I think Spleen might be the greatest dramatic character ever created.
You don't know what I am talking about? How could you not.
He is a stunt motorcyclist who appears in one episode of "Diagnosis Murder". And he's crazy. And will take risks. And then pour water over his dyed hair whilst making a noise like a mentally unstable animal. Other programmes would have made him a central character, but Diagnosis Murder is so filled with excellent personalities that the writers could make the bold authorial move of killing him in the first 15 minutes of the programme. Take that "The Wire".
And congratulations to
Jullian Dulce Vida (possibly not his real name, but what a great name who brought the character to life. Before he died.
It is telling that this is probably the fifth time I have watched this episode of the strangely hypnotic crime/medical series. And with lines like "It looks like it has been scored or cut slightly" who can criticise the script? It explains what "scored" means in case you didn't know.
But even though I had seen it many times I wasn't 100% certain who the murderer was, though it was a good bet that it would be someone played by a member of the Van Dyke family. Because in this wonderfully nepotistic series Dick Van Dyke filled the cast with his relatives. In fact
this particular episode was written by Barry Van Dyke who also plays the odd haired and wooden detective Steve Sloan. But this one also had Barry's sons Carey and Shane playing unrelated characters. According to imdb.com Carey plays six different characters over the history of this remarkable programme. I can only bring to mind one other time he's in it for certain and I have seen ALL of these shows.
That's what truly great about the show. It's instantly forgettable meaning you can watch it again and again FOREVER.
And clearly I am going to do that.
As you might have guessed the late night shows are exhausting me and I can't get up to too much in the daytime (though I did manage some script editing today and a few other bits of admin that needed doing).
Had a few more people in tonight and it was the best of the London run so far. But I am looking forward to tomorrow and Saturday, where I've already sold twice as many tickets per day as I've done so far. Fingers crossed that might get a sell out on one of them. Spread the news!
