Crawford's return for the third series (which were made in 1978, 5 years after the first two were shown) was marked by his making Frank's accent posher, and, it seems to me, his character rather less gormless and naive. I'm not sure about the Christmas specials in 1974 and 1975.
shareYes, Frank seemed to gain some confidence (bordering on arrogance) when Jessica was born. He had grown up a bit, still an idiot but he had a higher opinion of himself.
shareI prefer the old Frank.
shareI'm working my way through the series on Youtube, having not seen them for more than 30 years, and I was very put off by the changes in Frank for season 3. The accent is odd but not enough to make much of a difference. However, the more assertive Frank is essentially a completely different character than the Frank from the first two seasons -- and not in a good way.
Whenever a character becomes more spastic, hyper, and annoyed it's a sign of creative deficiency. Those types of characters are often broad and predictable. When Bill Corbett took over the voice of Crow T. Robot from Trace Beaulieu on Mystery Science Theater 3000 he changed Crow from a thoughtful, at times upbeat, thinker into an out-of-control jerk and the character suffered. Trace's Crow said and did things that you couldn't predict. Bill's was a one-note gag. I think the same thing happened with Frank Spencer.
Whenever a character becomes more spastic, hyper, and annoyed it's a sign of creative deficiency.Definitely. Something that bothered me in particular was the new Frank's laugh, which sounded more false and repetitive than the old shy giggle. share