================================== B R I T C O M E D Y D I G E S T ================================== VOL II FALL TV LINEUP SEPT 1995 No. 3 A monthly electronic newsletter on British comedies What's Inside ============= Fall TV Lineup Eddie Izzard -- Part 1 The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin * The Reggie Books: An FAQuette My Fifteen Minutes of Fame It's That Man Again Fawlty Towers 20th Anniversary * Special Additional for Subscribers: The Fawlty Towers FAQ (ver. 1.0) Announcement: "Yes, Minister" Contest Winners Regular Departments: =================== Mailbox Britcomedy News BD Recommends Spotted on the Internet Quote-o'-the-Month etc. Circulation/Back Issues Staff ===== Managing Editor..................Melinda 'Bob' Casino Co-Editor........................Michelle Street Win95 Guru.......................James Kew Copy Editor......................Cynthia Edwards Flying monkey....................Jason Heimbaugh Contributing writers: Caroline von Oosten de Boer, Karen Blicker, Jeremy Rogers, Michelle Street. HTML logo by Nathan Gasser. Britcomedy Digest (ISSN 1077-6680) Copyright (c) 1995 by Melinda Casino. Reproduction for personal and non-profit use is permitted only if this copyright notice is retained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission. Britcomedy Digest may be uploaded without the editor's permission to bulletin boards as long as it remains fully intact. NOTICE: In order to preserve the integrity of Britcomedy Digest, use of the "BRITCOMEDY DIGEST" name to gain interviews, etc., is forbidden without the express permission of the Managing Editor. EDITOR'S PAGE ============= So I woke up this morning with the immortal words of Scooby Doo running through my head: "RUH ROH!" Yup, it finally dawned on me that I'd better quit watching my copy of "Pulp Fiction" and worrying way too much about the state of the Antonio Banderas/Melanie Griffith romance (anyone wanna explain that one to me, please? Does she have any talent at *all* and would he be such a big star if more people knew that the English translation of his name is Tony Flags? OOPS! The secret's out! *grin*) and write the intro to this month's issue. Well, what can I say? This month actually marks two anniversaries: "Fawlty Towers" turns 20 and "Britcomedy Digest" is now officially into its second year of publication. Yeah, as incredible as it may seem we've been pounding this puppy out for over a year now. On the whole it's been a great experience (although don't ask about the special Red Nose Day issue -- just don't) :) and the wonder of the net is that it has allowed the BD staff, most of whom live thousands of miles apart, to be partners in crime on this. Yet BD hasn't been all Melinda, James, Cynthia, and I. It's been all me, plain and simple. (hahahahahaha... just a joke). Seriously, though, over the past year we have had talented contributing writers and I would like to take this opportunity to say a special thanks to them; their expertise and hard work were much appreciated. So to celebrate BD's entry into its puberty phase (well, if we're talking dog years) we have Part 1 of a two-part article on Eddie Izzard, a look at "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" with the legendary Leonard Rossiter, and the story of a Chris Barrie fan who fought PBS and won. (Right on! There's a bit of anarchy!) Enjoy. -- Michelle Street Co-Editor MAILBOX ======= I recently found your British Comedy web site and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it! ...I was particularly interested in the column "Black Adder -- Comic Drama to Sitcom" by Lyndon Watson (vol. 1, no. 4). I found it quite thought-provoking. I, too, prefer the "Black Adder I" series to the rest, but it had not occurred to me why until I read this essay. Perhaps I am atypical of Americans, but I detest sitcoms and much prefer more "innovative" styles of comedy. Thank you for an interesting publication! Rob Scott Electrotek Concepts, Inc. Knoxville, Tennessee - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Please could you change my [subscription] address ...? Also while I am bothering you, let me tell you that I very, very much enjoyed the last Britcomedy Digest. I thought it was great and I hope that you will continue to produce such great articles. J. Nichols Adams EDITOR'S RESPONSE: Thank you for the kind words; the August issue received a lot of positive feedback, so we now know what you want! As always, readers can change or update their subscription information by emailing: . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Firstly, I have to say that I think Britcomedy Digest is an excellent magazine. I'm really impressed by the enthusiasm you people have for British comedy and for involving people in the publication. A reply to a couple of points in recent issues. Firstly, someone in the last issue pointed out that you'd only mentioned Rik Mayall's first appearance in "Black Adder" as "Lord Flasheart," not his second. There was also a third guest role by Rik in the first series of "The Black Adder" as "Mad Gerald." Secondly, it's been mentioned once in BD and several times in alt.comedy.british that Ben Elton is the only British comedian not to do commercials. Sorry to burst any bubbles here but Ben Elton has actually appeared in ads, at least in Australia. At the start of this year he was in an ad for Ansett Airlines. The ad was promoting the realistic entertainment system by having a passenger imagining he was front row centre at various events -- an orchestra, a string quartet, a rock band and a stand-up comedy show -- Ben Elton's. Elton's part was short -- only a one-liner joke -- but it *was* specially for the ad. Curiously, he seemed to me to be trying to distance himself from his usual stage persona -- he wore a green jacket and shirt instead of blue and red, and the joke was not one of his ("In Australia the beer's so cold you don't find someone's lipstick on your glass, you find someone's lips." Hmmmm). I would suspect it was recorded at the end of his Australian tour last year. I've only seen the ad once. Maybe he doesn't object to doing this sort of thing in Australia where his main British audience usually wouldn't hear about it. Most importantly, maybe he only does ads for companies he approves of -- an airline which flies him out to his Australian wife and family would probably rank very high on the list! Roy Flavel - Adelaide, South Australia - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My local TV station has finished airing the wonderfully written series, "The Vicar of Dibley." Will there be any more, please don't say no, I can feel the tears run down my face! Mike Cockayne British Columbia, Canada EDITOR'S RESPONSE: Let me look into my "Magic 8-Ball"... "not in this lifetime"... hmmm, it never showed that before... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I was wondering if you could do something on "My Word," which is a British Radio game show which is all about words and is quite funny. Although not scripted it comes up with some great humor. I listen to it on National Public Radio. David Bibb Edenton, North Carolina EDITOR'S RESPONSE: I'd love to run something on this radio show, and more radio programs in general. Any budding writers out there? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Having just read August's Britcomedy Digest, I have a comment on Michelle Street's article about Ben Elton, in which she said: "Material like that (or maybe because he likes to swear and use brand names) made the censors and BBC brass nervous when Elton began appearing in the late 80s as a regular on 'Saturday Live.'" Saturday Live (like Friday Night Live) was on Channel 4, so I don't know why the BBC brass would have been nervous about Ben's routines on that show. Pam Wells - Southend-on-Sea, Essex - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Paul Rhodes and Simon Collings for writing in response to Jill Alters' letter, which inquired about Michael Bilton (Vol. II, no. 2). Michael Bilton, who appeared in "Waiting For God" and "To the Manor Born," did indeed pass away. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MAILBOX: Send letters to with the subject heading "Letter to the Editor." Include your full name and location. All letters submitted are assumed to be for publication unless marked otherwise. BD reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of space or clarity. BRITCOMEDY NEWS --------------- JEREMY BRETT DIES Actor Jeremy Brett died in his sleep at his London home on September 13th. Brett, best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the ITV Granada series, succumbed to heart failure. He was 59 years old. Brett was educated at Eton and at the Central School of Drama in London. His long and varied career included stints with the National Theater and films such as "War and Peace," "My Fair Lady," and "Rebecca." However, it is his portrayal of the pipe-smoking, cap-wearing Sherlock Holmes for which he will be best remembered. According to many, he was the definitive embodiment of the fictional detective and his portrayal of Holmes in 41 episodes of that series outdistances everyone else, even film legend Basil Rathbone. During his life Brett suffered from manic depression and had been diagnosed with a heart problem in 1993. The problem was the result of an overdose of lithium. MEN BEHAVING BADLY WINS TOP PRIZE At the National Television Awards held last month in London, "Men Behaving Badly" was the winner in the category of Best Comedy. The win is pretty impressive considering the fact that it faced stiff competition from "Ab Fab," "Have I Got News For You," and "Mr. Bean." For those unfamiliar with the show, "MBB" follows the lives of two flatmates, played by Martin Clunes and Neil Morrissey. Basically these two need to wear badges that say "I refuse to grow up," but the chemistry between them combined with the chemistry between Clunes and Caroline Quentin (who plays his long-suffering girlfriend Dorothy) has made a hit of this series. It is scheduled to go into its third series this fall. THE THIN BLUE LINE Filming has started on the "The Thin Blue Line," which reunites Rowan Atkinson with one half of the "Black Adder" writing team, Ben Elton. Rowan plays "Inspector Raymond Fowler," the uniformed officer in charge of a police station. Working under him are an Asian female officer, and a very camp (but heterosexual) younger PC who has a definite interest in her. There are also a couple of plain-clothed CID officers in the station, both permanently at war with Rowan because they think *they're* the ones who do all the work. "The Thin Blue Line" co-stars Meena Anwer, James Dreyfus, Rudolph Walker, and Serena Evans (as Atkinson's love interest). Look for Ben Elton himself to appear in one of the episodes. The show will premiere sometime this autumn. Also returning in the fall are new series of "Keeping Up Appearances," "2 Point 4 Children," "Room 101," and "Smith and Jones" -- see "Fall TV Lineup" this issue. NEW PYTHON E-ZINE ONLINE Cuidado! Senor Hans ten Cate (funny, he doesn't look like a loony) has introduced "The Daily Llama" to the Internet! It's an e-zine devoted exclusively to the Monty Python troupe -- and no, it's not daily. Check it out at http://www.futron.com/hans/llama/llama.html. Issue number one includes articles about the upcoming sequel to "A Fish Called Wanda" and details of John Cleese's appearance on the David Letterman Show from London. ISIRTA... AGAIN Radio 2 is now repeating "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again," a classic radio program which featured a pre-Python John Cleese and Graham Chapman plus Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, and Graeme Garden from "The Goodies." The series began recording in 1965 and ran (interrupted by a three-year gap) until 1973. It basically followed a revue format and gave audiences one of their first tastes of the gifted performers. Included were the songwriting ability of Bill Oddie and the singing style of John Cleese, who takes a crack at a song about a ferret sticking up his nose. You've got to hear it for yourself... COMIC RELIEF GETS GOOD NEWS The money brought in from last spring's "Comic Relief Red Nose Day" has been tabulated and the good news is that over 20,000,000 pounds were raised. This money will go to support numerous Comic Relief projects in the UK and Africa. This pushes the total amount of money earned since Comic Relief started in 1980 to over 100,000,000 pounds. --> Please send news items to Michelle Street at or . Special thanks to BD Ace Reporter Michael Clarkson. ### FALL TV LINEUP -------------- This fall brings a whole host of new TV shows. Here is a listing organized by actor/comedian. See this issue's "BD Recommends" for reviews of some of these programs. ROWAN ATKINSON "The Thin Blue Line" BBC 1 (later in autumn) Also stars David Haig, Kevin Allen, Serena Evans Written by Ben Elton STEVE COOGAN "Coogan's Run" BBC 2 (later in autumn) ALAN DAVIES "One For the Road" Channel 4 Starts September 4 Written by Gary Sinyor Angus Deayton "In Search of Happiness" BBC 1 October 1995 Maureen Lipman "Agony Again" BBC 1, 8:30PM Starts September 7 Revival of "Agony" JOANNA LUMLEY "Class Act" ITV, 8:30PM Starts September 7 A comedy drama "The New Avengers" BBC 2, 6:25 PM Starts September 8 Repeat of this cult series PATRICIA ROUTLEDGE "Keeping Up Appearances" BBC 1, 8:30 PM Starts September 2 JULIA SAWALHA "Faith in the Future" ITV (later in autumn) Also stars: Lynda Bellingham "Pride and Prejudice" BBC 1, 9 PM Starts September 24 (Sawalha is cast as "Lydia Bennet") FRANK SKINNER "The Frank Skinner Show" BBC 1, 10:15 PM Starts September 3 NICK HANCOCK "Room 101" BBC 2, 10 PM Starts September 8 MEL SMITH AND GRIFF RHYS JONES "Smith and Jones" BBC1, 9:30 PM Starts September 6 ### KING EDDIE THE FIRST... DOING HIS OWN SWEET THING ------------------------------------------------- by Caroline von B, The first of a two-part article about the life and career of Eddie Izzard. London, June 1995. Your correspondent crosses Leicester Square with a grin on her face. She's just checked the place for dickhead men that hang out in groups of five and shout at people. It's safe today. There are none. They may be hiding in shame after hearing what the unrepeatable Eddie Izzard has to say about them: "Groups of five... that's because they have a fifth of a personality each." Eddie has personality -- that certain charming arrogance you need to get up on a stage in front of people. He also has a work ethic that puts the rest of us to shame: doing stand-up comedy and theatre, writing sit-coms and radio shows, running a production and management company. Does he ever sleep? Does he have a life? "My career is my life," he says in the programme for his most recent tour. What follows is telling: "If I work hard enough, I can keep that together and it won't die. I don't want it to die and it can't die of a heart attack, it can't die of disease. It can only die if I don't look after it enough. I realise that people can just be taken away from you for no reason, so I don't get close to people." Eddie's mother died when he was still a toddler. He shares this sad fact with other artists: Lennon, McCartney, Hendrix, Madonna, Sinead O'Connor, Sonny Bono. It seems to instill a drive for perfection and the need to achieve and to impress -- possibly to impress the person who's no longer there. There's another thing which he shares with a number of fellow comedians: boarding school. Again, the programme -- which is almost confessional -- says a lot: "It made me very independent-minded, but also made me emotionally dead." (Amateur psychology alert.) In an environment as tough as boarding schools, it seems natural for the less secure and more sensitive teenager to resort to comedy to survive. The young Izzard went to Sheffield University where he did accountancy and financial management. But before he long he was doing street theatre in Covent Garden and then moved up to doing stand-up comedy. In a recent issue of Ireland's Hot Press magazine, promotor Eddie Bannon says Izzard was "booed off the stage in the early days, but he refused to change his style." I mentioned this to Eddie when I spoke to him: "What was his name? Eddie Bannon... don't know him... Well, no, I wasn't booed off stage. It's funny actually, my early days are getting worse and worse and worse! Everyone's saying: 'yeah he was so awful, gawd-awful.' I was as crap as anyone when you start off, because it's quite difficult to come in and do stand-up. Some people hit it off, but then that doesn't help them in the long run. I died... and I've had one where I've been silenced off the stage, not actually booed off the stage. I suppose it all becomes apocryphal in the end. But actually, we might as well say I was stoned off the stage, and people went on with machine guns and shot at me... " Eddie talks easily, rapidly. This is his forte, on stage as well as off, and he only hesitates when my question is unclear. He is best known for his stand-up, something he wants to do until he "drops dead." But he has also carefully planned his career to go towards serious acting. Hence his reluctance to take his comedy to television. "If I went on telly, I'd have a whole load of comedy baggage that I couldn't get rid of." He has just finished playing Marlowe's Edward II at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre. Edward II was regarded a weakling -- more interested in affairs of the heart than in ruling the country. While he ignores his child-bride Isabella, the object of his passion is Piers Gaveston, a man whom the barons and bishops of his day despised as much for his social inferiority (and being a "foreigner" on top of that) as for his sexual orientation. I asked Eddie what attracted him to the role. "I didn't know of Edward beforehand. I'm vastly underread. You know people who have read all the plays, all Shakespeare, all Marlowe and loads of books, and I haven't done that. [Eddie's dyslexic.] I knew I wanted to get into something that was considered a classic play, because it's not a normal route for a stand-up to do. I knew it would have to stretch me and I'd either be completely crap and everybody would say 'what the hell's he doing and we don't want him to ever do it again,' or I would get better. I'd heard about the king that died on the red hot poker, but that was it. So it was really that angle of being offered the chance to do it, so I wanted it, because I knew it would be a challenge and it would be difficult to do." "I knew that my safety net is to just look for the truth in the part and to keep asking questions if I don't understand it. And as long as I do that, and really push for it, I can't go too far wrong. That was my thought on it. So, I went up quite confident and then I sort of went backwards in confidence thinking, 'Oh God, I have to do this' and I didn't know quite where I was supposed to be driving, in my head, what I was looking for. I went in kind of fuzzy at the beginning of the rehearsal period and gradually started getting more and more clear and I started getting a sense of how I wanted to portray him. He'd been portrayed, seeing that he was gay, in previous incarnations, previous productions as a rather effete, camp kind of king and me and the director [Paul Kerryson] decided to something different to that, in the sense of not, definitely not playing him camp. Just playing him as someone who was in love. Because when you go in love that chemical reaction in your brain makes you make decisions which are objectively quite wrong for the occasion and are being twisted because you happen to be in love with someone, you know, just showering Gaveston with presents and titles and positions and land and gifts and stuff like that, and it's gonna piss everyone off... " Does Eddie think the king was weak? "Yes, it can be termed as weak, but it's because he's in love. And when you go in love, I mean like in France they have "crime passionelle," you know: 'It's not murder because people are in love and therefore there's a chemical release in the brain and everyone's gone loopy.' It's an understandable loopiness, in a way. I think later in the play it shows that he could actually be a stronger king, and that was what we were trying to portray. In the second half after the death of Gaveston he becomes more strong-minded. Um -- but he just didn't want to be king. I think the bottom line was that he didn't want to be king, you know, in political truth... " Didn't the king in fact know exactly what he wanted? "Yeah, he just wants to sit in a small cottage and make hedges and ditches and shag Gaveston, I think." Eddie has played a gay character before (in David Mamet's "The Cryptogram"). Would he do that again, would he be afraid of being typecast, or would the sexual preference of a character be irrelevant? "I don't think it should be really relevant... it's quite interesting with me, because I've come out as being TV [transvestite]... yeah, I could potentially get typecast, but I will watch for that, and also I think I give off a vibe... my natural vibe is not what you what normally call "gay," what people now in the 80s and 90s sort of instinctively say 'oh, this is a gay man.' I seem to... this is me trying to be objective on myself, but being a man who wants to... like women can wear whatever clothes they want, so there are no women transvestites, so I say there's no men transvestites, so I wear whatever I want clothing-wise and that's a slightly different thing to being gay, being TV, and so it's odd. It is a potential problem that I could get into, and I am aware of it, but at the beginning of my career I just want to get any role. If you play gay roles, it has a vibe of being slightly more difficult than just playing a straight simple role, and so I think it sort of works well for me. But I didn't choose him that way, I mean I was also offered Richard III and he was straight. I wasn't going 'ooh, I'll choose the gay one,' it was just, you know, what comes out. But I can see more gay roles sort of moving my way, but also from some of the offers I've been getting, it doesn't seem like it's going to nail me down." "I think I'm in quite an interesting, weird area, where I can choose a route through that won't get me blocked in, cause my whole thing is... coming out, once you've come out as being transvestite you should normally get pigeonholed as being some sort of drag queen kind of person, but I think I have managed to avoid doing that, and so I'm going to keep trying to avoid that." (Next issue: Eddie talks about his acting techniques, his future plans, and more.) ### MY 15 MINUTES OF FAME ===================== by Karen Blicker I confess. I'm a stark raving frantic Chris Barrie fan (sad, sad, sad fan I suppose he'd say). Here's how I went from relative obscurity to fifteen minutes of fame via television. Thanks, Chris. I first noticed Chris on "The Brittas Empire," via public television here in the States, and became an instant admirer. When the show ended its run, I was furious! I immediately dashed off several complaining letters to our local PBS station. Suddenly, I had a brainstorm! Why not draw up petitions and postcards, pleading... no, *demanding*... that the show be reinstated? I went to the Post Office, purchased two dozen postcards, typed "Bring Back Brittas" on the reverse side of each with a line for a signature. Then I pre-addressed them to the harried Program Manager of our PBS affiliate, and had everyone I knew sign one -- even strangers! Same with the petitions. It didn't matter that friends and neighbors weren't "Brittas" aficionados at the time. Next, I wrote a follow-up letter to that same Program Manager, advising him to expect a flurry of mail in support of "Brittas." I vowed that when he purchased more episodes, I'd personally deliver a balloon bouquet and small check to support the station. At least eight months elapsed. Finally, the good news arrived; a postcard letting me know that more "Brittas" episodes were to make a return appearance in April 1995. True to my word, I delivered a bouquet of balloons to the Program Manager's office. Several weeks later, I received a telephone call from the station. Someone wanted to know if he might interview me in my own, small home! They wanted to talk to me about "Brittas," British comedy, and public television. An interesting point is that the Program Manager, his secretary, and the interviewer/producer are all named Chris. That's a laugh, innit? I wondered, "why me?" Later, I discovered it was the balloon bouquet that did it! I asked if perhaps he might want me to come to the studio but he said no... he would bring a camera crew to my home! After calling back the station to make certain it was not a hoax, I counted the days until the interview with both dread and excitement. When the moment arrived, my knees were knocking. I was sure that when the microphone was in place, I'd faint dead away! Strangely, that didn't happen. For the next forty-five minutes, I blabbered on and on, mostly about Chris Barrie's talent. Although "Red Dwarf" is my favorite show and this particular station lost the rights to televise it, I wore my best "Red Dwarf" Series Four T-shirt under a blazer and asked the camera man to highlight Chris's photo on the bookcase, over my shoulder. I spoke about my love of all "Britcoms" in general, because I adore "Chef" with Lenny Henry and "One Foot In The Grave" among others. Mostly, I rambled endlessly about -- ahhh -- Chris and "Brittas." I was also queried about the public broadcasting dilemma; PBS, unlike major networks, depends on outside funding to survive and funds at the State and Federal level have been severely cut. I hoped my words made sense. Several weeks later, on two consecutive Friday nights, portions of my interview were broadcast. Actually, snippets of the taping were interspersed between segments of "Are You Being Served?" marathon where back-to-back episodes of that show were aired along with Mollie Sugden and John Inman interviews. I imagine it would have been preferable to speak about that show. I wished someone had told me my face was shiny, or to stop scrunching up my eyes when I spoke. Or that I would've been allowed to keep my eyeglasses on so I wouldn't have focused on the ceiling! What's an amateur to do? On the first evening, I was televised a total of five times; the second week a total of three. As I assumed, most of my footage dealt with the plight of public television but many "Brittas" plugs managed to make it onto the screen. And Chris the Program Manager announced that thirty-six weeks of "Brittas" were now scheduled. Hooray! Strangely, as of this date, I've yet to see any other "average" viewers taped as I was. So far, no one's asked me for my autograph. Did you think I would stop there? No, I have a letter, drafted to a well-known movie producer, extolling the separate brilliance of Grant/Naylor and Chris Barrie. You see, this producer is a former employer's nephew. When he was a college boy, I typed scripts for him. He has many, huge screen credits to his name. I first contacted him several years ago to make sure it was the same person I'd known decades ago, and it was. I figure that perhaps *he* might get a "Red Dwarf" movie made... not an American version but one with the *original* cast. Or, at least, fill the Grant/Naylor-Chris Barrie coffers! My family is embarrassed by my 'activist' stance. "Oh no!" my daughter recently remarked. "You're *not* sending (the producer) a Chris Barrie letter, are you?" Because of that reply, the letter sits on my desk, unmailed at the moment, waiting for my courage to return. ### IT'S THAT MAN AGAIN =================== by Jeremy Rogers In 1949 one comedian attracted tens of thousands of onlookers to his funeral procession, and six thousand to his memorial service in St Paul's Cathedral, where the Bishop of London paid this tribute: 'From the highest to the lowest in the land people found in his programme an escape from their troubles and anxieties into a world of whimsical nonsense.' The Director General of the BBC personally announced his death on the radio. That Man was Tommy Handley. Tommy Handley, one of those in the long line of Liverpudlian comedians started his career in music hall and revue, but soon found his fast patter style was far more suited to the expanding medium of radio, where he made his first broadcast in 1925. After many almost completely forgotten vehicles such as 'Handley's Half Hour,' he was to create, with producer Frank Worsley and script-writer Ted Kavanagh, one of the longest running and most popular British radio comedies ever: 'It's That Man Again,' shortened early in its life to ITMA. The phase 'It's That Man Again' had been used by the Daily Express newspaper whenever Hitler made any threats or demands. Like many comedies, the start of the series was shaky. The four pilot shows in the summer of 1939, set on a broadcasting ship where Handley could supposedly say anything he liked, did not catch the public's imagination. By the start of the series proper on 19 September 1939 the country was at war, with the BBC Variety Department evacuated to Bristol. It was decided to deliberately make light of the whole situation, and to parallel the many mysterious government organisations which seemed to be mushrooming. Handley became the Minister of Aggravation and Mysteries at the Office of Twerps. The basis of the formula that would last to the end was soon established -- Handley would try to put into operation his plan-of-the-week, but would be constantly interrupted by the phone or a knock on the door. In that first series the supporting roles were played by a young Maurice Denham as his charlady Mrs Tickle (who 'always did the best for her gentlemen'), a Russian inventor called Vodkin and the announcer for 'Radio Fakenburg,' and Jack Train who played both Fusspot, a straight-laced civil servant, and the German spy, Funf. Unfortunately no recording of this series is known still to exist, although there is a disc taken from the stage show with the same characters. When ITMA returned in 1941 it was recognised that the war situation would no longer allow ministries to be the target for fun. The BBC Variety Department had been evacuated once more, this time to the Welsh town of Bangor. Holidays were officially discouraged, so ITMA deliberately tried to recreate the pre-war seaside atmosphere, as Handley became His Washup the Mayor of the resort of Foaming-at-the-Mouth. Maurice Denham by now had been called up, and Handley's new charlady Mrs Mopp was played by Dorothy Summers with the catch-phrase 'Can I do you now sir?' Other characters included Ali-Oop, a postcard seller; Senior So-So; Sam Scram (an American with a liking for long words); and Colonel Chinstrap, who would always accept a drink with the phrase 'Don't mind if I do.' Handley remained in Foaming-at-the-Mouth for the rest of the war. Several episodes were specially produced, including one at Buckingham Palace for the (then) Princess Elizabeth's 16th birthday, being the first Royal Command radio show. After the war the show's location was changed to make Handley the Governor of a little known island in the Empire, Tomtopia; and later had him return to the UK to become the Government's advisor for industry and science (!). The last series showed him out of luck, living in a home for down-and-outs. Many people that were to become well known spent time in the show, including Molly Weir, Deryck Guyler, and Hattie Jaques. This series came to an end when Tommy Handley died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 9 January 1949 at the age of 53. How does ITMA sound today? Unfortunately surviving recordings don't do it much justice; of the 310 episodes made only about 30 are available today, and some of these were been preserved more for the occasion of the broadcast than for any particular merit of that show. The style is notably old-fashioned, including musical interludes increasing written especially for the storyline of the week. The humour is also fairly tame, although this is maybe not surprising considering the wartime scripts were vetted by the security services, and no subsequent changes were allowed. Tommy Handley, who was a funny man off-stage as well as on, must have found this a great restriction. A critic described ITMA as 'a welter of bad puns' which Tommy took as a compliment. It also included a lot of nonsense language and situations, foreshadowing in some ways The Good Show, and the extensive use of catch phases was exploited by "'Allo 'Allo", which in some ways even echoes the basic concept, with Rene wanting to get on with his own life but constantly having to deal with other people. In the end the merit of the programme has to be measured in its own time. It was regularly the most popular show. The catch-phrases entered everyday language, some of them still heard even today. Tommy Handley received up to 1000 fan letters per week, all of which he replied to personally by hand. One other letter he always wrote was to his mother every Thursday, containing money. As the end of the signature tune went: Mother's Pride and Joy, Mrs Handley's boy So it's useless to complain, When trouble's brewing, It's his doing, That Man, That Man Again. ### Jeremy Rogers is clearly a product of the 60s, as the first comedy he remembers seeing on TV is Captain Fantastic in "Do Not Adjust Your Set." He maintains an interest in the more forgotten shows and comedians, such as Tommy Handley and Arthur Haynes. He currently lives in Didcot, Oxfordshire, in one of the three houses lacking a view of the local power station. ----------------------------------------------------------- THE FALL AND RISE OF REGINALD PERRIN by Ricky Fluke ----------------------------------------------------------- "Reggie Perrin is a sweaty, charming, paunchy, sad, hilarious man. He inhabits an intriguing, mundane world. A world in which everyone jogs along quite nicely, and then, suddenly out of the blue, nothing happens. But in a most exciting way. A world where the ordinary suddenly occurs when you least expect it. Our world. But, unlike most of us, Reggie sets out to change it. His failure to do so is completely successful....I laughed two hundred and eighty seven times and cried twice." --Ronnie Barker It's hard to think of anyone who dealt with mid-life crisis -- or "male menopause" -- more creatively than Reginald Iolanthe Perrin. Maybe Don Quixote, but then he didn't make a million pounds selling rubbish. Michaelangelo made no effort to teach the Medicis to live in peace and harmony. Tolstoy did give up all his royalties and start a religious commune, but he neglected to get his secretary in bed and then send her slithering down a drainpipe. And Gauguin? Hah. Didn't even turn up at his own memorial service. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Series One: 7 episodes, based on "The Death of Reginald Perrin." ---------------------------------------------------------------- Reggie Perrin, 46, senior sales executive at Sunshine Desserts. Married, two children, both grown and moved away. He's stuck in a rut, as he explains to his cat Ponsonby. "Every day I get up, dress, go downstairs, have breakfast, walk down Coleridge Close, turn right into Tennyson Avenue, then left into Wordsworth Drive, go down the snicket into Station Road, catch the train, arrive at Waterloo twenty- two minutes late, walk to Sunshine Desserts, dictate letters, send memos, make decisions, hold conferences, make decisions, send memos, dictate letters, leave Sunshine Desserts, walk to Waterloo, catch the train, arrive at Climthorpe twenty-two minutes late, walk along Station Road, up the snicket, up Wordsworth Drive, turn right into Tennyson Avenue, then left into Coleridge Close, enter the house I left that morning, have supper, go up the stairs I came down that morning, put on the pyjamas I took off that morning, clean the teeth I cleaned that morning, and get into the bed I left that morning. Is that success, Ponsonby?" Ponsonby miaowed, reserving judgment. Reggie's world contains an endearing and infuriating assortment of family and colleagues. ELIZABETH, his wife. Middle-aged, still attractive, loyal to Reggie. Every workday morning she intitiates the first of Reggie's many daily rituals. ELIZABETH: Briefcase. REGGIE: Thank you, darling. ELIZABETH: Umbrella. REGGIE: Thank you, darling. ELIZABETH: Have a nice day at the office. REGGIE: I won't. PETER, a fellow commuter. Chronic postnasal drip. PETER: You wouldn't have any tissues would you, Reggie? REGGIE: Sorry, no, but I'm finished with my Luton On The Move color supplement. JOAN, Reggie's secretary. Seconds before Reggie arrives in his office, she hears his footsteps, removes her glasses, smoothes her skirt and smiles with secretly lustful anticipation. Reggie enters, tosses his umbrella toward the hatstand and misses. REGGIE: Morning, Joan. Twenty-two minutes late. A badger ate a junction box at New Malden. Take a letter please, Joan. JOAN: Certainly, Mr. Perrin. (She sits in front of him, crossing her legs. Reggie notices.) REGGIE: To the Saucy Calendar Company, Buff Road, Orpington. Dear Sirs, Could you please quote me for a hundred and fifty saucy calendars to keep our male staff in a constant state of . . . TONY and DAVID, Sunshine salesmen. Young and enthusiastic. Verbally challenged. REGGIE: Ah, come in, Tony, David. About this new Exotic Ices project. TONY: Great. DAVID: Super. REGGIE: I expect both of you will have key parts to play. TONY: Great. DAVID: Super. REGGIE: We'll meet with C.J. this afternoon. TONY: Great. DAVID: Super. C.J., Reggie's boss. Tyrannical. Manipulative. Bald. Always prompt for their meetings, Reggie knocks on C.J.'s door. C.J.: One, two, three, four Make 'em stand outside the door. Five, six, seven, eight Always pays to make 'em wait. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve COME! DOC MORRISSEY, the Sunshine house physician. DOC: Take your clothes off. Put them over there, on top of mine. REGGIE: What? DOC: It's a little joke. Puts the patient at his ease. (Years later.....) REGGIE: Well, how are things with you, Doc? DOC: I got dismissed from the British Medical Association. REGGIE: Oh dear. What was it for? DOC: Gross professional incompetence. REGGIE: Oh dear oh dear. Are you depressed? DOC: No. No. Southall's a million laughs. And I find a certain consolation, Reggie, in the knowledge that by being the worst doctor in England I have saved somebody else from that ignominy. No man's life is entirely pointless. JIMMY, Elizabeth's brother. Retired army major. His military habits and speech patterns don't die - they don't even fade away. JIMMY: Know the first thing I did when my wife left me? Pressed my trousers. Adage of old Colonel Warboys. Nothing looks quite as black when your creases are sharp. Mustard for creases, old Warboys. Hated the Free Poles. No creases. Sorry. Talking too much. Hogging limelight. Nerves. LINDA, Reggie & Elizabeth's daughter. A voluptuous young married woman with two children. Inherited her mother's perspicacity. A far more interesting character in the books than in the TV series; in fact, it's hard to recall anything she said, except "Stop calling me Squelchypoos," directed at.... TOM, Linda's husband. Bearded, pipe-smoking estate agent. Makes his own homemade wines, from blackberries, prunes, sprouts, turnips. Completely revolting. So are the wines. TOM: I'm not a ___________ person. (Fill in the blank with: Sport Joke Mystery Charity Mid-week lunch, etc. etc.) These people inhabit the comfortable world that Reggie wants so desperately to escape. Once Reggie decides to burn his bridges behind, before, and underneath him, the rest is simple. He tries and fails to sleep with Joan; gives a drunken, rambling speech at an industry conference; says good-bye to Elizabeth; steals a company lorry; leaves a note under his boss's door reading "Blood will flow;" pumps raspberry syrup into a river upstream from C.J.'s fishing party; fakes his own suicide; and attends his own memorial service. Despite this elaborate escape, Reggie can't stay away from his old life. He returns disguised as Martin Wellbourne, a fictitious, bearded friend of Reggie's from South America. "Martin" marries Elizabeth and briefly takes a job at Sunshine Desserts as Director of the Reginald Perrin Memorial Foundation, until he's sacked by C.J. as an impostor. Dropping the Martin disguise and taking up a new one - this time out of shame rather than espionage - he goes to work at Pelham's Piggery, "in a mucking-out capacity." Meanwhile, Elizabeth joins the workforce - at Sunshine Desserts, of all places, unbeknownst to Reggie. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Series Two: 7 episodes, based on "The Return of Reginald Perrin." ----------------------------------------------------------------- Reggie now seems worse off than he was before, much worse, until he has the idea that will sweep the country. Since people persist in buying rubbish, he reasons, why not open a shop that sells nothing but rubbish? No deception necessary: announce publicly - on the shop windows and in advertisements - that everything in the shop is totally useless. Charge exorbitant prices - the more awful the item, the higher the price. Call the shop "Grot." He starts small, selling Tom's homemade wines, his dentist's nauseous paintings, Elizabeth's tasteless puddings, square hoops, and a complicated board game without rules or instructions. Soon, to Reggie's amazement, Grot is a hit. Customers besiege the shop, paying premium prices for worthless gifts for unloved loved ones. Reggie opens Grot shops all over Britain, then in Europe. He builds factories to manufacture custom-designed rubbish. He buys an office complex to house Grot headquarters and his own office - with two phones. His ultimate triumph comes with the bankruptcy of Sunshine Desserts: he graciously gives C.J. a job. Reggie has come full circle, only to find that it's really a square hoop. Again he's sickened by the rat race. Again he wants to escape, but not, this time, by faking a suicide. He begins to plot the destruction of the Grot empire, by sabotage from the top. First he hires Seamus Finnegan, whom Reggie first saw outside a pub, "with a pink face weaving gently along the pavement." REGGIE: Have you ever worked in management? SEAMUS: No, sir. My genius for management remains a secret between me and my Maker. REGGIE: Do you have any experience of administration? SEAMUS: No, sir, that's one fellow I've never met. REGGIE: I would like you to be my Admin Officer. SEAMUS: Would you be having a bit of fun, sir, with a simple Irishman from the land of the bogs and the little people? REGGIE: I'm offering you the job. SEAMUS: Jesus Christ! I'd better bloody take it, then, before you change your mind. Other appointments: Doc Morrissey as Head of Forward Planning, Tom as Head of Publicity, and Jimmy as Head of Creative Thinking, each of whom demonstrates surprising genius at his position. Grot's profits soar to new heights. Reggie is forced to use even more desperate measures to destroy his creation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Series Three: 7 episodes, based on "The Better World of Reginald Perrin." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- One October morning in room 2 at the George Hotel in Netherton St. Ambrose, Dorset, Arthur Isambard Gossamer awakes beside his wife Jennifer. They used to be known as Mr. and Mrs. Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, until Reggie grew weary of success. So he faked another suicide, ditching his clothes and his old identity on the Dorset coast, this time accompanied by his wife and 40 admiring Reggie wannabes. When caught in the middle of an ugly argument at a post office, Arthur/ Reggie has another brainstorm. "I intend to set up a community," he tells Jennifer/Elizabeth, "where middle-aged, middle-class people like us can learn to live in love and faith and trust." "I think that's a marvelous idea," says Elizabeth. And so "Perrin's" is born, in Oslo Avenue, Botchley. Like Grot, it starts slowly, then catches fire with the public. As with Grot, Reggie hires his old cronies to help run the place: Doc as the Resident Psychologist ("Isn't there anything else I could do?"), Tom ("I'm not a sport person") in charge of Sports, Joan responsible for Music ("But you're tone deaf!" says Tony), and David Harris-Jones as director of Sex. There is one new quasi-crony, a snarling Scottish chef named Kenny McBlane. REGGIE: McBlane, the duchesse potatoes yesterday were superb. (McBlane swivels round slowly from the stove, and looks Reggie straight in the face. REGGIE: But - I wouldn't want you to think that my praise of the potatoes implied any criticism of the choucroute a la hongroise. MCBLANE: Flecking ma bloots wi' hae flaggis. REGGIE: Sorry. Not...er...not quite with you. MCBLANE: Ee goon awfa' muckle frae gang doon ee puir wee scrogglers ye thwink. REGGIE: Ah. Jolly good. Carry on. A few months later, at the peak of its popularity, Perrin's is torn apart by forces within and without. This time, Reggie disbands his enterprise quickly and openly, bidding farewell to his colleagues. He and Elizabeth sell the properties and buy a three-bedroom semi- detached villa in Goffley. He takes a job with Amalgamated Aerosols, in the Air Freshener and Deodorant division. He walks down Leibnitz Drive, turns right into Bertrand Russell Rise, then left into Schopenhauer Grove. His train arrives at Victoria Station twenty-three minutes late. He arrives at his new office in Aerosol House and meets his new boss. His name is C.J. Reggie returns to his new office and says calmly to his new secretary: "Find out the times of trains to the Dorset coast, would you?" __________________________________________________________ "The line 'I didn't get where I am today by wearing underpants with pictures of Ludwig Van Beethoven on them' made me laugh for a fortnight. --Stephen Fry _________________________________________________________ The Reggie Books: An FAQuette ---------------------------- 1. What on earth are these Reggie books, old fellow? There are three, all by David Nobbs, who also wrote the teleplays. The Death of Reginald Perrin (1975; republished as The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin) The Return of Reginald Perrin (1977) The Better World of Reginald Perrin (1978) The first TV series of seven episodes was produced soon after the first novel. Then, the next two series premiered in concert with the publications of their respective novels. 2. How similar are the books to the TV show? Very. After all, the novels and scripts were written by the same person at almost the same time. The dialogue, sometimes, is word-for-word. 3. Are there any big differences? Yes. The biggest I've come across so far (at this writing, I've read "The Return" and "The Better World," and am still waiting for "The Death" to arrive from interlibrary loan) happens on page 90 of "The Return," when - brace yourselves - Jimmy has sex with Linda, his niece, on the 11th green of a golf course in Cornwall. There are strong implications that Linda strongly prefers Jimmy to Tom when it comes to shagging, that they've done it many times before, and that they don't intend to stop any time soon! Also, toward the end of "The Return," following the success of Grot, Reggie stands for Parliament on the Individual Party ticket. His candidacy ends, however, in true Reggie fashion when, at his first public appearance in his constituency district, "to mounting uproar in the hall, mixed with giggling and laughter, and to mounting indecision on the platform, Reggie took off his trousers and underpants. 'Are there any questions?' he said." [p. 268] Somewhat smaller differences include: -Jimmy attempts suicide after Clive "Lofty" Anstruther absconds with the materiel for their secret army. -Jimmy marries a woman named Lettice. -Mr. Pelham, of Pelham's Piggery, shows up as a client at Perrin's. -Mark gets kidnapped in Africa while appearing in "The Reluctant Debutante" before an audience of Angolan mercenaries; after his release, he goes to Stockholm to make pornographic films. -Reggie, eccentric even by British standards, is suspected by his neighbors of being the Fiend of Climthorpe, a flasher, rapist and, finally, murderer. This suspicion is the reason he gets the sack from Pelham's Piggery. -C.J. has two brothers: F.J., who appeared in the series, and Tiny, proprietor of an inn called the Dissipated Kipper somewhere in the hills of Surrey. -Elizabeth's mother - seen on TV only as the hippopotamus of Reggie's imagination - lived in Worthing. She died in the third book. Also found in the books but not the shows are some of the characters' full names: Jimmy = James Gordonstoun Anderson Tom = Tom Patterson C.J. = Charles Jefferson (the latter being his surname) 4. The TV series was almost all comic, with the "tender moments" few and far between. What about the books? There's a scene toward the end of "The Return" that might tug a few heartstrings. Reggie has grown excruciatingly weary of his success with Grot, and of his failure to rid himself of it through his usual absurd techniques. He addresses his lamentations to his favorite confidante. "Well, Ponsonby," he said, stroking the gently purring cat. "What do I do next? How do I destroy this empire I don't want?" Ponsonby put forward no theories. "Exactly. You don't know. Nor do I. The invitations are pouring in, Ponsonby. Everybody wants me to talk to them, waiting for me to be unpredictable. And when I am they'll say: 'There he goes. He's being unpredictable. I thought he would. Oh, good, he's saying something completely unexpected. I expected he would.'" Ponsonby purred faintly. "Nothing I do can shock anyone any more, Ponsonby. What a fate. "So what of the future, Ponsonby? Am I to go on from success to success? Grot will sweep the Continent. I'll get the OBE. We'll win the Queen's award for industry. I'll get into Parliament. I'll be asked to appear on 'Any Questions.' Local streets will be renamed Reginald Road and Perrin Parade." Ponsonby gave a miaow so faint it was impossible to tell whether the prospect delighted or appalled him. "A new stand will be built at the Woggle Road end of the football ground. It'll be named the Perrin stand. The walls of the Reginald Perrin Leisure Centre will be disfigured with the simple message: 'Perrin Shed.' I'll be made Poet Laureate. On the birth of Prince Charles's first son I shall write: The bells ring out with pride and joy Our prince has given us a boy. "I shall become richer and richer, lonelier and lonelier, madder and madder. I shall believe that everybody is after my money. I shall refuse to walk on the floor, for fear of contamination. And, unlike Howard Hughes, who seemed strangely trusting in this respect, I shan't be prepared to walk on lavatory paper, because that will be equally contaminated. I shall die, tense, emaciated, rich, alone. There will be a furore over my will. What do you think of all that as a prospect, Ponsonby?" Ponsonby thought nothing of all that, because Ponsonby was dead. He had died an old cat's death, gently upon a sea of words. Reggie cried. _________________________________________________________ THE FALL AND RISE OF REGINALD PERRIN CAST OF CHARACTERS Reginald Iolanthe Perrin.................Leonard Rossiter Elizabeth, his wife.........................Pauline Yates Mark Perrin, their son......................David Warwick Linda, their daughter..................Sally-Jane Spencer Tom, Linda's husband...........................Tim Preece Jimmy, Elizabeth's brother................Geoffrey Palmer C.J., Reggie's boss at Sunshine Desserts......John Barron Joan Greengross, Reggie's secretary..........Sue Nicholls Tony Webster, a Sunshine salesman............Trevor Adams David Harris-Jones, a Sunshine salesman.......Bruce Bould Doc Morrissey, the company physician.........John Horsley Seamus Finnegan...............................Derry Power Produced by Gareth Gwenlan _________________________________________________________ DAVID NOBBS: WRITING CREDITS Television ---------- 1963 That Was the Week That Was 1976 Our Young Mr Wignall 1976-78 The Frost Report The Two Ronnies 197678 The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin 1980 & 82 The Glamour Girls 1981 Sez Les Cupid's Darts 1984 The Hello Goodbye Man 1984 & 86 Fairly Secret Army 1988 Dogfood Dan and The Carmarthen Cowboy 1989-90 A Bit of a Do 1991 Rich Tea and Sympathy 1992 The Life and Times of Henry Pratt Publications ------------ 1965 The Itinerant Lodger 1968 Ostrich Country 1969 A Piece of the Sky is Missing 1975 The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin 1977 The Return of Reginald Perrin 1978 The Better World of Reginald Perrin 1983 Second From Last in the Sack Race 1986 A Bit of a Do 1988 Pratt of the Argus 1990 Fair Do's _________________________________________________________ LEONARD ROSSITER (1926-1984) "If it is true that success in comedy is a prize that many well-known actors secretly hanker after, then Leonard Rossiter must have achieved considerable satisfaction during the last ten years of his life. His stage appearances in London spanned 25 years, by no means all comic. Though his premature death came as a great shock to his admirers, it was fitting that he should die in his dressing-room during a performance of Joe Orton's Loot, in which he played the part of Inspector Truscott. "Highly intelligent and lively, the young Leonard Rossiter had wanted to go to university, but his plans were thwarted by the death of his father in the Second World War. The family were working-class and so Leonard went into the insurance business as a clerk. He was not to make his first stage appearance until he was 27. "Leonard Rossiter was an extroverted, modest and likable man, whose interests away from his profession were mainly sporting. British audiences will be highly grateful to a man who gave so much enjoyment to so many, and whose genial face could so skillfully move from the leering grin to an expression of stunned incomprehension." --Adapted from The Annual Obituary 1984, Margot Levy, ed. Movies ------ 1962 A Kind of Loving 1963 This Sporting Life 1963 Billy Liar 1964 A Jolly Bad Fellow 1965 King Rat 1966 Hotel Paradiso 1966 The Witches 1966 The Wrong Box 1967 Deadlier Than the Male 1967 The Devil's Own 1967 The Whisperers 1968 Otley 1968 Deadfall 1968 Diamonds for Breakfast 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Oliver! 1973 Butley 1974 Luther 1975 Barry Lyndon 1976 Voyage of the Damned 1976 The Pink Panther Strikes Again 1980 Rising Damp 1982 Britannia Hospital Theatre ------- 1954 Gay Dog 1958 & 59-61 Free as Air 1962 Red Roses for Me 1963 & 79 Semi-Detached 1967 Volpone 1968 The Strange Case of Martin Richter 1968 & 69 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui 1970 The Heretic 1971 Richard III 1972 The Caretaker 1973 The Banana Box 1974 Brain in the Looneys 1976 The Purging 1976 The Singers 1976 Tartuffe 1977 The Immortal Haydon 1980 Make and Break 1982 Rules of the Game 1984 Loot Television ---------- ? Z Cars 1974-79 Rising Damp 1976-78 The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin ? The Loser ? King John Publications ------------ 1980 The Devil's Bedside Book 1981 The Lowest Form of Wit _________________________________________________________ ---------- References ---------- Info.mcc.ac.uk, Manchester University & UMIST Info. Server Joeisham@attctc.Dallas.TX.US LOCIS, the Library of Congress Information System OLIS, the Oxford University Library System The Reggie Novels by David Nobbs Understanding Human Behavior in Health and Illness (1977), R.C. Simons & H. Pardes, Eds. Who's Who 1994 Www.cm.cf.ac.uk, The Internet Movie Database (Cardiff) Www.tardis.ed.ac.uk, the Tardis TV Database (Edinburgh) With special thanks to: Liz & Max Lebowitz, one of whom is a Lover of Grot, Stephen Fry, and the strangely named Melinda Casino. _________________________________________________________ FAWLTY TOWERS 20 YEARS ON... ---------------------------- After the third series of "Monty Python," John Cleese decided that he'd had enough. On a transatlantic flight to Canada he told his partners that he wanted out. "I was feeling very constricted and I wanted to get away," he has been quoted as saying. "They all felt I was being disloyal when I quit." Yet he did what he thought best and while the others went to work on a fourth series of Python, Cleese and his then-wife Connie Booth began writing a sitcom set in a hotel. It was to be called "Fawlty Towers" and it is generally considered among the very best of the classic British sitcoms. In some people's eyes it's the funniest show ever made. And the first episode was broadcast 20 years ago this month. In the series, Cleese plays Basil Fawlty, who runs a hotel in the seaside resort of Torquay. Helping him out is his wife Sibyl (who is as calm as Basil is harried); a waitress named Polly (played by co-author Booth); and a Spanish waiter named Manuel (played by Andrew Sachs), whose basic purpose is to serve as a punching bag/tension reliever for the often stressed-out Basil. The premise was simple and the execution brilliant. Despite his hostility and general unpleasantness Cleese turned Basil into a somewhat lovable figure (or at least a figure you loved to hate) and the often farcical situations were played to the hilt by the wonderful actors. Who can forget a delirious Cleese haranguing a group of German tourists about the war and then launching into something vaguely similar to his infamous silly walk? Or Cleese getting a laugh just by saying "He's from Barcelona." It was Cleese doing what he does best ably abetted by a fabulous supporting cast and a first class script. So BD recommends celebrating this occasion by popping in a video and checking into "Fawlty Towers" for an anniversary visit. What else do we recommend? Funny you should ask, because here's this month's reviews... BD RECOMMENDS ============= Capsule reviews on radio programs, television, and stage. THUMB UP Feature Review: "Room 101" 10 PM Fridays BBC 2 The format of this show is clever: part chat-show, part game-show, celebrities are invited to air their most hated people, places and things. Host Nick Hancock rules on whether to enter the detestable items (be they Shakespeare, pipe-smokers, or large-women's undergarments) into the dreaded "Room 101." Room 101 itself is nothing more than a conveyor belt and a cardboard door that opens up, but it's a very effective gimmick. The result is you have Carolyn Quentin leaping off stage in fright when she thinks Nick is going to show her a live rodent (her worst fear; she had to be calmed down by Nick ["Carolyn, I'm your friend..."]); and Frank Skinner convincingly trashing Shakespeare and telling jokes in medieval jester's garb. The show always ends with a (unintentionally funny) vintage TV clip; a recent program showed a young Jeremy Irons singing to chintzy music in a yellow turtle-neck and flared brown trousers. What really makes the show work is Nick Hancock. He was trained as a teacher but shifted to stand-up comedy, and it shows: he's very funny, original, and works well with his guests. He's also host of a new sports quiz show called "They Think It's All Over" (Thursdays, BBC1, 10:25 PM). Much success to him. THUMB UP "As Time Goes By" 7:30 PM Wednesdays BBC1 Written by Bob Larbey. Tune in each week to see if two old farts will have it off. Starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, this show is terribly schmaltzy and terribly good. (Repeat of second series.) THUMB UP "Agony Again" 8:30PM Thursday BBC1 Written by Carl Gorham, Michael Hatt, Amanda Swift. This series brings back Maureen Lipman as "Jane Lucas," the Agony Aunt who solves other people's problems while incompetently dealing with her own. This program managed to make me laugh out loud despite its tired old formula. And its sensitive and brave handling of the controversial issues of inter-racial romance and teenage homosexuality were much appreciated by this viewer. THUMB DOWN "The Frank Skinner Show" 10:15 PM Sundays BBC1 It's clear that Frank Skinner can be funny, as he demonstrates occasionally on this show; it's also clear that this format isn't for him and he needs to find another. THUMB DOWN "One For the Road" 8 PM Mondays Channel 4 Starring Alan Davies as "Simon Treat," a traveling timeshare salesman. It's a shame, but this just isn't funny, clever, or entertaining in any way. One for the crapper. THUMB SIDEWAYS "Keeping Up Appearances" 8:30PM Sundays BBC1 Written by Roy Clarke Not to do a disservice to the other actors on this program, but Patricia Routledge *makes* this worth watching. (Incredibly, Routledge is 65 years old!) The plots are predictable, but the execution makes up for it. THUMB SIDEWAYS "Smith and Jones" 9:30 PM Wednesday BBC1 Half the fun of this show, unfortunately, is watching the computer-generated opening sequences. The other half is the computer-generated closing credits. The two episodes I've seen just haven't been that funny, although they have contained amusing sketches and a variety of creative ideas. Hopefully, this series will lift off the ground as it goes on... SPOTTED ON THE INTERNET ======================= Thanks to "Nightgown Wearin' Michael" of Buffalo, New York, for this inspired signature: ****************************************************************************** Wouldn't it be great if Mr. Bean answered the phones at PBS? ****************************************************************************** QUOTE-O'-THE-MONTH: =================== With thanks to Ralph G. Johnson . "We're British. Bad food is a way of life." CHARACTER: Diana Trent SHOW: "Waiting for God" (first episode) ### ANNOUNCING THE "YES, MINISTER" CONTEST WINNERS! ----------------------------------------------- Britcomedy Digest received 11 responses to the "Yes, Minister" Videotape Giveaway Contest. 10 entries were correct and thus entered in the drawing. And the winners are... 1st Prize: Conway Billington of Halifax, U.K. 2nd Prize: Paul Hinks of San Francisco, California. Mr. Billington won a "Yes, Minister" videotape in PAL format; Mr. Hinks won a "Celebrity Crosswords Puzzle" (and pen!) featuring Robbie Coltrane. Congratulations to them both, and thank you to everyone who entered. __________________________________________________________________________ etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc __________________________________________________________________________ GOODIES-L is a discussion mailing list for fans of the men who sang that classic pub song, "Jolly Rock." Join the fun by sending a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM with "subscribe GOODIES-L firstname_lastname" in the body. (Example: subscribe GOODIES-L Bill Oddie) For more info. see: http://www.cathouse.org/BritishComedy/Goodies/FanClub/Info/GOODIES-L.html or send an inquiry email note to . __________________________________________________________________________ Announcing the TONY HANCOCK homepage, maintained by Howard Mansfield , at: http://www.achilles.net:80/~howardm/tony.html __________________________________________________________________________ Interested in Tom Lehrer, Flanders & Swann, Peter Sellers? Then stop by IAN'S HUMOUR PAGES at: http://bridge.anglia.ac.uk/~systimk/humour/ Ian welcomes contributions and feedback: . __________________________________________________________________________ Brian Clay has recently expanded his BRITTAS EMPIRE pages! Now you can "share the dream" by visiting "The Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre" at: http://www.dungeon.com/~clay/gordon4.html __________________________________________________________________________ Read issue 1 of "MONTY PYTHON'S DAILY LLAMA" for the latest scoop on the members of Monty Python: http://www.futron.com/hans/llama/llama.html Editor: Hans ten Cate, . __________________________________________________________________________ I am on a quest to find a group of the foulest, most hideous individuals known to mankind. Yes, I'm looking for comedy writers! Next year I will be producing a sketch-based programme written by young people, for young people. This is your chance to join a professional comedy writing team, learn radio production skills and hear your work broadcast across the nation! If (like a custom-made Versace beak warmer) you fit the bill, then send examples of your work to: Tim McSmythurs, BBC Radio South, Broadcasting House, Prospect Place, Swindon, SN1 3RW. __________________________________________________________________________ ~ SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FOR SUBSCRIBERS ~ _____________________ THE FAWLTY TOWERS FAQ _____________________ ver. 1.0 Antti J Tuominen, , . Student of Computer Science, Vaasa University, Finland. Release 1 -- 19th September 1995. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ is a listing of frequently asked questions with answers about the British TV sitcom show "Fawlty Towers," which aired in the mid- and late 70s. If you have questions about Fawlty Towers which you think should be on this FAQ, please mail me. Also any additional information or corrections are most welcome. Please, report any typos, too. I will post all updates to alt.comedy.british and rec.arts.tv.uk.comedy and also make them available on my WWW home page (when ready) along with an HTML version. All questions or comments concerning this FAQ should be directed to me, Antti.Tuominen@uwasa.fi. You may or may not have noticed that the release date of this very first Fawlty Towers FAQ is indeed the 20th anniversary of the first Fawlty Towers TV show ever! Now, on with the FAQ. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDEX The shows Q1. I'm totally new to this Fawlty Towers. What's it all about? Q2. Who played who on Fawlty Towers? Q3. How many shows were there and when were they aired? Q4. Can anyone tell me the name of Fawlty Towers' theme? Scripts, videos, etc. Q5. Where can I get the scripts for the Fawlty Towers shows via internet? Q6. Are there some kind of script books or something? Q7. Can I get the Fawlty Towers shows on video tape? Q8. Is there any other material other besides books and videos? Q9. Is there a newsgroup for Fawlty Towers? Q10. Where can I find Fawlty Towers material in the net? Q11. I know something that you don't about Fawlty Towers. What do I do? Contributions -------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE SHOWS Question 1. I'm totally new to this Fawlty Towers. What's it all about? Fawlty Towers is one of the funniest TV series ever. This British TV comedy show, originally aired in the 70's (see Q3), rivals even Monty Python's Flying Circus. After leaving the Pythons John Cleese wanted to work with his wife Connie Booth and they came up with the idea of Fawlty Towers. I've quoted the synopsis for the series from 'Life Before and After Monty Python: The Solo Flights of the Flying Circus' by Kim "Howard" Johnson: "Basil Fawlty is the harried husband and irascible innkeeper who would undoubtedly be running a first-class hotel if he didn't have to deal with guests. His other obstacle to happiness and contentment is his wife and worthy opponent, Sibyl, who can hold her own against his rages and fits. Polly, their maid, is the quiet voice of reason in the eye of the storm, yet she manages to be drawn into Basil's schemes more often than she would like. Their Spanish bellboy/waiter, Manuel, is still the most consistent, constant irritant to Basil, however; his slavish devotion to his employer and his less-than-perfect English combined with a sub-standard intelligence are guaranteed to incur Basil's wrath. The cast is rounded out with several resident guests, including the scatter-brained major, and Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby, with an assortment of guests coming and going each show." (Copyright (c) 1993 by Kim "Howard" Johnson) [I hope that using this quote from the book falls in the category of "brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews". Would someone care to make a new synopsis just for this FAQ?] John Cleese claims to have spent 6 weeks on each show so every show is really guaranteed to be packed with humour. After the first 6 shows, however, Cleese and Booth got divorced (though they remained on friendly terms) but the series lived on regardless. If you have never seen any FT shows I strongly urge you to go to the nearest rental store and rent some. Question 2. Who played who on Fawlty Towers? Because there already is a very good listing of actors and actresses available at http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Fun/FawltyTowers.html I thought it necessary to only list the FT regulars: Basil Fawlty John Cleese Sibyl Fawlty Prunella Scales Manuel Andrew Sachs Polly Connie Booth Major Gowen Ballard Berkeley (died 19th Jan. 1988 aged 83) Miss Tibbs Gilly Flower Miss Gatsby Renee Roberts Terry Brian Hall (the second series) Question 3. How many shows were there and when were they aired? In all there were 12 shows. The shows were shown in two series. First series aired in mid-seventies included the following shows: A Touch of Class 19th Sept. 1975 The Builders 26th Sept. 1975 The Wedding Party 3rd Oct. 1975 The Hotel Inspectors 10th Oct. 1975 Gourmet Night 17th Oct. 1975 The Germans 24th Oct. 1975 After 4 years followed the second series which included the shows: Communications Problems 19th Feb. 1979 The Psychiatrist 26th Feb. 1979 Waldorf Salad 5th Mar. 1979 The Kipper and the Corpse 12th Mar. 1979 The Anniversary 26th Mar. 1979 Basil the Rat 25th Oct. 1979 For full episode guide with short descriptions of each show take a look at http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~dave/guides/FawltyTowers/. Also there has been discussion about some unaired episodes but I have no confirmed knowledge of it. It has been suggested that they (or it) were "pilots" or "trailers". Perhaps a British reader would be kind enough to check on this with the BBC Viewer Service and share it with the rest of us (as a Finn I can't do much about it as they only serve British customers). Question 4. Can anyone tell me the name of Fawlty Towers' theme? Is it an old piece of music, or was it written for the show? The Internet Movie Archive says that music for the Fawlty Towers was composed by Dennis Wilson. So I guess it was written for the show. I have no idea what the theme is called (sorry). SCRIPTS, VIDEOS, ETC. Question 5. Where can I get the scripts for the Fawlty Towers shows via internet? The complete script for "A Touch of Class" is available at cathouse.org. Also a collection of random quotes from the series is available at Cathouse. I have no knowledge of others being available via Internet. Better way to get your hands on the scripts would probably be to try to get the script books. See Q6 for information about the script books. Question 6. Are there some kind of script books or something? Yes. There are Fawlty Towers script books. Here is a brief listing of them: Title: FAWLTY TOWERS Authors: John Cleese and Connie Booth Publisher: Futura/Contact Publications (1977 UK) ISBN: 0-8600-7598-2 (paperback) Contents: Scripts for "The Builders", "The Hotel Inspectors" and "Gourmet Night" Title: FAWLTY TOWERS TWO Authors: John Cleese and Connie Booth Publisher: Weidenfeld and Nicolson (1979 UK) ISBN: 0-7088-1547-2 (paperback) Contents: Scripts for "The Wedding Party", "A Touch of Class" and "The Germans" Title: The Complete FAWLTY TOWERS Authors: John Cleese and Connie Booth Publisher: Methuen London (1988 UK) [£8.99] ISBN: 0-413-18390-4 (hardcover) Publisher: Mandarin (1989 UK) ISBN: 0-749-30159-7 (paperback) Publisher: Pantheon (1989 US) ISBN: 0-679-72127-4 (paperback) Contents: Scripts for ALL twelve TV shows You should ask for these titles from your local bookstore. If you can't find them locally try the places recommended in the alt.comedy.british FAQ's 'Buyer's guide'. Question 7. Can I get the Fawlty Towers shows on video tape? Yes, you can. All Fawlty Towers shows has been published on video tape. The videos are named as follows: Title: The Germans Length: 90 minutes Contents: "The Hotel Inspectors", "The Germans" and "A Touch of Class" Title: The Psychiatrist Length: 97 minutes Contents: "The Builders", "The Wedding Party" and "The Psychiatrist" Title: The Kipper and the Corpse Length: 92 minutes Contents: "Gourmet Night", "Waldorf Salad" and "The Kipper and the Corpse" Title: Basil the Rat Length: 93 minutes Contents: "Communication Problems", "The Anniversary" and "Basil the Rat" If you can't figure out where you can get these tapes maybe you ought to take a look at the alt.comedy.british FAQ especially part 4 'Buyer's guide'. (If someone knows the publishing years for the videos, please mail me.) Question 8. Is there any other material besides books and videos? Why, yes. Here is a complete (as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong) list of Fawlty Towers albums in existence: Title: Fawlty Towers Publisher: BBC Records (1979 REB 337) Contents: Soundtracks from the shows "The Hotel Inspectors" and "Communications Problems" Title: Fawlty Towers: Second Sitting Publisher: BBC Records (1981 REB 405) Contents: Soundtracks from the shows "The Builders" and "Basil the Rat" Title: Fawlty Towers: At Your Service Publisher: BBC Records (1982 REB 449) Contents: Soundtracks from the shows "The Germans" and "The Kipper and the Corpse" Title: Fawlty Towers: A La Carte Publisher: BBC Records (198? REB 484) Contents: Soundtracks from the shows "Waldorf Salad" and "Gourmet Night" I left out the authors for obvious reason as they all are the same: John Cleese and Connie Booth. All albums also include narration by Andrew Sachs for the more visual scenes. Now all Fawlty Towers material should be listed. Question 9. Is there a newsgroup for Fawlty Towers? No (at least I don't know of one). But if you are looking for other Fawlty Towers fans you're most likely to find them in newsgroups such as alt.comedy.british, rec.arts.tv.uk.comedy or even alt.fan.monty-python. Question 10. Where can I find Fawlty Towers information in the net? Note: Not all of the following links are directly Fawlty Towers related. The British Comedy archives at Cathouse (links to most of the other sites) http://www.cathouse.org/BritishComedy/FawltyTowers/ The TV show guides http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Fun/FawltyTowers.html http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~dave/guides/FawltyTowers/ Biographical information (list of works) about John Cleese http://www.cathouse.org/BritishComedy/JohnCleese/john.cleese.bio.txt Newsgroups news:alt.comedy.british news:rec.arts.tv.uk.comedy alt.comedy.british FAQ monthly from news:alt.comedy.british or any FTP archive Question 11. I know something that you don't about FT. What do I do? If you have any further knowledge or corrections to information stated above I very strongly urge you to e-mail me on the matter and put things right. If you have a question about Fawlty Towers that should be on this FAQ don't hesitate to e-mail me. I try to get the answers if I possibly can. Any contributors will be listed below. CONTRIBUTORS Thanks to Melinda Casino for the encouragement to do this FAQ in the first place! ### Antti Tuominen is a 19-year old student of computer science in Vaasa University, Finland. He usually spends most his free time hanging around the internet. Besides computers he has a great interest in (mainly humorous) books. CIRCULATION/SUBSCRIPTIONS: ========================== Britcomedy Digest (ISSN 1077-6680) is a free electronic newsletter posted monthly to alt.comedy.british and rec.arts.tv.uk.comedy. DELPHI: In the "UK-American Connexion" forum, cf 171. GENIE: In the "Showbiz" roundtable, page 185. SUBSCRIPTIONS: To receive an issue every month, send your email address to: with the word "SUBSCRIBE" in either the subject header or body of the message. BACK ISSUES: ============ WWW: [US] http://www.cathouse.org/BritishComedy/BD/ [UK] http://paul.acorn.co.uk:8080/Britcom/ FTP: Log on as "anonymous," giving your email account as your password. ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/BritComedy ftp://ftp.cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/british.humour/britcomedy.digest