CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV: Proof oldies can cut it on a TV contest - and they've got better stories to tell By Christopher Stevens Published: 20:39 EDT, 21 May 2024 | Updated: 20:40 EDT, 21 May 2024 e-mail View comments The Great British Sewing Bee (BBC1) Rating: Fifty years ago, they were the butt of the joke, more often than not. But we're finally learning to appreciate the strong women of vintage sitcoms. Watch an episode of Fawlty Towers now and it's the magnificent Prunella Scales who dominates many scenes.
And far from being a downtrodden housewife in Happy Ever After, June Whitfield is the mainstay of that show, not her onscreen hubby Terry Scott. Greatest of them all was Penelope Keith as The Good Life's arch snob, Margo Leadbetter, a woman with a voice so strident she could make flowerbeds stand to attention. Woodwork teacher Neil named her as his inspiration for a 1970s-style dress with a pageboy collar, as The Great British Sewing Bee returned.
'I didn't appreciate it at the time,' he admitted, 'but Margo was a fashion icon.' Esme Young and Patrick Grant are back as Sewing Bee's judges, but this is the first full season for presenter Kiell Smith-Bynoe This is the Sewing Bee's tenth series and it features the oldest contestant yet, 84-year-old retired scientist Don Read More CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews this weekend's TV: Violent, drunken, disloyal . .
. this cop is so nasty he's all but unwatchable The dress was orange with a paisley pattern that u.
