It's Bouquet - Not Bucket!

by Harold Snoad

In this memoir of the TV series 'Keeping Up Appearances', Harold Snoad takes the reader behind the scenes and into the world of TV production.

Genres: Humor

196 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2009

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unless you're a huge fan of the series, I would stay away from this book. The writer is very matter-of-fact; it's so dry that I had to read it in small snippets. There is no personality, and it's not exactly a stimulating read. "I had dinner with my wife. Then I made some edits to a script that Roy Clarke sent. Roy Clarke is a jerk. Oh yes, and Hyacinth flubbed one of her lines and everybody laughed." This is pretty much what you get.

That's not to say that the book is terrible. It was interesting to learn about how they scouted for locations for the series, and the troubles they ran into with the "locals" along the way. I was sad to learn that Patricia (Hyacinth's actress) was difficult to work with; she was mysteriously cold about the series and her coworkers. But, you're not going to learn too much about the actors overall, and there are few photos. Amusing moments on set are barely mentioned. It definitely left me wanting more.

Borrow this book from the library, or get it cheap somehow if you must read it. I hope a more in-depth book comes along in the future.

[Raven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book turned out to be quite different from what I expected - from the description, I thought it was going to be a fun, light-hearted book about the making of one of my favorite tv shows, with little stories and anecdotes from the set and so on - instead the author bascially spends the whole book trashing both the shows writer and lead actress and various other people, and while the things he writes about them may be true (he does make some good points - read the book and you'll understand what i mean), it still just feels like the whole point of this book is gossiping. I did, however, find alot of it interesting, and I loved the pictures in it, although I wish there were more of them.
Overall, an OK read, but you have to be very familiar with the series (Keeping Up Appearances) to find it interesting.

[Lindsay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't bother it was awful. I liked learning some new things but it was just the producer whining about how he didn't get the credit he deserved etc plus some really unflattering comments about some of the actors weights which is unacceptable. If I could give it half a star I would.

[Carolyn Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the dedicated fans of "Keeping Up Appearances" this is a book of behind-the-scenes trivia, facts and stories.