and the village hall has been converted into a polling station for the day. A tired old pro (Moody) is in charge, assisted by an eager young man with high-flying political dreams, and a young woman who is besotted with the would-be PM. Over the course of the day, members of the public file in to cast their votes, while mini-dramas unfurl among the trio of officials in attendance. A decent script by Jack Rosenthal is reason enough to watch this, but a major bonus is the cast -- as well as veteran Moody, you can catch the likes of Bernard Hill and Michael Angelis (stars of Boys From The Blackstuff), Liz Dawn (who found fame as Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street), and an almost unrecognizable, bearded and relatively thin (!!!) Richard Griffiths (from History Boys, Withnail & I, etc). A little gem from the Granada vaults, definitely worth tracking down and casting your vote for!!!!
3 Reviews
Election fever!
ShadeGrenade7 June 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Granada Television's 'Village Hall' is the latest classic I.T.V. series to be issued on D.V.D. by Network. Two seasons were made between 1974-75. Devised and produced by Michael Dunlop, it is essentially an anthology of comedy dramas. Each week, the hall would be used for a different purpose, such as amateur dramatics, a footballers' dinner, a creative writing class, or ballet rehearsals. The same set was retained, while the characters changed. Top-notch writers of the calibre of Jack Rosenthal, Willis Hall, Peter Terson, and Donald Churchill and Julia Jones were used. 'Mr.Ellis Versus The People' got the show off to a cracking start. A general election is under way, and voters flock to the polling station. The Presiding Officer is 'Mr.Ellis' ( Ron Moody ), a cynical, pipe-smoker who is not in a good mood as he has just rowed with his wife ( Marjorie Yates ). His Polling Officers are 'Mr.Martin' ( Brian Martin ), a handbook-quoting twit who fancies himself as a future P.M. and 'Petula Robinson' ( Veronica Roberts ) who fancies Mr.Martin. Mr.Ellis struggles to keep calm as one voter after another gets on his nerves - they include an old woman who bellows 'Conservative!' at him before marching out, an old man who has forgotten to bring along his voting card and, after being given a ballot paper, walks out without voting, a woman who puts her cross on the sample on the wall rather than the ballot paper itself, and a man who keeps changing his mind about who to vote for. Then there is a drunk ( Joe Belcher, a very apt name for the role, don't you think? ) who gets fresh with Robinson. Not surprisingly, as the polling ends, he declares he has had enough...
Ron Moody is, as ever, a delight, and he he receives sterling support not only from Martin and Roberts but also Bernard Hill ( 'Yosser' of 'Boys From The Blackstuff' ), Michael Angelis ( 'Chrissy Todd' from the same show ), Elisabeth Dawn ( 'Vera' from 'Coronation Street' ), Richard Griffiths, and Madge Hindle. Rosential's script is excellent as you might expect. He later wrote another episode of the series - 'There'll Almost Always Be An England' starring Bernard Hepton.
Funniest moment - Petula catching the drunk spilling his beer in the polling booth. Thinking he has urinated on the floor, she screams!
Ron Moody is, as ever, a delight, and he he receives sterling support not only from Martin and Roberts but also Bernard Hill ( 'Yosser' of 'Boys From The Blackstuff' ), Michael Angelis ( 'Chrissy Todd' from the same show ), Elisabeth Dawn ( 'Vera' from 'Coronation Street' ), Richard Griffiths, and Madge Hindle. Rosential's script is excellent as you might expect. He later wrote another episode of the series - 'There'll Almost Always Be An England' starring Bernard Hepton.
Funniest moment - Petula catching the drunk spilling his beer in the polling booth. Thinking he has urinated on the floor, she screams!
It's captivating viewing.
Sleepin_Dragon19 March 2024
It's voting day at The Village Hall, the three candidates wait patiently, whilst proceedings are led by the experienced, but disillusioned Mr Ellis, ably supported by Mr Martin and Miss Robinson.
Who would have thought that a drama about polling day could be so fascinating, and it is exactly that, it's a terrific character study, a wonderful exploration of human nature.
It's so well written, The Village Hall itself is that central character, the rest are all just bit players, of course it's Ron Moody who steals the show, he's terrific.
As a youngster, I spent an evening counting votes in Cardiff, a job I vowed I'd never repeat, talk about stressful, so it's easy to empathise with the pain of the trio.
The trio of candidates are somewhat stereotypical, we have the rough around the edges Labour candidate, the hoity toity Tory and the anaemic Liberal, times haven't changed all that much.
Quality drama.
9/10.
Who would have thought that a drama about polling day could be so fascinating, and it is exactly that, it's a terrific character study, a wonderful exploration of human nature.
It's so well written, The Village Hall itself is that central character, the rest are all just bit players, of course it's Ron Moody who steals the show, he's terrific.
As a youngster, I spent an evening counting votes in Cardiff, a job I vowed I'd never repeat, talk about stressful, so it's easy to empathise with the pain of the trio.
The trio of candidates are somewhat stereotypical, we have the rough around the edges Labour candidate, the hoity toity Tory and the anaemic Liberal, times haven't changed all that much.
Quality drama.
9/10.
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