Although not quite the worst comedy programme in the entire history of English television, 'Come Back, Mrs Noah' is well down to the bottom of the barrel: rather surprising, this is, when you look at its credits. (The credits are the ONLY part of this series worth looking at.) The show was scripted by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, the comedy geniuses behind 'Are You Being Served?' and 'Grace and Favour'. The lead role of Mrs Noah is played by Mollie Sugden, who was so memorable (and funny) as Mrs Slocombe in those two classic sitcoms. But 'A.Y.B.S.?' and its sequel are prime examples of ensemble shows: here, Sugden proves she can't carry the comedy all by herself. (She had a similar problem in another Britcom, 'That's My Boy', in which her Oop North accent left her miscast as a homesick Londoner.)
'Come Back, Mrs Noah' has precisely the same premise as the grossly overrated 'Gilligan's Island': a motley group of characters are stranded in a remote place and can't get home. Imagine if 'Gilligan's Island' was set in outer space and Mrs Howell was the central character in every episode ... and you'll see why 'Come Back, Mrs Noah' is so dead awful.
Mrs Noah (Sugden, playing a role almost exactly like Mrs Slocombe) is one of several characters who are trapped in a space station orbiting Earth. This series runs up against the same problem that plagued 'Gilligan': in order to come up with new plotlines, the writers must introduce guest characters as visitors to the series' isolated setting (Mrs Noah's space station, Gilligan's island), and then the writers must figure out how to get the visiting characters out again at the end of the episode without rescuing the regulars. Who cares?
'Come Back, Mrs Noah' is stupefyingly unfunny. The 'best' thing about this show is its theme song, which (interestingly) is played at the END of each episode, not the beginning. Unfortunately, this theme song is just catchy enough that it lodges in my head every time I hear it, and it won't go away for several weeks. Whenever I want to watch any show that comes on immediately AFTER a repeat of 'Mrs Noah', I always make certain to skip the first minute of the show I want to watch, so that I won't risk hearing the theme song of this terrible show.
