0:00:02 > 0:00:04And now for something completely different.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Tonight, BBC2 celebrates the life and work
0:00:09 > 0:00:11of the late John Howard Davies.
0:00:11 > 0:00:12You may not have heard the name
0:00:12 > 0:00:16but you've probably seen it on countless television credit rolls.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18Thank you, thank you very much...
0:00:18 > 0:00:21John Howard Davies produced and directed comedy classics
0:00:21 > 0:00:23including Fawlty Towers,
0:00:23 > 0:00:25The Good Life...
0:00:25 > 0:00:26Bloody load of old rubbish!
0:00:26 > 0:00:27..and Steptoe And Son.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30You're dirty and crude and horrible.
0:00:30 > 0:00:35As head of comedy at the BBC, and later at Thames Television,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38John launched some of the best TV shows of all time.
0:00:38 > 0:00:39Like Hi-De-Hi...
0:00:39 > 0:00:41Jeffrey can't hear you. Hi-de-hi.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42..Yes Minister...
0:00:42 > 0:00:47- The truth and nothing but the truth. - The whole truth?- Of course not!
0:00:47 > 0:00:48..'Allo, Allo...
0:00:48 > 0:00:51Oh, my God! The gateau from the chateau!
0:00:51 > 0:00:52..and Mr Bean.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56John brought us over 30 years of the best of British comedy.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59He was, by far and away, the most successful
0:00:59 > 0:01:04British television comedy producer and director that we've ever had.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12In August last year, John Howard Davies sadly died.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16He was a wonderful man and a great friend of mine.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20He spent most of his working life here at BBC Television Centre,
0:01:20 > 0:01:25but his show business career began when he was just eight years old.
0:01:26 > 0:01:32In 1948, John landed the title role in David Lean's definitive screen version of Oliver Twist.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Starring alongside Alec Guinness as Fagin, John put in
0:01:35 > 0:01:36a performance so memorable
0:01:36 > 0:01:41that the comedians he went on to work with couldn't resist poking fun.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46That line, which has simply passed into legend and which,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50at every opportunity, we threw straight back at him.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52Please, sir. I want some more.
0:01:52 > 0:01:58I have that vision of John very much going, "Yes, yes, yes, very funny!"
0:01:58 > 0:02:02And that's my most abiding memory!
0:02:03 > 0:02:07John's career behind the camera began in 1968
0:02:07 > 0:02:12when he arrived at BBC Television Centre as a production assistant.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17John's first taste of real success behind-the-scenes came in 1969,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20when he produced and directed the first four episodes
0:02:20 > 0:02:22of a surreal and silly sketch show
0:02:22 > 0:02:25which was, well, something completely different.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37John did a couple of key things, like casting Carol Cleveland,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40which was tremendously important
0:02:40 > 0:02:42for all the subsequent series,
0:02:42 > 0:02:47but he created a safe, cheerful, relaxed atmosphere
0:02:47 > 0:02:51where all the Pythons could play and discover what the hell it was
0:02:51 > 0:02:54we were going to do, because we didn't really know.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04With the help of John Howard Davies on those first few episodes,
0:03:04 > 0:03:09Monty Python went on to become one of the most influential comedy shows in TV history.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14Mr Frampton, vis-a-vis your rump.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18- I beg your pardon?- Your rump.- What?
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Your, er, posterior.
0:03:21 > 0:03:22Derriere.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24(Sit-upon.)
0:03:24 > 0:03:27- What's that?- Buttocks.
0:03:27 > 0:03:28- Oh, me bum!- Sssshh!
0:03:29 > 0:03:34Certainly, when I was a student, Monty Python was the big thing
0:03:34 > 0:03:37and John Cleese, undoubtedly, was my big hero.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41Of the words coming out of the mouths of the boys of my generation,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43about a third of them were Monty Python.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46And now for something completely the same.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Because it was a complete breakthrough in style,
0:03:49 > 0:03:50as indeed was the Goodies,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53the Goodies were the poor relation in that story.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56The Goodies were equally important in the way they changed
0:03:56 > 0:03:59the way you could use TV and the way you could do funny.
0:03:59 > 0:04:00# The Goodies! #
0:04:01 > 0:04:05After Monty Python, John Howard Davies produced the first two series
0:04:05 > 0:04:09of the Goodies, one of the most popular TV shows of the 1970s.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14We developed a childlike -
0:04:14 > 0:04:17which is very different to childish, he said,
0:04:17 > 0:04:22although some would disagree - world, in which the Goodies operated.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28It looks like a children's show, the Goodies, but it so is not,
0:04:28 > 0:04:30because it's so clever and so inventive.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33And John's very good at mixing those genres up.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37The Goodies was filled with anarchic, madcap and surreal
0:04:37 > 0:04:42visual gags, which may not have been entirely to John's taste.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46I would have suspected that his taste in comedy
0:04:46 > 0:04:49really ran to something more traditional.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54I often think he must have said, "I don't know what they are doing, never mind. OK."
0:04:54 > 0:04:57In 1972, John was given the chance to direct
0:04:57 > 0:05:00the seventh series of Steptoe and Son,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02the BBC's most popular sitcom,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07At least five of those shows
0:05:07 > 0:05:09are among the ones
0:05:09 > 0:05:10that are best remembered.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14And that's down, in no small measure, to John's direction.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18S-O-D, sod!
0:05:18 > 0:05:20LAUGHTER
0:05:20 > 0:05:23He had empathy with actors, and they knew that.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28And also, he knew exactly what they have to go through.
0:05:29 > 0:05:35We know as well, but we don't know from our hearts, or inside,
0:05:35 > 0:05:36what happens to actors.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40All right, all right, don't knock the bleedin' door down!
0:05:40 > 0:05:42Oh, hello, vicar!
0:05:44 > 0:05:47- You need a John there to sort of calm them down.- And understand them.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49Understand them, exactly.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51- Here?- No, more.
0:05:52 > 0:05:53More.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57- Well, here, then? - No, no, back a little.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59No, too much!
0:06:00 > 0:06:02'I first met John Howard Davies in 1974.'
0:06:02 > 0:06:08Richard Briers had been cast in a new situation comedy that John was to direct,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11and he suggested that John go to the theatre
0:06:11 > 0:06:16to see Felicity Kendal and me in an Ayckbourn play.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19He did, and cast us both in The Good Life.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24John produced and directed every episode of The Good Life.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27It ran for four series from 1975-78.
0:06:27 > 0:06:33It was the most delightful cast. The crew were wonderful.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Everything about it rings with pleasure.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41I look back on my time working with John as one of the happiest times.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44That's what you'd think of as John, middle class, comfortable,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48very charming, heart in exactly the right place.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53For me, The Good Life was really an expression of who John really was.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57The ooh-ah bird is so called because it lays square eggs.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03I don't understand that!
0:07:03 > 0:07:06One of the most memorable and exciting times we had
0:07:06 > 0:07:09during the making of The Good Life
0:07:09 > 0:07:13was when Her Majesty the Queen was due to visit Television Centre.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17And she was asked which programme she'd like to see,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20and we were told that it would be The Good Life.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23So, there we were, in our best bib and tuckers
0:07:23 > 0:07:29on best behaviour, very nervous, I must say, and John, as usual,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32was really calm and collected and just said good luck to us all,
0:07:32 > 0:07:37and, "Don't worry, anyone who makes a mistake goes straight to the Tower."
0:07:40 > 0:07:45Resplendent in pink, Her Majesty was introduced to cast and crew.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47John Howard Davies and his wife.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49John is head of comedy light entertainment
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and has come back especially to produce this show tonight.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57That's Tom and Barbara, then Margot, Penelope Keith.
0:07:57 > 0:07:58She is there.
0:07:58 > 0:08:0114 million viewers tuned in to see that episode,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05although the series may not have been to everyone's taste.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10No, no, no! We are not watching the bloody Good Life!
0:08:10 > 0:08:13In one particular episode of The Young Ones, Vyvyan breaks through
0:08:13 > 0:08:18the front titles of The Good Life, and has an absolute rant about...
0:08:18 > 0:08:24Felicity Treacle Kendal and Richard Sugar-Flavoured Snob Briers!
0:08:24 > 0:08:27You know, this is what's wrong with bloody British comedy,
0:08:27 > 0:08:29middle-class, da-di-da-di-da, really big rant.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31And I hate them!
0:08:33 > 0:08:35That was a highly articulate outburst, Vyvyan.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The week after, I was walking down the corridor and I saw John,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41and he gave me this little pained look. He had such a cute face.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43He gave me this little pained look and said,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46"Did you have to tear my favourite work apart?"
0:08:46 > 0:08:48And I felt bad.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51When a BBC script editor read the first draft
0:08:51 > 0:08:54of a new situation comedy about a hotel in Torquay,
0:08:54 > 0:08:59he described it as "a collection of stock characters and cliches".
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Luckily, John saw the funny side.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05He was banned from reading it in bed,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09because he laughed so much, and so did the rest of us.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Fawlty Towers landed on my lap
0:09:11 > 0:09:15because I found the script lurking in my editorial department's office
0:09:15 > 0:09:19and read it and said, "I'm going to do this, or die."
0:09:19 > 0:09:22And I did the first series. I loved it.
0:09:22 > 0:09:23Ow!
0:09:24 > 0:09:28He seemed to understand exactly what we were doing, which is fun.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30He hit me on the head!
0:09:30 > 0:09:34No, you hit him on the head! You naughty moose!
0:09:35 > 0:09:38He simply understood what was funny.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40- You're a waste of space.- Ow!
0:09:40 > 0:09:45John was incredibly important because he cast Prunella Scales.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48And that was extraordinarily important.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52- Basil, what's going on? - Nothing, my dear, nothing at all. - Mrs Fawlty...- Yes, Polly?
0:09:52 > 0:09:53- I don't know what...- Basil!
0:09:53 > 0:09:57He understood acting from the inside, because he'd been a very good actor.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02So in everything to do with that fingertip feeling for programmes,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04he was superb.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07"You're a naughty boy, Basil."
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Argh! She's going to back at lunchtime!
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Fawlty Towers is in the pantheon now,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17but at the time it was considered a bizarre aberration.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21And in fact, I remember a story Douglas Adams told me,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23he had been to see the pilot of Fawlty Towers
0:10:23 > 0:10:26with Graham Chapman, who was Cleese's closest friend.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29And they shared a taxi back home and they said,
0:10:29 > 0:10:32"It's so embarrassing, he's done this awful thing,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35"it's set in a provincial hotel with a Spanish waiter!
0:10:35 > 0:10:36"Can you imagine?!"
0:10:36 > 0:10:39They thought, "Cleese has really blown it this time."
0:10:39 > 0:10:43And in many ways it's the thing that Cleese will be remembered for,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46Fawlty Towers, but at the beginning it was considered
0:10:46 > 0:10:49completely odd and a terrible mistake.
0:10:49 > 0:10:50And John saw through that.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54In 1977, John Howard Davies was promoted
0:10:54 > 0:10:57and become Head Of Comedy at the BBC.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00One of his first ideas was to commission Not The Nine O'Clock News,
0:11:00 > 0:11:05a new topical, irreverent and satirical sketch show.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08What an extraordinary thing Not The Nine O'Clock News was
0:11:08 > 0:11:12because not only Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones, Pamela Stephenson
0:11:12 > 0:11:15and Rowan came form absolutely nowhere,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18but there's a huge number of people behind the scenes.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Richard Curtis started his career there and is probably now
0:11:22 > 0:11:25the most famous screenwriter, certainly in comedy,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27perhaps in the world.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31It led to, as it were, Blackadder and the stuff that we've done,
0:11:31 > 0:11:36but it also led to One Foot In The Grave and Drop The Dead Donkey.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Stephen Fry wrote his first joke ever
0:11:39 > 0:11:41on television on Not The Nine O'Clock News.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45A lot of the comedy came from the writers who worked on that.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48The apex, the upside-down pyramid is John Howard Davies,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51if he hadn't taken the risk, probably none of us would have a job.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56There was less risk in commissioning Rowan and Richard's next idea.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Richard Curtis and I, I suppose, were relatively hot, as you might say,
0:12:00 > 0:12:05at the time because Not The Nine O'Clock News had been a big success.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08We were looking and the BBC were looking for us to do something else.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12And the idea of a period sitcom struck us as quite a good idea
0:12:12 > 0:12:15and I think it was a good idea, on reflection.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18He made the pilot about Blackadder, which few people know,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21he shot the pilot. He didn't want to do the series for some reason.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25I got the gig and the first series we were awfully young and cocky,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28we'd all won BAFTA awards already
0:12:28 > 0:12:31and we thought we knew what we were doing, and that first series is,
0:12:31 > 0:12:35though full of original ideas, just is a bit of a mess.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40We got extremely indulgent and filmic and cinematographically ambitious.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Onward!
0:12:43 > 0:12:44Come on, come on.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49We were in Northumberland in snowstorms,
0:12:49 > 0:12:54filming horses running across landscapes.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Which was possibly, I think, an overreach on our parts,
0:12:57 > 0:13:02certainly in terms of comedy value that we got out of that indulgence.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06The first series we strayed from John, disastrously.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09And in the second series we came home and it worked better.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12John gave us two perfect bits of advice.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17One was to change the era, every series, that was John's suggestion.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21He said, you've probably done enough in that era, do another one and then do another one.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24That was one of the reasons it was delightful to work on and
0:13:24 > 0:13:28why the public liked it, because it kept changing. That was John's idea.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31And John's second brilliant observation
0:13:31 > 0:13:33was not to write an opening episode.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36It's very noticeable that Fawlty Towers has no opening episode
0:13:36 > 0:13:40because there's no justification for Basil Fawlty hiring Manuel,
0:13:40 > 0:13:42he just wouldn't do it. Nor indeed marrying Sybil.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44But you stick them all in there
0:13:44 > 0:13:46and you can be funny from the beginning.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49So that was a very clever thing John said.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53John Howard Davies had great taste and judgement.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56He brought us some of our favourite comedy programmes.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59But most of all, he was a lovely man.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02And don't just take my word for it.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05I don't know if there's anything nicer to say about anyone than
0:14:05 > 0:14:07they've made a lot of people happy.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10You know, his track record is extraordinary
0:14:10 > 0:14:14and the range of programmes with which he was involved
0:14:14 > 0:14:17and the success of them and over so many years,
0:14:17 > 0:14:23at least two or three decades, that's pretty good going.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28It's an extraordinary list of the very best comedy programmes
0:14:28 > 0:14:30the BBC ever made.
0:14:30 > 0:14:31He was the tops.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33You used to go to rehearsals every day
0:14:33 > 0:14:37and spend the morning roaring with laughter and then go home.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40Absolutely wonderful way to make a living.