"Coming Next" - with Chris Barrie, Hale & Pace

[HappyTree]

Does anyone remember this sketch show from the early/mid 80s?

First there was "Pushing Up Daisies" which was a sketch show with Chris Barrie. I forget if Hale & Pace were in that one too, along with the gorgeous Carla Mendonça. But anyway they came back with "Coming Next". I wish they'd release it on DVD, it was classic stuff.

I used to have a few episodes on tape, I can remember them almost word for word. There was the one in which Barrie was playing "Viscount Prince", a vampire who controlled a little world of characters. In another show the theme was a play school parody involving lots of naughty sex gags. And who could forget their spoof called Westenders based on the soapy lives of sloane rangers?

Them were the days.

[Alternative Carpark]

First there was "Pushing Up Daisies" which was a sketch show with Chris Barrie. I forget if Hale & Pace were in that one too, along with the gorgeous Carla Mendonça.

Yes, they were, all of them were in that.  Gave Chris Barrie a chance to do his Sean Connery impression during a James Bond sketch.

[Gulftastic]

I liked the sketch about The Beatles auditioning for a drummer.

John, Paul, Geroge and Urine.

And was it this show that had the Hale & Pace spoof of Lloyd Webber musicals? They were singing buildings.

[Jemble Fred]

I'm intrigued by this, but I was hoping the thread existed because freely available episodes had been tracked down. :(

[HappyTree]

From memory:

Milton Keynes
You've seen it on the telly
Yes it's Milton Keynes
It's never ever smelly
But it's modern and neat
And while they're fast asleep
You must admit the housing prices are rather cheap
We're talking Milton Keynes
Where they live in little boxes and they all look just the same
Forget about the Hilton
We've got the lot in Milton
Good old Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes Milton Keynes
Not far away from London!
Not far away from London!
Milton Keynes's a boring town, boring town, boring town...

There was also a spoof musical of Andrew Lloyd Webber in Pushing Up Daisies. Went something like:

Oh Andrew Lloyd Rice
He'll do you up in a trice
"Jesus rot" the critics raved
While God was turning in his grave



One of my favourite sketches was Barrie playing Jesus getting harassed to fix an alarm clock that isn't working.

"I've got a very sick alarm clock, it won't go off."

"Listen baby, scoot! I don't do alarm clocks. Beggars and cripples."

"My alarm clock is crippled!"

"Stroll on, brother."

There should be a law that says everything must be released on DVD, regardless of whether they think it'll sell. Surely there are enough Chris Barrie fans in the world to warrant a release of Coming Next?

[ColonelVolestrangler]

The one sketch I remember was a Sherlock Holmes one, with Chris Barrie as Holmes, where the characters provided the narration as well as the dialogue, with plenty of "'Great scott, Holmes,' Watson ejaculated," moments.