The Dame Edna Treatment - Episode 1 Review

Hello Possums!

You lucky darlings! This past weekend, you witnessed the return of our favourite housewife/gigastar Dame Edna Everage to TV screens across the UK in her new ITV series "The Dame Edna Treatment".


And what a fabulous return it was! From the minute the opening credits began, it was a triumph! With music from the Gibb brothers, and a riot of colourful graphics depicting Dame Edna at her celebrity treatment facility, it was clear that ITV had spent some serious money on the return of the world's most famous international phenomenon, healer, and guru!


The set looked fantastic, and aided by her troubled daughter Valmai (brilliantly played in the Madge Allsop deadpan style!), Dame Edna was ready to "Care and Share" and offer a number "treatments" to her guest stars. Patrick Stewart, for example, was offered treatment in Edna's state of the art "radical follicle resuscitation unit" at the start of the show, and Nancy Del'Olio came for colonic irrigation in the "Niagara Suite".

Dame Edna's razor sharp wit and wisdom were evident from the start, with some brilliant lines and timely pearls of wisdom. She told viewers during her opening chat not to call in to the show: "No phone calls! I'm rich enough already!" - a fabulously barbed poke at the audience call-in rip-offs recently in the news. The gags continued to flow, and when introducing a sour and troubled Valmai, she explained that Valmai was "electronically tagged - one on each ankle - so we always know how far apart they are". Brilliant!

The spa set was gorgeous, with the audience hilariously all in robes - their treatment obviously
consisting of a healing hour in the company of Dame Edna. Of course, she protects the privacy of her clients carefully, as they are among the most famous and powerful in the world - but we then witnessed the Queen entering the spa, apparently to have some "work" done to make her look more like Helen Mirren! Hilarious! (I'm quite sure the Queen was played by the well known Jeanette Charles, who does the same kind of work Simon does as a celebrity lookalike and impersonator.)

With all of this going for it, I was expecting the show to be flawless. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to love every minute, the guests joining Dame Edna at her spa really weren't up to the challenge.

Poor old Sigourney Weaver, the gorgeous little minx, was slightly perplexed during her interview with Dame Edna, although she was a good sport! In her inimitable style, Dame Edna observed that actresses of a certain age "find their parts starting to dry up". What could poor little Sig say to that?

The other two guests were, to my mind, a total disappointment (call me old-fashioned but they were...I'm sorry, but they were!), and not up to Dame Edna's level of fabulousness: Mischa Barton ("Who?", you ask), a young actress who was somewhat dazed and confused throughout; and Michael Bolton, who Dame Edna announced has this year had 9 hits...on his website! Thankfully Dame Edna was able to probe a little and bring a smile to our faces despite Mr Bolton's slightly clueless and serious demeanor.

A fabulous show like this needs truly huge guest stars who are bright enough to play along! I'm praying that the producers realise this quicksticks and provide our megastar with some guest stars befitting the occasion - how about Liza Minnelli, Omar Shariff, Joan Collins, Twiggy, etc, etc. The possibilities are endless, so fingers crossed we see some gorgeous names in the weeks to come.

But despite this small complaint, the show was a breath of fresh air for Saturday nights, and for the next 7 weeks, a truly must-see event! What more could we want at the end of a busy week that a little TLE - Tender Loving Edna! Our favourite gigastar has returned to a grateful public, and we are thrilled, thrilled, thrilled!

Be sure to check out the new Dame Edna ITV website and probe all it's nooks and crannies, Possums! And don't forget to pick up this week's issue of Radio Times too - there is a fabulous article about Dame Edna and Barry Humphries. Our Australian megastar is the talk of the town!

Drop me a line to let me know how you liked the show! Until next week, Possums, bye-bye!