• All Rise For Julian Clary

    All Rise For Julian Clary

    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.…

Sitcoms

  • Hewitt – The British Answer To Seinfeld

    Hewitt – The British Answer To Seinfeld

    Inevitably, during the late 1990s, British broadcasters were looking for something a bit like Seinfeld. When BBC Two launched Rhona, The Stage asked the eponymous star: So am I right in thinking British Seinfeld?‘We have more of a Seinfeldian interest,’ she says carefully. The Real Rhona, Ben Dowell, The Stage, Thursday 20th July 2000 Then…

Bottom

  • Big-Mouth Billy

    Big-Mouth Billy

    There’s a line on page 73 of Proctology: A Bottom Examination which reads: Rik also made a corporate video in 1988, but his was for John Cleese’s Video Arts production company. Managing Problem People: Behavioral Skills For Leaders was directed by Charles Crichton (who directed A Fish Called Wanda), and was written by Stephen Fry.…

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  • It’s Slightly Rippled With A Flat Underside

    It’s Slightly Rippled With A Flat Underside

    I was slightly amazed to learn that the Cadbury’s Boost bar is older than I thought. I had a feeling it was launched in the 1990s, with the famous Vic & Bob advertising campaign. (As an aside, here’s the slightly less famous (possibly forgotten) Gladiators one they did). But in actuality, the Boost was first…

Comedy Is …

  • Comedy Is … Based On A Hit Movie

    Comedy Is … Based On A Hit Movie

    I didn’t watch everything the Paramount Comedy Channel offered up or course, most notably the early evening fare. So I never watched the sitcom Clueless. I’ve no idea what it was like. And I only recently watched the movie it was based on too. But it does give me the opportunity to note an interesting…

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  • Proctology: A Bottom Examination
    Proctology: A Bottom Examination

    For a long time now I’ve been wanting to write an old-fashioned programme guide. One you can hold in your hand and thumb through, make notes on, spill coffee on. So I did. Proctology: A Bottom Examination is my deep dive into Bottom, the hit BBC Two sitcom starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. That’s…

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  • Re-Casting Keanu
    Re-Casting Keanu

    Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him eight years older than Clive Dunn was when he was first cast in Dad’s Army. But don’t panic, Clive Dunn was always playing much older characters than his own age. Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him seven years older than Stephanie Cole was when she was first…

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