The Case of the Gluttonous Guru (2013)

The second Jago and Litefoot story take on a noticeably environmental vibe. As the story seems something growing inside Jago. The problem I generally have with stories that have something to with nature and plants is that its usually bores me. It all stems from The Seeds of Doom which is like spending three hours in a garden centre. Anyway there have been stories like Hothouse which have started to change my point of view and Jago and Litefoot continue this. As a plot it’s a good one because it start it with breaking up or straining the friendship of Jago and Litefoot. Jago is letting his career on TV got to his head and is not really speaking to Litefoot. I liked it because it shows what a nice person Litefoot is and the shallowness at times of Jago. Even when Jago is being the way that he is, Litefoot is still willing to help his friend. Jago being used as a host is something that is quite a bold thing to do in what is a release that is listened to by children.

As the story progresses, the humour seems to increase. There is a scene where Jago is on the bus and is chucked off for not having the right fare and quips about being an expecting parent as the conductor jokes about celebrities. I liked the pacing of the story because it was moving along very nicely and then final act seemed to jump out at me. I thought the scene with everyone at the theatre was a really nice and unexpected moment. It seemed to me like it was a moment to nod to the audience as if to say the 1960’s is our home now.

There are two things that I could have done without. The first being the burping that Jago was doing. It’s the only thing that I find vulgar and if it had been done once or twice then I could overlook it but it happened at least a dozen times. The second thing is slightly harsh as it was the dah-dah-dahhhh tune which came on every time something bad happened which slightly ruined it as far as I was concerned. On the performance side of things I must say that Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter gave very good performances. I think that Baxter played Litefoot with even more grace and dignity than he has ever done. Benjamin managed to make Jago seem like a rude person whilst making him likeable. Not sure whether that was his or Marc Platt’s intention but that is what happened and I thought it worked well. Lisa Bowerman continues to be part of the family and does acting/directing duties with equal ease.

I liked this story which I thought was starting to settle down and get down to business. The performances were all very good and despite some reservations I think that on the whole its fair to say that this is Jago and Litefoot getting back to business.