Touch Of The Casanovas, A (ITV 1975, Frankie Howerd, Madeline Smith)

In A Touch of the Casanovas, the great lover Casanova is forced to take refuge from the Doge of Venice and hits upon the idea of swapping places with his servant Francesco who very quickly discovered that his masters life is not quite as full of fun as he supposed.

The 45 minute special was hoped to be the forerunner for a full series but that never eventuated. There was ample use made of Howerd’s favourite device of talking direct to camera.

The whole thing was basically a continuation of Howerd’s Up Pompeii series (lets face it though, pretty much all of Howerd’s film and TV work post Pompeii was exactly the same).

production details
UK / ITV – Thames / 1×45 minute episodes / Broadcast Wednesday 31 December 1975 at 10.15pm

Writers: Sid Colin, Hugh Stuckley / Fight arranger: Arthur Howell / Production Design: John Wood / Producer and Director: Michael Mills

cast
Frankie Howerd as Fransisco
Stuart Damon as Casanova
Patsy Rowlands as Clementina
Madeline Smith as Teresa
Marguerite Hardiman as Isabella
Leon Greene as Captain of the Guard
John Cater as Bartoldi
Roger Brierley as Count Pelligrini
Patricia Haines as Countess Pelligrini
Cyril Appleton as Count Malatesta
Gregory Powell as Doge’s Guard
Billy Horrigan as Doge’s Guard
Terry Maidment as Doge’s Guard