Tuesday 16 February 2016

339 Mixed Blessings


First  viewed : 3  March  1978

Mixed  Blessings  was  a  new  comedy  series  based  around  the  inter-racial  relationship  between  a  white  guy ( Christopher  Blake )  and  a  black  girl ( Muriel  Odunton )  and  the  mutual  wariness  of  their  respective  families. It  seems  to  have  escaped  the  opprobrium  meted  out  to  the  likes  of  Mind  Your  Language ( which  it  followed  on  Friday  nights )  but  whether  that's  because  its  cautiously  liberal  approach  passes  the  pc  test  or  it's  simply  been  forgotten  I  couldn't  say.

Regardless  of  that , it  was  certainly  an  improvement  to  the  Friday  schedule  when  it  replaced  the  awful  Maggie  And  Her,  without  ever  being  really  funny.  It  lasted  for  three  series, the  last  being  in  1980. It  ended  with  them  having  a  child  which  I  remember  ( about  the  only  incident  I  can  recall ) though  whether  I'd  watched  it  all  the  way  through  is  questionable.

Blake  worked  steadily  , with  regular  roles  in  two  more  sitcoms  That's  My  Boy  and  Down  To  Earth   until  his  death  in  2004. Odunton  , who  was  originally  from  Ghana, relocated  to  the  USA  as  soon  as  the  series  finished  and  hasn't  been  heard  from  since.

No comments:

Post a Comment