The Confessions of Robin Askwith

Its 1973. You're in your early twenties, a ( ahem ) rising young star with a string of stage, film and television successes to your name, when one day a producer asks you to play the lead in a saucy comedy about a randy window cleaner. What do you say? If your name is Robin Askwith, you accept like a shot! And can you blame him? Supported by some of the finest British comic talent - Tony Booth, Dandy Nichols, Bill Maynard, Sheila White, Irene Handl, Richard Wattis, John Le Mesurier, Lance Percival et al - surrounded by stark naked crumpet all day and getting paid for it to boot!

Askwith blows the lid off this naughty-but-nice period of British cinema. Written in the same 'jack-the-lad' style as the 'Confessions' books ( though much wittier ), its enjoyable stuff. Robin does a nice line in self-deprecation; an ego-trip this ain't.

'Confessions' made tons of money for Columbia, which makes it all the more strange why they dumped them after only four entries. A change of management at the studio dampened Timmy Lea's ardour forever. There's also a fund of anecdotes about Robin's other projects including the little-seen sex spoof 'Queen Kong' and I.T.V.'s 'Star Games ( a kind of 'Celebrity 'Its A Knockout' ) and the disastrous sitcom 'Bottle Boys'. Judging from the long list of actresses Robin bedded ( including Cheryl Hall and Benny Hill's Sue Upton ) its a wonder he had any energy left to climb his ladder. The 'Confessions' films were cheeky, harmless fun, very much of their time. I sincerely hope no-one ever tries to revive the series.

"Don't blame me if this gets bigger than both of us!" (4/4 people found this helpful)

It's good to see that the Confession films are having a bit of a revival. I know they have been looked upon as basically rubbish, but I've always enjoyed them. I still have all my old Confession books written by Timothy Lea (Christopher Wood) and Jonathan May, the film posters, a super 8mm copy of Driving Instructor, and all four films from their original video release.

Confessions of a Window Cleaner was the first R rated movie I saw, at the ripe old age of 16. This was quickly followed by A Clockwork Orange. Both films had a great effect on me, for different reasons. And both stars of the films became firm favorites. What a joy it was when Britannia Hospital came out and both had fairly prominent roles. When I saw Window Cleaner it was on a double bill with Cheech & Chongs Nice Dreams. Window Cleaner was on first, thank God, as the cinema quickly emptied early into the Cheech & Chong travesty.

As with subsequent Confession films, I found Askwiths autobiography to be very enjoyable. It is well set out, except for a couple of bizarre typos, Columbia Films spelt Colombia Films, Malcolm McDowell spelt Malcom MacDowell, and told in an enjoyably light manner. He has worked with some amazing filmmakers and actors; directors such as Lindsay Anderson, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franklin Schaffner, cult directors such as Val Guest, Sydney Hayers and Pete Walker. Actors such as Sid James, John Le Mesurier, Windsor Davies, Leonard Rossiter, Irene Handle, Edward Woodward, Nigel Davenport, and rolled around with some spunks such as Linda Hayden, Katya Wyeth, Suzy Mandel, Maxine Casson, Liz Fraser etc. And lets not forget he was the star of Queen Kong, which really should be released. It couldnt be any worse than Dinos effort.

The Confessions of Robin Askwith

Robin Askwith

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Robin Tells All (0/0 people found this helpful)

"Don't blame me if this gets bigger than both of us!" (4/4 people found this helpful)

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