‘DOWN IN THE JUNGLE’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

This ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’ episode continues the story from where we left off in ‘Showing the Flag’. Once again, it’s nice to have a change of location for our characters compared to the Deolali camp we’re used to. Bearer Rangi Ram, Chai Wallah Muhammad and Punkah Wallah Rumzan join the ride.

This doesn’t please the Sgt-Major once he sees them on the plane with the Concert Party, as it carries them and the officers Colonel Reynolds and Captain Ashwood to the jungle. Very soon, the Concert Party’s plane makes a crash-landing in the jungle. It was amusing to see that in the episode.

Tariq Yunus guest stars as the plane’s pilot in the episode. It was also amusing to see the pilot get agitated because the Sgt-Major thumped a box on the plane that he shouldn’t have thumped. The pilot’s the only one who can thump it. Once they crash-land, the pilot is knocked out for the count. 😐

Thankfully, nobody is hurt, but the men suspect they could be behind enemy lines. It doesn’t help that the radio is damaged and they have no idea where they are. I felt sorry for Lofty Sudgen who had to go and collect some things from the crashed plane. Lofty is often chosen to do these things. 😐

Very soon, a scouting group gets sent out, which includes the Sgt-Major, Solly, Gloria and Rangi Ram. They eventually come across some oriental-looking gentlemen – they suspect they’re Japanese – and capture them. But it seems they’re Chinese waiters at a local restaurant. This was intriguing to see. 🙂

The Concert Party group are also five miles away from the nearest town. Mohammad Shamsi guest stars as the angry restaurant owner who demands to have his Chinese waiters back. Mohammad Shamsi was in ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’ before, as he played the game warden in ‘The Jungle Patrol’. 🙂

I wonder if the game warden and the restaurant owner played by Mohammad Shamsi are the same person in the series and he keeps changing jobs, getting into arguments with the Sgt-Major a lot. It was amusing once Solly make an order with the Chinese restaurant owner. It angered the Sgt-Major.

‘Down in the Jungle’ is an okay follow-up to ‘Showing the Flag’. I expected the Concert Party to perform a show for officers in the jungle, which doesn’t seem to be followed through here. At least, Reynolds and Ashwood make a reference to why they’re in this episode from the previous episode. 🙂

‘Down in the Jungle’ rating – 7/10