Mike and Angelo S8E10 (1996) - FULL EPISODE

Heirs and Graces. Angelo and Katy are preparing for Mike's upcoming birthday, but a much bigger surprise arrives in the post regarding Great-Great-Uncle Murray Muckledoon which has everyone questioning how they should be treating each other. This episode was originally broadcast on Thursday, 7th March, 1996, and, yes, it's the second of the two repeated over the CITV Old Skool Weekend in 2013, but it's nice to have a copy that doesn't bear a massive great logo in the top corner telling us that. There are several interesting things to note here in terms of the characters and the overall lore of the show in general. The first thing I like is that Mike doesn't instantly let the whole Lordship thing go to his head - that only happens after Angelo's overly-excited reaction to the news. I also like how Katy doesn't really budge in her assessment from start to finish, keeping her head while the boys are losing theirs. (They're also the only three people in the whole episode, which didn't happen that often.) The other thing to consider is that, despite being a sitcom with a good humble reset at the end, we don't close with the expected 'it was all a big mistake' punchline where it turns out that the wrong letter was sent to the wrong person or it was a joke gone too far or anything else along those lines. No: Mike really is a the Lord (or Laird) of Muckledoon, and that's canon forevermore. I wonder whether - as was frequently the case - the final episode of the series was written with the knowledge that there was a chance this could have been the grand finale, whether for the character or for the entire show itself. Favourite lines for me include the "Butle I must" and "Anyone for 10-ish?", while the "Gentleman's gentleman" versus "Idiot's idiot" conversation and the whole 'below stairs' situation also made me laugh. I think there were a couple of Addams Family references thrown in, too. All round a great episode, and well worthy of that Old Skool repeat. Of course, seeing Michael Benz in a room that looks like something out of Downton Abbey is a preposterous thought. Monumental thanks to Jack for sending me this video. (If you're a copyright holder and have any objections, please feel free to contact me. Alternatively, I haven't monetised the video, so you're welcome to do so, and that way everybody wins.)