It’s always fun when two disparate things collide. I was reminded of All Rise For Julian Clary by, of all things, The Secret Barrister book, which mentions the show in passing. Barely a day later, following a mention on a YouTube video, I found theoldnet.com, and decided to look at the BBC’s website from 1996. Lo and behold, one of the first links I found was to their page about All Rise …
The show aired on BBC Two, beginning its first series in September of 1996, and ending after its second series with a Christmas Special the following year.
It featured a mix of members of the public and celebrities, all asking Julian to pass judgment on something or other. It also starred Frank Thornton as Geoffrey Parker-Knoll. Airing stright after Shooting Stars at 9.30pm on Fridays, it had the unfortunate pleasure of clashing with Friends over on Channel 4, but still managed a very healthy 2.96 million viewers.
Here’s how the Perthshire Advertiser promoted it on the first day of broadcast.
Seeing article like this from the Mirror, it’s impossible not to lament the way mainstream broadcasters moved comedy onto their feeder channels.
(Julian almost has a Rachel)
So, here’s the first episode, and I can’t help wondering if it’s borrowed some set elements from Knowing Me, Knowing You … With Alan Partridge. That notwithstanding, it hits the ground running, and the premise is nice and clear from the outset.
