26/02/2016 The One Show

Now time for The One Show, Alex Jones and her latest guest

presenter. I really think I'm getting the hang of this motorbike

thing. The route was the same as last time. Don't give the game away,

Dermot. Hello and welcome to

The One Show with Alex Jones. So many great films have been

nominated, and a few double acts That there is terrifying. That is

what he does! He does. And Matt Damon and those potatoes. One more

pairing that we think are potentially, almost certainly,

award-winning. Look at this. He is the serious dramatic actor. He

is the king of comedy. Get over yourself. He has tackled

Shakespeare. He has born me on his back a thousand times. And he has

tackled James Bond. Martini, shaken not stirred. Together they make one

of the most formidable double acts in film history. Kenneth Branagh,

Rob Brydon, they are the guests tonight. We have had Maverick and

Goose. Please welcome Sir Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon!

APPLAUSE How did this bromance happen, when

did you meet? We got together about five years ago when we were doing

the first production of this play, The Painkiller, in my hometown,

Belfast. We had not met before. I very much admired his nibs from the

first time I saw Marion and Geoff which was fantastic. We got my car

has on fire. I had never heard of him but they said, there is a young

actor, I want you to look at he does... My agent phoned me and said

about this play, Kenneth Branagh, and I thought, really, this is not

going to happen! And we did a reading for the producers and then

we put it on in Belfast and we had such a great time doing it. I have

been waiting since then to try to bring it into London and do it in

London. And five years later it is happening. Great news. We will talk

about it later. Tonight on BBC Four, Friday night. You could say, your

Friday night starts. It never catch on.

Six acts are in the final, performing for your votes tonight,

hoping to win the all-important title of 'British act

It's time to throw live to 'Eurovision big decision HQ'

Hello Carrie Grant - this is The One Show calling.

Good luck, studio! London, this is London, North London calling. And

tonight for the first time in six years, the great Dutch public will

vote for who goes to Stockholm in May -- the great British public will

vote for who goes to Stockholm in May to the revision 20 16. I have

seen all sex acts, there is some talent in there and some good songs.

I will be speaking to last 's winner, Mans. -- I have seen all six

of the act. Possibly the greatest fan of Eurovision is the great Mel

Giedroyc! Excited? Beyond excitement. Gang we excited? We will

be back in almost 20 minutes. Regular BBC for viewers are not

going to know what set them. -- what has hit them.

Now, from Eurovision, to bizarre visions on The International Space

A gorilla in space...Have you seen the footage of Major Tim Peake

They get him to do so much up there. No time to do anything but work.

Well, Angellica has the story of some earthlings, who using only

a short wave radio, are also tring to get hold of Tim Peake...

When Major Tim Peake blasted off to the International Space Station last

December we all got excited. He might be our first official British

astronaut but is not the first Berdych person in space. In 1991

Helen Sharman took part in a commercial mission to the Soviet

space station. And while she was in space you have a strange

conversation with a group of 14-year-old schoolboys from Surrey.

They were part of a little-known incentive encouraging schoolchildren

to contact Helen, the astronaut, in space. Les Starkey and Pete were two

of the lads from the Royal Grammar School in Guildford who contacted

her in orbit, with their teacher, Frank Bell, using short wave amateur

radio. I think we caught a couple of times, there was no response, we

wondered what would happen and then Helen came through quite loud and

clear. It is almost 25 years since the boys contacted Helen in space.

Now thanks to The One Show they will speed speaking to her again this

time using 21st-century mobile technology. If you Mac this is GB

seven Juno and I hope I am talking to Helen Sharman. This is GB won me.

It is lovely to hear from you. It is great to show your voice again. Do

you remember the question we asked 35 years ago? I think we asked if

you had seen any other satellites while you were on the rocket going

up to the space station. What did I answer? Think you misunderstood the

question because you thought we were talking about UFOs which was good

for us is 14-year-olds. Today amateur radio will inspire

schoolchildren again this time from oasis Academy in Bristol. They will

attempt to contact Major Tim Peake on the International Space Station.

And for our own two indicators, and exciting surprise. This is Les and

Pete, like you they will be given the chance to speak to Major Tim

Peake. You didn't know that. How do you feel? It is just as exciting as

it was 25 years ago. Before Tim gets the call this a little time to get

advice. Do you think it is going to work? It looks like you've got a

good setup. We hope it will go smoothly. The space station just has

to be in just the right position overhead for a good connection. We

hope that we will not only hear him but also see him.

And the questions are pretty challenging. This is Jack.

Considering that in space you are weightless and time has a different

value, do you age at a different rate? Over?

Now for layers and Pete. They want to ask the same question that they

ask Helen all those years ago. Hello, Tim, we spoke to Helen and

the space station 25 years ago and we asked if she could see any

satellites. There are many more now, have you seen any?

And then, all too quickly, the ten minute link up with Tim is over.

Tim, that was absolutely amazing, everybody here wants to send their

appreciation to you. APPLAUSE

How amazing to have the video footage. I think it was a good

message that came across that to get involved in the space industry you

don't have to be an astronaut, there are many other ways to get involved.

For them, and amazing end to a fantastic story that began with a

couple of floods around a short wave radio just a few years ago. So for

the next generation, if you want to know if anything is out there, the

sky is definitely not the limit. Down to earth, the guys are busy

rehearsing for the play. Could you tell us the background of the play,

it's a French play. It was written by Francis Veber, a terrific French

writer, and decision has been adapted by Sean Foley who is a

brilliant physical comedian himself under brilliant director of physical

comedy. The premise is that two men come a hotel separately, one is

lonely, one is a professional assassin, they are in adjoining

rooms with an adjoining door, what could possibly go wrong? We get

mixed up in each other. I am very unhappy. You are a photographer and

you are going to commit suicide. My wife has left me forces has a chi

addressed and I'm not happy at all. Then I get mixed up with this cool

assassin -- my wife has left me for her the chi addressed. I get soaked,

clothes come off, there is a fight, people followed of Windows, it is so

frenetic. -- people falling out of windows. It begins to build up and

then it goes mad. It starts from a position of normality, if you have

been in a hotel, heard strange things happening through the thin

wall, it begins with that level of recognition and then it builds, as

Rob says come into brilliant chaos. What was it about the play that you

wanted to put on? I wanted to work with this one. Apart from being a

brilliant solo act he is great in a team and I learned a lot from being

in this odd couple with him, we are an odd couple in the play and a lot

of the comedy comes from the yin and yang of that. It is a delight to see

that and to play and have fun with something that, when at its best,

looks easy all we work hard to do that. It is tiring to rehearse

because it is a farce, everything is plotted almost like a dance. You

move on a certain word, you pick this up... It has to fit like a

train set. Trying to learn that and make its second nature is the

challenge. Because some thing leads to another. If somebody ad-libs one

night... You can't add lib. Why have you picked up that Jack! And

literally why does a laugh not work because the water was swirling in

the Jack and you could not hear the punch line, it did not work so he

did not turn, and suddenly one, two, three, four, a series of crescendo

making love is, it's like tumbleweed. When you get it it is a

sweet feeling and when you miss you miss by a million miles. You say

that the rehearsals have been hard work. For the director, Sean Foley,

is it strange for him directing you? It is your season. It must be a

strange dynamic. He and I have worked together before because we

had the history with a previous production in Belfast, I think it is

always a collaborative thing. You would be mad not to listen to his

nibs here about comedy and hopefully we all have a bit to say about how

it works, we have some other terrific actors. Do you take your

acting had off and put your directing had uneasily? I would like

to think I do it enough. Generally in these situations with creativity

you want to be as collaborative as you can. And this show more than

anything is a total team game. As Sean says, in rehearsal, you have to

pass the ball. And pass it cleanly because one of the interesting thing

is picking up the queues. If you're line is, let's go to the farm,...

That is not one of the lines! I don't know what I thought of that!

You would not go, let's go to the farm. It has to be so clear. The

precision and clarity, oh boy. Hopefully you shine it for the

audience and then this exciting thing, unquestionably, this play is

an event when the audience is there. Some of the timing allows for the

idea that they might complete that musical beat by laughing! You say,

hopefully, there will be a laugh, which will delay building on a bit.

We will not know that. We are doing a tomorrow with a small crowd. We

started the previews next Saturday, March five. That is the first time

people can come and see it. I remember when we did it in Belfast I

was so much wanting an audience because we had been rehearsing and

you want to hear, I was not so much nervous as keen to get them in and

that reaction. You have worked hard at this one, boys! People can go and

see you, The Painkiller is at the Garrick Theatre as Rob said from

much the fifth. People as famous as Rob and Ken get letters every day,

one man became famous by writing to celebrities. Some of his letters

will be auctioned tomorrow so we said Gyles to get to the root of his

appeal. William Donaldson was a satirist, a letter writer and under

the pseudonym of Henry Root, the author of the Henry Root Letters.

His appeal. William Donaldson was a satirist, a letter writer and under

the pseudonym of Henry Root, the author of the Henry Root Letters.

This creation, fictional retired wet fish merchant from has Britton was a

self-centred, Dear Prime Minister,

congratulations. We did it. Enough of that. There's work to be done.

What is really amazing is many of them replied.

The success of the Henry Root letters brought about many books and

a restaurant is named after him. I am here with Terence, a friend and

biographer of the real man the late Willie Donaldson. What was it all

about? His girlfriend, Cherry came across the Lazro Letters. When he

invented Henry Root, this wet fish salesman, that is what made the

letters. Mr Mr Clough... So you stuffed the Swiss. Magic!

What was he really like? He was a naval man, very, very respectable.

He had demons in his own personal life. He was a dangerously funny,

sub ver sieve writer. Was he like Henry Root? He was a hanger and

flogger. Right wing. Could not have been less like Willie Nine letters

are being auctioned and their replies after being found in a down

stairs loo in Essex. You have letter Presidents and royalty. How do they

end up in a toilet. They were in a charity auction and they were

mounted in a downstairs toilet. What is good? The Clough one is

good. A month before they get to the European Cup final. He wrote this

letter, but there was no reply. He's stamped it, no reply. He sent

another letter with ?1 donation. He got a reply to this one. I hope you

will not mind us using it for another transfer fee should say

Kevin Keegan. He is replying with humour as well. What will these

fetch at auction? We put a low estimate of ?300-?600. I would hope

thousands. To find it in a downstairs toilet is just, I think

very, very fitting. The letters are undoubtedly how manirous and they

reflect his gift for tire. Mr Hook was on the receiving end of a

letter. He asked the general General for a signed photographer. And

somewhat surprisingly he obliged. Was there anybody he would not

approach? He was tough on those. You would be well and truly in line for

him. He died in 2005. What would he make of the world today? He wrote to

Mrs Thatcher. It is word for word what Mr Trump said two days ago. Now

we are greedy for the United States. The sort of gleefulness in his

prose, I would say Henry Root will be around for a long time. When

looking at the Henry Root letters you cannot help feeling although

they are satirical they are historical documents. What am I bid

for an original Root to the Prime Minister? Who is opening the

bidding? We know you are a big fan of letter writing to high-profile

recipients, such as Prince Charles and I was going to say Lawrence of

ar rain by ya. We love the story about the letter you received from

Woody Allen, about celebrity when he was cast in that. This letter came

in the post. It said, "dare Kenneth Brannagh, look at if encloused play

and when I wrote this film I knew there was only one actor in the word

who could play it, Alec Baldwin and he's not available. I thought for a

while about Mel Gibson and decided in the end you would be more

correct. That was the ringing endorsement. He said this guy is a

loser, but he is attractive to women, therefore no facial hair.

Welcome to the world of a classic Woody film. You have recently been

announced as the President of RAda. What does that entail? It beats the

drum as being as inclusive as we are with that academy so people from

every background can be part of that dream f they have talent and are

ready to apply themselves. 57% of the students there are helped

financially by RADA. There is a significant change to the

characteristics of that academy. In the past it might have been seen as

a rarfied place. It is open to all. My job is to bang the drum about

that openness. Didn't you tell us, even though it

has not hindered you in the slightiest, but you did not get in--

slightest, but you did not get in the first time? I auditioned for

RADA and they didn't want him. Let's look at this new film, The Huntsman.

Oh, is that you? That's me. That is Gryff, he is a drafr, a

money-collected dwarf. Nick Frost and I are two and we go with Chris,

who is the huntsman and on his quest to find something magical. And that

look, that make-up was two hours every morning. The forehead is not

mine. The eyebrows are not mine. The hair is not mine. The beard... Some

of the strands in the beard were laid on individually. Oh, painful!

You do look butch. That is like a hero action of the future. I have

not seen the film yet. I have seen bits of it. It was such a laugh to

do. Emily Blunt is in it and one of the

men in Thor, the history of sweet men... We have to head back to

Eurovision HQ. Tonight you can vote on the act you want to see.

Carrie... Tonight is one of the most exciting

in Europop. One of the most exciting people is the presenter of

Eurovision: You Decide on BBC Four in ten minutes. Hello, everyone.

What is the atmosphere like? Oh, my goodness, it is like Christmas, the

World Cup and the lady's Wimbledon finals all in one. Later on I will

be on the expert panel putting on my judge's hat. We will see Mans, who

won last year in Sweden. Do you remember... Here he

S They are loving you, Mans. Tell me, what has it been like since you

won? It has been fantastic. A very hectic year. 300 travel days. I am

really living my dream right now. What does it take to win - three

words? I think something that sends out, something which catches

people's attention. Three words! Mel, introduce us to the acts? Here

are the acts. We have Bianca. We have Darline. We have Dulcima. We

have Joe and Jake. We have Karl William Lund and we have Matthew

James Pateman. Back on The One Show, on the sofa we

have the king of comedy, Rob Brydon. We have one of the world's most

amazing performers in Sir Kenneth Brannagh. Guys, you have all

practiced your singing. As we have Sir Kenneth in the studio, we

thought we would get to practise your performance by giving us the

first line of your song acted in a theatrical style. Bianca, first line

of the song, Pushing through the storm clouds, every time my fingers

burn, I never learn. It was like a scene from Eastenders. This is

Darline. Mr If you have never seen the dark, then you have never seen

the stars. I am moves!

Dulcima. Even though you are hiding, you are hiding from yourself.

I thought you had forgotten the line then! That was worrying! It is like

a strange wedding, isn't it? Bride or groom. Jake and Joe. Heart beat.

When you're not around, it's beating slow And it is something I've never

known. Oh, oh!

Watch out, Sir Kenneth! Next up? Karl William Lund.

Feeling Like I Don't Belong, can I find another son? Finally and not

least Matthew James. It is powerful. I walk into a crowded room. You're

the only one I look for. That is incredibly scary! We have a few

minutes - BBC Four. Yes, we are going over to BBC Four at 7. 30pm.

Make sure you tune in because you have to vote for who will represent

us and hopefully get us to win the Eurovision, 2016.

Karl William Lund, that is our winner.

Thank you. Eurovision: You Decide is on tonight 7. 30pm on BBC Four. Now,

with a painkiller you will have reviews. So, it has inspired... Look

at the colour drain from the faces! We have picked reviews from good

plays, past and pleasant. All you have to do is guess which one of

your performances is being reviewed as we play Brannagh or Brydon.

Simple, but will it be effective! I love the song, marvellous!

He puts up with constant gags about his famously thin lips with a good

grace. Where is that? I think it might be

about me. It is, it is! It was a review by Charles Spencer

in the Telegraph, in 2011 about painkillers. Next up, I wish he

would hold out for projects worthy of his talent. That is probably me.

Do you know what it is about? No idea. Let's see if you are right. Of

course, you are right! By David Butcher about the Guest List, 2014.

Brutal! We aim high, David, we aim high! His

staggering is world class, perhaps it includes elements of Mr Bean,

Frank Spencer and John Cleese's funny walks.

Was it Brannagh or Brydon It has Brannagh all over it. I think

Brydon. On the form so far, it is positive - it is Ken. We might be

double bluffing. We go Brannagh. Are we right? We are. That was also

about painkillers, that was in Belfast lyric 2011. There is a

deliciously bossy bumptiousness about him. I think of you as

delicious! That mostly and bumpy. And there is

a bum element. I think it is me.

Yes. It is you. The Telegraph review for about A

Chorus of Approval. One more. He's got it all - amazing

instinct, technique, intelligence and well as being cars are mystic.

Three, two one... Brydon. Brannagh. It is Brannagh. Back in 1985. That

is all for tonight. The game is over. You can see Ken and Rob in the

Pain Killer at the Garrick theatre from the 5th March. Thank you

Dermot. It has been lovely to have you back. That was good. The worst

high five of all time. On Monday I'll be back with Matt and his old

Countryfile girl, Julia Bradbury. See you Monday. Goodbye.