Little - Remenbered Comedy Shows

[Famous Mortimer]

I forgot about The Late Show, partly because I remember that as more a Martin / Molloy thing (I can never mention The Late Show without sharing one of the greatest sketches of all time, "Bargearse" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glCgOkE45U0). There was an absolute ton of great comedy in Australia around that time.

[famethrowa]

And "Thank God You're Here", which must have made them a ton of money as the format was exported all over the place but I never cared for.

I've never warmed to TGYH or Are You Paying Attention or whatever it is, probably because a lot of it is chummying up to b-list celebs and cheesy radio DJs, the very people they should be lampooning.

[mippy]

Lynda Bellingham was also in Faith In The Future, which I remember nothing about other than the theme tune being available on a cassingle at my local record shop

[Brundle-Fly]

Faith In The Future was Simon Pegg's first big break into mainstream TV if you don't count this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-qGHvk4-Ew

[Jittlebags]

The Doctor..... series. Hugely popular in the early seventies, and I can just about remember watching on a Sunday night before bed. Starring Barry Evans and George Layton, had a stellar cast of contributing writers including Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Phil Redmond and Douglas Adams.

[Brundle-Fly]

The Doctor..... series. Hugely popular in the early seventies, and I can just about remember watching on a Sunday night before bed. Starring Barry Evans and George Layton, had a stellar cast of contributing writers including Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Phil Redmond and Douglas Adams.

Not forgetting heartthrobs, Richard O'Sullivan and Robin Nedwell who not unlike Barry Evans had rather sad destinies.

[Menu]

The Doctor..... series. Hugely popular in the early seventies, and I can just about remember watching on a Sunday night before bed. Starring Barry Evans and George Layton, had a stellar cast of contributing writers including Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Phil Redmond and Douglas Adams.

One episode was clearly a first draft of Fawlty Towers as well. Surprised it isn't more well known actually.

[Phil_A]

Big Top - launched with much fanfare as a throwback family-friendly sitcom in the Perry & Croft mould, then quickly dumped in the Christmas schedule when it became apparent what a fuck-up had been made. A pretty good cast including Tony Robinson, John Thompson and Ruth Madoc completely wasted, and talent-vacuum Amanda Holden inexplicably in the lead role.

The public and critical reaction was so bad it was basically consigned to the "Let us never speak of this again" file before the series had even finished airing.

[beanheadmcginty]

First of the Summer Wine, the short lived prequel to, well, have a huess.

[Ignatius_S]

One episode was clearly a first draft of Fawlty Towers as well. Surprised it isn't more well known actually.

I suspect a big reason is that it was very popular when first shown but wasn't really repeated, whereas the film franchise has had many television outings. It was either in this thread or another recent one where I mentioned The Arthur Haynes Show - when I first watched it, I realised that the star was instantly recognisable from one of the Doctor films as being a memorably troublesome patient.

Bit of a tangent, but my mother said that the writer of the Doctor books got in touch with a hospital that he worked at (either she had also worked at it or one of the consultants she worked for had) as he wanted to make a make a donation. The excitement of the gesture was tempered by the eventual realisation that the donation were a set of the books (signed) for the hospital library.

Going back to that hotel episode, the show's producer is reputed to have told Cleese that he had a series in that manager, but he was less sure to begin with.

The various Doctor series were repeated on ITV3(?) a couple of years ago - caught a few and they stood up well against others from the same period that have been shown more.

The film franchise is certainly better remember

[phantom_power]

That's Love - was that just on TVS or did everyone get it?

Wednesday nights in the late 80s/ early 90s, about a couple having marriage trouble.

Jimmy Mulville, Liza Goddard and Neil Pearson, along with Tony Slattery which seemed to be a contractual obligation during that time.

I was coming on here to mention that. I don't think it held up very well. I remember enjoying it but I think it is a bit bland

[Brundle-Fly]

Robert Lindsay has played lead roles in quite a few comedies over the years. I remember well Get Some In, Citizen Smith, Seconds Out, Nightingales and My Family, but I have no recollection of this comedy drama series from 1983.

[Jittlebags]

One episode was clearly a first draft of Fawlty Towers as well. Surprised it isn't more well known actually.

Yes, watched that the other week. Has Roy Kinnear in it as the Colin Hunt style resident joker.

[Gurke and Hare]

I remember Give Us A Break, but I don't remember it as a comedy drama, more a straight drama.

[Jittlebags]

Yus my Dear. Follow up to Romany Jones, which was a originally a vehicle for James Beck before his death. Stars Arthur Mullard and Queenie Watts as Wally and Lil Briggs, a couple that have ceased living in a caravan park, and have moved into a new council house, the 'situation' in this comedy revolving round that event. Also features Mike 'owight darlin' Reid in his first acting role, and Lynda Bellingham. Comes in at #19 in the Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy list of worst British Sitcoms - Romany Jones was #12. Their characters were reprised in Holiday on the Buses.

Mullard was inexplicably highly visible on telly during the seventies in adverts and as a guest on programmes, as well as entering the Singles Chart with a version of 'You're the One that I Want' with Hylda "She knows, y'know!" Baker. He appears to have had a somewhat dubious private life.

Full listing of Worst Sitcoms for reference purposes:
1 Sir Yellow (Yorkshire)
2 Up the Elephant and Round the Castle (Thames)
3 Trouble In Mind (LWT)
4 Take a Letter, Mr Jones (Southerni)
5 My Husband and I (1987-88) (Yorkshire)
6 Constant Hot Water (Central)
7 High and Dry (Yorkshire)
8 Come Back Mrs Noah (BBC)
9 Tripper's Day/Slinger's Day (Thames)
10 High Street Blues (LWT)
11 Room Service (Thames)
12 Romany Jones (LWT)
13 Rule Britannia (Thames)
14 Selwyn (Yorkshire)
15 Don't Drink the Water (LWT)
16 Odd Man Out (Thames)
17 In for a Penny ( LWT)
18 Plaza Patrol (Yorkshire)
19 Yus My Dear (LWT)
20 Bottle Boys (LWT)

[Ignatius_S]

Robert Lindsay has played lead roles in quite a few comedies over the years. I remember well Get Some In, Citizen Smith, Seconds Out, Nightingales and My Family, but I have no recollection of this comedy drama series from 1983...

It was very good - I meant to give it a mention as someone had said about Big Deal as that was another show created by Geoff McQueen. Two more programmes that he created were Stay Lucky (which fits here) and The Bill (which doesn't).

[Ignatius_S]

...Full listing of Worst Sitcoms for reference purposes:...

A few good theme tunes though.

[Bad Ambassador]

Interesting to see High and Dry on that list, as it was adapted from the post-war Dad's Army radio sequel It Sticks Out Half a Mile.

That's probably one for the list, even though it regularly gets rerun on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Wilson, Pike and Hodges team up to restore and renovate the pier in Eastgate (or somewhere else that isn't Walmington). It was Mainwaring and Wilson in the pilot, but then Arthur Lowe died so it was rewritten before the single series of 13 shows was recorded. Le Mesurier died before the series finished, so that was that. It's alright, but incredibly slight with most episodes having almost no plot.

[Gulftastic]

First of the Summer Wine, the short lived prequel to, well, have a huess.

They did a bit of filming at the Hyde Park Picture House* in Leeds. I had a summer job in the video rental shop opposite (Video Spectrum). One of the crew came in and tried to buy the stand up cardboard advert we had for Howard The Duck, but the owner refused to sell. I have no idea why.

*still going strong, btw.

[Rizla]

The Doctor..... series. Hugely popular in the early seventies, and I can just about remember watching on a Sunday night before bed. Starring Barry Evans and George Layton, had a stellar cast of contributing writers including Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Phil Redmond and Douglas Adams.

I possess a framed autographed headshot of co-star Geoffrey Davies. I can't remember where, when or why I got it, but I have it.

[Pranet]

Mid 80s BBC sitcom about two homeless people who take over the running of a pub. It ran in the summer when they tended to put out things that they didn't think highly of. Complaints on Points of View about number of times characters said "Christ". Google thinks I am looking for Early Doors.

If anyone knows what this is I'd be really grateful. I have successfully googled the name of it in the past and iirc one of the few references to it online was in this forum. But now I've forgotten the title again and I'm having no joy googling it at the moment.

[Icehaven]

https://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory/i-woke-up-one-morning

DESO

Well you have to laugh! Seriously though, that is rather bleak.

[crankshaft]

Mullard was inexplicably highly visible on telly during the seventies in adverts and as a guest on programmes, as well as entering the Singles Chart with a version of 'You're the One that I Want' with Hylda "She knows, y'know!" Baker. He appears to have had a somewhat dubious private life.

"Somewhat dubious" in the same way that Hitler had "somewhat ambivalent" feelings about Jews.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Mullard#Personal_life

[vainsharpdad]

Up The Elephant and Round The Castle was a baffling title for a kid in Newcastle. A great example of London-centric-ness there.

Then there was also the shit sequel 'Home James' of course....

[dissolute ocelot]

Someone mentioned Julian Clary's Sticky Moments, but there was also his postmodern sitcom Terry and Julian, co-starring with Lee Simpson (better known as an improv-er and not otherwise much on TV), I believe part of Channel 4's Friday nights in the days when they'd show big American sitcoms and put episodes of something like Paris between them and The Word. (Or was it Wednesday, the junior Friday, when Sean's Show was on?) I can't remember anything about T&J other than vague thoughts of the set and it being generally rough around the edges (Wikipedia says it was improvised), but pretty sure I watched it every week.

Apologies if it's been mentioned, but Channel 4's Geoffrey Palmer sitcom Fairly Secret Army, which seemed to vanish in comparison to his better-known roles, probably because a sitcom about an upper-middle class middle-aged man was superficially a bit of an odd fit for C4, and many people probably failed to notice what it was actually about. It was actually very C4 in that the show was a satire of a certain kind of English right-wing eccentric of very unpleasant beliefs, and linked with conspiracy theories about coups against Harold Wilson (early Channel 4 was big on coups). I seem to recall it wasn't actually very funny, but I was much younger then.

She was a very competent improviser. Never really put a foot wrong, and you got the feeling she always knew exactly what she was going to say next. Which is exactly what you don't want from an improviser, but obviously what the Whose Line producers were comfortable with.

Josie Lawrence's success on WLIIA and Radio 4 panel games was partly because she was one of the few who could actually sing and dance and smile. A lot of the rounds on HLIAA especially in later years seemed to depend on familiarity with the format (let's do a hoedown, that's a totally modern musical genre ripe for parody). Although I'd still rather listen to someone who can't sing sing, like Jeremy Hardy on ISIHAC, who at least was funnier.

EDIT: Fuck anagrams acronyms. HLIAA? ISAHAC?

[crankshaft]

Apologies if it's been mentioned, but Channel 4's Geoffrey Palmer sitcom Fairly Secret Army, which seemed to vanish in comparison to his better-known roles, probably because a sitcom about an upper-middle class middle-aged man was superficially a bit of an odd fit for C4, and many people probably failed to notice what it was actually about. It was actually very C4 in that the show was a satire of a certain kind of English right-wing eccentric of very unpleasant beliefs, and linked with conspiracy theories about coups against Harold Wilson (early Channel 4 was big on coups). I seem to recall it wasn't actually very funny, but I was much younger then.

The title is a riff on Secret Army, a BBC drama series about the Belgian Resistance in WW2 that had only finished 4 or 5 years before, so a lot of viewers probably got the joke at the time. Written by David Nobbs of Reggie Perrin / A Bit Of A Do fame. Plus, it was made by Video Arts, the production company of one John Cleese, who also edited series 1.


No idea if it's any good, though.

[koeman]

If anyone knows what this is I'd be really grateful. I have successfully googled the name of it in the past and iirc one of the few references to it online was in this forum. But now I've forgotten the title again and I'm having no joy googling it at the moment.

Wilderness Road?

[Famous Mortimer]

Someone mentioned Julian Clary's Sticky Moments, but there was also his postmodern sitcom Terry and Julian, co-starring with Lee Simpson (better known as an improv-er and not otherwise much on TV), I believe part of Channel 4's Friday nights in the days when they'd show big American sitcoms and put episodes of something like Paris between them and The Word. (Or was it Wednesday, the junior Friday, when Sean's Show was on?) I can't remember anything about T&J other than vague thoughts of the set and it being generally rough around the edges (Wikipedia says it was improvised), but pretty sure I watched it every week.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQCpfXg9QWZc1klrbjVgx8Zg7bx5w840m

The entire series is up here, it looks like. I have a very vague memory of it so I'm looking forward to giving it another go.

[paruses]

I remember Give Us A Break, but I don't remember it as a comedy drama, more a straight drama.

Same. But at that age I probably wouldn't have got most of the jokes.

Or am I thinking of one that was about a gambler called Ray?

[Famous Mortimer]

"Terry And Julian", one episode in, is much better than I remember it being. Your mileage may vary of course, depending on your tolerance for every other word out of Clary's mouth being a reference to cock and bum fun, but it's an enthusiastic thumbs up, so to speak, from me.