TV Series: On The Buses Season 6

Two days ago I heard about the death of Anna Karen. This made me sad, because she was a part of my young years. She appeared in the television series "On The Buses", which ran from 1969 to 1973. I still consider it to be the best comedy series ever, with certain reservations. The first five seasons are brilliant. The sixth season is good, but not up to the level of the previous seasons. The seventh season is a mess, which should never have been made. The episodes are all standalone stories that can be watched in any order, but you might as well watch them in order. You can skip the seventh season. I've warned you!

Today I watched all seven episodes of the sixth season. I picked this season deliberately, because I don't know it as well as the first five seasons. Yes, it's good, but there were only a few scenes that made me laugh out loud. I concentrated on Anna Karen's performance. In the series she's deliberately made up to look ugly, but in my eyes it gives her a bizarre beauty. I always felt attracted to her.

Now she's gone. She's the last member of the main cast to die. In her final years she was unable to walk and confined to her wheelchair. She died at home, burnt alive after falling asleep while smoking.

Reg Varney
11 July 1916 – 16 November 2008

Stan Butler was the series' main character. He played a bus driver who still lived at home with his mother. His romantic escapades never went further than a quick fumble on the sofa.

Bob Grant
14 April 1932 – 8 November 2003

Jack Harper was a bus conductor and Stan's best friend. He was also single, and it's hinted that he went further with his girlfriends, but we never see anything.

Stephen Lewis
17 December 1926 – 12 August 2015

Cyril Blake, usually called Blakey, is the bus inspector who's always complaining about Stan and Jack's laziness.

Doris Hare
1 March 1905 – 30 May 2000

Stan's mother is always referred to as Mom in the series. The credits list her name as Mabel, but I don't remember her ever being called Mabel.

Anna Karen
19 September 1936 – 22 February 2022

Olive is Stan's sister. A constantly repeated joke is that she's totally blind without her glasses. Is that possible? She's sexually frustrated, always complaining that her husband doesn't fulfil his duties in bed.

Michael Robbins
14 November 1930 – 11 December 1992

Arthur Rudge is Olive's husband. The couple also lives in the same house with Stan and his mother, because Arthur doesn't earn enough to afford his own home. Sometimes he's doing a low paying job, but mostly he's unemployed. There's no romance in the marriage. He's always calling Olive an idiot, useless, etc, and he makes a disgusted face whenever she suggests that they should have an early night. One of the episodes in season six gives a flashback to Arthur meeting Olive. He was a lodger in the house, and one night he came back from the pub drunk and got into Olive's bed by mistake. Mom was disgusted and said they should get married immediately.

I always felt sorry for Olive when Arthur was shouting at her. I wanted to take her in my arms and cuddle her.

She was special to me. The only thing I didn't like about her was the smoking, in the series or in real life. In the end cigarettes killed her.

Rest in peace, Anna Karen. You'll never be forgotten as long as DVDs exist.

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