50 Years of BBC Two Comedy

0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains strong language and adult humour.

0:00:08 > 0:00:10- JOANNA LUMLEY:- As part of our 50th birthday celebrations,

0:00:10 > 0:00:13we look back over some of the iconic comedy broadcast on BBC Two.

0:00:13 > 0:00:16Impressed with my continuity announcing?

0:00:16 > 0:00:17OK...on with the show.

0:00:17 > 0:00:19Did you see that? Did you?

0:00:23 > 0:00:26For the last 50 years, BBC Two has been the national

0:00:26 > 0:00:27comedy channel,

0:00:27 > 0:00:30broadcasting innovative, pioneering and laugh-out-loud comedy

0:00:30 > 0:00:31to the nation.

0:00:31 > 0:00:34- Remember me?- He's not local.

0:00:34 > 0:00:37BBC Two was a very good place to put weird comedy.

0:00:37 > 0:00:42Welcome to BBC Two, the organisation that kills 99% of all known comics.

0:00:42 > 0:00:45You would go to BBC Two to find out what the new, sort of,

0:00:45 > 0:00:47edgy comedies were - where the new ideas were.

0:00:47 > 0:00:52- Oh, you're my wife now!- Oh, heck!

0:00:52 > 0:00:55We were allowed to do whatever we wanted to do.

0:00:55 > 0:00:59We'd have Griff Rhys Jones flicking a false hip down some stairs

0:00:59 > 0:01:01and we'd just stand back...

0:01:01 > 0:01:03"How did this come to be?!"

0:01:04 > 0:01:08From the ridiculous to the sublime, and everything in between...

0:01:08 > 0:01:11- Yes. It's an extender.- Nice.

0:01:11 > 0:01:14..we're going to revel in the ground-breaking shows which have

0:01:14 > 0:01:18- become part of our comedy DNA. - Resistance is useless.

0:01:18 > 0:01:19My arse.

0:01:19 > 0:01:23Probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened in my career

0:01:23 > 0:01:25was getting our own sketch show on BBC Two.

0:01:25 > 0:01:28- Who's going to watch that?- Freaks.

0:01:29 > 0:01:32People came up to me and said, "What are you guys on?"

0:01:32 > 0:01:34I used to say, "BBC Two."

0:01:35 > 0:01:37Since 1964, BBC Two has been

0:01:37 > 0:01:40Britain's alternative comedy channel,

0:01:40 > 0:01:43as well as the birthplace of our most loved classics.

0:01:45 > 0:01:49- A good idea is a good idea for ever.- Yeah.

0:01:49 > 0:01:52I remember when we got BBC Two. I'm just a kid.

0:01:52 > 0:01:54Never watched it. We never watched it...

0:01:55 > 0:01:57..until Fawlty Towers came along!

0:01:59 > 0:02:03So, put your feet up, relax and enjoy.

0:02:03 > 0:02:05Over the next two hours, we're going to be laughing along

0:02:05 > 0:02:08with some of the biggest names in the business,

0:02:08 > 0:02:12while we look back at 50 years of BBC Two comedy.

0:02:20 > 0:02:23- CHANTING:- Bloody thing, won't work.

0:02:23 > 0:02:25Bloody thing, and so on and so on.

0:02:26 > 0:02:29Our romp through 50 years of hilarious TV

0:02:29 > 0:02:32begins with comedy to the power of two,

0:02:32 > 0:02:34as we take a look at the double act.

0:02:34 > 0:02:35Er, one and a half, please.

0:02:36 > 0:02:39The double act has been a winning formula since time immemorial

0:02:39 > 0:02:43and BBC Two has broadcast some of the most

0:02:43 > 0:02:45celebrated unions in comedy history.

0:02:45 > 0:02:47This is brilliant!

0:02:47 > 0:02:50Oh, it's brilliant, is it? I suppose it's GOOD television, is it?

0:02:50 > 0:02:54Why does the double act work so well in comedy?

0:02:54 > 0:02:56Two people fit very well on a TV screen.

0:02:56 > 0:02:59Three people, it all becomes a bit messy.

0:02:59 > 0:03:01Erm, four people - forget it.

0:03:01 > 0:03:05I wouldn't do comedy if it wasn't for Bob.

0:03:05 > 0:03:08There's more aspects of your characters that you can bring out

0:03:08 > 0:03:10when there's two of you and it just, kind of, doubles the fun.

0:03:12 > 0:03:15Making David laugh is the person I most want to make laugh.

0:03:15 > 0:03:16A double act has to have that.

0:03:16 > 0:03:20We are quite keen for each other's approval, very quietly.

0:03:21 > 0:03:23I was just trying to think of some

0:03:23 > 0:03:25historical ones, like Jesus Christ

0:03:25 > 0:03:27- and John the...- Peter. - John the Baptist.

0:03:27 > 0:03:29Well, Peter was funnier.

0:03:31 > 0:03:32But who do you remember most?

0:03:35 > 0:03:39About 2,000 years later, BBC Two gave forth

0:03:39 > 0:03:42their own brand of divine comedy.

0:03:43 > 0:03:45Is this heaven, Pete?

0:03:46 > 0:03:47Bloody 'ell.

0:03:49 > 0:03:51And in 1965, the first double act

0:03:51 > 0:03:55to appear on the channel was Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

0:03:55 > 0:03:58Pete and Dud, Not Only...But Also, they were

0:03:58 > 0:04:01absolutely terrific shows.

0:04:01 > 0:04:02Wonderful, sort of, vehicles

0:04:02 > 0:04:04for them, especially the Dagenham Monologues.

0:04:04 > 0:04:07- All right, Pete, then, are you? - Not too bad, you know.

0:04:07 > 0:04:09- Cheers.- Not too bad. Cheers.

0:04:09 > 0:04:11Every time you run a clip of Pete and Dud -

0:04:11 > 0:04:13and I bet it happens on this show -

0:04:13 > 0:04:14but every time,

0:04:14 > 0:04:18it's Dudley Moore in his pint, trying not to corpse.

0:04:18 > 0:04:22I come in. I get into bed, you see, feeling quite sleepy.

0:04:22 > 0:04:24SLURPING

0:04:24 > 0:04:28- I can feel the lids of me eyes beginning to droop, you see?- Yeah.

0:04:28 > 0:04:30A bit of droop in the eyes.

0:04:30 > 0:04:32I was just about to drop off, when, suddenly -

0:04:32 > 0:04:36tap, tap, tap, at the bloody window pane.

0:04:38 > 0:04:40I looked out. You know who it was?

0:04:40 > 0:04:41Who?

0:04:41 > 0:04:43Bloody Greta Garbo.

0:04:44 > 0:04:48'I directed the second series of Not Only...But Also. You didn't know'

0:04:48 > 0:04:51quite what they were going to do and they would very often corpse

0:04:51 > 0:04:54and go away from the scripts, and I don't think

0:04:54 > 0:04:57we ever had a written script for the Dud and Pete sketches.

0:04:57 > 0:04:59It was, like, "This is the sketch. Boom."

0:04:59 > 0:05:00Where...?

0:05:00 > 0:05:03HE COUGHS, LAUGHTER

0:05:03 > 0:05:05'People love it when things go wrong.'

0:05:05 > 0:05:09You feel you're in on something special, which is great fun.

0:05:09 > 0:05:11You enjoying that sandwich?

0:05:11 > 0:05:13LAUGHTER

0:05:13 > 0:05:15I'm so glad those sketches are like that.

0:05:15 > 0:05:19You know, nowadays, we'd reshoot them

0:05:19 > 0:05:23and you'd have a version where Dudley Moore didn't corpse

0:05:23 > 0:05:25and the lines are just said and you only hear

0:05:25 > 0:05:28the studio audience laughing and it wouldn't be nearly as good.

0:05:28 > 0:05:31- It's hard to tell!- I know, you've just seen the Leonardo da Vinci joke,

0:05:31 > 0:05:33- have you?- Yeah!

0:05:33 > 0:05:35Often, in comedy,

0:05:35 > 0:05:38history repeats itself, so when Beyond The Fringe finished,

0:05:38 > 0:05:40Peter Cook and Dudley Moore

0:05:40 > 0:05:44found each other and went on to do Not Only...But Also.

0:05:44 > 0:05:46When Not The Nine O'Clock News finished,

0:05:46 > 0:05:48Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones suddenly paired up,

0:05:48 > 0:05:51to do Alas Smith and Jones.

0:05:52 > 0:05:54And they produced a new version

0:05:54 > 0:05:57of a head-to-head sequence that was very like Pete and Dud's.

0:05:57 > 0:06:00You want to know my idea of the ideal woman?

0:06:02 > 0:06:03Yeah, go on, then.

0:06:03 > 0:06:07- Marilyn Monroe.- Oh, yeah! Marilyn.

0:06:07 > 0:06:10- Big, busty, blonde, American and rich.- Yeah.

0:06:10 > 0:06:14Pity you married that scrawny redhead from Glasgow.

0:06:14 > 0:06:16Some of the best things are versions of things that have been before

0:06:16 > 0:06:19and there's nothing wrong with that. And their head-to-heads,

0:06:19 > 0:06:23a lot of them written by Clive Anderson and others, were, you know,

0:06:23 > 0:06:26right up there with Pete and Dud's.

0:06:26 > 0:06:30- I can get programmes from all over the world.- Do you?- I do, yeah.

0:06:30 > 0:06:32Yeah, I get them from, er...

0:06:32 > 0:06:33Can you pick up BBC Two?

0:06:36 > 0:06:38No, I can't, actually, as it happens.

0:06:38 > 0:06:40- There's never anything on...- That's right.- ..so it doesn't really matter.

0:06:40 > 0:06:43You don't often get men-and-women double acts, do you? There's a thing.

0:06:43 > 0:06:46DOORBELL RINGS

0:06:46 > 0:06:48- Who is it?- Dawn!

0:06:48 > 0:06:50Dawn who?

0:06:50 > 0:06:52Dawn French, your comedy partner!

0:06:52 > 0:06:54Best double act? Probably French and Saunders.

0:06:56 > 0:06:59And that's a man and a woman. Isn't it?

0:07:00 > 0:07:03I know what's on her mind. She's thinking,

0:07:03 > 0:07:05"I could have a bit of that!"

0:07:14 > 0:07:16I'd never seen a female double act before.

0:07:16 > 0:07:19It's nice when you see one funny lady on the telly,

0:07:19 > 0:07:21but to see two, at the same time, was awesome.

0:07:21 > 0:07:23- You know who's got it all, don't you? - Who's that?

0:07:23 > 0:07:26- Gerard Depardieu.- Oh!

0:07:26 > 0:07:28There's something about the persona that

0:07:28 > 0:07:31Dawn and Jennifer have created that's, sort of time...

0:07:31 > 0:07:33The timeless double act, isn't it?

0:07:33 > 0:07:34You know who they are.

0:07:34 > 0:07:36- I believe he's cunnilingual.- Is he?

0:07:40 > 0:07:43I loved when they did their, sort of, movie homage.

0:07:43 > 0:07:47They just had an angle on everything that you weren't expecting.

0:07:53 > 0:07:54Those film parodies...

0:07:54 > 0:07:56I was just watching, going,

0:07:56 > 0:08:00I mean, what have they spent on the... What? And fine,

0:08:00 > 0:08:01cos it's just hilarious.

0:08:03 > 0:08:05Fan-dabi-dozi!

0:08:14 > 0:08:16Good morning.

0:08:16 > 0:08:18- Good morning.- Sit down, please.

0:08:21 > 0:08:23What did The Krankies say to you?

0:08:24 > 0:08:26They said, "Fan-dabi-dozi."

0:08:26 > 0:08:28F-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f!

0:08:29 > 0:08:34In the late '80s and '90s, BBC Two had a whole range of double acts

0:08:34 > 0:08:38with their own shows, all fighting for prominence.

0:08:38 > 0:08:41Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Remember those two lads?

0:08:46 > 0:08:47They were around in the '80s

0:08:47 > 0:08:52and one of them, Stephen Fry, pretended to be Michael Jackson once.

0:08:54 > 0:08:57My fondest memories are always when Stephen Fry tried to dance.

0:09:04 > 0:09:10I'd never seen anything that was so, at the same time, very silly.

0:09:10 > 0:09:12- England and cream! - Creamy old England!

0:09:12 > 0:09:16- Custard cream!- Strawberries and cream!- Strawberries!- English cream!

0:09:16 > 0:09:21- Creamy England!- England! - Cream!- Cream of old England!

0:09:21 > 0:09:25- Ahh!- Ooh!- Oh, I say!

0:09:25 > 0:09:26- Oh.- Oh.- Oh, dear.

0:09:26 > 0:09:28And, er...

0:09:28 > 0:09:31Eric Bristow steps onto the oche now.

0:09:31 > 0:09:34But also very funny physical stuff, especially from Hugh.

0:09:36 > 0:09:39Nobody falls over like Hugh Laurie.

0:09:39 > 0:09:42Two of Fry and Laurie's most memorable characters

0:09:42 > 0:09:45were those damn successful empire-builders, John and Peter.

0:09:45 > 0:09:47Tell me what you see.

0:09:47 > 0:09:49I see a car park.

0:09:49 > 0:09:52Well, that's funny, John, because, you know, the last time you looked

0:09:52 > 0:09:57out of that window, you saw an idea, don't you remember?

0:09:57 > 0:10:00Yes, I remember thinking that would be a good place to put a car park.

0:10:00 > 0:10:04They also had those, those vox pops. That that was their little, sort of,

0:10:04 > 0:10:07holding thing that reminds you which show you're watching.

0:10:07 > 0:10:09I was very shocked when my son told me

0:10:09 > 0:10:12that his boyfriend was homosexual.

0:10:12 > 0:10:15Is this one of them hidden camera things, is it?

0:10:15 > 0:10:17No? Oh, well, because I was going to say,

0:10:17 > 0:10:18it's not very well hidden, is it?

0:10:18 > 0:10:23What do I think of John Major's leadership? I'd welcome it.

0:10:23 > 0:10:26HE CACKLES

0:10:30 > 0:10:33I remember Stephen as a, sort of, middle-class lady, saying,

0:10:33 > 0:10:38"Those, Bernard Matthews drumsticks. They're so versatile.

0:10:38 > 0:10:39"I've got one in at the moment."

0:10:43 > 0:10:46One of the most successful double acts of recent years has been

0:10:46 > 0:10:51Mitchell and Webb, who are inspired by more than just comedy on BBC Two.

0:10:53 > 0:10:56If the snooker was on during the day when we were supposed to be writing,

0:10:56 > 0:10:58not many sketches would get written,

0:10:58 > 0:11:01because we both LOVED watching the snooker.

0:11:02 > 0:11:04'We just started'

0:11:04 > 0:11:07to talk as these two snooker-obsessed

0:11:07 > 0:11:12characters, who would, basically, sit in their booth and drink.

0:11:15 > 0:11:18That was, sort of, like BBC Two feeding itself.

0:11:18 > 0:11:21We would watch the snooker on BBC Two, go and write a sketch

0:11:21 > 0:11:26based on that, which would, then, later be televised on BBC Two.

0:11:34 > 0:11:36Eight.

0:11:36 > 0:11:37'When we got our own show'

0:11:37 > 0:11:40on BBC Two, it was probably the most exciting thing

0:11:40 > 0:11:44that's ever happened in my career. If you're a comedian, that's proper.

0:11:44 > 0:11:47That's like having a yacht or a gold Rolls-Royce.

0:11:47 > 0:11:51Richard Branson has got an island,

0:11:51 > 0:11:53but he hasn't got a sketch show on BBC Two.

0:11:53 > 0:11:56Neither have I, any more, and I haven't got an island.

0:11:56 > 0:12:00But there WAS a time when I could look down on Richard Branson.

0:12:00 > 0:12:05# Bring me sunshine, in your smile

0:12:06 > 0:12:09# Bring me laughter All the while... #

0:12:09 > 0:12:13When Britain's most-loved double act, Morecambe and Wise, rejoined

0:12:13 > 0:12:17the BBC in 1968, it wasn't to get people laughing over their

0:12:17 > 0:12:20Christmas pudding on BBC One, but to make comedy

0:12:20 > 0:12:22in glorious colour on BBC Two.

0:12:22 > 0:12:24# Make me happy... #

0:12:24 > 0:12:28They wanted colour and proceeded just to wear beige and brown!

0:12:28 > 0:12:32- Didn't you know I was that way inclined?- I have heard rumours, yes.

0:12:33 > 0:12:36But it never worries me, because I'm THAT way inclined.

0:12:36 > 0:12:39I was born on the side of a hill.

0:12:39 > 0:12:41They were interesting because they were never filthy.

0:12:41 > 0:12:42They'd hardly do innuendo.

0:12:44 > 0:12:47The whole family could watch and not feel embarrassed.

0:12:47 > 0:12:50All men are fools and what makes them so is having beauty

0:12:50 > 0:12:52like what I have got!

0:13:00 > 0:13:03- You have a plan?- Leave me alone.

0:13:10 > 0:13:13- Leave me alone with him for five minutes.- Five minutes?

0:13:13 > 0:13:15Five minutes.

0:13:16 > 0:13:17'Morecambe and Wise were'

0:13:17 > 0:13:20the most influential double act in British history.

0:13:22 > 0:13:23Be honest. Come on!

0:13:29 > 0:13:32- TV:- 'You're watching 50 years of funny on BBC Two.

0:13:32 > 0:13:35'And the next chapter in our birthday celebration

0:13:35 > 0:13:38'is the comedy catch phrase.'

0:13:40 > 0:13:42A catch phrase is not funny in itself.

0:13:43 > 0:13:44Bugger.

0:13:44 > 0:13:47But when you keep saying it over and over again

0:13:47 > 0:13:51and people are laughing at it and the audience is waiting for it...

0:13:51 > 0:13:52Suits you, sir.

0:13:52 > 0:13:54And the whole audience erupts in laughter,

0:13:54 > 0:13:57but catch phrases, in themselves, are not actually funny!

0:13:57 > 0:13:59What a fucking liberty!

0:13:59 > 0:14:01'You can't really go out'

0:14:01 > 0:14:06to write a catch phrase, because it's not in your control

0:14:06 > 0:14:07whether people repeat it.

0:14:07 > 0:14:09The public make a catch phrase.

0:14:09 > 0:14:10A-ha!

0:14:10 > 0:14:14- Push down.- I am smoking a fag.

0:14:14 > 0:14:17- But they do, though, don't they, though?- Milky milk.

0:14:17 > 0:14:20What's the blandest thing on the menu?

0:14:20 > 0:14:23- My arse!- Don't mention the war.

0:14:23 > 0:14:27- Cheque, please!- Only me!- Eranu!

0:14:27 > 0:14:31- That's you, that is! - Ooh! Where's me washboard, eh?

0:14:31 > 0:14:36The comedy catch phrase has been with us since the days of music hall

0:14:36 > 0:14:40and over BBC Two's 50-year history has fallen in and out of fashion.

0:14:40 > 0:14:43The first comedian on Two to make full use of these comedy short cuts

0:14:43 > 0:14:46was Dick Emery, back in the '60s.

0:14:46 > 0:14:50We owe Dick Emery a debt of gratitude, because we borrowed

0:14:50 > 0:14:51heavily from that format.

0:14:51 > 0:14:54Oh, you are awful!

0:14:56 > 0:14:57But I like you.

0:14:57 > 0:14:59This is rubbish, this.

0:14:59 > 0:15:02It's the biggest load of crap I've ever seen.

0:15:02 > 0:15:04What's on the other side?

0:15:06 > 0:15:08It's our television.

0:15:08 > 0:15:12Harry Enfield revived the catch phrase.

0:15:12 > 0:15:15I think each of his characters became stand-alone classics.

0:15:18 > 0:15:20Do we have to move on to Harry Enfield?

0:15:20 > 0:15:24I've been trying to get away from him for 20-odd years now,

0:15:24 > 0:15:27but he's like a limpet, you know.

0:15:27 > 0:15:31"Paul, Paul! I've got an idea!" "Oh, Gawd."

0:15:31 > 0:15:34Yeah. It works both ways, though, really.

0:15:34 > 0:15:37I love him, really. Well, I don't love him...

0:15:39 > 0:15:43- There were the Slobs.- Look sexy! - There were the Old Gits.

0:15:43 > 0:15:46Snivelling little git. Why can't you do it for nothing?

0:15:46 > 0:15:50- There's Tim Nice-but-dim. - Bloody nice bloke.

0:15:50 > 0:15:51The characters resonated

0:15:51 > 0:15:56with people and Smashie and Nicey was the knife going in, wasn't it?

0:15:56 > 0:15:59It went to a whole, sort of, culture.

0:15:59 > 0:16:03We did them as an affectionate, sort of, semi-affectionate portrayal

0:16:03 > 0:16:05of some idiots that we used to listen to, you know?

0:16:05 > 0:16:08And look where it's got them!

0:16:08 > 0:16:11I love the Wombles! They really were great in a, sort of,

0:16:11 > 0:16:15- "short programme before the news"-type way.- They certainly were!

0:16:15 > 0:16:18And I think we've all got a little bit of the Womble in us, haven't we?

0:16:18 > 0:16:20I bet you've got a bit of the Womble in you, Nicey.

0:16:20 > 0:16:27Well, er... Well, I do know the Pet Shop Boys, if that's what you mean.

0:16:27 > 0:16:30At the time, they were dinosaurs, you know,

0:16:30 > 0:16:33so we were mocking a generation that was just slipping away

0:16:33 > 0:16:34and, ironically, Smashie and Nicey

0:16:34 > 0:16:37are more relevant now than they were then...

0:16:37 > 0:16:39"Great, mate."

0:16:39 > 0:16:41HE GIGGLES

0:16:41 > 0:16:43Oh, she's lovely.

0:16:43 > 0:16:46All warm and wrinkly, like she's come out the oven.

0:16:46 > 0:16:50I remember the first time we recorded one of the Slob sketches

0:16:50 > 0:16:55and Harry hadn't seen Kathy in her full make-up

0:16:55 > 0:16:57and she walked onto set and he just started laughing.

0:16:57 > 0:17:00We want to call it "Frogmella".

0:17:00 > 0:17:02Frogmella?!

0:17:02 > 0:17:05What kind of a name's Frogmella?

0:17:05 > 0:17:08Exotic. It's exotic.

0:17:08 > 0:17:12I tell you what, he used to corpse all the time through the Slobs

0:17:12 > 0:17:15and, in the end, he didn't bother hiding it. He'd go with it.

0:17:15 > 0:17:18We'd start thinking, "You've to stop laughing, Harry!

0:17:18 > 0:17:21- "Oh, it's quite sweet, really." - Frogmella Slob...

0:17:21 > 0:17:23Don't put it in the water!

0:17:23 > 0:17:26Look what you're doing. You'll make her all soggy!

0:17:26 > 0:17:28Hang about...

0:17:29 > 0:17:33That's not Frogmella... That's a cake.

0:17:33 > 0:17:35Well, where's the bloody baby, then?

0:17:35 > 0:17:38You must have left it in the boot with the pizzas.

0:17:40 > 0:17:42Pioneering comedy next,

0:17:42 > 0:17:45with the first all-Asian cast in British comedy history.

0:17:45 > 0:17:47- Ommmm... - DOOR SLAMS

0:17:47 > 0:17:48Bollocks.

0:17:48 > 0:17:51They even had a catch phrase as their title.

0:17:51 > 0:17:55- Goodness Gracious Me!- Our flagship sketch was the Going For An English.

0:17:55 > 0:17:57Could I just have the chicken curry, please?

0:17:57 > 0:17:59MOANING

0:17:59 > 0:18:01Nina, come on. It's an English.

0:18:01 > 0:18:03You've got to have something English. No spicy shite.

0:18:03 > 0:18:06Oh, Nitin, but I don't like anything too bland here.

0:18:06 > 0:18:10Have something a little bland. Hey Jame-as, what have you got

0:18:10 > 0:18:12that is not totally tasteless?

0:18:12 > 0:18:15'I have heard that in restaurants - people going,'

0:18:15 > 0:18:16"I'm ordering the blandest thing on the menu."

0:18:16 > 0:18:18Steak and kiddly pee

0:18:18 > 0:18:20and, er chips? Jah, jah?

0:18:22 > 0:18:2324 plates of chips.

0:18:23 > 0:18:26I think you might have ordered too much, sir.

0:18:26 > 0:18:29- What?- Oi! Clive of India, who bloody asked you, hey?!

0:18:29 > 0:18:32Just bring us the bloody food or I'll do a moony!

0:18:32 > 0:18:33COMMOTION

0:18:33 > 0:18:36We had a character called Mr Everything Comes From India.

0:18:36 > 0:18:39We all had relatives who, kind of, said, "Well, that's Indian."

0:18:39 > 0:18:42You know, anything. "The space programme? Basically, it's Indian."

0:18:42 > 0:18:44I love these old Cliff Richard films.

0:18:44 > 0:18:47Of course you love Cliff Richard... because he's Indian!

0:18:49 > 0:18:53- Cliff is Indian?- Of course! Born in India, so Indian. Came from Lucknow.

0:18:53 > 0:18:56Whether it was, you know, the entire royal family being Indian -

0:18:56 > 0:18:58"Work for the family business - Indian."

0:18:58 > 0:19:00Don't forget who wrote Richard III.

0:19:00 > 0:19:04- Oh, don't tell me Shakespeare was Indian.- Is the Pope Punjabi?

0:19:05 > 0:19:08I'd meet people who would just point to something quite random

0:19:08 > 0:19:11and say, "Indian!" and that would be it.

0:19:11 > 0:19:16And so, the power of the catch phrase is not to be underestimated,

0:19:16 > 0:19:18particularly with "Kiss my chuddies."

0:19:18 > 0:19:21Oh, kiss my chuddies, man, I ain't got a problem.

0:19:21 > 0:19:23- What's your problem? - I ain't got a problem!

0:19:23 > 0:19:25My biggest claim to fame is "chuddies" going into

0:19:25 > 0:19:28the Oxford English Dictionary. You can use it in Scrabble now.

0:19:28 > 0:19:30Scrabble - Indian game. Yeah.

0:19:30 > 0:19:32- I see your sister today.- Did you?

0:19:32 > 0:19:35- She's had the baby.- I know.

0:19:35 > 0:19:37- She's had the baby.- I know.

0:19:37 > 0:19:38- Oh! Little girl.- I know.

0:19:38 > 0:19:41It's only a little dinky thing, like that.

0:19:41 > 0:19:44Oh, little lot no bigger than that.

0:19:44 > 0:19:47- Oh, she's letting me hold her. Have you seen it?- Yeah.

0:19:47 > 0:19:50- Have you seen it?- Yeah. - Have you seen it?- Yeah.

0:19:50 > 0:19:51Ain't it ugly?!

0:19:53 > 0:19:56It isn't actually based on my own grandmother.

0:19:56 > 0:19:58It's based on a collection of old ladies

0:19:58 > 0:20:01that I've had the privilege of knowing.

0:20:01 > 0:20:06Come on! I ain't never seen such an ugly child!

0:20:07 > 0:20:11It's frightened the fucking life out of me.

0:20:11 > 0:20:12Old people swearing?

0:20:12 > 0:20:16I maintain it, it's one of the funniest things you'll see!

0:20:16 > 0:20:19- Am I bovvered?- What? - Am I bovvered, though?

0:20:19 > 0:20:22- I just don't feel...- I'm not bovvered.- I'm just really busy. - Yeah, so am I. I'm not bovvered.

0:20:22 > 0:20:27I think, with comedy, the good hooks are recognisable characters

0:20:27 > 0:20:31and everyone knows a teenager and everyone's been a teenager.

0:20:31 > 0:20:33All right?

0:20:33 > 0:20:36- TOGETHER:- All right.

0:20:36 > 0:20:38The Lauren character was probably a bit of me when I was young.

0:20:38 > 0:20:42- Do I look bovvered?- Yeah. - Is my face bovvered?- No, but... - Am I bovvered, though?

0:20:42 > 0:20:44I just thought it was funny.

0:20:44 > 0:20:45Do you think I'm bovvered? Ask me if I'm bovvered.

0:20:45 > 0:20:49- Ask me if I'm bovvered.- Are you bovvered?- No, I ain't even bovvered.

0:20:52 > 0:20:54But there was one sketch show which just about did away

0:20:54 > 0:20:56with everything but the catch phrase itself.

0:20:58 > 0:21:01We saw the first ever Fast Show. We watched it with them, didn't we?

0:21:01 > 0:21:05And I remember you, specifically, thought it was awful.

0:21:05 > 0:21:08- Do you remember that? - What and you...- I loved it.

0:21:08 > 0:21:10I thought, "This is going to be a big hit."

0:21:10 > 0:21:12And you were saying, "This show is terrible!"

0:21:12 > 0:21:14Hardest game in the world.

0:21:14 > 0:21:18- I will be mostly wearing nipple clamps.- Which was nice.

0:21:18 > 0:21:19What's a-comin'?

0:21:19 > 0:21:23- Scorchio!- Nice.- Let's off-road!

0:21:23 > 0:21:27The Fast Show must be the daddy of the catch phrases, which was nice.

0:21:27 > 0:21:28Someone's sitting there, mate.

0:21:28 > 0:21:31We didn't go for the lowest common denominator.

0:21:31 > 0:21:35We didn't patronise our viewers with simple catchphrases

0:21:35 > 0:21:37repeated endlessly.

0:21:37 > 0:21:38Oh, we did! Oh, yeah.

0:21:38 > 0:21:39Arse!

0:21:39 > 0:21:42- Aren't old people brilliant? - I'll get my coat.

0:21:42 > 0:21:46HE SPEAKS GIBBERISH

0:21:46 > 0:21:47..sausage factory.

0:21:47 > 0:21:51And I was very, very drunk.

0:21:51 > 0:21:54Although we did do quite a lot of short, sharp sketches,

0:21:54 > 0:21:58some of the more memorable ones are very, you know,

0:21:58 > 0:22:01like Ted and Ralph, which are very slow.

0:22:01 > 0:22:05Ted, there's something I need to speak to you about.

0:22:05 > 0:22:08- I nominate Mr Meyhew. Ha-ha-ha!- I'm sorry?

0:22:08 > 0:22:12- No, no, no!- Forfeit, forfeit. You have to say "tomato".

0:22:12 > 0:22:14You've got to put a vegetable in front of each word,

0:22:14 > 0:22:17- in the right order. - It's a drinking game, sir.

0:22:17 > 0:22:19When we were editing the first series, we almost cut

0:22:19 > 0:22:21Ted and Ralph out, because we just thought,

0:22:21 > 0:22:23"Is anyone going to get this?"

0:22:23 > 0:22:29Tomato...Ted, aubergine...your...

0:22:29 > 0:22:33potato...wife's...turnip...dead.

0:22:44 > 0:22:48- TV:- 'And now on BBC Two, time for some alternative comedy.'

0:22:50 > 0:22:51Boom-boom!

0:22:51 > 0:22:54- AUDIENCE:- Out go the lights!

0:22:54 > 0:22:56As the alternative channel, BBC Two

0:22:56 > 0:22:59has often been the first to break new ground.

0:22:59 > 0:23:04In 1980, it gave a bunch of unknowns their TV debuts

0:23:04 > 0:23:07and introduced to Britain a new wave in comedy.

0:23:07 > 0:23:08# Boom-boom! #

0:23:08 > 0:23:10- AUDIENCE:- Out go the lights!

0:23:10 > 0:23:12Boom Boom...Out Go The Lights must have been

0:23:12 > 0:23:16the first time that any of that comedy that was going on in the clubs

0:23:16 > 0:23:18suddenly got out to a mainstream audience.

0:23:18 > 0:23:21It was also the first time Britain got to see

0:23:21 > 0:23:24a revolutionary people's poet, called Rik...

0:23:24 > 0:23:26Shut up!

0:23:26 > 0:23:29..and a hippy folk singer, called Neil.

0:23:29 > 0:23:32I'm going to do a couple of numbers,

0:23:32 > 0:23:36off an album that I'm hoping to do...

0:23:38 > 0:23:40..called Despair.

0:23:40 > 0:23:41'It created a stir'

0:23:41 > 0:23:43and that's what made the BBC listen

0:23:43 > 0:23:46when we came up with the scripts for The Young Ones.

0:23:58 > 0:24:02The first time I saw The Young Ones, I couldn't believe my eyes or ears.

0:24:02 > 0:24:05I'd never seen anything with such energy.

0:24:05 > 0:24:09When that came on it was... There was no way you could miss it.

0:24:09 > 0:24:12It was properly anarchic, in the sense that you didn't know

0:24:12 > 0:24:14what was going to happen next.

0:24:16 > 0:24:18There was cartoon violence...

0:24:18 > 0:24:20God! God!

0:24:22 > 0:24:24There were ridiculous characters...

0:24:26 > 0:24:28'And you had moments where'

0:24:28 > 0:24:30it broke the fourth wall and addressed you at home.

0:24:30 > 0:24:33I'm so hungry I could eat my own earwax!

0:24:33 > 0:24:36And we all know how horrid that tastes! Right, kids?

0:24:36 > 0:24:39'It was all of the things that are great about comedy,'

0:24:39 > 0:24:41just spoken in a new voice.

0:24:41 > 0:24:44It felt like punks had wandered into the BBC and accidentally wandered

0:24:44 > 0:24:46into a studio, grabbed the equipment

0:24:46 > 0:24:48and were just thrashing out this show.

0:24:48 > 0:24:51'When the audience saw that, they thought,'

0:24:51 > 0:24:54"We've got to see this, because this shouldn't be on.

0:24:54 > 0:24:55"They shouldn't have allowed that."

0:24:57 > 0:25:01The University Challenge episode of The Young Ones is still probably

0:25:01 > 0:25:07the funniest half hour of British narrative comedy I've ever seen.

0:25:08 > 0:25:13The world record for stuffing marshmallows up one single nostril?

0:25:13 > 0:25:17604, Toxteth O'Grady, USA.

0:25:17 > 0:25:21- Yeah. - The world's stupidest bottom burp?

0:25:21 > 0:25:23Vyvyan, Britain.

0:25:23 > 0:25:25It says Rick, here.

0:25:25 > 0:25:29We were fighting against, in the University Challenge,

0:25:29 > 0:25:34Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Ben Elton.

0:25:34 > 0:25:35The posh team. It's not bad, is it?

0:25:35 > 0:25:37Ade kicked their heads in!

0:25:39 > 0:25:41I'm completely bloody sick of this!

0:25:42 > 0:25:45There was nothing like The Young Ones before on television.

0:25:45 > 0:25:49Has there been anything like it since and should there be? Probably not.

0:25:49 > 0:25:51The world's stupidest bottom burp?

0:25:51 > 0:25:52BUZZER

0:25:52 > 0:25:54Er, Rick, Britain.

0:25:54 > 0:25:56Correct. Five points.

0:25:56 > 0:25:57It is not!

0:25:57 > 0:26:00Who's been tampering with my question cards?

0:26:00 > 0:26:02It was me! It was me!

0:26:02 > 0:26:05- BOOING - Damn, damn!

0:26:08 > 0:26:10Cop a load of this, matey.

0:26:13 > 0:26:16When Rick and Vyvyan graduated from Scumbag College,

0:26:16 > 0:26:18they changed their names to Richie and Eddie,

0:26:18 > 0:26:22got a flat together, and made three series of Bottom.

0:26:23 > 0:26:25Rick and Ade went on to finesse

0:26:25 > 0:26:29that cartoon violence and make it their own.

0:26:29 > 0:26:33It's particular to them and it's just brilliant.

0:26:35 > 0:26:37Argh! Argh!

0:26:41 > 0:26:44Rick and Ade are up there with Laurel and Hardy

0:26:44 > 0:26:47for just being really violent to each other

0:26:47 > 0:26:50and somehow it makes you laugh every time. It makes ME laugh every time.

0:26:52 > 0:26:54ARGH!

0:26:58 > 0:27:00From the alternative camp,

0:27:00 > 0:27:05Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson provided extreme slapstick.

0:27:05 > 0:27:08For comedy politically harder hitting, there was this man.

0:27:08 > 0:27:12In the old days, people used to be named after what they made,

0:27:12 > 0:27:15didn't they? Like Carter, if they made carts.

0:27:15 > 0:27:17Cooper, if they made barrels.

0:27:17 > 0:27:19Thatcher, if they made people SICK!

0:27:21 > 0:27:26Alexei was the godfather, the self-appointed godfather, who remained alternative.

0:27:26 > 0:27:30A conventional comic is a nasty bloke pretending to be nice.

0:27:30 > 0:27:31How are you diddling?

0:27:33 > 0:27:35Well, bloody sod you, then!

0:27:35 > 0:27:39And what we were was nice people pretending to be nasty.

0:27:41 > 0:27:44In central Europe in the late Middle Ages,

0:27:44 > 0:27:48Transylvania cowered under the bloody reign of Vlad The Impaler.

0:27:48 > 0:27:52Why was it that throughout this horrific cataclysm of blood,

0:27:52 > 0:27:54Lambeth Social Services did nothing?

0:27:56 > 0:28:03Obviously, we very much regret what happened in Transylvania in 1306

0:28:03 > 0:28:06- but I don't really see how we could possibly have...- Shut up!

0:28:06 > 0:28:11People often misunderstand it as banging Social Services

0:28:11 > 0:28:14and it's not. It's banging our blame culture.

0:28:14 > 0:28:17Of course, we can't blame social workers for all society...

0:28:17 > 0:28:22'..but this much is true. They're all a bunch of namby-pamby veget...'

0:28:23 > 0:28:29Our next instalment of landmark BBC Two comedy is the spoof chat show.

0:28:31 > 0:28:35While usually confined to warm and cosy chitchat with the stars,

0:28:35 > 0:28:39in the hands of some of BBC Two's funniest comedy creations,

0:28:39 > 0:28:43the celebrity interview is a much more hostile environment.

0:28:43 > 0:28:45- You can- BLEEP- off.

0:28:45 > 0:28:48The great thing about that format is it allows the host to be

0:28:48 > 0:28:52as rude as they like because they're not a real person.

0:28:54 > 0:28:57It's like Prime Minister's Question Time.

0:28:57 > 0:29:00That's just a dream for someone like me. And you!

0:29:00 > 0:29:04'You've got a get-out-of-jail card, basically,'

0:29:04 > 0:29:06because if a joke doesn't work, that's OK,

0:29:06 > 0:29:09because it's Keith saying it and you can make something out of that.

0:29:09 > 0:29:13If you're being a little ruder than you intended, it doesn't matter because it's him.

0:29:13 > 0:29:17Caroline Aherne doing Mrs Merton, I suppose,

0:29:17 > 0:29:20just got it absolutely spot on.

0:29:20 > 0:29:25But what first, Debbie, attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?

0:29:28 > 0:29:31Caroline very cleverly designed Mrs Merton

0:29:31 > 0:29:34that she was very much in control.

0:29:34 > 0:29:36She had a specially invited audience

0:29:36 > 0:29:39and it was her and them against this poor guest.

0:29:39 > 0:29:44I once saw David Copperfield and he made the Statue of Liberty disappear

0:29:44 > 0:29:48and I've seen your Paul do the same thing with the eight of clubs.

0:29:48 > 0:29:50It's Caroline's warmth.

0:29:50 > 0:29:53She had that lovely, populist touch

0:29:53 > 0:29:55and she could be as rude as she liked.

0:29:55 > 0:29:58Were you as surprised as we all were

0:29:58 > 0:30:02when he came from behind and he licked you in the ring?

0:30:02 > 0:30:04Were you surprised?

0:30:08 > 0:30:13- Thank you, thank you. This is my mother.- Oh, Mr Alda!

0:30:13 > 0:30:17It's a great character and she's sort of raunchy. Randy.

0:30:17 > 0:30:22Oh, I'm so happy to meet you. You are my favourite TV doctor.

0:30:22 > 0:30:25Apart from George Clooney and Dick Van Dyke, of course.

0:30:25 > 0:30:30The moment they came through the front door was the first time the guest saw the family

0:30:30 > 0:30:33'and that moment when they got confronted by a granny,

0:30:33 > 0:30:37'the look you got on their face was honest and open and genuine.

0:30:37 > 0:30:39'She was a loose cannon.'

0:30:39 > 0:30:42And the guests I don't think ever quite knew how to react to her.

0:30:42 > 0:30:45You've got a very strong nose, haven't you, darling?

0:30:45 > 0:30:47It's quite big, isn't it?

0:30:47 > 0:30:50Is that the result of years of aristocratic inbreeding?

0:30:50 > 0:30:54- Yes! In fact, it is, yes. - All the better to sniff me with, eh?

0:30:54 > 0:30:56'Then Tom Jones arrived.'

0:30:56 > 0:30:59There's this great moment when she bear hugs him

0:30:59 > 0:31:02and just holds him and it's just into awkwardness.

0:31:05 > 0:31:08- Is everything all right? - Oh, I'm fine.

0:31:08 > 0:31:13It's a cross between a written show and a reality show

0:31:13 > 0:31:16and you don't really know what's going to happen.

0:31:16 > 0:31:20When you were little, you lost a beloved pet.

0:31:20 > 0:31:23Tell us about it, but keep it light.

0:31:24 > 0:31:28Sanjeev tries to be as cheeky as he can and so does everybody else.

0:31:28 > 0:31:30He died from eating Chinese food.

0:31:30 > 0:31:32Oh.

0:31:32 > 0:31:3420 minutes later did he want to die again?

0:31:34 > 0:31:36ALAN LAUGHS

0:31:36 > 0:31:38# Knowing me, knowing you... #

0:31:38 > 0:31:40A-ha!

0:31:40 > 0:31:42CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:31:42 > 0:31:45But unlike Mrs Merton, Keith Barret and the Kumars,

0:31:45 > 0:31:50this man wasn't allowed to be near real celebrities on his chat show.

0:31:50 > 0:31:54Every time he comes out, he's thinking, "This week it'll be fine."

0:31:54 > 0:31:59Tonight's show is - tss! - hot.

0:31:59 > 0:32:01"I've put all of last week behind me.

0:32:01 > 0:32:03"This week, nothing can go wrong."

0:32:03 > 0:32:06To some women you can say, "That's a nice dress.

0:32:06 > 0:32:08"Would you like to have dinner?"

0:32:08 > 0:32:11With other women, you've got to keep your distance.

0:32:11 > 0:32:13Best not get involved. Just be pleasant.

0:32:13 > 0:32:17I'm talking about those women who until the last century

0:32:17 > 0:32:19were confined to the island of Lesbos.

0:32:21 > 0:32:26Alan is an appallingly rude man. He's got no social graces at all

0:32:26 > 0:32:31and that's what's brilliant, comedically, because you then know exactly what he's thinking.

0:32:31 > 0:32:34What's it like to be a lesbian?

0:32:34 > 0:32:36You're asking us to sum up the experience

0:32:36 > 0:32:39of millions of women in one media-friendly sound bite.

0:32:39 > 0:32:41If you could?

0:32:43 > 0:32:44Well, I can't.

0:32:44 > 0:32:47You're going to have to, love, if you want to make it as a TV presenter.

0:32:47 > 0:32:51If he was a better broadcaster it would be a very dull show.

0:32:51 > 0:32:53# I'm nothing special

0:32:53 > 0:32:55# In fact I'm a bit of a bore... #

0:32:55 > 0:32:57'I think my favourite is the ABBA medley,'

0:32:57 > 0:33:01possibly because it turns into light entertainment at that point.

0:33:01 > 0:33:04# Take a chance-chance, take a chance

0:33:04 > 0:33:07# Take-take a chance-chance, take-take a chance

0:33:07 > 0:33:09# Take-take a chance-chance, take-take a chance... #

0:33:09 > 0:33:11'Steve has got a very good voice.'

0:33:11 > 0:33:15You can't actually tell because he's doing Alan doing singing

0:33:15 > 0:33:17so I think Armando was quite keen

0:33:17 > 0:33:19to have a bit of show biz brought into the show.

0:33:19 > 0:33:24# ..Without a song or a dance what are we?

0:33:24 > 0:33:26# So I say

0:33:26 > 0:33:29DEEPER VOICE: # Thank you for the music

0:33:29 > 0:33:32# For giving it to me

0:33:32 > 0:33:36# Waterloo-oo-oo

0:33:36 > 0:33:41# Knowing me, knowing yo-o-ou

0:33:41 > 0:33:44BOTH: # A-ha! #

0:33:44 > 0:33:48Alan's chat show only had one series because he shot a guy.

0:33:48 > 0:33:49Be careful with that.

0:33:49 > 0:33:51SCREAMING

0:33:51 > 0:33:53Oh, my God!

0:33:53 > 0:33:55What happens now?

0:33:55 > 0:33:57He then came back three or four years later

0:33:57 > 0:34:01as someone who was born to be on television not on the telly.

0:34:01 > 0:34:03# Put up a parking lot... #

0:34:03 > 0:34:06That was Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell,

0:34:06 > 0:34:08a song in which Joni complains

0:34:08 > 0:34:12that they paved paradise to put up a parking lot,

0:34:12 > 0:34:15a measure which actually would have alleviated traffic congestion

0:34:15 > 0:34:17on the outskirts of paradise,

0:34:17 > 0:34:20something which Joni singularly fails to point out,

0:34:20 > 0:34:22perhaps because it doesn't quite fit in

0:34:22 > 0:34:25with her blinkered view of the world. Nevertheless, nice song.

0:34:25 > 0:34:30It's for 4.35am. You're listening to Up With The Partridge.

0:34:31 > 0:34:34Taking that hopeless character and taking him away

0:34:34 > 0:34:37from his family to live in a motel and then the in a caravan,

0:34:37 > 0:34:39you know, he's a displaced character.

0:34:39 > 0:34:42- So depressing, isn't it?- Aye.

0:34:42 > 0:34:46- Have you ever thought that suicide might be the answer?- Well, sometimes.

0:34:46 > 0:34:49Really? When?

0:34:49 > 0:34:52- When I've seen you looking all depressed and that.- Not me!

0:34:52 > 0:34:54'As a character we've charted his fall'

0:34:54 > 0:34:56and his greater fall, really.

0:34:56 > 0:35:01I was a bit bored so I dismantled my Corby trouser press.

0:35:02 > 0:35:06'From his chat show, which was incredible,'

0:35:06 > 0:35:08to Alan Partridge staying in the Travel Tavern,

0:35:08 > 0:35:11to then living in a caravan doing his house,

0:35:11 > 0:35:13to now, Mid Morning Matters, and the film.

0:35:13 > 0:35:17You've upset half the farmers. You alienate everybody you come across,

0:35:17 > 0:35:21including, I gather, your wife, which is why you live like some bloody tramp in a lay-by.

0:35:21 > 0:35:23It's a Travel Tavern.

0:35:23 > 0:35:26It's so perfect. It's so perfect.

0:35:26 > 0:35:30I feel like I know him better than I know some of my friends.

0:35:30 > 0:35:33You farmers, you don't like outsiders, do you?

0:35:33 > 0:35:37- Like to stick to your own. - What do you mean by that?

0:35:39 > 0:35:44- I've seen the big-eared boys on farms.- For goodness' sake.

0:35:44 > 0:35:46If you see a lovely field with a family having a picnic

0:35:46 > 0:35:49and there's a pond in it, you fill in the pond with concrete,

0:35:49 > 0:35:52you plough the family into the field, you blow up the tree

0:35:52 > 0:35:56and use the leaves to make a dress for your wife who's also your brother.

0:35:57 > 0:36:01You have big sheds but nobody's allowed in

0:36:01 > 0:36:04and inside these big sheds are 20-foot high chickens.

0:36:08 > 0:36:12Our tour through the 50-year history of BBC Two comedy continues

0:36:12 > 0:36:15with the sillier side of the funny business.

0:36:19 > 0:36:23In this section, we look at the men and women who have given us shows

0:36:23 > 0:36:26with a more left-field, surreal twist.

0:36:26 > 0:36:29Good evening, ham sandwich. Bucket and water, plastic rubber fisheries underwear.

0:36:29 > 0:36:33Maximises press-insulating devilment grunting sapphire clubs, incidentally.

0:36:33 > 0:36:38Good surreal comedy makes you laugh without you quite knowing why you're laughing.

0:36:38 > 0:36:42If you could see the expression on their little friendly faces

0:36:42 > 0:36:47as you pull them out of the water, it makes it all worthwhile.

0:36:47 > 0:36:50'Spike Milligan was given a home on BBC Two'

0:36:50 > 0:36:54and it was the only place he could possibly have been.

0:36:54 > 0:36:58Well, the show starts here and it goes like this. Good evening.

0:36:58 > 0:37:00It seems to be going all right so far...

0:37:04 > 0:37:06He's here!

0:37:08 > 0:37:11They shouldn't put chickens on drugs.

0:37:11 > 0:37:13He was a true original, very inventive.

0:37:13 > 0:37:15BELL RINGS

0:37:15 > 0:37:17BELL DONGS

0:37:21 > 0:37:22THUD!

0:37:22 > 0:37:25'I just love the kind of sustained madness of it.'

0:37:25 > 0:37:27CLANGING

0:37:28 > 0:37:31And also the genuine glee

0:37:31 > 0:37:34with which he seemed to be carrying out these sketches.

0:37:34 > 0:37:38Almost to the point of, "I can't believe I'm getting away with this."

0:37:38 > 0:37:40Sir, you're standing on my hole.

0:37:40 > 0:37:44- You must be a funny shape. - That's why I wear a mask.

0:37:45 > 0:37:47Who's a-sayin' so?

0:37:47 > 0:37:49Matt Dillon, Marshal of Dodge City,

0:37:49 > 0:37:52Royal And Ancient Country Club. No Jews.

0:37:52 > 0:37:55I'm giving you five minutes to get your balls off my green.

0:37:55 > 0:37:57'All the labels'

0:37:57 > 0:37:58from the wardrobe department,

0:37:58 > 0:38:02because normally if a label is spotted on a costume,

0:38:02 > 0:38:04that's somebody fired, and Spike loved the idea

0:38:04 > 0:38:08so everybody had labels on them as soon as they came on.

0:38:08 > 0:38:11I think everyone remembers fondly how much he would crack up

0:38:11 > 0:38:13whilst he was still doing a sketch.

0:38:16 > 0:38:20It's something that ever since we've always happily left in shows

0:38:20 > 0:38:24because we remember the joy it used to give us seeing Spike genuinely laughing.

0:38:24 > 0:38:26Do you...?

0:38:26 > 0:38:29Do you look like ein police?

0:38:29 > 0:38:32No. I look like Winston Churchill.

0:38:32 > 0:38:34Argh!

0:38:34 > 0:38:36'When we were writing Python,'

0:38:36 > 0:38:39Q5 came up and we thought, "Oh, no, he's done everything!"

0:38:39 > 0:38:41He was moving scenery, segueing into another sketch.

0:38:41 > 0:38:43"Oh, no! The bastard!"

0:38:43 > 0:38:48He didn't have a beginning, a middle and an end to a sketch.

0:38:48 > 0:38:50He just went on from one sketch to another.

0:38:50 > 0:38:53Oh, he's going to send him off.

0:38:53 > 0:38:57And good heavens, there's an elephant on the pitch.

0:39:00 > 0:39:02- ALL:- What are we going to do now?

0:39:02 > 0:39:09I adopted that idea and I rang Mike up and Terry Gilliam up

0:39:09 > 0:39:12and said, "We should do what Spike's doing."

0:39:14 > 0:39:16- And now...- It's...

0:39:19 > 0:39:24But surprisingly, Monty Python was on BBC One, not BBC Two.

0:39:24 > 0:39:27Was it BBC One? Oh, good Lord.

0:39:27 > 0:39:31Honestly, hand on heart, to me, it's a BBC Two show.

0:39:31 > 0:39:34I bet most people, including me, until I came here,

0:39:34 > 0:39:36would think Python was on BBC Two.

0:39:36 > 0:39:42BBC Two was always alternative and a little bit different

0:39:42 > 0:39:48so I think that's probably why people think it was that.

0:39:48 > 0:39:50While Monty Python wasn't originally a BBC Two show,

0:39:50 > 0:39:54everything they did immediately after was.

0:39:54 > 0:39:59I had all this material and all these ideas that had been held back a little

0:39:59 > 0:40:01in the general trades union bargaining of Python.

0:40:01 > 0:40:06And John Cleese had said Rutland Weekend Television once

0:40:06 > 0:40:11and I'd laughed and gave him a pound for that title, which he took, of course, being John!

0:40:11 > 0:40:15And so I liked the concept of doing a TV station.

0:40:15 > 0:40:17RUNNING WATER

0:40:17 > 0:40:18Cue.

0:40:18 > 0:40:22'So we made a TV show live from Rutland.'

0:40:23 > 0:40:27What they would do if they had a TV station.

0:40:27 > 0:40:29But now here's Joe

0:40:29 > 0:40:31with a new way to cook eggs.

0:40:31 > 0:40:34Capture a dozen eggs.

0:40:34 > 0:40:37When you've captured them, take them outside and shoot them.

0:40:37 > 0:40:39Rutland Weekend Television, we all cheered.

0:40:39 > 0:40:43"Hurrah! Python is dead but long live not-quite-Python."

0:40:43 > 0:40:45But I can't remember any of it.

0:40:45 > 0:40:49We suspected, of course, at first, that we were suffering from hippies.

0:40:49 > 0:40:50So, what did you do?

0:40:50 > 0:40:54We put flame-throwers in and my husband laid rat poison.

0:40:54 > 0:40:57The real joke was that Rutland, being a tiny little county,

0:40:57 > 0:41:01had drama but it was like War And Peace done by four people on location, you know?

0:41:01 > 0:41:05- I just wound him, Ke-mo sah-bee. - Fine, Tonto.

0:41:05 > 0:41:07SHE GROANS

0:41:09 > 0:41:10Oh, dear, missed.

0:41:10 > 0:41:15It definitely had its own particular character, Rutland Weekend,

0:41:15 > 0:41:19and, of course, the special he made about the Beatles,

0:41:19 > 0:41:21the Rutles, I thought was superb.

0:41:23 > 0:41:25BEATLES-STYLE SINGING

0:41:27 > 0:41:31'Neil Innes sent me a song and I thought it was so Beatles-y

0:41:31 > 0:41:33'I wrote this joke about the interviewer.'

0:41:33 > 0:41:35I wrote about what he's doing about.

0:41:35 > 0:41:38"The Rutles came from... Dirk, Nasty, Stig, from these streets."

0:41:38 > 0:41:42From these streets, very close to the Cavern Rutland,

0:41:42 > 0:41:46came the fabulous Rutland sound created by the Fab Four,

0:41:46 > 0:41:48Dirk, Nasty, Stig and Barry,

0:41:48 > 0:41:52who have created a musical legend that will last a lunchtime.

0:41:53 > 0:41:58Graham Chapman had a one-off sketch show in 1976 called Out Of The Trees.

0:41:58 > 0:42:00- What's this, then?- A peony.

0:42:00 > 0:42:02But as the title suggests, it proved to be

0:42:02 > 0:42:05a little too weird even for Python fans.

0:42:05 > 0:42:08- Send for reinforcements.- There's been a peony severance in Southwood Lane.

0:42:08 > 0:42:10BELL RINGS

0:42:15 > 0:42:19- They have severed the peony! - They have severed the peony!

0:42:21 > 0:42:25John Cleese knocked out a couple of series of this.

0:42:25 > 0:42:27More of Watery Fowls later in the show.

0:42:29 > 0:42:31But continuing the post-Python BBC Two run

0:42:31 > 0:42:35were Michael Palin and Terry Jones, who created Ripping Yarns.

0:42:39 > 0:42:43The thing about Ripping Yarns was that they were different stories,

0:42:43 > 0:42:45each week completely different stories

0:42:45 > 0:42:48with, apart from me, a completely different cast.

0:42:48 > 0:42:50As soon as I raised an interesting topic,

0:42:50 > 0:42:54me mum would always find something else to do or she'd be too busy.

0:42:54 > 0:42:56It was the same with me dad.

0:42:56 > 0:42:59He'd pretend to be French when he came in,

0:42:59 > 0:43:00hoping I wouldn't talk to him.

0:43:00 > 0:43:04Ah, quelle journee au bas de la terre!

0:43:04 > 0:43:07'Mike and I wrote Ripping Yarns.'

0:43:07 > 0:43:11I read through all the scripts today

0:43:11 > 0:43:15and I was surprised how funny they are, really.

0:43:15 > 0:43:19I was...really surprised.

0:43:19 > 0:43:22Guess who's got a new shovel then?

0:43:22 > 0:43:24Oh, shut up, you boring little tit!

0:43:24 > 0:43:28I think the opening of Tomkinson's Schooldays

0:43:28 > 0:43:31is pretty good in terms of just gags.

0:43:32 > 0:43:34There was also the compulsory fight

0:43:34 > 0:43:37with the grizzly bear which all new boys had to go through.

0:43:37 > 0:43:39COMMOTION

0:43:39 > 0:43:42It's great that people are still interested, want to see them again,

0:43:42 > 0:43:44remember them with great affection,

0:43:44 > 0:43:46'because they were made with affection, really.'

0:43:46 > 0:43:48What is that, Tomkinson?

0:43:50 > 0:43:52It's a model icebreaker, sir.

0:43:52 > 0:43:55It was lovely to develop that range of characters

0:43:55 > 0:43:59and for people to remember Eric Olthwaite and Golden Gordon as though they were just still around.

0:44:01 > 0:44:02SMASHING CROCKERY

0:44:02 > 0:44:048-1.

0:44:04 > 0:44:068-bloody-1!

0:44:08 > 0:44:11'In fact, there are, I think, six Barnstoneworth United'

0:44:11 > 0:44:14football teams still working somewhere in the world.

0:44:14 > 0:44:16That's good enough for me.

0:44:16 > 0:44:18STEAM HISSES

0:44:18 > 0:44:20- And now for something completely... - Push off.

0:44:22 > 0:44:23Kids' programme!

0:44:23 > 0:44:26Contemporaries of Python, equally surreal,

0:44:26 > 0:44:29but unfairly considered to be more for kids than adults,

0:44:29 > 0:44:32were Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie.

0:44:32 > 0:44:34# Goodies

0:44:34 > 0:44:38# Goodie-goodie-yum-yum. #

0:44:38 > 0:44:39Boom.

0:44:39 > 0:44:42It was a shaggy-dog story where there were three blokes,

0:44:42 > 0:44:44you didn't know what was going to happen.

0:44:52 > 0:44:55They'd do all the studio stuff with the exposition

0:44:55 > 0:44:59and then cut to a load of Marx Brothers jokes.

0:45:01 > 0:45:03Ting!

0:45:06 > 0:45:08'Really, the big-selling point'

0:45:08 > 0:45:11was the fact that it was so visual and so big.

0:45:11 > 0:45:14You know, it was a pretty grand scale.

0:45:14 > 0:45:17Money was on the screen, there was no doubt about that.

0:45:17 > 0:45:18It wasn't on us!

0:45:18 > 0:45:22This is day two of Twinkle's occupation of the city of London.

0:45:28 > 0:45:31- We had to price jokes.- Yes, we did!

0:45:31 > 0:45:34Whacking great table and they would say,

0:45:34 > 0:45:39"Well, you can have two £10 ones or one £20 one."

0:45:39 > 0:45:42And we would have to make a decision like that.

0:45:43 > 0:45:46Sometimes we watched it and thought, "Gosh, that really isn't very good."

0:45:46 > 0:45:49But it was a lot better than anything else that had gone before.

0:45:49 > 0:45:51BEEP-BEEP

0:45:51 > 0:45:53# We're the Goodies!

0:45:53 > 0:45:56# Yes, the Goodies! #

0:45:56 > 0:46:00There were people who decided there was a sort of Python-Goodies battle

0:46:00 > 0:46:05and, if you were a Python person, you were really clever,

0:46:05 > 0:46:09and if you were Goodies person, you were just a child.

0:46:11 > 0:46:15- Yes, where are they now? - Anyone booked the O2 for us yet?

0:46:20 > 0:46:22Moving into more recent times,

0:46:22 > 0:46:27one surreal BBC Two show certainly NOT suitable for kids was Big Train.

0:46:28 > 0:46:30Where are my Batman pants?!

0:46:32 > 0:46:35I've got this and this, and I'm just going to push them together.

0:46:41 > 0:46:43# Big train. #

0:46:43 > 0:46:46Fight! Fight! COMMOTION

0:46:50 > 0:46:52- QUACKING - Oi. What's going on here?

0:46:56 > 0:46:58HE BARKS

0:46:58 > 0:46:59GUNSHOTS

0:47:01 > 0:47:04It had a very kind of BBC Two sensibility.

0:47:04 > 0:47:07Quirky, weird, surreal comedy that somehow,

0:47:07 > 0:47:10because it's quite authentically filmed, you buy.

0:47:16 > 0:47:19'Because they prefer the weeds of the plain,

0:47:19 > 0:47:22'the jockeys spend long periods in the open,

0:47:22 > 0:47:24'risking attack from hunters

0:47:24 > 0:47:28'like the artist formerly known as Prince.'

0:47:29 > 0:47:31It was just bonkers,

0:47:31 > 0:47:36but with a cast of fantastic comedy performers.

0:47:36 > 0:47:39Catherine Tate and Julia Davis,

0:47:39 > 0:47:43Simon Pegg and Mark Heap, and the amazing Kevin Eldon.

0:47:43 > 0:47:47- Right, you. I want a word with you.- What?- You!

0:47:47 > 0:47:52- What?- Now! A word. Come on.

0:47:52 > 0:47:53We played it really, really straight

0:47:53 > 0:47:56so, no matter how odd the situation was,

0:47:56 > 0:48:01the unspoken rules were no gurning, no comedy acting.

0:48:01 > 0:48:04We really did keep it really low and naturalistic.

0:48:04 > 0:48:08It's been coming a long time, really. Just a bit of a blow-up.

0:48:08 > 0:48:11Told him what I thought. He gave me the sack.

0:48:13 > 0:48:16But there's one partnership which has been delivering

0:48:16 > 0:48:20its own unique comedy on BBC Two for over 20 years.

0:48:20 > 0:48:22Reeves and Mortimer!

0:48:22 > 0:48:25CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:48:27 > 0:48:31When we first went to the BBC, we were called into Jim Moir's office,

0:48:31 > 0:48:34who was the boss at the BBC, and he sat us down and said,

0:48:34 > 0:48:39"See those slippers there? They're Ronnie Corbett's. They could be yours."

0:48:40 > 0:48:43# I love the smell of freshly pickled and bottled Mortimer

0:48:43 > 0:48:46# So, come on, let's have a look at it

0:48:46 > 0:48:49# Come along now, let's have a sniff at it

0:48:49 > 0:48:52# Come along now, let's have a little bit more! #

0:48:52 > 0:48:58What they thought was normal was not what anyone else thought was normal.

0:48:58 > 0:49:01Are you brutally pounding that man in the face

0:49:01 > 0:49:03- with an iron pan?- Yes.- Are you aware

0:49:03 > 0:49:07- that such behaviour could lead to permanent damage?- No.

0:49:07 > 0:49:12Well, it can. Just look at the state of that pan. It's ruined!

0:49:14 > 0:49:18Mulligan and O'Hare doing some avant-garde music

0:49:18 > 0:49:20was the way forward for comedy.

0:49:22 > 0:49:25Often with our characters we'd find a look and think,

0:49:25 > 0:49:28"What would this person be like?"

0:49:28 > 0:49:30I think we wanted...

0:49:30 > 0:49:32You know that way... # That people sing?

0:49:32 > 0:49:35# I am me, and you are you. #

0:49:35 > 0:49:37I call it "gladiatorial".

0:49:37 > 0:49:40I think it's how gladiators would sing.

0:49:40 > 0:49:43# But somebody obscures my view of you

0:49:43 > 0:49:45# Really? Who?

0:49:45 > 0:49:46# Gerard Depardieu!

0:49:46 > 0:49:48# Oh, dearie me

0:49:48 > 0:49:51# I'm going to be stabbed to death! #

0:49:52 > 0:49:56We used to interview people as Donald and Davey Stott.

0:49:56 > 0:49:58# We ask the questions

0:49:58 > 0:49:59# We ask the questions

0:49:59 > 0:50:00# We ask the questions... #

0:50:00 > 0:50:04- We had Sting on who ran away with your suit.- Nicked my suit.

0:50:04 > 0:50:06Thank you, Sting(!)

0:50:06 > 0:50:10Now, Sting, if you've got an itchy bottom at night, right?

0:50:10 > 0:50:13Would you rub it on your wife's chin?

0:50:13 > 0:50:18Would you put your bottom out of the window to blow it off with the breeze?

0:50:18 > 0:50:21Or would you pick at it with your fingers?

0:50:22 > 0:50:26One of our small successes has been creating that atmosphere

0:50:26 > 0:50:29where people kind of believe we're making it up

0:50:29 > 0:50:31and that we're finding it funny as well.

0:50:31 > 0:50:34It's two people mucking about on a grand scale

0:50:34 > 0:50:39and in a way that has been rehearsed down to the last full stop.

0:50:39 > 0:50:41Did you let off a little tommy squeaker?

0:50:45 > 0:50:47I generally do when I throw something.

0:50:47 > 0:50:49'That being said,'

0:50:49 > 0:50:52Vic and Bob did then become quite lazy,

0:50:52 > 0:50:55which was one of the reasons they liked doing Shooting Stars

0:50:55 > 0:50:58because they didn't have to write very much script for that!

0:50:58 > 0:51:04Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the celebrity TV quiz Shooting Stars!

0:51:06 > 0:51:09It was very much a comedy show, not a panel show.

0:51:09 > 0:51:13There were very limited contributions from the guests.

0:51:13 > 0:51:17The entertainment came out of watching these people sitting there thinking,

0:51:17 > 0:51:19"What is this? What am I doing here?"

0:51:19 > 0:51:21- You know what I mean? - Harry Lagman.- Yes.

0:51:22 > 0:51:26Imagine that, lag-man. A lagging specialist from Dallas.

0:51:27 > 0:51:30They used to think, "Oh, I don't want to go in there

0:51:30 > 0:51:34"because you'll play an awful trick on us." And we did.

0:51:35 > 0:51:38- Larry? Larry, are you all right? - Yes, thank you.

0:51:43 > 0:51:45Look, it's a parsnip.

0:51:57 > 0:51:59I remember wondering if we'd crossed the line

0:51:59 > 0:52:04when we had Lisa Stansfield with celery stuck in her arse.

0:52:04 > 0:52:09I'm just inserting celery, Lisa. If you could clench.

0:52:09 > 0:52:12That's it. We're off. Here we go. She's gone for the hummus.

0:52:12 > 0:52:16And then, presenting it to a dog to lick it off!

0:52:19 > 0:52:21Do you think we crossed the line, then?

0:52:21 > 0:52:23I think, maybe, that's the one! That's the one!

0:52:30 > 0:52:34And now a look at the cream of US comedy.

0:52:34 > 0:52:38Some of the funniest American shows ever made have been on BBC Two,

0:52:38 > 0:52:41but with over 250 episodes,

0:52:41 > 0:52:45this is the channel's longest-running sitcom of all time.

0:52:54 > 0:52:58For me, M*A*S*H is simply one of the greatest programmes

0:52:58 > 0:53:00ever made in the history of television.

0:53:00 > 0:53:02A lot of it was down to casting,

0:53:02 > 0:53:05and particularly Alan Alda who played Hawkeye.

0:53:07 > 0:53:09I don't think I should be here, Hawkeye.

0:53:09 > 0:53:12War's a dirty business, Lieutenant, none of us should be here.

0:53:12 > 0:53:15- I mean in your tent. - My tent's a dirty business, too,

0:53:15 > 0:53:17but much more fun than the war.

0:53:17 > 0:53:23'One of the things we were aware of was that it was played on BBC'

0:53:23 > 0:53:27without a laugh track, which we all really loved.

0:53:27 > 0:53:33It always seemed so stupid to be in a tent

0:53:33 > 0:53:37with people laughing. Where were they?

0:53:37 > 0:53:40- What are you doing here? - I have a stethoscope fetish.

0:53:40 > 0:53:44This is the only place I can wear one without attracting attention.

0:53:44 > 0:53:46It's amazing how the British people know when to laugh

0:53:46 > 0:53:48and the Americans don't!

0:53:48 > 0:53:50They need a signal.

0:53:50 > 0:53:54"Ha-ha! Hear them laughing. It must be time for me."

0:53:54 > 0:53:57The one thing that they always managed to do

0:53:57 > 0:53:59was they earned their funny lines

0:53:59 > 0:54:05by not letting us forget that war is fundamentally frightening,

0:54:05 > 0:54:08terrifying and obscene.

0:54:08 > 0:54:13Don't reach for your appendix, kid, it's gone. How do you feel?

0:54:13 > 0:54:15Ready to go out and kill me some more gooks, sir.

0:54:15 > 0:54:18Wendell, another word for "gooks" is "people".

0:54:18 > 0:54:20With M*A*S*H...

0:54:20 > 0:54:25I saw that comedy could be serious as well, you know?

0:54:25 > 0:54:31You love these characters and they drop these little philosophy bombs.

0:54:31 > 0:54:35We were trying to do stories about real people

0:54:35 > 0:54:37that were usually funny

0:54:37 > 0:54:41but we were free to tell serious stories as well.

0:54:41 > 0:54:45- I'm a Marine. We're the best. - I'm a coward. We're the worst.

0:54:45 > 0:54:49Every one of M*A*S*H's 252 episodes was shown on BBC Two

0:54:49 > 0:54:52including the final two-hour special

0:54:52 > 0:54:56which, in America, over 125 million people tuned in to watch,

0:54:56 > 0:55:01and in typical M*A*S*H style, it delivered more than just laughter.

0:55:01 > 0:55:06The idea was it would be interesting to send everybody home from this war

0:55:06 > 0:55:09wounded in some way.

0:55:09 > 0:55:12Winchester loses music.

0:55:13 > 0:55:16Mulcahy, the priest, lost his hearing.

0:55:16 > 0:55:19HORN HONKS Hey, wake up, will you?

0:55:19 > 0:55:21Hawkeye went crazy for a while.

0:55:21 > 0:55:25Hawkeye has a breakdown when a squawking chicken is killed

0:55:25 > 0:55:28to stop the enemy from finding their hiding place

0:55:28 > 0:55:31but he has problems recalling what actually happened.

0:55:31 > 0:55:34Keep that damn chicken quiet!

0:55:34 > 0:55:37- What happened next?- She killed it.

0:55:37 > 0:55:38She killed it!

0:55:38 > 0:55:40She killed the chicken?

0:55:45 > 0:55:47Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

0:55:49 > 0:55:51Hawkeye felt responsible.

0:55:51 > 0:55:53What he remembered was the death of a chicken

0:55:53 > 0:55:56because he couldn't tolerate the fact

0:55:56 > 0:55:59that he'd been party to the death of a baby.

0:56:00 > 0:56:03And when it finally came to his consciousness,

0:56:03 > 0:56:04it was devastating for him.

0:56:04 > 0:56:08That programme has made me reflect,

0:56:08 > 0:56:12it's made me roll around on the floor laughing, and it's made me weep.

0:56:12 > 0:56:18To do that in 27-28 minutes of TV time, is no mean feat.

0:56:18 > 0:56:20And then to do it over 11 seasons...

0:56:23 > 0:56:28What was nice about that last shot was that at the end

0:56:28 > 0:56:32"goodbye" is spelled out in big letters made of rocks.

0:56:35 > 0:56:36It was goodbye to a lot of stuff.

0:56:36 > 0:56:40It was goodbye to the experience of doing the show,

0:56:40 > 0:56:46which was the greatest theatrical experience probably any of us

0:56:46 > 0:56:52had in our lives up until then, and in many ways, even after.

0:56:54 > 0:56:56Coming up at the end of the show,

0:56:56 > 0:56:59we'll be showing you the best of British sitcoms.

0:56:59 > 0:57:00Go and get the guitar.

0:57:04 > 0:57:08But now, on BBC Two, it's time to get a little satirical.

0:57:10 > 0:57:11Welcome.

0:57:15 > 0:57:18Satire is basically pointing a big finger

0:57:18 > 0:57:21at a social situation or an accepted political norm

0:57:21 > 0:57:24and saying in a loud, confident voice,

0:57:24 > 0:57:26"This is nuts!"

0:57:26 > 0:57:29- The history books now will have to be rewritten.- What will they say?

0:57:29 > 0:57:32They'll quite simply say, "John Major punched the Queen."

0:57:32 > 0:57:34Everything else will be a footnote.

0:57:34 > 0:57:36Good satire, I think, when you watch it,

0:57:36 > 0:57:38makes you breathe a sigh of relief and you think,

0:57:38 > 0:57:41"Someone else is seeing the world like that!"

0:57:41 > 0:57:44What the best satire does is to make you laugh

0:57:44 > 0:57:46and then make you think again.

0:57:46 > 0:57:48Well, Opposition's about asking awkward questions.

0:57:48 > 0:57:50And Government is about not answering them.

0:57:50 > 0:57:55Satire, in its purest sense, is something that has

0:57:55 > 0:57:57an approach or an attitude.

0:57:57 > 0:58:00There's something distinctive about how it analyses

0:58:00 > 0:58:01what on earth's going on.

0:58:01 > 0:58:05- Can you sum it up in a word? - No.- A sound?- Wah-ahh.

0:58:05 > 0:58:07Basically, it's a more vital social function

0:58:07 > 0:58:10than firefighting or nursing,

0:58:10 > 0:58:13by a factor of about 50.

0:58:15 > 0:58:18When the channel began broadcasting in 1964,

0:58:18 > 0:58:22Britain was in the midst of the modern satire boom.

0:58:22 > 0:58:24I think Beyond The Fringe

0:58:24 > 0:58:27is where the modern satirical wave starts.

0:58:29 > 0:58:32Beyond The Fringe joined together the most talented Oxford Revue

0:58:32 > 0:58:36performers with the cream of Cambridge Footlights.

0:58:36 > 0:58:39From Oxford came Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore.

0:58:39 > 0:58:43And from Cambridge, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook.

0:58:43 > 0:58:46Peter Cook said, "This is the best thing I ever wrote."

0:58:46 > 0:58:49You know, he was 24 or 25, something like that,

0:58:49 > 0:58:53but he knew it, and the material in it is fantastically good.

0:58:53 > 0:58:56And while Beyond The Fringe had been running in the West End

0:58:56 > 0:58:58and on Broadway for several years,

0:58:58 > 0:59:03it was BBC Two which broadcast the show for the first time in 1964.

0:59:03 > 0:59:07However, we have here with us in the studio this evening

0:59:07 > 0:59:10the Deputy Head of New Scotland Yard, Sir Arthur Gappy.

0:59:10 > 0:59:11Good evening.

0:59:11 > 0:59:13The Great Train Robbery is a fabulous sketch,

0:59:13 > 0:59:15which sends up, really, the way the police operate.

0:59:15 > 0:59:17You could run that sketch now!

0:59:17 > 0:59:19So, you feel that thieves are responsible?

0:59:19 > 0:59:23Good heavens, no. I feel that thieves are totally irresponsible.

0:59:25 > 0:59:27Ghastly people who go around snatching your money.

0:59:27 > 0:59:31They were brilliantly sending up their own world.

0:59:31 > 0:59:36It was the establishment taking itself on from the inside,

0:59:36 > 0:59:38which is sort of what British satire does.

0:59:38 > 0:59:41Jonathan Miller and myself come from good families

0:59:41 > 0:59:43and have had the benefits of a public school education,

0:59:43 > 0:59:46whereas the other two members of the cast have worked their way up

0:59:46 > 0:59:48from working-class origins.

0:59:48 > 0:59:51Yet Jonathan and I are working together with them in the show,

0:59:51 > 0:59:53treating them as equals.

0:59:54 > 0:59:56I suppose we are working class.

0:59:56 > 0:59:59I wonder how many of these people have realised that

0:59:59 > 1:00:00Jonathan Miller's a Jew.

1:00:00 > 1:00:04In fact I'm not really a Jew, just Jew-ish - not the whole hog.

1:00:04 > 1:00:06But just think of the awful situation

1:00:06 > 1:00:08if you were working class AND a Jew.

1:00:10 > 1:00:13There's always somebody worse off than yourself.

1:00:13 > 1:00:16'And that set the tone for all writers and performers.

1:00:16 > 1:00:18'I mean, they want to be Beyond The Fringe.

1:00:18 > 1:00:21'I don't want to make it sound too earnest because, you know,'

1:00:21 > 1:00:23Beyond The Fringe was, above all else,

1:00:23 > 1:00:25incredibly funny and often very silly.

1:00:25 > 1:00:28The one-legged Tarzan sketch -

1:00:28 > 1:00:32Pete and Dud at their most surreal.

1:00:32 > 1:00:34Your right leg, I like.

1:00:37 > 1:00:38I like your right leg.

1:00:38 > 1:00:40It's a lovely leg for the role.

1:00:40 > 1:00:42A lovely leg for the role.

1:00:42 > 1:00:44I've got nothing against your right leg.

1:00:44 > 1:00:46The trouble is, neither have you.

1:00:48 > 1:00:52I always feel that satire goes in waves.

1:00:52 > 1:00:54The '80s - it was Thatcherism,

1:00:54 > 1:00:57it was a polarised political system,

1:00:57 > 1:00:59and satire came back.

1:00:59 > 1:01:03Somebody very senior in the BBC, in 1979, I think, went to the

1:01:03 > 1:01:07Light Entertainment department and said, "The last time we did anything

1:01:07 > 1:01:10"really ground-breaking was Monty Python, which was ten years ago.

1:01:10 > 1:01:12"Where are the new kids on the block?"

1:01:14 > 1:01:15BELCH!

1:01:15 > 1:01:19What Not The Nine O'Clock News did is it didn't take

1:01:19 > 1:01:21politics on head-on.

1:01:21 > 1:01:25It did sketches about police racism, for example.

1:01:25 > 1:01:28Savage, why do you keep arresting this man?

1:01:29 > 1:01:31He's a villain, sir.

1:01:31 > 1:01:33- A villain.- And a jail bird, sir.

1:01:33 > 1:01:37I know he's a jail bird, Savage! He's down in the cells now!

1:01:37 > 1:01:40We're holding him on a charge of possession

1:01:40 > 1:01:42of curly, black hair and thick lips.

1:01:44 > 1:01:45Television, particularly in comedy,

1:01:45 > 1:01:49had started lagging behind what was actually going on in the world.

1:01:49 > 1:01:52The basic idea behind Not The Nine O'Clock News

1:01:52 > 1:01:54was it had this instant "oomph",

1:01:54 > 1:01:56like this is...this feels real,

1:01:56 > 1:01:59it feels absolutely contemporary

1:01:59 > 1:02:02and a little bit dangerous.

1:02:02 > 1:02:05Conservatives are back in power.

1:02:05 > 1:02:06APPLAUSE

1:02:06 > 1:02:10Now, a lot of immigrants are Indians and Pakistanis,

1:02:10 > 1:02:11for instance, and...

1:02:11 > 1:02:15I LIKE curry, I do...

1:02:15 > 1:02:19But now that we've got the recipes...

1:02:22 > 1:02:26..is there really any need for them to stay?

1:02:27 > 1:02:29Originally to be called Sacred Cows,

1:02:29 > 1:02:32Not The Nine O'Clock News's targets

1:02:32 > 1:02:34were not just politicians and newsreaders.

1:02:34 > 1:02:36I love The Two Ronnies.

1:02:36 > 1:02:39I have always thought it's one of the best programmes on telly.

1:02:39 > 1:02:41But it portrayed a world

1:02:41 > 1:02:46that neither I nor any of the cast recognised.

1:02:46 > 1:02:49Good evening. It's wonderful to be with you again, isn't it, Ronnie?

1:02:49 > 1:02:51No. It's a bleeding pain in the arse, frankly,

1:02:51 > 1:02:54but in a packed programme tonight, you'll be reassured to know

1:02:54 > 1:02:56we'll be using exactly the same sort of material...

1:02:56 > 1:02:57..as we've used for the last 20 years.

1:02:57 > 1:03:01I got a letter saying, you know, "Not The Nine O'Clock News often

1:03:01 > 1:03:03"goes too far, but it's absolutely disgraceful

1:03:03 > 1:03:05"when it comes to making fun of The Two Ronnies.

1:03:05 > 1:03:08"The Prime Minister's fine, the Queen Mother, absolutely,

1:03:08 > 1:03:10"but The Two Ronnies? What are you thinking of?"

1:03:10 > 1:03:13# Spent all day just crawling through the grass

1:03:13 > 1:03:16# Thistles in me hair and bracken up my... #

1:03:16 > 1:03:18After four series, Not The Nine O'Clock News came to an end

1:03:18 > 1:03:24in 1982 and, typically, even their parting shot courted controversy.

1:03:24 > 1:03:27Famously, the cunnilingus song.

1:03:27 > 1:03:29# Goodbye is the hardest word to say

1:03:29 > 1:03:32# So let's just say

1:03:32 > 1:03:35# Kinda lingers... #

1:03:35 > 1:03:37When that went up the line to John Howard Davies,

1:03:37 > 1:03:39the poor man was in agony.

1:03:39 > 1:03:42He said, "John you can't...you just can't do this on television.

1:03:42 > 1:03:44"You cannot do a song called this."

1:03:44 > 1:03:47I said, "It's called Kinda Lingers John. The memory kinda lingers.

1:03:47 > 1:03:48"What's wrong with that?"

1:03:48 > 1:03:50# So, we sing kinda lingers

1:03:50 > 1:03:53# But what's done is done. #

1:03:53 > 1:03:56It went out and we didn't get a single complaint. Extraordinary.

1:04:00 > 1:04:02The particular programmes that always

1:04:02 > 1:04:05get my respect are the ones where you watch them on telly

1:04:05 > 1:04:08and you go out into the street and the world looks different.

1:04:08 > 1:04:12Now, with the rest of today's news, Chris. Thanks. It's eight o'clock.

1:04:12 > 1:04:14This is The Day Today.

1:04:14 > 1:04:16The Day Today comes along and you think,

1:04:16 > 1:04:18"Oh, of course. Current affairs is ludicrous."

1:04:18 > 1:04:21NATO annulled after delegate swallows treaty.

1:04:22 > 1:04:25"I'm so sorry," yells exploding cleaner.

1:04:25 > 1:04:28And bearded cleric in oily chin insertion.

1:04:28 > 1:04:32The Day Today. Because fact into doubt won't go.

1:04:32 > 1:04:34I just wanted to make a sketch show

1:04:34 > 1:04:35that didn't feel like a sketch show.

1:04:35 > 1:04:40So, the best form of reality, you know, we thought, was the news.

1:04:40 > 1:04:42Coming up - new explosive sus laws

1:04:42 > 1:04:45mean any domestic dog is now a potential hazard.

1:04:45 > 1:04:48Although The Day Today was a parody of TV, it was also

1:04:48 > 1:04:50our very first television.

1:04:50 > 1:04:54So, we were learning how to make television in order to work out

1:04:54 > 1:04:57how to pull it apart.

1:04:57 > 1:05:01The four homes exploded in central London without warning.

1:05:01 > 1:05:04For many like Tory whip Peter Goodright,

1:05:04 > 1:05:06the time for calm words is over.

1:05:06 > 1:05:09In my considered opinion, they are...

1:05:09 > 1:05:10EXPLOSION

1:05:10 > 1:05:13Within five minutes of episode one, you're thinking,

1:05:13 > 1:05:15"This is a classic programme."

1:05:15 > 1:05:18It was kind of like being deprogrammed from a cult

1:05:18 > 1:05:23in some way cos it immediately made the news look preposterous.

1:05:23 > 1:05:27Sinn Fein have so far denied they are backing the campaign.

1:05:27 > 1:05:30Earlier today I spoke to their Deputy Leader, Rory O'Connor,

1:05:30 > 1:05:33who, under broadcasting restrictions, must inhale helium

1:05:33 > 1:05:35to subtract credibility from his statements.

1:05:35 > 1:05:40It was just that brilliant thing of taking each aspect of genuine news

1:05:40 > 1:05:45presentation and then just extruding it enough to make it ridiculous.

1:05:46 > 1:05:49HIGH VOICE: Sinn Fein is a legitimate political party.

1:05:49 > 1:05:51Which supports terrorist action!

1:05:51 > 1:05:54Your tone is antagonistic and you're making me very angry.

1:05:54 > 1:05:58There was something about Chris Morris doing The Day Today

1:05:58 > 1:06:02which was very sort of "Essence of Paxman".

1:06:02 > 1:06:05You spoke to him about the technicalities of the deal in German?

1:06:05 > 1:06:09- Yes.- So, what's the German for "30%"?

1:06:09 > 1:06:13- Trenta percenta. - Dreissig prozent.- Yes.

1:06:13 > 1:06:16We thought it might inject an element of soap opera

1:06:16 > 1:06:19into the proceedings if we actually see how

1:06:19 > 1:06:23Christopher Morris interacts with the other correspondents.

1:06:23 > 1:06:24Now, I'm going to ask you a question.

1:06:24 > 1:06:26Did you speak to the German Finance Minister

1:06:26 > 1:06:31- about the new deal this afternoon? - No.- And what was his reaction?

1:06:31 > 1:06:33- I don't know.- Peter, thank you.

1:06:33 > 1:06:37There had come a shift in terms of comedy tone and actually realism

1:06:37 > 1:06:42and naturalism seemed funnier than caricature and exaggeration.

1:06:42 > 1:06:45Preparations for the connubial killing will start at 11am,

1:06:45 > 1:06:48when Charlene Grey will walk down the aisle

1:06:48 > 1:06:50and straight into a sit-down reception.

1:06:50 > 1:06:52I remember it because it was very, very painful

1:06:52 > 1:06:53trying not to laugh during it.

1:06:53 > 1:06:56But when we were doing one of the Barbara Wintergreen segments,

1:06:56 > 1:06:58Steve Coogan was playing a sort of American pastor.

1:06:58 > 1:07:00Did you try to counsel the bride?

1:07:00 > 1:07:03Yes ma'am. She...she's sure pretty.

1:07:03 > 1:07:05And then as the cameras were running up to speed,

1:07:05 > 1:07:08he just suddenly said, "I might do this thing with my eye".

1:07:08 > 1:07:11And he'd... I can't do it, but he did this thing where one eye

1:07:11 > 1:07:13just turned in and I went, "Are you going to do that?"

1:07:13 > 1:07:16And he went, "Yeah. And this with my mouth."

1:07:16 > 1:07:18She gon' die like a dog.

1:07:18 > 1:07:22He just at that minute decided to do it and I just had to try

1:07:22 > 1:07:26and interview him while absolutely falling about laughing, just

1:07:26 > 1:07:29trying to be Barbara Wintergreen and be very professional.

1:07:29 > 1:07:31You may kiss your bride. Clear the area!

1:07:31 > 1:07:35Barbara Wintergreen, CBN News, Milwaukee State Penitentiary.

1:07:35 > 1:07:37It's packaged as a current affairs programme,

1:07:37 > 1:07:41but there were whole sections where it would rip the piss out of soaps.

1:07:41 > 1:07:44Oi! What's going on here?

1:07:44 > 1:07:46- Just a little misunder... - Shut it!

1:07:46 > 1:07:48- Why?- Because.

1:07:48 > 1:07:50Because I'm gay?

1:07:50 > 1:07:53It would just pull apart all soap operas in 15 seconds.

1:07:53 > 1:07:55What about the horse? How's that handling?

1:07:55 > 1:07:57Err, well, he wasn't doing too well...

1:07:57 > 1:07:59And it was the first time this character was

1:07:59 > 1:08:01allowed on our TV screens.

1:08:01 > 1:08:03Well, let me tell you, if you've any more problems with him

1:08:03 > 1:08:06- you can ride me round the paddock. - Thank you.

1:08:06 > 1:08:10I watch news a lot on telly and every now and then I'll watch

1:08:10 > 1:08:12a particular segment and just think,

1:08:12 > 1:08:14"OK, so, either they didn't see

1:08:14 > 1:08:16"The Day Today or they did see it

1:08:16 > 1:08:19"and thought that it was a training video."

1:08:19 > 1:08:21That's The Day Today on the day that Boris Yeltsin told the world

1:08:21 > 1:08:24- how he milked Mrs Thatcher. - ..out of her flabby breasts.

1:08:24 > 1:08:26Good night.

1:08:27 > 1:08:31More recently on BBC Two, the hardest-hitting satirical show

1:08:31 > 1:08:34comes from the underground bunker of Charlie Brooker.

1:08:36 > 1:08:41What Charlie Brooker does is almost a media studies course with jokes.

1:08:41 > 1:08:45Human Pob, and Education Minister Michael Gove has been under attack.

1:08:45 > 1:08:47Critics say he's been giving jobs to his friends,

1:08:47 > 1:08:49which isn't mathematically possible.

1:08:49 > 1:08:51I mean, he's telling you why certain things are happening

1:08:51 > 1:08:55on your screen and how you're ingesting this material

1:08:55 > 1:08:57and then making you laugh at yourself.

1:08:57 > 1:09:00Back home, mechanical Prime Mini-droid David Camera-bot stood in

1:09:00 > 1:09:03the factory that made him to deliver an inspiring message of hope,

1:09:03 > 1:09:05with a slightly distracting glistening chin,

1:09:05 > 1:09:08like he'd just been fellating the devil,

1:09:08 > 1:09:11which I'm legally obliged to assure you, he hadn't.

1:09:11 > 1:09:14I see what I'm doing as just attempting to take a step back

1:09:14 > 1:09:17and go, "This is ridiculous!"

1:09:17 > 1:09:21and react like a quite furiously disappointed viewer...

1:09:21 > 1:09:24- BLACK COUNTRY ACCENT:- That's enough of listening to yow, fook-face.

1:09:24 > 1:09:27..whose experience of the world is coming through this little

1:09:27 > 1:09:30rectangle at him and doesn't know quite how to react

1:09:30 > 1:09:33and has been driven slightly insane by it.

1:09:33 > 1:09:36France, a nation so romantic it's got a type of kissing named after it,

1:09:36 > 1:09:39almost expects its political figures to have mistresses.

1:09:39 > 1:09:41It's practically a tradition.

1:09:41 > 1:09:42De Gaulle was the town bike,

1:09:42 > 1:09:45Jacques Chirac was a filthy slut

1:09:45 > 1:09:47and Francois Mitterrand was famed for filling every woman

1:09:47 > 1:09:50he met with what the French call "'appiness"

1:09:50 > 1:09:51and we call "a penis".

1:09:51 > 1:09:52Look he's going for one now.

1:09:52 > 1:09:55Get your filthy paws off her! That's our queen!

1:09:55 > 1:09:57I think, like a lot of people,

1:09:57 > 1:10:00I felt like I...I felt guilty, like I didn't know enough

1:10:00 > 1:10:01about current affairs,

1:10:01 > 1:10:04like I was slightly bewildered by it - it was a bit confusing.

1:10:04 > 1:10:08And what I discovered, in watching more and more news,

1:10:08 > 1:10:11was that the more news I watched, the less I understood anything!

1:10:11 > 1:10:14That's about all we've got time for this week.

1:10:14 > 1:10:18Until next time - when hopefully you come back - go away.

1:10:18 > 1:10:20You can see fairly clearly

1:10:20 > 1:10:24that line of satire from Beyond The Fringe going all the way through.

1:10:24 > 1:10:26But it does take a sort of extraordinary detour,

1:10:26 > 1:10:29in which you get a satirical sitcom.

1:10:29 > 1:10:32And probably the best satirical sitcom there could have been,

1:10:32 > 1:10:34which is Yes, Minister.

1:10:34 > 1:10:35I hate swivel chairs.

1:10:35 > 1:10:38It used to be said there were two kinds of chairs to go

1:10:38 > 1:10:40with two kinds of minister. One sort folds up instantly,

1:10:40 > 1:10:43the other sort goes round and round in circles.

1:10:45 > 1:10:48It had that impact of a documentary,

1:10:48 > 1:10:52in a way, in that we had no idea how Government worked

1:10:52 > 1:10:55and Yes Minister was the very first

1:10:55 > 1:10:58comprehensive and accurate depiction

1:10:58 > 1:11:00of how the country is run.

1:11:00 > 1:11:02Now, who else is in this department?

1:11:02 > 1:11:05Well, briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under-Secretary of State,

1:11:05 > 1:11:07known as the Permanent Secretary.

1:11:07 > 1:11:09Woolley here's your Principal Private Secretary.

1:11:09 > 1:11:11I, too, have a Principal Private Secretary, and he's

1:11:11 > 1:11:14the Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary.

1:11:14 > 1:11:17Directly responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries,

1:11:17 > 1:11:2187 Under-Secretaries and 219 Assistant Secretaries.

1:11:21 > 1:11:22Do they all type?

1:11:24 > 1:11:27None of us can type, Minister. Mrs McKay types.

1:11:28 > 1:11:30She's the secretary.

1:11:30 > 1:11:33What I think audiences loved about Yes, Minister

1:11:33 > 1:11:36and Yes, Prime Minister was seeing behind the scenes.

1:11:36 > 1:11:38I mean, you know, the writers had been there,

1:11:38 > 1:11:39they knew how this worked,

1:11:39 > 1:11:43so you got a fantastic insight into that machinery.

1:11:43 > 1:11:45And the second thing is the language.

1:11:45 > 1:11:47With Trident, we could obliterate the whole of Eastern Europe!

1:11:47 > 1:11:50I don't want to obliterate all of Eastern Europe.

1:11:50 > 1:11:52- It's a deterrent.- It's a bluff. I probably wouldn't use it.

1:11:52 > 1:11:55- They don't know you probably wouldn't.- They probably do.

1:11:55 > 1:11:56They probably know you probably wouldn't,

1:11:56 > 1:11:58but they can't certainly know!

1:11:58 > 1:12:00They probably certainly know that I probably wouldn't.

1:12:00 > 1:12:03Even though they probably certainly know you probably wouldn't,

1:12:03 > 1:12:06they don't certainly know that, although you probably wouldn't,

1:12:06 > 1:12:08there's no probability that you certainly would!

1:12:08 > 1:12:10Intelligent programming does work.

1:12:10 > 1:12:14You know, people do like a bit of substance.

1:12:14 > 1:12:16So, when this next comes up at Question Time, you want me to tell

1:12:16 > 1:12:19Parliament that it's their fault that the Civil Service is too big?

1:12:19 > 1:12:22- But it's the truth, Minister. - I don't want the truth!

1:12:22 > 1:12:24I want something I can tell Parliament!

1:12:24 > 1:12:28And yet, hugely popular, not just winning BAFTAs every year,

1:12:28 > 1:12:31but one of the top-rated shows on BBC Two.

1:12:31 > 1:12:34While Armando Iannucci's award-winning satire

1:12:34 > 1:12:37The Thick Of It was repeated on BBC Two,

1:12:37 > 1:12:40it was originally shown on a different BBC channel.

1:12:40 > 1:12:42But let's face it,

1:12:42 > 1:12:45you are a fucking waste of skin.

1:12:45 > 1:12:48The Thick Of It started on BBC Four

1:12:48 > 1:12:52and so...will not be discussed in this show,

1:12:52 > 1:12:53apart from just then.

1:12:53 > 1:12:57He's sitting around with his pals. Do you know what they're doing?

1:12:57 > 1:13:00'They're telling very fucking nasty jokes about your family.'

1:13:00 > 1:13:03I know him. We were at LSE together!

1:13:03 > 1:13:06- '..On the fucking donkey's face...' - Oh, well, that's all right, then.

1:13:06 > 1:13:08'..Spare me your fucking psycho-fanny!'

1:13:12 > 1:13:15'And now, as part of our 50th birthday celebration,

1:13:15 > 1:13:18'we're going to take a look at sci-fi comedy

1:13:18 > 1:13:21'and a show set in another time, in another place.'

1:13:22 > 1:13:26This is the story of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

1:13:32 > 1:13:34It was a funny Dr Who, basically.

1:13:34 > 1:13:36Resistance is useless!

1:13:36 > 1:13:40It was completely unpredictable. It had such variety in it.

1:13:40 > 1:13:42There were whole animated sections.

1:13:42 > 1:13:46'The Babel fish is small, yellow, leech-like

1:13:46 > 1:13:48'and probably the oddest thing in the universe.'

1:13:50 > 1:13:53Literally blows up the Earth in episode one.

1:13:53 > 1:13:55So, all bets are off from that point onwards.

1:13:57 > 1:13:59It felt very British.

1:13:59 > 1:14:02It felt very kind of colloquial

1:14:02 > 1:14:05and yet, you know, with huge ideas.

1:14:05 > 1:14:06How would you react if I told you

1:14:06 > 1:14:09that I'm not from Guildford after all,

1:14:09 > 1:14:12but from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse?

1:14:12 > 1:14:13I don't know. Why?

1:14:13 > 1:14:15Do you think it's the sort of thing you're likely to say?

1:14:15 > 1:14:19Just a real playground for your head to run around in.

1:14:19 > 1:14:21- DRONING - What the hell's that?

1:14:21 > 1:14:23DRONING

1:14:23 > 1:14:26We used practically all the budget in the Light Entertainment

1:14:26 > 1:14:29for that particular season, in order to film our six episodes

1:14:29 > 1:14:32of The Hitchhiker's Guide and we thought we were really cutting edge.

1:14:32 > 1:14:36The best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster,

1:14:36 > 1:14:40the effect of which is like having your brain smashed out

1:14:40 > 1:14:42with a slice of lemon,

1:14:42 > 1:14:44wrapped round a large gold brick.

1:14:47 > 1:14:50Peter Jones was indeed the perfect voice for the guide,

1:14:50 > 1:14:54largely because he wasn't altogether sure what he was talking about

1:14:54 > 1:14:56and so he had that rather bemused quality.

1:14:56 > 1:14:59Certainly when he first read the scripts he said,

1:14:59 > 1:15:01"I suppose this makes sense to you."

1:15:01 > 1:15:05The man who invented this mind-pummelling drink also

1:15:05 > 1:15:09invented the wisest remark ever made, which was this,

1:15:09 > 1:15:13"Never drink more than two Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters

1:15:13 > 1:15:17"unless you're a 30-tonne mega elephant with bronchial pneumonia."

1:15:17 > 1:15:20Peter Jones doing the voice of the book was delightful and, you know,

1:15:20 > 1:15:25there are few better characters than Marvin the Paranoid Android.

1:15:25 > 1:15:28Did I say something wrong?

1:15:28 > 1:15:31Pardon me for breathing, which I never do anyway,

1:15:31 > 1:15:33so I don't know why I bother to say it.

1:15:33 > 1:15:36Oh, God, I'm so depressed...!

1:15:36 > 1:15:40To think of a robot that has been constructed by human beings

1:15:40 > 1:15:44who's just slightly paranoid, it's still genius.

1:15:44 > 1:15:46Well, I hope you all have a really miserable time!

1:15:46 > 1:15:48Don't worry, they will...

1:15:48 > 1:15:52People do say that Hitchhiker's tackles the big questions and

1:15:52 > 1:15:56that's why people are so attached to it, but, in fact, it ducks them.

1:15:56 > 1:15:58The answer to the great question...

1:15:58 > 1:16:00Yes.

1:16:00 > 1:16:03..of Life, the Universe and Everything...

1:16:03 > 1:16:04Yes.

1:16:04 > 1:16:06- ..is...- Yes?

1:16:06 > 1:16:08- ..is...- Yes!

1:16:08 > 1:16:1042.

1:16:10 > 1:16:12I mean, it poses the question,

1:16:12 > 1:16:15what's the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything

1:16:15 > 1:16:17and comes up with the answer "42".

1:16:17 > 1:16:19Well, if that satisfies you, that's great.

1:16:20 > 1:16:23It was a tough assignment.

1:16:23 > 1:16:25- BOTH:- 42?!

1:16:25 > 1:16:29It sort of pioneered the way really for science fiction sitcoms

1:16:29 > 1:16:33and, of course, without it, there may have been no Red Dwarf.

1:16:44 > 1:16:48Red Dwarf, essentially, is a huge great mining ship.

1:16:48 > 1:16:51The show is set three million years in the future.

1:16:51 > 1:16:53It's got its own world.

1:16:53 > 1:16:55It's got its special humour.

1:16:55 > 1:16:56It's got its special references.

1:16:56 > 1:16:58He's a sme-e-e-e-eg

1:16:58 > 1:17:01he-e-e-ead!

1:17:01 > 1:17:03The science-fiction element, you know,

1:17:03 > 1:17:05when it works well with the comedy,

1:17:05 > 1:17:08creates a very special "nerdiness", if you like,

1:17:08 > 1:17:10for the fans to really get hold of.

1:17:16 > 1:17:19There's some kind of writing on the floor.

1:17:19 > 1:17:21The poor devil must have scrawled it in his death throes,

1:17:21 > 1:17:24using a combination of his own blood and even his own intestines!

1:17:26 > 1:17:29- Who would do that? - Someone who badly needed a pen.

1:17:30 > 1:17:33It's the combination of the science fiction genre,

1:17:33 > 1:17:39and the comedy, and the characters that blend together to make it that

1:17:39 > 1:17:44little bit more special than just your standard Earthbound comedy.

1:17:44 > 1:17:45IT SHRIEKS

1:17:54 > 1:17:58'You're watching 50 Years of BBC Two Comedy.

1:17:58 > 1:18:01'And now, in our birthday celebration,

1:18:01 > 1:18:03'time for some stand-up.'

1:18:03 > 1:18:06APPLAUSE

1:18:06 > 1:18:08Thank you very much.

1:18:08 > 1:18:09I've never done stand-up comedy,

1:18:09 > 1:18:12but, I imagine, one thing to get over,

1:18:12 > 1:18:16is the slightly artificial nature of one person with a microphone

1:18:16 > 1:18:18while others sit and listen.

1:18:18 > 1:18:20I had a letter from a young lady in Ireland who asked me what

1:18:20 > 1:18:22is a contraceptive?

1:18:25 > 1:18:27All I can say, madam, if you're looking in, a contraceptive

1:18:27 > 1:18:31is something that the English use at every conceivable moment.

1:18:31 > 1:18:33It's almost like a religious thing that, you know?

1:18:33 > 1:18:35That's what Jesus did.

1:18:35 > 1:18:38But... Although he didn't have a microphone.

1:18:38 > 1:18:40I mean, that really would have made the Bible.

1:18:40 > 1:18:42This programme is what the BBC calls a "special".

1:18:42 > 1:18:44That means it's ten minutes longer than usual

1:18:44 > 1:18:45and I've splashed out on a new bra.

1:18:45 > 1:18:49Over the years, BBC Two has given dozens of stand-up comedians

1:18:49 > 1:18:52a chance to reveal their innermost thoughts to the nation.

1:18:52 > 1:18:55I'm hoping that perhaps at last me and my mum will be able to

1:18:55 > 1:18:58communicate properly now that we're both adults.

1:18:58 > 1:19:01So, I'm having a wank in my bedroom with some headphones on

1:19:01 > 1:19:06and my eyes closed and, when I was finished, I opened my eyes

1:19:06 > 1:19:08and there was a cup of tea next to the bed.

1:19:09 > 1:19:13By the very nature of the job, you have a certain confidence.

1:19:13 > 1:19:16ROCK GUITAR TWANGS

1:19:18 > 1:19:20My name's Bill Bailey. I will do comedy for food.

1:19:20 > 1:19:24You have to get up in front of strangers and make them laugh

1:19:24 > 1:19:27on a regular basis and take takes a certain kind of chutzpah.

1:19:27 > 1:19:3120 great didgeridoo rock'n'roll hits!

1:19:33 > 1:19:34Remember this one?

1:19:34 > 1:19:38LOW DIDGERIDOO NOTE

1:19:38 > 1:19:39What about...?

1:19:39 > 1:19:40SAME LOW DIDGERIDOO NOTE

1:19:40 > 1:19:43One of the first to do stand up on BBC Two,

1:19:43 > 1:19:46and a pioneer of character comedy, was Joyce Grenfell.

1:19:46 > 1:19:48Sidney, come out from under the table, will you,

1:19:48 > 1:19:50and come and help me tell our nice story?

1:19:50 > 1:19:52Don't you want to help me, Sidney?

1:19:52 > 1:19:56Well, say, "No, thank you," and stop machine-gunning people.

1:19:58 > 1:20:00She was a one-off, really.

1:20:00 > 1:20:02She had such a brilliant grasp of language

1:20:02 > 1:20:05and, you know, she was very poised and very funny

1:20:05 > 1:20:09and completely skewered that sort of middle-class

1:20:09 > 1:20:11suppressed feelings and emotions.

1:20:11 > 1:20:13George.

1:20:13 > 1:20:15George. Don't do that.

1:20:18 > 1:20:22But not all stand-up in the late '60s and '70s was quite so genteel.

1:20:22 > 1:20:26No, I don't think you understand. I'm one of Castro's men.

1:20:26 > 1:20:28She says, "Oh, you can't be." He says, "How's that?"

1:20:28 > 1:20:31She said, "Cos they've got beards and cigars."

1:20:31 > 1:20:33He lifts his kilt, he says "Secret Service."

1:20:35 > 1:20:38And then there was one regular stand-up on BBC Two

1:20:38 > 1:20:41whom you could argue never really stood up at all.

1:20:42 > 1:20:44Dave's stance was to sit down

1:20:44 > 1:20:47and it's a brave thing to do on stage,

1:20:47 > 1:20:51sitting down, because there's something to be said

1:20:51 > 1:20:54for the domination of the room when you walk around.

1:20:54 > 1:20:56Eschewing that completely and just sitting there,

1:20:56 > 1:20:59playing with the wedding ring and a glass of whisky

1:20:59 > 1:21:02and let you come to him is...is a ballsy act.

1:21:02 > 1:21:04APPLAUSE

1:21:06 > 1:21:07Cheers.

1:21:10 > 1:21:11Cheers.

1:21:13 > 1:21:15Cos he was so cool, he was slightly frightening.

1:21:15 > 1:21:17There was an edge to it that I hadn't seen before.

1:21:17 > 1:21:18Not in a comedian. Comedians weren't edgy.

1:21:18 > 1:21:21They were, "Hey, we're a clown. Hello, hello!"

1:21:21 > 1:21:22There was something almost threatening.

1:21:22 > 1:21:25The first funeral I ever went to, and believe me, this is true,

1:21:25 > 1:21:27I was six years of age,

1:21:27 > 1:21:30and, as they lowered the box into the ground, the priest said,

1:21:30 > 1:21:33"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost."

1:21:33 > 1:21:36And I, for years, used to bless myself and say,

1:21:36 > 1:21:39"In the name of Father and the Son, and into the hole he goes."

1:21:41 > 1:21:44The comfort with which he could excoriate the Church

1:21:44 > 1:21:47and then go, "May your God go with you."

1:21:47 > 1:21:50And just the layers with which that was, as a kiss-off line...

1:21:50 > 1:21:53"May your God go with you."

1:21:53 > 1:21:57Warmly meant, but, you know, I'm still retaining an arched eyebrow.

1:21:57 > 1:21:59Thank you. May your God go with you.

1:22:03 > 1:22:06So, they came running in and said, "I think your car's been stolen".

1:22:06 > 1:22:08I said, "No! What about my collection of insects?"

1:22:08 > 1:22:10They said, "Where were they? On the back seat?"

1:22:10 > 1:22:13I said, "No, they're all stuck to the number plate."

1:22:13 > 1:22:16Victoria Wood had so many elements to her of being able to write songs

1:22:16 > 1:22:20and play music as well and her shows were, you know, proper variety,

1:22:20 > 1:22:24but really good quality, really good quality, and still stand up now.

1:22:25 > 1:22:27As well as stand-up and songs,

1:22:27 > 1:22:31Victoria Wood As Seen On TV saw the birth of Acorn Antiques.

1:22:31 > 1:22:35Well, if it isn't Miss Burton!

1:22:35 > 1:22:37Hello, Mrs O. How's widowhood treating you?

1:22:37 > 1:22:40One mustn't grumble. I sometimes think being widowed

1:22:40 > 1:22:42is God's way of telling you to come off the pill.

1:22:42 > 1:22:44Still the same Mrs O!

1:22:44 > 1:22:46Certainly, one of the reasons I wanted to go into comedy was

1:22:46 > 1:22:49Victoria Wood, or Wood and Walters.

1:22:49 > 1:22:52They just sort of confirmed for me that women could do whatever

1:22:52 > 1:22:53they wanted in comedy.

1:22:53 > 1:22:56This coffee won't get made on its own.

1:22:56 > 1:22:59Oh, yes. Two coffees. Thank you.

1:22:59 > 1:23:00No milk for me.

1:23:02 > 1:23:04This coffee won't get made on its own.

1:23:06 > 1:23:10I loved Victoria Wood's quite suburban comedy.

1:23:10 > 1:23:12I loved the comfortableness of it.

1:23:12 > 1:23:14The fact that it feels cosy and comfortable

1:23:14 > 1:23:15and actually, within that,

1:23:15 > 1:23:17she can say some really quite outrageous things.

1:23:17 > 1:23:20I went to one of those parties once. Those swapping parties.

1:23:20 > 1:23:23People throw their car keys into the middle of the floor.

1:23:23 > 1:23:26I don't know who got my moped, but I drove that Peugeot for years!

1:23:28 > 1:23:31Sarah Millican's show has guests and sketches

1:23:31 > 1:23:34built around her own risque brand of stand-up comedy.

1:23:36 > 1:23:39The plan was to try and make a show that was very me,

1:23:39 > 1:23:42if you like, rather than making me do things that I can't do.

1:23:42 > 1:23:45I can't act. I can't do impressions or anything like that.

1:23:45 > 1:23:46So, just let me do stand-up.

1:23:46 > 1:23:49I grew up watching all those American dating movies.

1:23:49 > 1:23:52So, when I was playing rounders and the PE teacher told me

1:23:52 > 1:23:55to go for third base, I wanked him off.

1:23:55 > 1:23:57'I do get away with absolute filth.'

1:23:57 > 1:23:59I got this in an early review,

1:23:59 > 1:24:02that I "looked like a primary school teacher with the mouth of a biker",

1:24:02 > 1:24:05which I still argue was better than the other way on.

1:24:05 > 1:24:07Surfing is one sport that looks like fun

1:24:07 > 1:24:09but it's just like bad sex, isn't it?

1:24:09 > 1:24:12You lie down, you're a long way from where you need to be

1:24:12 > 1:24:15and after 100 strokes, you're still no bloody closer.

1:24:15 > 1:24:18I mean, you get absolute total and utter filth on there

1:24:18 > 1:24:21but it's just hidden in amongst other jokes about food.

1:24:23 > 1:24:26He struggles to get on top, then he struggles to stay up.

1:24:26 > 1:24:28You get a brief ride but you end up wet and salty

1:24:28 > 1:24:30and fishing crabs out your knickers!

1:24:34 > 1:24:37The leaders are no different, are they? David Cameron and Ed Miliband.

1:24:37 > 1:24:40They're about as different as two rats fighting over

1:24:40 > 1:24:43a courgette that has fallen into a urinal.

1:24:43 > 1:24:47UNDULATING LAUGHTER

1:24:47 > 1:24:50The main difference being that the David Cameron rat

1:24:50 > 1:24:51is wearing chinos...

1:24:56 > 1:24:59..in an attempt to win over the youth voter.

1:24:59 > 1:25:03His "act" doesn't feel like it's stand-up, if you see what I mean?

1:25:03 > 1:25:05He doesn't come out with a routine of, you know, gags.

1:25:05 > 1:25:07His line of argument is always going

1:25:07 > 1:25:10in a very, very unexpected direction.

1:25:10 > 1:25:13So, there's something kind of mesmerising about that.

1:25:13 > 1:25:15Kids today are on the internet all the time, aren't they?

1:25:15 > 1:25:19Looking at internet pornography and goading each other to self-harm.

1:25:20 > 1:25:25Illegally downloading hardworking stand-up comedians' live DVDs.

1:25:25 > 1:25:29The fact that he does it in an actual kind of club environment,

1:25:29 > 1:25:32I know that what he wanted was to try and get that element

1:25:32 > 1:25:35of being at a live gig but, at the same time,

1:25:35 > 1:25:36it's a television show

1:25:36 > 1:25:39and he's aware of the cameras and plays with the cameras.

1:25:39 > 1:25:42It's not just young people either, is it, doing that?

1:25:44 > 1:25:45If you've done that at home,

1:25:45 > 1:25:49if you've stolen one of my live DVDs off the internet,

1:25:49 > 1:25:53that is the same as just stealing food out of my kids' mouths.

1:25:53 > 1:25:54Well, not exactly that,

1:25:54 > 1:25:57but it does delay the point at which we've got enough money

1:25:57 > 1:26:00to move into the catchment area of a selective grammar.

1:26:00 > 1:26:04The people who don't like him really, really HATE him.

1:26:04 > 1:26:07And the people who love him do really love him.

1:26:07 > 1:26:10And the people who really love him are correct.

1:26:10 > 1:26:14- APPLAUSE - Now, hear that applause? That's what I like.

1:26:14 > 1:26:17I'm not interested in laughs. I prefer applause.

1:26:17 > 1:26:20"Is it supposed to be funny?" That's what the critics say.

1:26:20 > 1:26:22No, it isn't. I'm not interested in laughs.

1:26:22 > 1:26:25I'm interested in... "Did you see Stewart Lee?"

1:26:25 > 1:26:29"Yeah." "Was it funny?" "No, but I agreed the fuck out of it."

1:26:30 > 1:26:32I'm not interested in laughs.

1:26:36 > 1:26:40And next, an exploration of the darker side of BBC Two comedy.

1:26:42 > 1:26:45For me, when dark comedy is at its best, there's something

1:26:45 > 1:26:47kind of delicious about it.

1:26:48 > 1:26:51See the entrails hanging down?

1:26:51 > 1:26:53While there have been lots of shows

1:26:53 > 1:26:55which touch on the bleaker aspects of life...

1:26:58 > 1:27:02..in BBC Two's 50-year history, there is one group of comedians

1:27:02 > 1:27:04regarded as masters of the dark side.

1:27:06 > 1:27:09A lot of things people say are "dark" are just people cursing.

1:27:09 > 1:27:11League Of Gentlemen was properly dark.

1:27:26 > 1:27:30People say to me, "Mick, that doesn't look like anything at all."

1:27:30 > 1:27:31But I don't know.

1:27:31 > 1:27:34When I look at it, I seem to see a little pair of hands

1:27:34 > 1:27:37clutching at a slippery, wet rope,

1:27:37 > 1:27:39sliding down and down into the dark water.

1:27:40 > 1:27:45Jesus, lads! There's something very wrong going on there.

1:27:46 > 1:27:49I found the wallet outside the shop. Has he been in today?

1:27:49 > 1:27:51No. I don't know anything!

1:27:51 > 1:27:54The thing that's brilliant about that show is it's not shock tactics

1:27:54 > 1:27:57as in something nasty that people will gasp at.

1:27:57 > 1:28:01It's proper deft invention and surprise.

1:28:01 > 1:28:02We didn't burn him!

1:28:04 > 1:28:06I always remember being surprised

1:28:06 > 1:28:09by how some people would find it unwatchable.

1:28:09 > 1:28:12To some people, like "Oh, yeah, no, I love it. Yeah, it's great, yeah."

1:28:12 > 1:28:15And really massively, you know, what's your threshold of what

1:28:15 > 1:28:18apparently is dark and what isn't?

1:28:18 > 1:28:20Well, he's here. Do you want a word?

1:28:20 > 1:28:21ELECTRICAL CRACKLING

1:28:30 > 1:28:31Yes.

1:28:32 > 1:28:35Yes, I think we will have trouble separating them.

1:28:35 > 1:28:37We grew up watching horror films

1:28:37 > 1:28:41and that was a big passion of all of ours that we shared.

1:28:41 > 1:28:44And I think it was bringing that passion to our other passion,

1:28:44 > 1:28:46which was comedy.

1:28:46 > 1:28:49The strangers you would bring would not understand us!

1:28:51 > 1:28:54It was one of those moments, breast-feeding the pig,

1:28:54 > 1:28:56where you've laughed about it on the page

1:28:56 > 1:28:59and then you've rehearsed it or whatever, and the day comes

1:28:59 > 1:29:02and they're painting my fake nipple with buttermilk

1:29:02 > 1:29:05so that it will lick it and you just think,

1:29:05 > 1:29:08"What the hell are we doing?" HE LAUGHS

1:29:08 > 1:29:12The legions of dark and comically sinister characters

1:29:12 > 1:29:14who dwell in Royston Vasey

1:29:14 > 1:29:18were all played by three of the four members of The League Of Gentlemen.

1:29:18 > 1:29:23- How many have we done each? 20 each? - No. 30.- 30. Ridiculous.

1:29:23 > 1:29:26And we still get interviewed, "Are there any new characters?"

1:29:26 > 1:29:28And it's like, "Will you fuck off, please?"

1:29:28 > 1:29:31KNOCKING

1:29:31 > 1:29:34I remember when I was little, travelling folk arriving at the door

1:29:34 > 1:29:36and asking to use our toilet

1:29:36 > 1:29:39and my mum not wanting to let them in and shutting the door.

1:29:39 > 1:29:40Yes.

1:29:42 > 1:29:44Hello, Dave.

1:29:44 > 1:29:47That has always stayed with me and then I think this was a...

1:29:47 > 1:29:49- Did they put a curse on you? - ..exploration...

1:29:49 > 1:29:51I think they did. It was all, "Ah-ah-ah!"

1:29:51 > 1:29:53..exploration of what would happen if you DID let them in.

1:29:53 > 1:29:57There's been a misunderstanding. You're in the wrong house.

1:29:57 > 1:30:00SHE BABBLES

1:30:00 > 1:30:04My wife tells me there is a block in your toilet.

1:30:04 > 1:30:06- No, there isn't.- There is now.

1:30:06 > 1:30:09'I very, very distinctly remember when we were writing the sketch'

1:30:09 > 1:30:12and we'd got about two or three pages in and it felt like it was,

1:30:12 > 1:30:16oh, you know, it was OK but what we need when we're writing

1:30:16 > 1:30:19'is that twist that takes it somewhere else.'

1:30:19 > 1:30:21Please, you have to help me. He thinks I'm his wife!

1:30:21 > 1:30:24- What?- He made me go with him. Please, help me!

1:30:24 > 1:30:26- And that just turned it on its head.- It was good.

1:30:26 > 1:30:29You thought one thing and suddenly it was another. Like, "What?"

1:30:29 > 1:30:33- It felt so right...- Different from what you thought it'd be. - ..that he collected wives.

1:30:33 > 1:30:34'This felt so sinister.'

1:30:37 > 1:30:41Oh, you're my wife now.

1:30:43 > 1:30:47For The League Of Gentlemen, no subject was considered off limits.

1:30:47 > 1:30:49See you next year, Justin.

1:30:51 > 1:30:55But after three series, a feature film and a string of awards,

1:30:55 > 1:30:57the League left Royston Vasey.

1:30:57 > 1:30:59Stop it, you nutter!

1:31:00 > 1:31:03- We'd heard that dark comedy was out.- It was out.

1:31:03 > 1:31:07- That was very late '90s, early 2000s.- We want big and funny.

1:31:07 > 1:31:09We want big and funny. They were the two words.

1:31:09 > 1:31:11We thought, "Shit. What are we going to do?

1:31:11 > 1:31:14- "Let's try and do big and funny." And...- Yeah. Couldn't do it.

1:31:14 > 1:31:16..we ended up doing Psychoville.

1:31:16 > 1:31:18MAN SPLUTTERS

1:31:26 > 1:31:28Sorry, Mum.

1:31:28 > 1:31:30I did a bad murder.

1:31:30 > 1:31:32LIQUID PATTERS

1:31:34 > 1:31:38Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's latest dark comedy

1:31:38 > 1:31:40is Inside No 9.

1:31:40 > 1:31:41We wrote Inside No 9,

1:31:41 > 1:31:46and the idea was to do something that was completely different.

1:31:46 > 1:31:48We wanted to do a Tales Of The Unexpected for the modern age,

1:31:48 > 1:31:52and a kind of, a treat each week, you don't know what you're going to get.

1:31:52 > 1:31:53Pip?

1:31:53 > 1:31:55CLICKING

1:31:55 > 1:31:57RATTLING

1:32:01 > 1:32:04It's a strong flavour, what we do, and, er, it's...

1:32:04 > 1:32:06BBC Two have kind of embraced it.

1:32:08 > 1:32:12Obviously, we're eternally grateful that there's a place for our comedy,

1:32:12 > 1:32:14but I'm glad that there is cos some people like dark comedy.

1:32:14 > 1:32:18It's important to have its voice,

1:32:18 > 1:32:21its hand coming out of the grave every now and again.

1:32:21 > 1:32:23GUNSHOTS FIRE

1:32:25 > 1:32:27This is my favourite programme!

1:32:27 > 1:32:30It'd just be typical if it was interrupted by a newsflash!

1:32:32 > 1:32:36'And the final chapter in our trawl through BBC Two landmark comedies

1:32:36 > 1:32:38'is the sitcom.

1:32:39 > 1:32:42'And one of the first shown on the channel back in 1964 was

1:32:42 > 1:32:47'about two friends, Terry and Bob, who were a couple of likely lads.'

1:32:47 > 1:32:51It was based on a sketch we'd written for an amateur revue

1:32:51 > 1:32:54about two working-class lads, and so that's what it was.

1:32:54 > 1:32:57It was, yeah, I suppose you'd say it was kitchen sink.

1:32:57 > 1:32:59We're lucky we're only two days late if you ask me.

1:32:59 > 1:33:02That rotten plane was even older than the air hostess

1:33:02 > 1:33:03and that's saying something.

1:33:05 > 1:33:07Well, we should have known there was a catch in that price.

1:33:07 > 1:33:10Aye, fly Vulture Airways and live dangerously.

1:33:11 > 1:33:13It was a ground-breaking sitcom

1:33:13 > 1:33:15because it wasn't with comedians in it.

1:33:15 > 1:33:18You know, normally it was The Harry Worth Show or whoever,

1:33:18 > 1:33:21whatever, you know. But this was with actors.

1:33:21 > 1:33:23By the time you've chatted up one foreign bird,

1:33:23 > 1:33:26you could have had about three English ones.

1:33:26 > 1:33:28Well, you hardly know you've been abroad.

1:33:28 > 1:33:31I know, all right, don't you worry.

1:33:31 > 1:33:33She'd never have done in Barrow-in-Furness

1:33:33 > 1:33:35what she did in Tossa del Mar.

1:33:39 > 1:33:44In 1973, Ronnie Barker made a series of pilots for BBC Two.

1:33:44 > 1:33:47Prisoner and Escort went on to become the classic series

1:33:47 > 1:33:50Porridge on BBC One.

1:33:50 > 1:33:52You're going to prison to be punished!

1:33:57 > 1:34:00I spy with my little eye something beginning with C.

1:34:03 > 1:34:05You watch it, sonny, watch it!

1:34:07 > 1:34:09Constable.

1:34:11 > 1:34:14Another, based on the life of Northern shopkeeper Arkwright

1:34:14 > 1:34:17became one of the nation's most loved sitcoms.

1:34:17 > 1:34:19The swallows are leaving, Granville,

1:34:19 > 1:34:22and they're leaving it on our window.

1:34:22 > 1:34:26His timing is immaculate, from Fletch and then Arkwright

1:34:26 > 1:34:28and everything in between.

1:34:34 > 1:34:35I know that face.

1:34:37 > 1:34:40Barker was a towering comic presence, wasn't he?

1:34:40 > 1:34:45He had that sort of... a clinical precision to what he did.

1:34:45 > 1:34:47Well, it'll all be yours one day, lad.

1:34:47 > 1:34:49Yeah. There's more to life than possessions.

1:34:49 > 1:34:53Oh, been watching B-B-B-B-BBC Two, have we?

1:34:58 > 1:35:02Carla Lane's Butterflies was a comic masterpiece,

1:35:02 > 1:35:04a bittersweet sitcom depicting the day-to-day frustrations

1:35:04 > 1:35:09of a bored middle-class housewife played by Wendy Craig.

1:35:09 > 1:35:12- Do you know what I think? - Will I be able to follow it?

1:35:12 > 1:35:14I think that you think that I think nothing.

1:35:14 > 1:35:15I thought I wouldn't...

1:35:17 > 1:35:21Well, let me tell you, I have wild, uncontrollable impulses.

1:35:21 > 1:35:23I'm not one of your butterflies.

1:35:23 > 1:35:26You can't scoop me up in your net and stick a pin through my navel!

1:35:26 > 1:35:29- Could I have the milk, please? - Yes, sir! Certainly, sir!

1:35:34 > 1:35:38Gorgeous sweetie darling Jennifer Saunders made the first series of

1:35:38 > 1:35:44her Absolutely Fabulous sitcom for BBC Two before moving to BBC One.

1:35:45 > 1:35:48But not before we had a good time on THIS channel.

1:35:50 > 1:35:53- All right, darling.- Sorry, sweetheart.- All right, Eddie.

1:35:53 > 1:35:56All right, sweetheart. Go, Vinnie.

1:35:56 > 1:35:58Night-night, Eddie, darling.

1:36:07 > 1:36:09Sweetie...

1:36:14 > 1:36:18Written by Craig Cash, Henry Normal and Caroline Aherne,

1:36:18 > 1:36:22the multi-award-winning Royle Family was loved by millions

1:36:22 > 1:36:23and adored by critics.

1:36:24 > 1:36:26I read a script

1:36:26 > 1:36:28but it was only about 12 pages long.

1:36:28 > 1:36:30You know, a standard comedy half hour's

1:36:30 > 1:36:33about a minute a page, about 30 pages.

1:36:33 > 1:36:35I asked her, "What are you going to do, you know,

1:36:35 > 1:36:38"for the rest of the time?" She said, "Oh, we're just going to have gaps."

1:36:41 > 1:36:43Mam, will you tell Anthony to shut his gob when he's eating?

1:36:43 > 1:36:46Anthony, shut your gob when you're eating.

1:36:46 > 1:36:48'She was adamant that she would do it that way,

1:36:48 > 1:36:51'and the best comedy always is where someone's got a really strong'

1:36:51 > 1:36:53firm idea and they stick to their guns

1:36:53 > 1:36:57and they obsess about every detail and they create their world

1:36:57 > 1:37:02and that was Caroline's massive, massive skill in making that work.

1:37:02 > 1:37:05Dad! Will you stop fiddling with yourself?!

1:37:05 > 1:37:06I'm not fiddling with meself!

1:37:06 > 1:37:10Paid a quid for these underpants! Got 50 pence worth stuck up me arse!

1:37:10 > 1:37:11- Mam, tell him!- She's right.

1:37:11 > 1:37:15If you're not picking your arse, you're picking your teeth.

1:37:15 > 1:37:16I'll pick what I like in me own house,

1:37:16 > 1:37:19and when she gets her own house she can pick what she likes!

1:37:19 > 1:37:23Her nose, her arse, her teeth! Just treat yourself!

1:37:23 > 1:37:26Ooh, I'm ashamed of this family, I am, really!

1:37:26 > 1:37:27People loved the characters

1:37:27 > 1:37:29and they wanted to spend time with them,

1:37:29 > 1:37:31and, you know, they loved the family

1:37:31 > 1:37:34and they loved the fact that it was just, just normal.

1:37:34 > 1:37:36- Come here, give us a kiss. - Kiss me arse.

1:37:36 > 1:37:38I would do, I've had nowt all day!

1:37:38 > 1:37:41- Well, you're getting nowt all night either.- In't she lovely, Barbara?

1:37:41 > 1:37:44Eh, you know what they say, though, if you want to know

1:37:44 > 1:37:47what your wife'll look like when she's older just look at her mother.

1:37:47 > 1:37:50Hey, you're not calling the wedding off at this late stage!

1:37:50 > 1:37:54Again it's another programme that only BBC Two could have done.

1:37:56 > 1:37:58Jeff! Listen to me!

1:37:58 > 1:38:01Women want somebody with command, with confidence.

1:38:01 > 1:38:03Someone who won't take no for an answer.

1:38:03 > 1:38:06We want somebody arrogant and gorgeous with a terrifying

1:38:06 > 1:38:10sexual appetite and an amazing range of sexual technique.

1:38:10 > 1:38:13But when it comes right down to it, do you know what?

1:38:13 > 1:38:14We'll settle for a man.

1:38:15 > 1:38:18I got some presents for the kids, er...

1:38:18 > 1:38:19Look at that.

1:38:22 > 1:38:25And I was worried that it might be too much

1:38:25 > 1:38:28and that it was too violent.

1:38:28 > 1:38:30But like his mother says, you know,

1:38:30 > 1:38:32he's a very violent child.

1:38:33 > 1:38:36On paper, it didn't look very promising, you know,

1:38:36 > 1:38:40a 10-minute monologue of a Welsh minicab driver

1:38:40 > 1:38:44talking about his wife who's left him for a man called Geoff.

1:38:44 > 1:38:47"Oh, and it's really funny." Really?

1:38:47 > 1:38:50I think that...I'm not sure I would have necessarily gone,

1:38:50 > 1:38:53"Oh, I'll give it a chance," you know.

1:38:53 > 1:38:55I don't feel like I've lost a wife.

1:38:55 > 1:38:58I feel like I've gained a friend.

1:38:58 > 1:39:01I would never have met Geoff if Marion hadn't left me.

1:39:01 > 1:39:04Not a chance of it. We're in different worlds.

1:39:04 > 1:39:06He's in pharmaceuticals, I'm in cars.

1:39:06 > 1:39:08Literally, I'm in... I'm in the car.

1:39:14 > 1:39:18Oh, The Office was a huge game-changer. The Office was...

1:39:18 > 1:39:20The Office was enormous.

1:39:20 > 1:39:23Enormous. You can't...

1:39:23 > 1:39:27I don't think you can overstate the impact of The Office.

1:39:30 > 1:39:32'I wanted it to be real,'

1:39:32 > 1:39:34cos I wanted people to tune in for the first two minutes and go,

1:39:34 > 1:39:37"Is this a real documentary? Who is that prat?"

1:39:37 > 1:39:40Here's the man at the top of the pile, David Brent.

1:39:40 > 1:39:43POLITE APPLAUSE

1:39:43 > 1:39:46Excellent, right, you know he was saying there about me

1:39:46 > 1:39:50being on the top of the pile, like, saying I'm gay, right? I'm not gay.

1:39:50 > 1:39:55In fact, I can honestly say, I've never come over a little queer.

1:39:55 > 1:39:57SCATTERED LAUGHS

1:39:57 > 1:40:01That's... I'll get to the real stuff. That was just...

1:40:01 > 1:40:02He's putting me off.

1:40:02 > 1:40:05He wasn't a bad person, he was quite a sweet guy.

1:40:05 > 1:40:08He was just a bit desperate, really.

1:40:08 > 1:40:10'Erm, and I think his worst crime

1:40:10 > 1:40:13'was that he sort of confused...'

1:40:13 > 1:40:14I brought that in.

1:40:14 > 1:40:16'..popularity with respect.'

1:40:16 > 1:40:19There's good news and bad news.

1:40:19 > 1:40:20The bad news is

1:40:20 > 1:40:23Neil will be taking over both branches

1:40:23 > 1:40:26and some of you will lose your jobs. Yeah, yeah.

1:40:26 > 1:40:30Those of you who are kept on will have to relocate to Swindon

1:40:30 > 1:40:32if you want to, yeah, stay. STAFF MUTTER

1:40:32 > 1:40:35I know, I know. Gutting, gutting.

1:40:35 > 1:40:38MURMURING Neil. You didn't see Neil, whoo...

1:40:39 > 1:40:42On a more positive note, the good news is

1:40:42 > 1:40:44I've been promoted.

1:40:44 > 1:40:45SILENCE

1:40:45 > 1:40:47So...

1:40:47 > 1:40:49every cloud.

1:40:49 > 1:40:51SILENCE

1:40:55 > 1:40:57You're still thinking about the bad news, aren't you?

1:40:57 > 1:41:01Gareth, erm, is, is loosely based on a kid I went to school with.

1:41:01 > 1:41:04Cos if I have to work with him for another day, right,

1:41:04 > 1:41:07I'm just going to... I will slit my throat. I'll...you know.

1:41:07 > 1:41:09Yeah, you won't do it like that, though.

1:41:09 > 1:41:13You get the knife in behind the windpipe, pull it down like that.

1:41:13 > 1:41:15'When we were 14, he famously told us,'

1:41:15 > 1:41:20"When you're captured by cannibals, they show you pornographic pictures

1:41:20 > 1:41:24"before they cook you so you get an erection and there's more meat."

1:41:24 > 1:41:26And he actually believed that.

1:41:26 > 1:41:28Right then, Einstein, if you're so clever,

1:41:28 > 1:41:29what am I thinking about now?

1:41:29 > 1:41:33You're thinking, "How could I kill a tiger armed only with a Biro?"

1:41:33 > 1:41:34- No.- Right, er, you're thinking,

1:41:34 > 1:41:38"If I crash-land in jungle, will I be able to eat my own shoes?"

1:41:38 > 1:41:41- No, and you can't.- Right, what are you thinking, Gareth?

1:41:41 > 1:41:44I was just wondering, will there ever be a boy born...

1:41:45 > 1:41:48..who can swim faster than a shark?

1:41:48 > 1:41:52My favourite episode is probably when Brent hijacks that training day,

1:41:52 > 1:41:56which is absolutely quintessential Brent.

1:41:56 > 1:42:00I'm going to play a very bad hotel manager who just doesn't care.

1:42:00 > 1:42:02Sorry, if it's a Basil-Fawlty-type character, then, well,

1:42:02 > 1:42:05they'll tell you, maybe I should do it, just for the comedy...?

1:42:05 > 1:42:08Yeah, well, let me just play it just now just to kick things off, OK?

1:42:08 > 1:42:10'You know, Brent thinking, you know,'

1:42:10 > 1:42:14"Hotel? If it's a Basil-Fawlty-type character maybe I should do it?"

1:42:14 > 1:42:17And this guy just wanting to get this point across,

1:42:17 > 1:42:21and Brent wants to be the centre of attention, and he wants to win.

1:42:21 > 1:42:25- I'd like to make a complaint, please. - Don't care.

1:42:25 > 1:42:28- Well, I am staying at the hotel. - I don't care, it's not my shift.

1:42:28 > 1:42:30- Well, you're an ambassador for the hotel...- I don't care.

1:42:30 > 1:42:33I think you'll care when I tell you what the complaint is.

1:42:33 > 1:42:36- I don't care. - I think there's been a rape up there!

1:42:36 > 1:42:39The "I think there's been a rape up there!"

1:42:40 > 1:42:44Which is probably my favourite line of The Office.

1:42:45 > 1:42:47I got his attention.

1:42:47 > 1:42:50Get their attention, OK?

1:42:50 > 1:42:55To win a little bit of role play by suggesting someone's been raped!

1:42:55 > 1:42:58It's overkill. You don't need to do it.

1:42:58 > 1:43:00HE CHUCKLES

1:43:01 > 1:43:05Oh, bless him. Him. He's real to me.

1:43:05 > 1:43:07He's another person.

1:43:07 > 1:43:11If you want the rainbow, you've got to put up with the rain.

1:43:11 > 1:43:13Do you know which "philosopher" said that?

1:43:13 > 1:43:15Dolly Parton. Yeah.

1:43:17 > 1:43:19And people say she's just a big pair of tits.

1:43:19 > 1:43:22My old English teacher always told me, "Write about what you know."

1:43:22 > 1:43:27And I worked in an office for ten years, I wrote about it.

1:43:27 > 1:43:31But, by the time The Office had finished,

1:43:31 > 1:43:36I'd been in media for like five years and sort of Extras was formed.

1:43:41 > 1:43:43- Cut!- Oh, for fuck's sake!

1:43:43 > 1:43:47And what was great fun, of course, was, you know,

1:43:47 > 1:43:53getting these huge A-list stars to play a twisted version of themselves.

1:43:53 > 1:43:56Lots of movies had, had touched on that theme,

1:43:56 > 1:44:00um, but not a little, not a little sitcom on BBC Two.

1:44:03 > 1:44:06Have you...

1:44:06 > 1:44:08..ever driven a taxi for real?

1:44:11 > 1:44:14- No?- No.

1:44:14 > 1:44:17- What do you do?- I'm in a sitcom. - It's called When The Whistle Blows.

1:44:17 > 1:44:19- Have you seen it?- I haven't, no. Is it any good?

1:44:19 > 1:44:21- < No, it's shit! - Ah!

1:44:21 > 1:44:24- All her clothes fall off?- Um, yes.

1:44:24 > 1:44:26And she's scrabbling around to get them back on again,

1:44:26 > 1:44:30but even before she can get her knickers on, I've seen everything.

1:44:30 > 1:44:32I like the prophecies of Extras as well, that are coming true.

1:44:32 > 1:44:35Lionel Blair goes Big Brother house.

1:44:35 > 1:44:38Do you know what I look forward to these days?

1:44:38 > 1:44:40Death.

1:44:40 > 1:44:44Sam Jackson gets mistaken for Laurence Fishburne.

1:44:44 > 1:44:46I can assure you I was not in The Matrix.

1:44:46 > 1:44:49But Laurence Fishburne was, maybe that's why you're confused.

1:44:49 > 1:44:52I know what you're thinking. She doesn't think you all look alike.

1:44:52 > 1:44:56Kate Winslet did a Holocaust movie and won an Oscar for it.

1:44:56 > 1:44:59If you do a film about the Holocaust, you're guaranteed an Oscar.

1:44:59 > 1:45:02I don't know if Ross Kemp has head-butted a horse yet,

1:45:02 > 1:45:05but that's my next prediction.

1:45:05 > 1:45:07I head-butted a horse once.

1:45:07 > 1:45:10- It must have really annoyed you. - Kemp!

1:45:10 > 1:45:13- All right, Vinnie? How's it going? - Never mind the "All right, Vinnie?

1:45:13 > 1:45:16"How's it going?" bollocks! What you been saying?

1:45:16 > 1:45:19I think a lot of people's favourite episode was the Les Dennis episode.

1:45:19 > 1:45:22And I think that's because they think they know him.

1:45:22 > 1:45:25People don't know what Robert De Niro's like,

1:45:25 > 1:45:27or David Bowie, or Kate Winslet.

1:45:27 > 1:45:31But they sort of think they know what Les Dennis is like.

1:45:31 > 1:45:34- I've never really told anybody this before.- OK.

1:45:34 > 1:45:37- I even considered suicide.- Aw!- Yeah.

1:45:37 > 1:45:41It made people "Ah! Oh, wow, he's saying that?

1:45:41 > 1:45:44"He's doing that? He's naked!"

1:45:44 > 1:45:47It's just I've been doing a bit of thinking, and I just don't think I can marry her.

1:45:47 > 1:45:50It's not fair. I mean, don't get me wrong.

1:45:50 > 1:45:53- Funny little switch...- Nothing wrong physically.- I'm sure.

1:45:53 > 1:45:56The sex is extraordinary. Some of the stuff she dreams up...!

1:45:56 > 1:45:58What is that for? FRANTIC CLICKING

1:45:58 > 1:46:01As Patrick Stewart said, "I've seen it all."

1:46:01 > 1:46:04It was right there. Right there!

1:46:04 > 1:46:07She likes to video us, and we watch it back together,

1:46:07 > 1:46:09and sometimes, I can't believe

1:46:09 > 1:46:11- it's my arse going up and down. - Oh, no!

1:46:11 > 1:46:14I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

1:46:14 > 1:46:16Well, think about something else, then!

1:46:16 > 1:46:18- Do your Michael Caine.- OK.

1:46:18 > 1:46:21I say, Michael Caine used to talk like this in the 1960s, right?

1:46:21 > 1:46:24But that has changed, and I say that over the years

1:46:24 > 1:46:28Michael's voice has come down several octaves. Let me finish!

1:46:28 > 1:46:32And all of the cigars and the brandy... Don't - let me finish.

1:46:32 > 1:46:35- ..can now be heard.- OK. - I've not fucking finished!

1:46:35 > 1:46:39The story is written down. You're going round the Lake District.

1:46:39 > 1:46:41You're going to this restaurant, that restaurant.

1:46:41 > 1:46:44You're following in the footsteps of Wordsworth and Coleridge.

1:46:44 > 1:46:46Bloody hell!

1:46:46 > 1:46:48All the kind of exchanges, the back and fore,

1:46:48 > 1:46:52like the Michael Caine stuff, that all happened on the spot.

1:46:52 > 1:46:55It's not quite nasal enough, the way you're doing it, all right?

1:46:55 > 1:46:58You're not doing it the way he speaks.

1:46:58 > 1:47:00You're not doing it with the kind of -

1:47:00 > 1:47:02and you don't do the broken voice,

1:47:02 > 1:47:03when he gets very emotional,

1:47:03 > 1:47:05when he gets very emotional indeed.

1:47:05 > 1:47:07"She was only 16 years old.

1:47:07 > 1:47:13"She was only 16 - you're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" That's Michael Caine.

1:47:13 > 1:47:17We're playing ourselves and, um, you'd have to ask

1:47:17 > 1:47:19other people how true to life it is.

1:47:19 > 1:47:21I always say, "Oh, it's not that much like me",

1:47:21 > 1:47:24and friends burst out laughing and say, "It's EXACTLY like you."

1:47:24 > 1:47:28We shall rise at nine and we shall head off tomorrow morning.

1:47:28 > 1:47:30Thank you, brother Rob.

1:47:30 > 1:47:33And let me say this - look into my eyes.

1:47:33 > 1:47:38You are my brother and you sound a bit like Billy Connolly.

1:47:38 > 1:47:42I know-ho-ho! I know! I can't help it.

1:47:45 > 1:47:48TYRES SCREECH, CRASHING

1:47:48 > 1:47:51RAIN PATTERS

1:47:54 > 1:47:57The real genesis was a conversation that James and I had

1:47:57 > 1:48:00on the set of Gavin & Stacey, where we were talking about,

1:48:00 > 1:48:05um, sort of like box-set American dramas.

1:48:05 > 1:48:1024 was the big one, and there was lots of other shows

1:48:10 > 1:48:13that you were watching, and you would have these twists in 24,

1:48:13 > 1:48:16where people would go, "Oh!"

1:48:16 > 1:48:19- Don't make me shoot him! - SHOUTING AND COMMOTION

1:48:19 > 1:48:22- I will shoot him!- He will shoot me!

1:48:22 > 1:48:25And we were just saying, "Why is that the preserve of drama?

1:48:25 > 1:48:28"Why, why don't people do that in comedy?"

1:48:28 > 1:48:31Stop! Stop! COMMOTION

1:48:31 > 1:48:35What the hell is going on?

1:48:35 > 1:48:38Aaah!

1:48:38 > 1:48:41Ah! Sorry. I don't know...

1:48:41 > 1:48:44I don't know why I didn't drive the whole way.

1:48:44 > 1:48:47If the drama didn't feel real and the stakes didn't feel real,

1:48:47 > 1:48:50then actually the jokes wouldn't stand up either.

1:48:50 > 1:48:54My name is Agent Jack Walker and I work for the British Secret Service.

1:48:54 > 1:48:57- Hi, Jack.- What did I just say? - Not to talk.- Correct.

1:48:57 > 1:49:01My name is Agent Jack Walker and I work for the British Secret Service.

1:49:01 > 1:49:04- Hello, Jack.- If you say another word I will kill you. I will kill you

1:49:04 > 1:49:06and nobody will ever find your body.

1:49:06 > 1:49:11It was a huge coup to get the likes of Dougray Scott and Dawn French.

1:49:11 > 1:49:13Benny Wong and Sarah Solemani and...

1:49:13 > 1:49:17Rebecca Front, Stephen Campbell Moore. The list goes on.

1:49:17 > 1:49:19You're essentially asking these people, for no money,

1:49:19 > 1:49:22to come and stand in the cold for four or five days

1:49:22 > 1:49:24and try and bring something to your TV show.

1:49:24 > 1:49:28But why not? You have to go for it, or don't, or don't bother.

1:49:28 > 1:49:30You know what danger doesn't do? Call ahead.

1:49:32 > 1:49:33Unless it's the IRA.

1:49:33 > 1:49:36So, are we going to get the bus, or...?

1:49:36 > 1:49:40While BBC Two prides itself on constantly coming up

1:49:40 > 1:49:42with fresh and creative shows like The Wrong Mans,

1:49:42 > 1:49:45one of its most popular sitcoms in recent years

1:49:45 > 1:49:47is comedy in the broadest sense,

1:49:47 > 1:49:49but no less inventive.

1:49:49 > 1:49:51You're talking about BBC Two and how it's this

1:49:51 > 1:49:55kind of breeding ground for different, alternative,

1:49:55 > 1:49:58er, niche comedy or whatever. And then, you get Miranda.

1:49:58 > 1:50:00- I just wanted to ask, do you fancy...?- Yes.

1:50:00 > 1:50:03- I haven't said anything. - I'll do whatever.

1:50:03 > 1:50:05'And by the time it appeared,'

1:50:05 > 1:50:08the idea of doing a sort of mainstream studio sitcom,

1:50:08 > 1:50:13with looks to camera and great big slapstick,

1:50:13 > 1:50:14is kind of alternative.

1:50:14 > 1:50:17We could just go to the restaurant, you know, it's free food.

1:50:17 > 1:50:20Don't worry, it's not a date. It's just a "thing", if you like.

1:50:20 > 1:50:22IN INDIAN ACCENT: I do like. I do like, very much.

1:50:26 > 1:50:29Why am I doing an Indian accent?

1:50:29 > 1:50:31We're now embracing the big studio shows,

1:50:31 > 1:50:34but she's got a very clever take on it

1:50:34 > 1:50:38and it's done in a very charming,

1:50:38 > 1:50:40very clever way

1:50:40 > 1:50:42that brings people in.

1:50:42 > 1:50:44- Are you laughing?- No.

1:50:44 > 1:50:46There is nothing funny here.

1:50:48 > 1:50:51There isn't, because I wear normal everyday clothes

1:50:51 > 1:50:55and get called "sir". I actually make an effort - I am a transvestite!

1:51:00 > 1:51:03Over the last 50 years, the Comedy department

1:51:03 > 1:51:06could never be accused of taking itself too seriously,

1:51:06 > 1:51:10and BBC Two's latest sitcom, from the makers of Twenty Twelve,

1:51:10 > 1:51:15is a biting satire about, who else but dear old Auntie Beeb herself.

1:51:15 > 1:51:16Four? OK, no, shut up.

1:51:16 > 1:51:19The thing with BBC Four is it's like a Marmite channel, OK?

1:51:19 > 1:51:21And the thing with Marmite is it's like no-one eats that shit, OK?

1:51:24 > 1:51:26Just see what happens in here.

1:51:26 > 1:51:31MUSIC: "Habanera" from Carmen by Georges Bizet

1:51:31 > 1:51:33Right, no, that... That's something else.

1:51:35 > 1:51:39Any chance of a festive blow job?

1:51:39 > 1:51:40Yes, please! >

1:51:44 > 1:51:47The sitcom has been consistently reinvented on BBC Two.

1:51:47 > 1:51:49She can't act, can she?

1:51:49 > 1:51:52What? That would... That's... I don't know.

1:51:52 > 1:51:53SHE SNORTS

1:51:53 > 1:51:56And the channel has never been short on talent.

1:51:56 > 1:51:58I can't reach.

1:51:58 > 1:52:00But the final show in our birthday celebration

1:52:00 > 1:52:03is considered not just the best sitcom of all time...

1:52:05 > 1:52:06..but the funniest comedy ever.

1:52:09 > 1:52:10Fawlty Towers,

1:52:10 > 1:52:12literally the best thing I'd ever seen.

1:52:12 > 1:52:13It was too good.

1:52:17 > 1:52:20That was John Cleese at his absolute peak of comic brilliance.

1:52:20 > 1:52:22Do you speak German?

1:52:22 > 1:52:23Oh, German?!

1:52:23 > 1:52:25I'm sorry, I thought there was something wrong with you.

1:52:25 > 1:52:28I mean, I'm very much against hyperbole, you know?

1:52:28 > 1:52:30I mean, you get shows like this,

1:52:30 > 1:52:33where people say stuff like,

1:52:33 > 1:52:35"Oh, a work of transcending genius!"

1:52:35 > 1:52:37Oh, thank you, God!

1:52:37 > 1:52:39Thank you so bloody much!

1:52:39 > 1:52:41Which is bollocks, you know?

1:52:41 > 1:52:44But Fawlty Towers, yeah, that is a work of transcending genius.

1:52:45 > 1:52:47Get a clean one.

1:52:47 > 1:52:49It's clean now.

1:52:52 > 1:52:53It's dirty now.

1:52:53 > 1:52:54Fawlty Towers is perfect,

1:52:54 > 1:52:59and, unfortunately, if you're trying to write comedy,

1:52:59 > 1:53:01it really is best to forget it exists,

1:53:01 > 1:53:04cos it's just terribly intimidating,

1:53:04 > 1:53:05and every so often I go back to it

1:53:05 > 1:53:08almost hoping that it won't be as good as I remember,

1:53:08 > 1:53:11but no, it's amazing.

1:53:11 > 1:53:12When I pay for a view,

1:53:12 > 1:53:14I expect something more interesting than that.

1:53:14 > 1:53:18- But that is Torquay, madam. - Well, it's not good enough.

1:53:18 > 1:53:20Well, may I ask, what you were expecting to see

1:53:20 > 1:53:23out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window?

1:53:23 > 1:53:25Sydney Opera House, perhaps?

1:53:25 > 1:53:27The Hanging Gardens of Babylon?

1:53:27 > 1:53:31- Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically...- Don't be silly!

1:53:31 > 1:53:34- I expect to be able to see the sea. - You CAN see the sea.

1:53:34 > 1:53:37It's over there between the land and the sky.

1:53:37 > 1:53:41When John told us he wanted to leave Python

1:53:41 > 1:53:44and he was going to do other work and we saw the opening episode,

1:53:44 > 1:53:46and, you know, one part of me thought,

1:53:46 > 1:53:48"John, this is so old-fashioned,"

1:53:48 > 1:53:50you know, set in some terrible old boarding house,

1:53:50 > 1:53:51it's got some tinkly music

1:53:51 > 1:53:53and the set shakes whenever you shut a door and all that.

1:53:53 > 1:53:56But then, you realise, that John had created this

1:53:56 > 1:54:00as a structure for this, you know,

1:54:00 > 1:54:02awful trapped character,

1:54:02 > 1:54:04which was just a magnificent creation.

1:54:04 > 1:54:06What do you mean, out?

1:54:06 > 1:54:07He's drunk!

1:54:07 > 1:54:08Drunk?

1:54:08 > 1:54:11Drunk! Soused, pottied, inebriated! Got it!

1:54:11 > 1:54:12I don't believe it!

1:54:12 > 1:54:15Neither do I. Perhaps it's a dream.

1:54:15 > 1:54:17THUDDING

1:54:17 > 1:54:19No, it's not a dream, we're stuck with it. Right.

1:54:19 > 1:54:21'You're watching this maniac'

1:54:21 > 1:54:23making everything worse and worse and worse.

1:54:23 > 1:54:25- What's the matter?- It's all right.

1:54:25 > 1:54:26Is there something wrong?

1:54:26 > 1:54:30- Would you stop talking about the war?- Me? You started it.

1:54:30 > 1:54:33- We did not start it! - Yes, you did. You invaded Poland.

1:54:33 > 1:54:34'Until, eventually,'

1:54:34 > 1:54:37he's, you know, goose-stepping around the place

1:54:37 > 1:54:39in a way that's completely logical.

1:54:39 > 1:54:41Here, watch. Who's this then?

1:54:41 > 1:54:43HE JABBERS

1:54:46 > 1:54:47I'll do the funny walk.

1:54:50 > 1:54:52'You believe this world.

1:54:52 > 1:54:54'You believe this is a real hotel

1:54:54 > 1:54:55'and yet, somebody is walking like that.'

1:54:55 > 1:54:59Yet, somebody's doing that level of goose step.

1:54:59 > 1:55:01Not just a sort of, you know, goose step,

1:55:01 > 1:55:03but an EXTREME goose step

1:55:03 > 1:55:05that only John Cleese seems to be able to do that's balletic.

1:55:05 > 1:55:09You have absolutely no sense of humour, do you?

1:55:09 > 1:55:10This is not funny!

1:55:10 > 1:55:13Who won the bloody war anyway?

1:55:13 > 1:55:15Very often when you see old sitcoms,

1:55:15 > 1:55:18they're quite charming but they've lost speed.

1:55:18 > 1:55:20But thanks to the talent

1:55:20 > 1:55:23that he and Connie Booth brought to the writing,

1:55:23 > 1:55:27I think it hasn't lost speed. It's still quite impressive in that way.

1:55:27 > 1:55:29You could have had them both done by now

1:55:29 > 1:55:31if you hadn't spent the whole morning skulking in there,

1:55:31 > 1:55:33listening to that racket.

1:55:33 > 1:55:35Racket?

1:55:35 > 1:55:36That's Brahms.

1:55:37 > 1:55:39Brahms' Third Racket!

1:55:40 > 1:55:43And it's a farce. It's a farce.

1:55:43 > 1:55:49It's just the greatest farce ever created in the history of anything.

1:55:54 > 1:55:55The fact that

1:55:55 > 1:55:58only 12 episodes have ever been made

1:55:58 > 1:56:01makes it like a kind of Van Gogh painting or something.

1:56:01 > 1:56:02You know, there's a limited amount.

1:56:02 > 1:56:05There will never be any more. There's 12 of them.

1:56:05 > 1:56:08They're collectors' items. And still genius.

1:56:08 > 1:56:10Still genius to this date.

1:56:10 > 1:56:13It annoys me when people say, "Isn't it wonderful, they only made 12?"

1:56:13 > 1:56:15No, I'd like hundreds of them, they're that good.

1:56:19 > 1:56:21BOTH YELL

1:56:26 > 1:56:28Now, that's how an Englishman would do it, you see?

1:56:28 > 1:56:32Now, a German, a German would go... No, that's enough for tonight.

1:56:32 > 1:56:34All right, we'll go on with your training in the morning.

1:56:34 > 1:56:36'Fawlty Towers' aspiration was'

1:56:36 > 1:56:37it's going to be action-packed.

1:56:37 > 1:56:40It's going to build to a hilarious conclusion,

1:56:40 > 1:56:43where the audience are literally in pain

1:56:43 > 1:56:45because they're laughing so much

1:56:45 > 1:56:47and we're going to do that with every episode.

1:56:47 > 1:56:50It's... Very few people set out to do that

1:56:50 > 1:56:53and no-one else has succeeded.

1:56:55 > 1:56:56Good afternoon, gentlemen.

1:56:56 > 1:56:59And what can I do for you three gentlemen?

1:56:59 > 1:57:00Aaargh!

1:57:00 > 1:57:02Doesn't sound so good that, does it?

1:57:02 > 1:57:05Oh-ho! Well, what mega-cool TV, hey, Bob?

1:57:06 > 1:57:08BBC Two has given the nation

1:57:08 > 1:57:12immeasurable joy and laughter over the last 50 years.

1:57:12 > 1:57:14How much longer does this shit go on for?

1:57:15 > 1:57:18And so, it just remains for us to say...

1:57:18 > 1:57:20Well there are some strobe effects in this.

1:57:20 > 1:57:23So, please, any epileptics, get out now.

1:57:23 > 1:57:26..happy birthday, BBC Two.

1:57:26 > 1:57:28I thought it went very well, dear.

1:57:28 > 1:57:31- Did you? Yeah. Eddie? - Sweetie, you were marvellous.

1:57:33 > 1:57:34SNAP!

1:57:35 > 1:57:36Broken.

1:57:36 > 1:57:41ALL TOOT AND POP CRACKERS

1:57:41 > 1:57:42Weee...

1:57:42 > 1:57:44- 50?- You old git!

1:57:44 > 1:57:4650?! Wow, you've peaked.

1:57:46 > 1:57:47It's funny, I'm 50, too.

1:57:49 > 1:57:50Happy birthday!

1:57:50 > 1:57:53- TOOT! - Have a bang on that.

1:57:53 > 1:57:56Happy 50th, BBC Two.

1:57:56 > 1:57:58Twelvety today! Cheers.

1:57:58 > 1:58:01I feel ridiculous. I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it.

1:58:01 > 1:58:02It's horrible!

1:58:02 > 1:58:05You must savour it, Tubbs!

1:58:05 > 1:58:08- TOOTING - Thanks for all the laughter.

1:58:08 > 1:58:10Happy birthday, BBC Two!

1:58:11 > 1:58:13BALLOON PARPS

1:58:13 > 1:58:15You'll probably just put that in, yeah?

1:58:15 > 1:58:17That it goes off properly.

1:58:17 > 1:58:20Happy birthday, BBC Two.

1:58:21 > 1:58:24- TOOT! - Can I have my money now, please?

1:58:24 > 1:58:26Pop a doodle doo, BBC Two!

1:58:26 > 1:58:27POP!

1:58:30 > 1:58:31I've won awards.

1:58:33 > 1:58:35Are you 50? Look at my face.

1:58:35 > 1:58:38Do I look bovvered? 50 years? BBC Two? Birthday?

1:58:38 > 1:58:40Bovvered? I ain't...bovvered.

1:58:41 > 1:58:42Happy birthday.