‘THE CHRISTENING’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Here’s the last episode of Series 1 of ‘Keeping Up Appearances’! It’s another one of my favourites from the series. In this episode, Hyacinth and Richard attend a christening service for the baby of Onslow and Daisy’s unmarried daughter, Stephanie. Hyacinth and Richard wonder who the father is.

I found it interesting that Onslow and Daisy have a daughter in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’. This is the only time that we get to see Stephanie. She’s forgotten about in the next four seasons. It turns out Stephanie became a hippie and she now has these two guys with her that drive their hippie caravan.

I enjoyed the scenes where Hyacinth and Richard visited Onslow and Daisy’s house first before they went to the church for the christening. It was funny to see Onslow in a clean shirt and wearing a tie for a change. Onslow has also purchased some sherry in order to toast Stephanie and the new baby.

Onslow, Daisy, Richard and Hyacinth toast to Stephanie and the baby whilst Rose is out of the room, talking to Reg, one of her boyfriends on the phone. The sherry turns out to be too strong for Daisy, Richard and Hyacinth since Onslow put something in it. It’s funny Richard started to like that sherry.

Rose is also funny in the episode. She has two gents falling for her – Reg and Dennis. Rose gets on Daisy and Hyacinth’s nerves regarding her love life, especially when she’s talking to Reg and Dennis on the telephone. The two men soon turn up at the church and they fight for Rose to be her escort.

This episode features the last appearance of Shirley Stelfox as Rose in the series. I’m not sure why Shirley Stelfox decided to leave, but it’s a shame as she is very good playing Rose in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’. It’s argued Rose became more over-the-top when Mary Millar played the character.

Gerald Sim guest stars as the vicar for Stephanie’s daughter’s christening. I’m not sure why the christening took place at Jeremy Gittin’s vicar’s church. Maybe Gerald Sim’s vicar was a friend of Onslow and Daisy’s family. Laura Shavin plays Stephanie in her single appearance in the TV series. 😐

Richard Ashton and Rick Friend play the hippies whilst Jonathan Fryer plays Dennis and Bruce Bennett plays Reg. There’s Patricia Leach as Mrs. Midgley who looked after Daddy. I enjoyed it when Hyacinth and Richard attended the church and when the vicar greeted Onslow and Daisy in their car.

‘The Christening’ rating – 9/10