Spurred on by the success of the ribald, 1970s 'Confessions of…' sex comedies, producer/director Stanley Long began his own series in the same vein, the 'Adventures of…' films, starting with Adventures of a Taxi Driver. This first film quickly sets the tone for the whole series: crude and not particularly funny.

Mind Your Language star Barry Evans plays Joe North, a cheeky London cabbie who uses his job as a means of chatting his way into the knickers of his tastier clientèle. Little more than a series of smutty skits in which North experiences variety of silly sexcapades (allowing for the obligatory nudity from some quality British crumpet, and occasional flash of Evan's todger),the film is unsophisticated nonsense with little of the charm or wit of the films it so obviously seeks to emulate.

3.5/10, generously rounded up to 4 for lovely Jane Hayden as Linda (which, coincidentally, is the name of Jane's equally attractive big sister),a suicidal woman saved by North, who tries to help the poor girl out by shagging her (NOT a method recommended by The Samaritans, I believe).

Never one to pass up a good band wagon he could hop onto, small time independent producer Stanley Long saw the benefits major player Columbia was reaping from its innocuously naughty CONFESSIONS series with Robin Askwith portraying hapless Timothy Lea and decided that, yes, he would have a bit of that ! Already beaten to the punch as far as peeping tom window cleaners and pop performers knee-deep in groupies were concerned, he and regular screenwriter Suzanne Mercer (ironically, herself a reformed groupie and author of the supposedly autobiographical script for Long's surprise smash hit GROUPIE GIRL) turned their attentions towards another profession legendary for its lusty Lotharios, the London cabbie ?!

Now you must understand something about the British sex comedy and, by extension, the British themselves. These frothy farces play much like popular TV sitcoms like, say, ON THE BUSES or SOME MOTHERS DO 'AVE 'EM but with a little bit of what the goggle box would not allow in the form of nowadays - and actually even back then - really rather tame nudity, made to seem a lot dirtier by the leering, wink-wink, nudge-nudge approach. As any attempt at genuine eroticism made domestic audiences uncomfortable, evoked by disappointing box office takings for the likes of Henry Herbert's AWAKENING OF EMILY and Chris Boger's CRUEL PASSION, this tits 'n' titters combo proved just the meal ticket Long was looking for, jump-starting a separate series that ran for three episodes (subsequent installments concerning private detectives and...plumbers ?!) with several more planned that sadly (?) went unrealized.

Adhering to tried and true formula, Long secured the talents of Barry Evans (star of the hit TV show DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE and its follow-up DOCTOR AT LARGE) for the central part of working class laddie Joe North and surrounded him with many comfortingly familiar faces for the home viewing audience he was trying to lure away from their sets with the promise of T&A. Post-war British bombshell Diana Dors had a few funny scenes as Joe's loud-mouthed single mom with three kids sired by different dads and was starting to carve out a niche as a sexploitation character actress since American director Joe Sarno had cast her as the whorehouse Madam in EVERY AFTERNOON. Formerly respectable comedienne Liz Fraser showed no shame as kindhearted working girl Maisie in one of the film's best gags when Joe's sudden slamming the brakes makes her back seat fellatio end in tears. Already a sitcom veteran by her mid-20s, Adrienne Posta gives it her all as our hero's obnoxious fiancée Carol.

Plot, such as it is, concerns Joe trying to leave an overpopulated homestead by working long hours as a London cab driver and the outrageous scrapes he gets himself into, effectively breaking down the narrative into a series of sketches building variety show style towards punchlines. Joe shacks up with buddy Tom, a greasy mechanic played in an early professional assignment by Robert Lindsay, best know for heading the cast of long-running BBC sitcom MY FAMILY, who has just moved in with sweet stripper Nikki (Blighty cinema royalty Judy Geeson, who doesn't bare much of anything, profession notwithstanding) who keeps a python around the house as part of her act. One of the more extended stretches has the trio inviting Nikki's fellow stripper Helga (Anna Bergman, Ingmar's daughter, making her Brit sex film debut) over for a game of strip poker, ending in a bedroom romp with Joe, rudely interrupted by Carol. A bungled diamond heist takes up flick's latter part in a fruitless effort to tie up loose ends.

Technically on the crude side with flat, colorless cinematography by Peter Sinclair (who would shoot Madonna's legendary Like a Virgin video),movie's not without its share of laughs for the undemanding. The late Prudence Drage (also in Martin Campbell's ESKIMO NELL and Derek Ford's SEXPLORER) has a field day as an upper-crust pick-up who bemoans the clothing industry's poor workmanship as her fancy frock "accidentally" falls to the floor. Respected denizen of stage and screen Angela Scoular, who played Cathy in a '60s BBC version of WUTHERING HEIGHTS, performs surprisingly extensive nudity as the wife of a wealthy businessman who has inadvertently locked herself out of the house and winds up sharing a particularly uncomfortable bubble bath with Joe. Benny Hill's straight man Henry McGee turns up as the police inspector in film's final scene. Long most obviously flirted with the CONFESSIONS franchise by casting its leading lady Linda Hayden's sister Jane as suicide-prone drama queen Linda (!) in an amusing bit with DAD'S ARMY's Ian Lavender.

I have heard it said that this film took more money at the U.K. box office than 'Taxi Driver' starring Robert De Niro! Easy to see why. Scorsese's film lacked the magic ingredient - Barry Evans' old boy.

Poor Barry. Having starred in the T.V. series 'Doctor In The House' and 'Doctor At Large', he was fired for 'erratic behaviour' and subsequently forced to appear in tat like this.

As you may have guessed, the 'Adventures' series is a shameless rip-off of the 'Confessions' movies starring Robin Askwith. The main gag in all these films is the hero, in bed with a love-starved nymph, being caught by her husband/boyfriend, and having to make a break for it by shinning down a ladder/drainpipe, his bare bottom exposed to the world.

Evans' character is 'Joe North', a chirpy Cockney cabby who lives at home with his mum ( a criminally wasted Diana Dors ) and his younger brother and sister, the latter fond of throwing food around the kitchen. He is betrothed to Carol Hotchkiss ( Adrienne Posta ),whom he hates the sight of. He eventually moves in with his mate, garage owner Tom ( a pre 'Citizen Smith' Robert Lindsay ),and that's when the fun really begins ( sort of ) with knickers and bras flying about confetti. At the end, North gets involved with jewel thieves and you think 'Great! We're going to have a 'Carry On Cabby' type finale!", but no, instead everyone stands around talking for what seems an eternity.

Another reviewer has stated how uncomfortable Evans looks in the role, and I would agree. Unsurprisingly, he was in neither of the two sequels. His career recovered though when he starred in the hit L.W.T. sitcom 'Mind Your Language'. In a sad irony, he became a taxi driver for real when his acting career foundered.

As was the case with 'Confessions', there is a stellar line-up of British comedy talent on display here, including Ian Lavender, Stephen Lewis, Brian Wilde, Liz Fraser, and Henry McGee, none of whom get the material they deserve. Three of Evans' co-stars - Angela Scoular, Adrienne Posta, and Judy Geeson - had acted with him a decade earlier in the superior sex comedy 'Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush'. Scoular charmed George Lazenby out of his kilt in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', but looks a lot less sexy here ( probably due to that awful new hairstyle ). Posta is rather good as the annoying 'Carol', even if her vocalisation of the title theme put me in mind of the mice from 'Bagpuss'. Unable to secure the talents of Linda Hayden, producer Stanley Long settled for her sister Jane, playing a would-be suicidalist.

There are some nice shots of late '70's London, especially at night, but much of the comedy is forced, at times resembling the 'Fast Show' parody 'Confessions Of A Cucumber Salesman'. However, there are at least three genuine laugh-out loud moments, one involving two nuns, another a bathtub, and in the best scene, Liz Fraser's prostitute performs fellatio on a rich client in the back of North's taxi. He breaks suddenly to avoid knocking someone down, the cab lurches forward, and Fraser's client unleashes a terrible scream. Ironically, the movie showing nearby is 'Jaws'! Moments such as these go some way towards making the film at least partially endurable.