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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spells &amp; Karma" data-source="post: 159543" data-attributes="member: 23">Series Two has now ended, so I'm halfway through AMM5, and three quarters of the way through the entire Motherworld saga.With this series being somewhat under the radar in British sitcom terms I doubt there's very much out there that will give an in-depth commentary about the making of it. And that's a pity, because I have more questions than answers about it. Why was Mr Campbell written out? What was the driving force behind the romance with David leading to the remarriage? Why was Jane recast for AMM5? Why did Auntie become a very infrequent cast member before being written off entirely? Why did Wendy Craig write every single episode in Series Two of AMM5 (was it a condition of her making another series? Or was the series not going to happen at all if she hadn't stepped up? Did the powers that be even know that she was, in fact, Jonathan Marr? And is it a coincidence that Auntie stopped being a series regular in the episodes written by her?)?Speaking of which, Craig's writing has been very good. The tone of the humour has felt perfectly congruent with what's come before and nothing has felt off at all. I'd already read that Craig had written all six episodes of Series Two and this was at the back of my mind when watching.The episodes have been classic sitcom themes: trying to have a peaceful Sunday despite numerous interruptions; forgotten anniversaries, and the like.The final episode of Series Two entered Butterflies territory to a degree, with Sally feeling taken for granted by the family who leave her a list of chores to do while they're at work and school. Rather than having an affair, though, she puts her arm in a sling to get some sympathy, leading to some genuinely funny scenes where the temptation to use both hands to open a well-packaged present is too much to resist. There was a nice bit of physical comedy through the episode, particularly a moment where David walked into the room and Sally, facing away from him first put her wrong arm back into the sling, then quickly changed to the correct arm but with the sling sling awry, before getting it sorted just in time. Moments like this perhaps showcased the advantage of the series being written by one of the performers, but it also reinforced just how good a writer Craig is. I'm sure there are numerous examples of  something being funnier on the page than on screen.Patricia Routledge's episodes have now aired. She only had one fairly brief scene in each of her two episodes, but both were memorable. She was playing her usual bumptious kind of character, in many ways a prototype Kitty or Hyacinth. Indeed, it was Routledge's character who came up with the idea of Sally putting her arm into a sling to garner sympathy from people, and it's not a stretch to imagine Hyacinth bullying Richard into doing something similar to add reality to one of her tall stories.As we're mentioning familiar faces, Lesley Joseph appeared in one episode as a gypsy selling lucky heather. I don't think I've seen her in any other role than Dorien, apart from possibly appearing as herself on Blankety Blank or something. Kenneth Waller, most familiar from Bread and Are You Being Served? has also appeared as a doctor. Some of the faces have been more familiar than the names, as is so often the case with bit parts in sitcoms.Eeew! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite9" alt=":eek:" title="Eek!    :eek:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":eek:" /></blockquote>

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