OOH…YOU ARE AWFUL

GB
1972
1hr 37mins
Dir: Cliff Owen
Starring: Dick Emery and Pat Coombs

An accomplished conman seeks clues to a hidden fortune that are tattooed on the behinds of several girls

This comedy takes its title from one of Dick Emery’s catchphrases, though it was the comedian’s sole starring vehicle. Perhaps rather surprisingly the film did not do that well at the box office, yet it shows Dick Emery’s versatility as an actor and is a distinct improvement over several other ‘rude’ comedies of the era. Although the British public took him to heart he suffered from stage fright and low self esteem, and this was likely the reason behind him not playing the starring role in other films. His catchphrase is familiar to us all but is probably the reason why the film was retitled Get Charlie Tully for its US release. There are a number of amusing scenes filmed at London Waterloo station and plenty of electric units are present in blue and grey. In the final railway scene, Dick Emery boards a train of BR Mk.1 rolling stock. As it pulls out a Class 33 is revealed to have been behind, standing at the bufferstops. Erroneously, this sequence then shows a brief shot of 4 CIG unit No.7340 leaving, whilst the scenes onboard the train where Dick Emery is menaced by gangsters appears to use back-projection. A BR blue-liveried 4 VEP is in the platform when he initially enters a compartment in customary drag, while a 2 HAP, 4 VEP and 4 SUB formation of EMU stock passes when the train is in motion, again all in BR blue. In another continuity slip, as the train enters a tunnel it has become a ‘Hastings’ DEMU, then as it leaves, it has transformed into a Class 411 4 CEP EMU! These are stock images from the BR film archives and the tunnel is one of the two at Elmstead Woods (Chislehurst).

In this overview of London Waterloo, a 4 VEP is pulling out in the foreground. A four wheel parcels van appears to be in the adjacent platform.
Dick Emery on the concourse at Waterloo
Cheryl Kennedy and Dick Emery discuss something rather delicate in the station announcers box at Waterloo. Blue and grey express EMU’s are in the background. This box was of course made famous in John Schlesinger’s documentary on the station, Terminus., and it must have been a great place to work.
Waterloo station approach road. The canopy has gone, but the tower of St. John’s Church still stands.
Dick Emery in drag enters the train compartment. Real or otherwise, that is a BR blue-liveried 4 VEP outside the window.
As the guard boards the departing train of Mk.1 coaching stock, a Class 33 diesel stands behind awaiting shunt release. The 33 is displaying headcode 62, Waterloo-Salisbury or Exeter St. Davids semi-fast.
In the first of three continuity errors, this shot shows 4 CIG unit No.7340 pulling away, presumably from Waterloo, but it could be anywhere really. This unit was released into traffic on 18th June 1970, so was quite new at the time, and was based at Fratton depot, Portsmouth, for use on the Pompey Direct Line services to Waterloo.
The second continuity error shows a ‘Hasting’s DEMU entering a tunnel
and leaving in the form of a Class 411 4 CEP EMU! The unit remains unidentified but it is working a headcode 4 service, Charing Cross-Margate via Orpington and Dover Priory. The tunnel is one of the two at Elmstead Woods (Chislehurst), as identified by the 143A structure plate on the tunnel wall.