Chelmsford 123

1980s British tv sitcom

Aulus Paulinus, as a punishment given by the emperor Hadrian, is given the worst job Hadrian could think of - he becomes new governor of Britain. Although he heard about the land being damp and gloomy, the reality of his new job is worse than his worst nightmares.

Aulus Paulinus made one mistake during the orgy at emperor’s Hadrian palace and next thing he knows he is being shipped to Britain to become new governor of that province. To make things worse his pitiful brother-in-law, Grasientus, is coming with him. On arrival Aulus realizes that all the rumours about Britain and its people he have heard were just rumours - the reality is much worse. First of all the locals constantly are scheming to overpower the Romans, also their leader Badvoc, is quite clever and sets up traps for the governor, not to even mention the appalling weather that is not Aulus was expecting.

Sitcom set in the times of ancient Rome and in small town of Chelmsford, where new governor sets up his headquarters. Local chieftain Badvoc and Aulus are constantly trying to outsmart each other, which usually ends in disaster. The series was somehow similar to Blackadder in style and obviously due to historical nature of the show, but as sitcom Chelmsford had its own atmosphere, original story, used wide range of humour from physical to absurd jokes and great one-liners. The first series was a bit below par, the episodes were under developed, but second series was really great with variety of humour and great additional characters.

Although not widely known Chelmsford 123 was a very good sitcom and it’s a shame that only two series were made. The episodes were sometimes uneven (some of them were rather old fashioned, while others were constant laughter), but overall it is definitely show worth to know.

Rating	8.4
Funny	8 / 10
Entertaining	5 / 5
Characters	4 / 5
Nonrepetitive	4 / 5