'The Olden Days' - the TV series
Created | Updated Dec 7, 2010
(Oh) Mud, boys, mud; we'll give our sweat and blood
Though our backs may break, our beards are fake
We'll all pretend the sets don't shake...
Mud, boys, mud; we'll deck them with a thud,
The fires may burn, the floods may drench
But we'll still have a buxom wench
And keep on shouting 'Mud!'
Mud!
That was the rousing theme tune to The Olden Days, a series of sketches that featured in the early 1990s Australian comedy programme The Late Show. The Olden Days had started life as a historical drama series called Rush, that ran on the Australian Broadcasting Commission between 1974 and 76. ABC originally created Rush to fill a gap in its historical drama programming, as no series had ever before concentrated on the Victorian gold rush. Some 18 years later, it was rediscovered by Australian comedy writing team The D-Generation, who, redubbing the dialogue to comic effect, used it as the basis for a series of shorts on the first season of The Late Show in 1992. While the original series focussed on gold, The Olden Days concentrated on the trials and tribulations of honest Australian mud miners1.
Olden Opportunity
The Olden Days was the D-Generation's first attempt at an overdubbed comedy strand for The Late Show. Relying more on wit and wordplay than the fart gags of the later Bargearse, The Olden Days enjoyed almost the same degree of success as its successor.
Overdubbing gets its laughs by adding a humorous script to the original film. Conversations are replaced and commentary added to entirely ordinary activities, but hones in on specific details for humorous effect - like odd costumes, make-up, background details and interactions between characters. Generally the principle works best when the original source material is meant to be taken seriously - even if it was often hard to do so.
The humour in The Olden Days was schoolboyish, but with a touch of social awareness. Essentially it revolved around big false moustaches, outrageous hats, ludicrous sideburns and mud.
The Main Cast
All the characters from Rush were renamed for The Olden Days, and so too, for the purposes of the credits in the segment, were the names of the actors who played them. So, confusingly, the credits featured fake actors playing parts previously played by real actors, but now voiced by comics, each one a member of the D-Generation. The key credits for The Olden Days were:
Jeremy Shreeves as Sergeant Luke Olden (originally John Waters as Sergeant Robert McKellar in Rush), voiced by Mick Molloy
Alastair Happencross as Gov Marmaduke Frontbottom (Brendon Lunney as Commissioner Edmund Fitzalan), voiced by Tony Martin
That Cranky Guy from Homicide as Judge Muttonchops (Alwyn Kurts as Landsdowne), also voiced by Tony Martin
Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy, Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner provided additional voice talent. The first episode (or at least the one available on video and DVD) includes further humorous credits for the series:
Noeline Donaher as Ma Olden - Noeline was a star of the 1992 ABC series, Sylvania Waters. She recorded a diabolical cover version of the Tom Rush song 'No Regrets'.
Les Gock as The Young Confucius - an Australian with Chinese heritage. Writer, music producer and musician with the Australian band Hush.
The Cobb & Co, Precision Driving Team - Australian outback stagecoach company, prominent in the 19th Century until the car superseded it in the early 20th.
The Captain & Tennille as Themselves - American pop singers who had their own show on ABC in the US in the mid-1970s.
Who's Looking Through the Round Window Now?
John Waters had been a presenter on the classic Australian children's series Play School2 for an astonishing 20 years, making it his most memorable role for many Australian adults. The Olden Days suggests that both John Waters and Brendon Lunney auditioned for roles on the show.
These (supposed) real-world events associated with the actors' auditions become a source of ongoing rivalry between Frontbottom and Olden, taking a healthy jab at the 'fourth wall' between fiction and reality.
Episode Guide
The titles of the episodes below are based on those provided on later release on DVD (presumably drawn from the original scripts). The episodes, on broadcast, did not include any specific episode titles.
Episodes of The Olden Days featured as brief interludes in The Late Show. In most cases, the episodes stretched to little more than a minute, in some cases shorter, with the exception of 'Missing Moustaches', which set the scene for the segment and ran to a little over two minutes.
Missing Moustaches - Stolen false moustaches result in the assignment of Governor Frontbottom as the new (poncy) man in charge of the mud fields.
Maltreated Millinery - Conflict arises between Frontbottom and Olden over their past competition for Play School. Frontbottom's horse proves a problem pooper. Rumour reveals Frontbottom to be something of a hat-basher3.
Frontbottom's Iron Fist - Dinner with Muttonchops reveals problems in the mud fields requiring Frontbottom to exert greater authority.
Stupid Hat Day - Frontbottom requires all mud diggers to wear stupid hats under threat of painful wedgies (and Benny Hill style chase sequences).
Incident at Frontbottom's - Frontbottom hosts a night club (false beards only on Saturdays).
Frontbottom Gets the Shaft - Muttonchops questions Frontbottom's authority on the mud fields. Queen Victoria intervenes and assigns Governor Funbags to replace him4.
I'd Kill for a Coffee - The mud diggers seek an explanation for Olden's scarred cheek, leading to a questionable (and unauthorised) flashback. Frontbottom demands decent coffee.
No Singing Allowed - The mud diggers demand a better theme tune. Many mud-related pun song names follow, resulting in threat of death by hanging.
We Want Muttonchops - Frontbottom relishes in his success, only to discover Muttonchops has usurped him. Frontbottom blames Olden and the simplistic scripts.
Frontbottom La Stupendo - Frontbottom does a one-man performance of South Pacific to a deserted mud field.
I Can Feel a Frontbottom Coming On - The taste of 'Arsy Cola' comes to the mud fields. Frontbottom relabels it, but appears to have gone mad.
Internal Investigation - Inspectors scrutinise the diggers' Mud Licences, while Frontbottom's contribution to the series comes under question. Frontbottom's riding crop goes missing, leading to invasive search procedures.
Frontbottom Gets the Sack - Inappropriate sound effects and poor continuity come under scrutiny. The winner of the Reg Gorman Lookalike Contest5 arrives for his prize, then heads out with Olden to find the missing Camera 3.
Frontbottom's New Image - Frontbottom decides to become a drunk to enhance his image with the mud diggers. Muttonchops visits Frontbottom's mother to seek a solution.
Frontbottom Without a Cause - Frontbottom goes wild. Olden fights back (with a big doobie6). Frontbottom's mother comes to visit. Olden keeps going out of focus.
The Bad Acting Epidemic of 1852 - Bar-room brawls and sleep-inducing speeches abound. Frontbottom counters with some modern street lingo.
The Ballad of Frontbottom and Yoko - Frontbottom falls in love... and this time it's with a woman! Yoko urges Frontbottom to revive his singing career... with his Rolf Harris impression. Frontbottom gets one over and decides to publish his own sex book.
Madame Frontbottom, Fortune Teller - Frontbottom tries to see the future with his questionable psychic powers, but ends up singing honky-tonk with disastrous results.
The Man With the Olden Gun - Olden rebels against scene-chewing Frontbottom and demands his own theme song.
Goodbye, Farewell and Amen - ABC axes The Olden Days. Muttonchops struggles to remember the good times. Olden and Frontbottom drink to the good times, the big laughs and the silly nicknames.
