Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!

Download Subtitles

Transcript

0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains some strong language.

0:00:06 > 0:00:09# Joe he was a young cordwangler

0:00:10 > 0:00:12# Monging greebals did he go

0:00:12 > 0:00:16# And he loved a bogler's daughter

0:00:16 > 0:00:19# By the name of Chiswick Flo

0:00:19 > 0:00:23# Vain she was and like a grusset

0:00:23 > 0:00:27# And her gander parts were fine

0:00:27 > 0:00:31# But she sneered at his cordwangle

0:00:31 > 0:00:35# As it hung upon the line

0:00:35 > 0:00:38# So he stole a woggler's moulie

0:00:38 > 0:00:40# For to make a wedding ring

0:00:40 > 0:00:43# But the Bow Street runners caught him

0:00:44 > 0:00:48# And the judge said you will swing

0:00:48 > 0:00:51# Oh, they hung him by the postern

0:00:51 > 0:00:55# Nailed his moulie to the fence

0:00:55 > 0:00:58# For to warn all young cordwanglers

0:00:58 > 0:01:00# That it was a grave offence

0:01:00 > 0:01:04# There's a moral to this story

0:01:04 > 0:01:08# Though your cordwangler be poor

0:01:08 > 0:01:12# Keep your hands off others' moulies

0:01:12 > 0:01:17# For it is against the law. #

0:01:23 > 0:01:25HE FARTS

0:01:25 > 0:01:28Two whiffs of that and you're greedy.

0:02:10 > 0:02:13DOORBELL RINGS

0:02:19 > 0:02:21Who is it?

0:02:21 > 0:02:24- Who do you think it is? - I don't know. It could be anyone.

0:02:24 > 0:02:27Well, it ain't, it's me.

0:02:27 > 0:02:30Don't play a silly bugger, open up.

0:02:30 > 0:02:32What do you want, Louie?

0:02:32 > 0:02:36- How are you? - I'm the same as I was this morning.

0:02:36 > 0:02:38- Where've you been?- Nowhere.

0:02:38 > 0:02:41- Nowhere?- Hospital. I'll tell you later. My kettle's on the boil.

0:02:41 > 0:02:44Are you eating tonight?

0:02:44 > 0:02:46- What've you got me?- What d'you want?

0:02:46 > 0:02:49Omelette. Spanish.

0:02:49 > 0:02:53- I'm all out of small veg. - What d'you ask me for then?

0:02:53 > 0:02:55I could open a tin of some sort.

0:02:55 > 0:02:56A tin?

0:02:56 > 0:02:58What do you do all day?

0:03:00 > 0:03:03I don't remember. This and that.

0:03:03 > 0:03:06Well, you want to do less of this and more of that. No veg.

0:03:06 > 0:03:10- It's a disgrace.- Well, I'll make you a cheese omelette, then?

0:03:10 > 0:03:12If I can digest it.

0:03:12 > 0:03:17- What time are you coming round then? - The usual.- Good. We'll watch the telly together. You choose.

0:03:17 > 0:03:19There'll be nothing on. Never is.

0:03:19 > 0:03:24MUSIC PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND

0:03:57 > 0:04:00ROADWORKS COMING FROM OUTSIDE

0:04:16 > 0:04:23Here, shut your awful noise. There's a respectable person trying to get his rest up here.

0:04:23 > 0:04:26Hello, Kenny, me old poofter.

0:04:26 > 0:04:28- Ooh, ye-e-es! - BRAYING LAUGHTER

0:04:28 > 0:04:31- How you doing?- Same as usual.

0:04:31 > 0:04:32Doing it alone. By myself.

0:04:32 > 0:04:36Tragic an' all. How's that hole of yours coming along?

0:04:36 > 0:04:38- Nearly done with it, have you? - We're nearly done.

0:04:38 > 0:04:41- Should be off tonight.- Really? Well, you could have fooled me.

0:04:41 > 0:04:47Positively massive it is. Well, If you need any help fillin' it, your hole that is, give me a bell.

0:04:47 > 0:04:49Ta ra.

0:04:49 > 0:04:51Ta ra, mate!

0:04:55 > 0:04:57Plebeians.

0:04:57 > 0:04:59Expecting me to behave like that.

0:04:59 > 0:05:01It's positively a disgrace.

0:05:05 > 0:05:10Diaries are written so that one has a record of events

0:05:10 > 0:05:13and because there are certain events one wants to remember.

0:05:13 > 0:05:17There is perhaps also the element of the confessional.

0:05:19 > 0:05:21That's what is so-o-o delightful.

0:05:21 > 0:05:24It's what the self wants to say.

0:05:38 > 0:05:40Me hair looks nice.

0:05:40 > 0:05:44Like spun gold.

0:05:44 > 0:05:47Hairdresser done a lovely job.

0:05:49 > 0:05:54You've got to have a trade, boy. You take it from me.

0:05:54 > 0:05:56There's no point in dreamin' your way through life.

0:05:56 > 0:06:01'It's ironic that in so many ways I resembled my father.

0:06:01 > 0:06:04'We're alike in so many things.

0:06:04 > 0:06:08Both of us shared a sense of inferiority.

0:06:08 > 0:06:10Mark my words, son.

0:06:10 > 0:06:14Hair. It always needs doing.

0:06:14 > 0:06:17You got to have a trade.

0:06:18 > 0:06:21- Hair. It always needs doing.- Shhh.

0:06:21 > 0:06:25- The old man will hear you.- You've got to have a trade, boy. A trade.

0:06:25 > 0:06:28Take no notice of him. He's a man. Not like us.

0:06:28 > 0:06:31Look, Kenny, it's finished.

0:06:31 > 0:06:35- What the soddin' hell is that? - It's a dress.- Who for?

0:06:35 > 0:06:37- Who do you think?- Me.

0:06:46 > 0:06:52"Kenneth Williams, with his mincing step and comical demeanour as Angelica,

0:06:52 > 0:06:55"was a firm favourite with the school audience,

0:06:55 > 0:07:01"to whom his snobbishness and pert vivacity made great appeal."

0:07:01 > 0:07:03Now, what have you got to say?

0:07:03 > 0:07:05He looks like a girl.

0:07:05 > 0:07:08He looks nothing like a girl.

0:07:08 > 0:07:10I do not look like a girl.

0:07:10 > 0:07:11What do you look like, then?

0:07:11 > 0:07:13A princess.

0:07:15 > 0:07:17Oh, vanish.

0:07:26 > 0:07:29Would not have missed military service for the world.

0:07:29 > 0:07:31Marvellous.

0:07:31 > 0:07:34Learnt about torpedoes. Very interesting.

0:07:34 > 0:07:41Joining the entertainment corps opened my eyes to many possibilities, that's for sure.

0:07:47 > 0:07:54Wrote to The Stage newspaper today, asking them to insert the following advertisement.

0:07:54 > 0:07:59"Rep work required by experienced male actor. Age 22.

0:07:59 > 0:08:00"Height 5 foot 9 inches.

0:08:00 > 0:08:02"Retentive memory.

0:08:02 > 0:08:05"Many different voices.

0:08:05 > 0:08:07"A natural performer."

0:08:46 > 0:08:50MUSIC ECHOES # Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington

0:08:50 > 0:08:53# Don't put your daughter on the stage

0:08:53 > 0:08:56# Her profession is overcrowded And the struggle is pretty tough

0:08:56 > 0:08:58# And admitting the fact She's burning to act

0:08:58 > 0:09:00# That isn't quite enough

0:09:00 > 0:09:03# She has nice hands To give the wretched girl her dues

0:09:03 > 0:09:06# But don't you think her bust is too developed for her age...? #

0:09:06 > 0:09:10Ever since I left you, Sybil, my life has been intolerable.

0:09:10 > 0:09:12I am wretched. Utterly wretched...

0:09:12 > 0:09:16I feel as if...as if...

0:09:18 > 0:09:20What is the matter, Kenneth?

0:09:20 > 0:09:22Oh, I forgot it, didn't I?

0:09:22 > 0:09:24I'm awfully sorry.

0:09:24 > 0:09:28If you fluff a line, dear boy, make it up until you find your place.

0:09:28 > 0:09:32Never let the audience know where you went wrong.

0:09:32 > 0:09:34Never remove your mask. Understand?

0:09:38 > 0:09:42- APPLAUSE - Yes, well yes, that's correct.

0:09:42 > 0:09:45Never, I tell you. Never.

0:09:45 > 0:09:48Ever since I left you, Sybil, my life has been intolerable.

0:09:48 > 0:09:51Utterly intolerable. I am wretched.

0:09:51 > 0:09:53Oh, wretched...

0:09:53 > 0:09:56LAUGHTER FROM AUDIENCE Bloody hell. Tell me I'm dreaming.

0:09:56 > 0:10:00'Well, if you're not, dear, I certainly am.'

0:10:00 > 0:10:03I am. I am wretched!

0:10:04 > 0:10:10The City And The Pillar is a book I should not care to have missed for the world.

0:10:10 > 0:10:15There is a strange, wholesome quality to the character of Jim.

0:10:22 > 0:10:27For the first time, I read about that thing called...queerness

0:10:27 > 0:10:31in what seems to be a thoroughly truthful light.

0:11:07 > 0:11:12More and more trouble in my mind about myself.

0:11:12 > 0:11:17This queerness seems to become more and more frightening.

0:11:17 > 0:11:19Oh, get on with it.

0:11:43 > 0:11:47'I am to attend audition in West End on Friday...'

0:11:47 > 0:11:50- Good luck, Kenneth. - '..for Stratford-on-Avon.

0:11:50 > 0:11:52'Shakespeare.

0:11:52 > 0:11:56'Perhaps he is the answer to my dreams.'

0:11:57 > 0:12:03But break my heart for I must hold my tongue...

0:12:03 > 0:12:05Next.

0:12:23 > 0:12:28The crapola that's talked about something being just around the corner

0:12:28 > 0:12:31really eats into one's heart.

0:12:31 > 0:12:34And I marvel at my ability to put up with it.

0:12:34 > 0:12:40I am now so utterly superior to those around me,

0:12:40 > 0:12:45yet will anybody care to notice?

0:12:45 > 0:12:49Poking your nose into posh books won't help you find a decent job.

0:12:49 > 0:12:53And where would you have me poke my nose, pray?

0:12:53 > 0:12:55Don't use that plummy voice on me.

0:12:55 > 0:12:58- You want to give it up. - Give what up?

0:12:58 > 0:13:00Whatever he gets up to with pansies and whores.

0:13:00 > 0:13:05I thank you for the advice, Father, both spiritual and theatrical.

0:13:05 > 0:13:07Nonce.

0:13:18 > 0:13:19My Kenny's unique.

0:13:19 > 0:13:21And don't you ever forget it!

0:13:30 > 0:13:34Your majesty is anointed king at last.

0:13:38 > 0:13:41FANFARE

0:13:53 > 0:13:56"Arts Theatre, London. Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan.

0:13:56 > 0:13:59"Mr Kenneth Williams is a brilliantly fussy dauphin.

0:13:59 > 0:14:01"A skinny and abandoned lap dog. He will go far."

0:14:01 > 0:14:03I'm impressed.

0:14:03 > 0:14:05A classical actor.

0:14:05 > 0:14:11Good. Because that's exactly what I need - a legit thespian with no funny voices.

0:14:11 > 0:14:15'Ladies and gentleman. we present Hancock's Half Hour!'

0:14:15 > 0:14:17AUDIENCE LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

0:14:17 > 0:14:19Good morning.

0:14:19 > 0:14:21Good morning, cheeky.

0:14:21 > 0:14:23Wanna come to the pictures with me?

0:14:23 > 0:14:25LAUGHTER

0:14:28 > 0:14:30No. Hop it. Hop it. Go on, get out of it. Go on. Go on.

0:14:30 > 0:14:32Don't be like that.

0:14:32 > 0:14:34I saw you wink at me.

0:14:34 > 0:14:36LAUGHTER

0:14:36 > 0:14:40'I didn't wink at you, me false eyelash popped out.

0:14:40 > 0:14:44'Ooooo, stop messing about.

0:14:44 > 0:14:48- 'Buzz off. Buzz off. Hop it. - I think you're smashin'.

0:14:50 > 0:14:51'I'll smash you in a minute.

0:14:51 > 0:14:55'Ooh, I like girls with a bit of spirit...'

0:14:55 > 0:14:58LOUD, BRAYING LAUGHTER

0:14:59 > 0:15:01Where's my bleedin' supper?

0:15:09 > 0:15:11'A disaster feels imminent.

0:15:11 > 0:15:15'It seems as if their whole marriage is cracking up like some jerry-built house.

0:15:15 > 0:15:19'But then I can't remember it any other way. Why does she stick with him?

0:15:19 > 0:15:22'He is so emotionally inadequate in every way.

0:15:22 > 0:15:25'He still insists on this heavy-handed cock-of-the-walk stuff

0:15:25 > 0:15:29'which is hot air and sickening, because underneath he's just like me -

0:15:29 > 0:15:32'always vying for her affections.

0:15:32 > 0:15:38'When will the scales fall from his eyes? The day I was born, Charlie wasn't needed any more.

0:15:38 > 0:15:42'He'd served his purpose.

0:15:42 > 0:15:43'Louie has ME now.'

0:15:43 > 0:15:45HE SLURPS

0:15:45 > 0:15:46Manners.

0:15:46 > 0:15:49- HE BELCHES - Pig!

0:15:53 > 0:15:56- LAUGHTER - 'Oh no, it's him again!'

0:15:56 > 0:16:02'Only at this juncture of my professional life can I state my worth as a human being.

0:16:02 > 0:16:06'Because I see that in art is man's striving for the truth, for order,

0:16:06 > 0:16:10'for the sense which has evaded him in the stupidity of existence.

0:16:10 > 0:16:15'Only in recognition of this truth in art can my respect be commanded.'

0:16:15 > 0:16:20- He had me in stitches! - LOUD LAUGHTER

0:16:20 > 0:16:22Ohh! Look at that!

0:16:22 > 0:16:25It's our new 17-inch console, madam.

0:16:25 > 0:16:28I'd have thought 17 inches would be enough to console anyone!

0:16:29 > 0:16:35- What's going on?- Installing a television set.- What television set?

0:16:35 > 0:16:37I didn't purchase any television.

0:16:37 > 0:16:39- You didn't, but Kenny did. - It's a present.

0:16:40 > 0:16:42A gift from me to Mother.

0:16:42 > 0:16:43It's a waste of money.

0:16:43 > 0:16:45My Kenny can afford it.

0:16:47 > 0:16:51- 'If I'm not sharing with her, who am I sharing with? - KNOCKING

0:16:55 > 0:16:57'Good evening.

0:17:00 > 0:17:04- 'What do you want?- I'm your room-mate.- Oh, no you're not!

0:17:04 > 0:17:06'Oh no, stop messing about.

0:17:09 > 0:17:10'Mm. Nice room, isn't it?'

0:17:18 > 0:17:21The show went very well tonight, Tony, don't you think?

0:17:21 > 0:17:24- For some of us it did. - The audience were wonderful.

0:17:24 > 0:17:26Not bad.

0:17:26 > 0:17:29Why the funny voices?

0:17:29 > 0:17:32- I beg pardon?- All this.

0:17:32 > 0:17:35You have four voices. Your snide "stop messing about",

0:17:35 > 0:17:37your plummy voice, your upper-class twit and your cockney.

0:17:37 > 0:17:39That's about it, ain't it?

0:17:39 > 0:17:42A great range for a classical actor, don't you think?

0:17:42 > 0:17:47Yes, well, the audience look forward to my voices, don't they? Very popular.

0:17:47 > 0:17:49Of course. Playing to the gallery.

0:17:49 > 0:17:51Any clown can do that. Any cheap comic.

0:17:51 > 0:17:54Audiences need to be nourished on something purer, Kenny.

0:17:54 > 0:17:58And we have to teach them, take them to a higher plain of laughter.

0:17:58 > 0:18:03The comic potential of a man is infinite, Kenny.

0:18:03 > 0:18:04Infinite.

0:18:09 > 0:18:12And so's my bum hole, Tony.

0:18:15 > 0:18:19I think what an audience wants is to be beguiled.

0:18:19 > 0:18:23As Shaw once said, and I have appeared in Shaw,

0:18:23 > 0:18:28"An actor must illuminate the dark corners of the mind."

0:18:28 > 0:18:35I think if you engage them, they will accept it totally, whatever the manner in which you are playing.

0:18:35 > 0:18:39After all, comedy and tragedy are only two sides of the same coin.

0:18:39 > 0:18:45However broad the performance might be, an audience will come with you if they believe you.

0:18:45 > 0:18:49They'll say is it any good and do I believe? If not, you're dead.

0:18:49 > 0:18:53It's a terrible risk you take being a performer, a tightrope walk.

0:18:53 > 0:18:57And you take that risk nightly.

0:18:59 > 0:19:01Don't you agree, Tony?

0:19:02 > 0:19:04Quite.

0:19:04 > 0:19:06The tosser.

0:19:09 > 0:19:14I'll have your melon balls, followed by the creamed chicken.

0:19:14 > 0:19:16Thank you very much.

0:19:16 > 0:19:18Oh, isn't he nice, Peter?

0:19:18 > 0:19:20Really nice manner. Oh, thank you.

0:19:20 > 0:19:22Lovely boy he is.

0:19:22 > 0:19:24Say hello to the agent, duckie.

0:19:27 > 0:19:28Do you have to, Kenneth?

0:19:28 > 0:19:30Have to what, Peter?

0:19:30 > 0:19:35- Talk so loud. The whole restaurant can hear you.- Can they?!

0:19:35 > 0:19:39Oh, well, they shouldn't be listening.

0:19:39 > 0:19:44I expect they probably recognise me from appearing on the television.

0:19:44 > 0:19:46Not for much longer I'm afraid.

0:19:47 > 0:19:49Oh? How do you mean?

0:19:51 > 0:19:54I've had a word from the BBC.

0:19:54 > 0:19:56They want to cut back your characters.

0:19:56 > 0:19:58He says you're a grotesque.

0:20:00 > 0:20:02A grotesque. Who did? The slur.

0:20:02 > 0:20:07Hancock did. They want to make the show more realistic. Less of a cartoon.

0:20:07 > 0:20:10He doesn't think you're natural enough for his show.

0:20:15 > 0:20:19I see.

0:20:19 > 0:20:20I'm sorry.

0:20:23 > 0:20:26Well, of course I'm not natural.

0:20:26 > 0:20:30I'm supernatural, I am!

0:20:30 > 0:20:31I am!

0:20:31 > 0:20:36I'm surre-e-e-eal, Peter! I am!

0:20:36 > 0:20:38I'm surre-e-e-eal.

0:20:49 > 0:20:56The leaf that blossoms, dies and falls from the tree is, in the falling, tragic.

0:20:58 > 0:21:01But I am the leaf that has not yet blossomed.

0:21:03 > 0:21:06I am that blighted leaf.

0:21:06 > 0:21:11My tragedy lies in the knowledge of my failure to bloom.

0:21:13 > 0:21:15I come always near,

0:21:15 > 0:21:18but never into, truth.

0:21:19 > 0:21:21TELEPHONE RINGS

0:21:23 > 0:21:26Kenny!

0:21:26 > 0:21:27Telephone call.

0:21:27 > 0:21:30It's your agent.

0:21:46 > 0:21:51Funny how things can change in the wink of an eye.

0:22:19 > 0:22:21Oh, I say.

0:22:36 > 0:22:38CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:22:53 > 0:22:57Fantabulosa!

0:23:00 > 0:23:02'You seem to collect voices like others collect stamps.

0:23:02 > 0:23:06'Do you borrow them from people or do you just pluck them from the air?

0:23:06 > 0:23:10Oh, yes. They are taken from people I have known. Pinched, I suppose.

0:23:10 > 0:23:17The snide voice - the stop messing about one - was taken from a boy I met, a boy working at the mint.

0:23:17 > 0:23:24He was describing how you were searched to make sure you hadn't taken anything that you shouldn't,

0:23:24 > 0:23:29and he was describing with a perpetual smile on his face.

0:23:29 > 0:23:33"You have to be very careful because...

0:23:33 > 0:23:36"otherwise they make you take your clothes off."

0:23:36 > 0:23:39So I thought that was a very good idea. The voice, I mean.

0:23:39 > 0:23:41Not him taking off his clothes.

0:23:41 > 0:23:44- Of course.- Indeed.

0:23:47 > 0:23:53For all my talk on television, I still haven't matured in any real way.

0:23:53 > 0:23:58Sexually I'm as juvenile as ever and unresolved.

0:23:58 > 0:24:02Given a sign, I would act on it...

0:24:02 > 0:24:05but no sign ever comes.

0:24:25 > 0:24:29- Thank you for the drink. - Don't mention it.

0:24:29 > 0:24:31My pleasure.

0:24:31 > 0:24:33- Would you like another one?- No.

0:24:38 > 0:24:39Peanut?

0:24:39 > 0:24:41Perhaps later.

0:24:46 > 0:24:47Afterwards.

0:24:50 > 0:24:52Yes.

0:24:52 > 0:24:54Might I use your lavatory?

0:24:54 > 0:24:59- Nobody is ever allowed to use my lavatory. My lavatory and its paper are my own.- Oh?

0:24:59 > 0:25:00Hygiene.

0:25:29 > 0:25:31When did you last scrub those nails?

0:25:31 > 0:25:34- Sorry?- Your nails. Such dirt.

0:25:35 > 0:25:39- I don't remember.- No? Well, you should. Positively filthy.

0:25:41 > 0:25:43Shall we go somewhere else?

0:25:43 > 0:25:45Yes, I think you should leave.

0:25:46 > 0:25:49I think that people who manifest their love for you physically

0:25:49 > 0:25:53when they know your lack of reciprocation are abominably selfish.

0:25:53 > 0:26:00All this touching and kissing which seems so popular among others passes me by.

0:26:00 > 0:26:03My friends know I'm a virgin and say I make up for it by flirting.

0:26:03 > 0:26:06To them, everyone must do something or die.

0:26:10 > 0:26:14Perhaps I am dead, already.

0:26:21 > 0:26:25Celibacy is an essential quality in my own character.

0:26:25 > 0:26:30I must never allow myself to be vulnerable in the sexual sense.

0:26:30 > 0:26:35That kind of humiliation would be detrimental in every way.

0:26:35 > 0:26:38Oh, the dirt.

0:26:44 > 0:26:49Obviously, the sex life of consenting adults of the same sex has nothing to do with anyone else.

0:26:49 > 0:26:52And the present law is so primitively barbaric

0:26:52 > 0:26:56that it gives rise to more trouble than it's worth.

0:27:35 > 0:27:39I am the leaf that has not blossomed.

0:27:44 > 0:27:47People used to say that matches were made in heaven.

0:27:47 > 0:27:51Nowadays they're more likely to be made by computer, and a firm has recently opened

0:27:51 > 0:27:56called, Bona Soul Mates, who have offered to do it electronically.

0:27:56 > 0:27:59And I decided to pay them a visit.

0:27:59 > 0:28:01Hello, anybody there?

0:28:01 > 0:28:03Oh, hello, I'm Julian and this is my friend Sandy.

0:28:03 > 0:28:06Oooh, hello, yes! Hello, Mr Horne!

0:28:06 > 0:28:09We're your Bona Soul Mates, we are.

0:28:09 > 0:28:13- Yes, our motto is for every omi, there's a pol...- Polone.

0:28:13 > 0:28:16We guarantee to match you with the perfect partner.

0:28:16 > 0:28:18A sort of marriage bureau are you?

0:28:18 > 0:28:22To find you the perfect partner, we fill in your particulars.

0:28:22 > 0:28:24Yes, we fill 'em in, you see.

0:28:24 > 0:28:29- Would you mind answering a few questions, Mr Horne?- I don't mind.

0:28:29 > 0:28:34These questions are worked out by a psychiatrist to determine your personality.

0:28:34 > 0:28:38- First of all, what sort of car do you drive, Mr Horne?- Why?

0:28:38 > 0:28:40A car is your sort of virility symbol.

0:28:40 > 0:28:43The sort of car you drive indicates the sort of person you are.

0:28:43 > 0:28:48- Sean Connery, he drives a great big powerful sports car.- Very butch. Very potent.- What sort do you drive?

0:28:48 > 0:28:50A Mini.

0:28:53 > 0:28:57- I think that tells us all we need to know, Mr Horne.- All we need to know!

0:29:02 > 0:29:05I got the 73 up to the Angel today

0:29:05 > 0:29:09and called on Joe Orton, playwright, and his friend.

0:29:09 > 0:29:12It was frugal, to say the least.

0:29:14 > 0:29:18- Would you care for a ham sandwich, Mr Williams?- Thank you.

0:29:18 > 0:29:21Ken made them especially.

0:29:23 > 0:29:26I make all the food around here.

0:29:26 > 0:29:28While I write plays.

0:29:28 > 0:29:30Who does your decor?

0:29:30 > 0:29:32Ken does.

0:29:32 > 0:29:35They're collages. Art.

0:29:35 > 0:29:39Mm. Two artists under the same small roof. Must cramp your style?

0:29:39 > 0:29:41We like it this way.

0:29:41 > 0:29:43Ever so cosy.

0:29:43 > 0:29:45Has been for years.

0:29:51 > 0:29:55- This ham is rather good, don't you think?- Isn't it?

0:29:55 > 0:30:01- I do love your new play, Joe, Funeral Games.- Loot.

0:30:01 > 0:30:04- Sorry?- I've changed the title.

0:30:04 > 0:30:08I think up all Joe's titles.

0:30:10 > 0:30:12It's very good, Joe.

0:30:12 > 0:30:16- Outrageous, mind.- I'm flattered.

0:30:16 > 0:30:21He is, often nowadays. By all sorts.

0:30:28 > 0:30:30Who's your favourite, Mr Williams?

0:30:34 > 0:30:36I prefer Miss July.

0:31:45 > 0:31:49I would like very much to have been born handsome.

0:31:49 > 0:31:53Not for its own sake, but for the sake of being attractive to others.

0:31:53 > 0:31:59I've no doubt that this is one superficial excuse for more profound complaints within.

0:31:59 > 0:32:04So much is because I think my face and body unprepossessing.

0:32:04 > 0:32:08This is, of course, the paradox of my own nature.

0:32:08 > 0:32:13The thing that I am, being the thing which I despise.

0:32:13 > 0:32:17But I think my despite is justified.

0:32:26 > 0:32:31This Roman tunic I'm wearing in the film

0:32:31 > 0:32:35is really quite sexual, don't you think, Joan?

0:32:35 > 0:32:36Very you, Kenny.

0:32:38 > 0:32:43- Hail Caesar!- Oh, Kenny, not again. Put it away!

0:32:43 > 0:32:45- BRAYING LAUGHTER - Freak.

0:32:50 > 0:32:53I didn't see a cock the whole time I was in Leicester.

0:32:53 > 0:32:55- Really?- No. Except my own.

0:32:55 > 0:32:57And that glimpsed only briefly in a cracked mirror.

0:32:57 > 0:33:01- I've made a habit of my mirror. - Masturbation?- The Barclay's, yes.

0:33:01 > 0:33:03- Barclay's?- Barclay's Bank.

0:33:03 > 0:33:05Wank. Cockney rhyme.

0:33:05 > 0:33:07I see.

0:33:07 > 0:33:09Mental cock, I leave it alone.

0:33:09 > 0:33:11Nothing can touch my fantasies.

0:33:11 > 0:33:14Positively le-e-ewd at times, in my mind's eye.

0:33:14 > 0:33:17We're going to Morocco for it.

0:33:17 > 0:33:19Bum.

0:33:19 > 0:33:24Tangier is certainly the place for relaxation during a mild winter.

0:33:24 > 0:33:28- You should come.- I don't think your Kenneth would approve, do you?

0:33:28 > 0:33:31The more the merrier I say.

0:33:31 > 0:33:33- Yes, but does he? - I'm over 21 you know.

0:33:33 > 0:33:37Only in a bad light. Today, you could play a boy of sweet 16.

0:33:37 > 0:33:38Good.

0:33:44 > 0:33:46Oh, you want locking up, you do.

0:33:46 > 0:33:48- I already have been, Kenny. - How shocking.

0:33:48 > 0:33:54She will be with her pants down and her tie wrapped around her ankles.

0:33:54 > 0:33:57- I can't say I approve. - Not many people do.

0:33:57 > 0:34:00That's what makes the prospect of having him all the more entertaining.

0:34:00 > 0:34:02It's irreligious and immoral.

0:34:02 > 0:34:04- Like my play, heh?- Yes.

0:34:04 > 0:34:07Certainly audiences will be mortally offended should I appear.

0:34:07 > 0:34:09You're going to do it, then?

0:34:17 > 0:34:20Loot went down as I feared it would.

0:34:21 > 0:34:24Shocked the audience to buggery.

0:34:33 > 0:34:35Joe's not here. He's gone out.

0:34:36 > 0:34:39Hiding from me, is he?

0:34:42 > 0:34:44When do you expect him back?

0:34:44 > 0:34:48- Depends on what he finds. - Might I come in?

0:34:48 > 0:34:50- I'm doing haddock.- For tea? Lovely.

0:34:50 > 0:34:52- There isn't enough for three. - Rubbish.

0:34:52 > 0:34:56After what I've been through in that play of his, I deserve fresh salmon.

0:35:05 > 0:35:09There's something different about you today, Kenneth.

0:35:09 > 0:35:12Joe bought it for me. He said it suited me.

0:35:12 > 0:35:14More virile.

0:35:14 > 0:35:18Very distinguished.

0:35:18 > 0:35:21- Do you like it? - It doesn't matter what I think.

0:35:21 > 0:35:24- Hollandaise sauce?- Just a smidgin.

0:35:24 > 0:35:29The stomach's playing up. I could blow off like the wind.

0:35:29 > 0:35:32- Thanks for sharing that with me. - Pleasure.

0:35:42 > 0:35:45Joe's having trouble with his dick.

0:35:47 > 0:35:49He wants a good doctor.

0:35:51 > 0:35:53His heart's in the right place.

0:35:53 > 0:35:55Shame his dick isn't.

0:36:00 > 0:36:04I'm sure he...would never leave you.

0:36:04 > 0:36:07Joe told me.

0:36:07 > 0:36:09You've been through too much together, he said.

0:36:09 > 0:36:11How very magnanimous of him.

0:36:13 > 0:36:15I'd be grateful for that.

0:36:15 > 0:36:17- Grateful?- Some kind of love.

0:36:19 > 0:36:21He has an inability to love.

0:36:22 > 0:36:25A horror of involvement.

0:36:25 > 0:36:28He needs to be utterly free to write...

0:36:28 > 0:36:30he says.

0:36:30 > 0:36:34But you can't live without love.

0:36:34 > 0:36:37Love is involvement.

0:36:42 > 0:36:47When I'm not indulged, loved by an audience,

0:36:47 > 0:36:49I always feel the need to run.

0:36:49 > 0:36:51Where do you run to?

0:36:51 > 0:36:53I've no idea.

0:36:53 > 0:36:56To a friend's habitat, I suppose.

0:36:56 > 0:37:00Share a bit of haddock, eh? Bit of haddock, eh!

0:37:00 > 0:37:03- Quite.- Quite.

0:37:09 > 0:37:14What you need out of life, Kenny, is a good fuck up the arse.

0:37:14 > 0:37:17- Really?- I should say so.- Why?

0:37:17 > 0:37:21- Would that have helped me to perform any better in your play?- It might.

0:37:21 > 0:37:24Farce is very close to tragedy.

0:37:24 > 0:37:26Is that how you see me?

0:37:28 > 0:37:31- A tragedy?- No.

0:37:31 > 0:37:32Do you?

0:37:34 > 0:37:36That fella's got his eye on you.

0:37:36 > 0:37:38- Where?- Over there.

0:37:45 > 0:37:49No, I won't indulge, Joe.

0:37:49 > 0:37:52- Why not?- Promiscuous sex,

0:37:52 > 0:37:54I've always equated it with...

0:37:54 > 0:37:57- What?- Sin.

0:37:57 > 0:37:58Bollocks!

0:37:58 > 0:38:03I think the natural goodness and dignity of man is bound up with regard to certain qualities...

0:38:03 > 0:38:05You sound like the Oxford Dictionary.

0:38:05 > 0:38:07..and, if you use someone else physically with no other motive

0:38:07 > 0:38:10but sexual stimulus, then you degrade them.

0:38:10 > 0:38:14You take away their natural goodness and dignity and, of course, your own.

0:38:14 > 0:38:16Filth fires the soul.

0:38:18 > 0:38:21Bend over, Kenny. Stretch your toes a little before it's too late.

0:38:21 > 0:38:24You play at your games, Joe, and I'll play at mine.

0:38:24 > 0:38:28"What do we any of us have but our illusions?

0:38:28 > 0:38:31"And what do we ask of others but that we be allowed to keep them?"

0:38:31 > 0:38:33Somerset Maugham.

0:38:33 > 0:38:36- Is that right?- Yes, it's one of the secrets of celibacy -

0:38:36 > 0:38:40the preservation of the illusion,

0:38:40 > 0:38:42don't you think?

0:38:42 > 0:38:44I'll tell you what I think.

0:38:46 > 0:38:51"Nice arse. Pert and juicy."

0:38:52 > 0:38:54Joe Orton.

0:39:29 > 0:39:30Nippy, innit?

0:39:36 > 0:39:41I hoovered the carpet in the lounge dressed only in bathing trunks.

0:39:41 > 0:39:44It was very daring...

0:39:44 > 0:39:49and the atmosphere was charged with sex.

0:39:51 > 0:39:57If anyone had walked in, they would have been irresistibly attracted.

0:40:07 > 0:40:09DOORBELL RINGS, HE SWITCHES HOOVER OFF

0:40:11 > 0:40:14KNOCK AT DOOR

0:40:15 > 0:40:16Hello?

0:40:16 > 0:40:18Who is it?

0:40:18 > 0:40:21Your father.

0:40:23 > 0:40:25What do you want?

0:40:25 > 0:40:29I was just passing and I thought I'd call to see you.

0:40:29 > 0:40:32Why? You've never called before.

0:40:33 > 0:40:35Just being friendly.

0:40:37 > 0:40:39Go away.

0:40:41 > 0:40:43Don't be like that.

0:40:43 > 0:40:45I don't want to see you.

0:40:47 > 0:40:49Kenny?

0:40:49 > 0:40:52It's too late...to call.

0:40:58 > 0:41:00I won't forget this.

0:41:04 > 0:41:06Me neither.

0:41:08 > 0:41:12When I got home from the theatre,

0:41:12 > 0:41:15I discovered a small thing,

0:41:15 > 0:41:19crawling on my sheets.

0:41:19 > 0:41:21It was panic stations.

0:41:26 > 0:41:29I put it into DDT.

0:41:29 > 0:41:31Watched it die. Then sprayed the entire room.

0:41:31 > 0:41:35The bed, the mattress, the frame, the linen, everything with DDT.

0:41:35 > 0:41:38God knows what the thing was.

0:41:38 > 0:41:40Or where it came from!

0:41:46 > 0:41:50The horror, nonetheless.

0:42:02 > 0:42:07- LAUGHTER - Good night, Mr Williams.

0:42:07 > 0:42:11- She likes you.- No. I've relegated my desires. Locked them up for good.

0:42:11 > 0:42:13I don't want to mar my public image.

0:42:13 > 0:42:16- I want the public's plaudits, not its opprobriums.- Arseholes.

0:42:16 > 0:42:20I just put it all into the theatre, that's enough for me.

0:42:20 > 0:42:22- It's where I belong.- Yes, Auntie.

0:42:22 > 0:42:24Goodnight, Syd, did you manage a wank?

0:42:26 > 0:42:28And the fame and fortune isn't bad either.

0:42:28 > 0:42:34- Oh yes, the best thing I did for anyone all year was to buy Louie that fur coat.- A Siberian squirrel.

0:42:34 > 0:42:38She does looks lovely in it though, doesn't she?

0:42:39 > 0:42:41Oh, Kenny.

0:42:41 > 0:42:47- What's the matter with you? - Nothing's the matter with me. It's your father.

0:42:47 > 0:42:53He swallowed some poison. Cleaning fluid.

0:42:54 > 0:42:56What's he done that for?

0:42:56 > 0:43:00I keep it in the bathroom cabinet.

0:43:00 > 0:43:04A Gees Linctus bottle in case of emergencies.

0:43:04 > 0:43:08He had a dry, tickly cough and he reached out for some quick relief.

0:43:08 > 0:43:10Silly sod.

0:43:13 > 0:43:15Will he live?

0:43:17 > 0:43:20Well, he seems a peaky colour, don't he?

0:43:37 > 0:43:40Deathly.

0:43:50 > 0:43:55I'm ever so sorry, Louie, about Charlie.

0:43:55 > 0:43:58Yeah. Thanks, Joan.

0:43:58 > 0:44:00Terrible, isn't it?

0:44:00 > 0:44:03He kept saying, "Take these knives out of my stomach."

0:44:03 > 0:44:05- Oh, dear.- Still...

0:44:05 > 0:44:08it was a rat trap of a marriage.

0:44:08 > 0:44:11The doctor told Louie his brain was damaged,

0:44:11 > 0:44:15the heart was impaired and his kidneys in very bad condition.

0:44:15 > 0:44:20In reality, it was a good thing, his death. Pass the butter.

0:44:20 > 0:44:24- He'd never have recovered, would he, Louie?- No.

0:44:24 > 0:44:27Not after swallowing poison.

0:44:27 > 0:44:29Almost a vegetable.

0:44:40 > 0:44:46- The show went very well tonight, don't you think? Audience very appreciative of me.- They loved you!

0:44:46 > 0:44:49I thought the second half was fantastic.

0:44:51 > 0:44:56Louie is to move into the flat next door. It's the obvious answer.

0:44:56 > 0:44:58Keep an eye on each other.

0:44:58 > 0:45:00As always.

0:45:12 > 0:45:14HE FARTS

0:45:20 > 0:45:22DOORBELL RINGS

0:45:39 > 0:45:40Who is it?

0:45:41 > 0:45:44Who do you think it is?

0:45:45 > 0:45:47I said five o'clock.

0:45:47 > 0:45:49It's three minutes to.

0:45:49 > 0:45:51Your omelette's on the table.

0:45:51 > 0:45:54Come back when I'm ready to eat it. On time.

0:45:56 > 0:46:00- I've left home now. - Then you'll have to wait your rush.

0:46:15 > 0:46:18Good evening. How lovely to see you, Louie.

0:46:18 > 0:46:20Evening.

0:46:27 > 0:46:30Hurry up. Omelette! It'll be congealed.

0:46:48 > 0:46:52The news ain't good, is it?

0:46:52 > 0:46:54The usual murder and mayhem.

0:46:54 > 0:46:56It's no good, I can't eat it.

0:46:56 > 0:46:59- Can't eat what? - The omelette.- Omelette?

0:46:59 > 0:47:01Cheese bloody omelette.

0:47:01 > 0:47:03The stomach.

0:47:03 > 0:47:04The swelling.

0:47:04 > 0:47:07My lingering pain.

0:47:07 > 0:47:09- HE FARTS - Oh, dear.

0:47:09 > 0:47:12This atrocious farting is truly foul.

0:47:12 > 0:47:15Manners.

0:47:15 > 0:47:17Oh, I'm in purgatory.

0:47:17 > 0:47:19Oh my poor boy.

0:47:19 > 0:47:22The pain never stops.

0:47:22 > 0:47:25It's worse than anything I can remember. The doctor...

0:47:25 > 0:47:27he mentioned some kind of operation.

0:47:27 > 0:47:30- Operation?- He mentioned some time after the 25th of April.

0:47:30 > 0:47:32What sort of operation?

0:47:32 > 0:47:34A knife in the belly. Open up my gut.

0:47:34 > 0:47:41- Will it work?- Even if it don't work, I can't be any worse than I am at the moment, can I?- I expect not.

0:47:43 > 0:47:47Eat your omelette, darlin', before it gets cold.

0:48:31 > 0:48:35BBC wanted me to go on TV and talk about it.

0:48:35 > 0:48:37I said no.

0:48:37 > 0:48:40I couldn't talk about Joe in public,

0:48:40 > 0:48:42not at the moment.

0:48:58 > 0:49:00Lots of people on about Joe's death.

0:49:00 > 0:49:04Everyone phoning and asking the same thing, "Why?"

0:49:14 > 0:49:18I think the motive was Halliwell loved Joe.

0:49:18 > 0:49:22Halliwell felt that something very big and important threatened that love.

0:49:22 > 0:49:26He couldn't kill that, so he killed Joe Orton.

0:49:26 > 0:49:30This is the only thing that makes any sense,

0:49:30 > 0:49:33if there is any sense in murder.

0:49:36 > 0:49:44The whole mess that is existence and mundane things is shot through and transformed by redemption.

0:49:44 > 0:49:47This is what Jesus meant about redemption.

0:49:47 > 0:49:53It's the only way, one real act of love.

0:49:53 > 0:49:56Please let me be capable of it.

0:49:56 > 0:49:59Just give me one chance.

0:49:59 > 0:50:02Don't let me be a moral coward...

0:50:08 > 0:50:09Amen.

0:50:24 > 0:50:28Who is that dish in jeans, Joan?

0:50:28 > 0:50:30New sparks boy - Alfie.

0:50:30 > 0:50:33He certainly know how to tweak a light bulb, doesn't he?

0:50:33 > 0:50:36I think you're going to be a fan of mine, aren't you?

0:50:37 > 0:50:39Such outspokenness. Well...

0:50:41 > 0:50:43really.

0:50:43 > 0:50:46I'm like that, me - forward.

0:50:46 > 0:50:50You've got quite a few fans on this unit already, Charlie Hawtrey for one.

0:50:50 > 0:50:53He buys you chocolates, I believe.

0:50:53 > 0:50:56Not my type.

0:50:57 > 0:50:59Suchards.

0:50:59 > 0:51:02I think you're in there, Kenny.

0:51:02 > 0:51:04You think so?

0:51:08 > 0:51:11LAUGHTER AND MOANING >

0:51:34 > 0:51:38He's 27, unmarried and lives in Catford.

0:51:38 > 0:51:40What a honey.

0:51:48 > 0:51:50You've either got it, dear,

0:51:50 > 0:51:52or you haven't.

0:51:54 > 0:51:58- Thank goodness my Kenny's not like that.- Like what?

0:51:58 > 0:52:00Well...you know.

0:52:00 > 0:52:03It's sad, isn't it?

0:52:03 > 0:52:05Is it?

0:52:05 > 0:52:07My Kenny...

0:52:07 > 0:52:09he's not a homosexual.

0:52:09 > 0:52:11No. He's...

0:52:11 > 0:52:13Now what does he call it?

0:52:13 > 0:52:15He's a asexual, that's it.

0:52:15 > 0:52:17He don't do anything mucky.

0:52:17 > 0:52:19A very clean-living boy.

0:52:24 > 0:52:27I've certainly gone off him.

0:52:27 > 0:52:31It seems extraordinary now that I was even bothered.

0:52:31 > 0:52:36He's an ignorant lout and that's all there is to it.

0:52:37 > 0:52:39Such lewd behaviour.

0:52:47 > 0:52:51To think I used to think you were a great dish and got an erection

0:52:51 > 0:52:56when I was near you, but now it has all died completely! So there!

0:53:03 > 0:53:07- Good job it was only a mental affair.- Yes.

0:53:07 > 0:53:09Still, the heartache.

0:53:12 > 0:53:14Bottoms up.

0:53:23 > 0:53:27Well, the bum was a joke yesterday, I can tell you.

0:53:27 > 0:53:30And after the bowel motion I thought I should go demented or something.

0:53:30 > 0:53:34And we all know why, don't we? Fiddling about.

0:53:34 > 0:53:39But thank goodness, after the ointment and the suppository I shoved up,

0:53:39 > 0:53:42things have finally quietened down.

0:53:42 > 0:53:45I was able to venture into the street looking like most pedestrians.

0:53:45 > 0:53:49Nobody actually screamed out, "Got a touch of the farmer's, have you?

0:53:49 > 0:53:53"Farmer Giles! Got a touch of the farmers?"

0:53:53 > 0:53:57Then I said to the chemist, "Be careful, there's enough talcum powder up there

0:53:57 > 0:54:00"that if I blow off, everyone will be covered in dust.

0:54:00 > 0:54:07- And she said, quite curtly I thought, "Rather you than me," and rang up the till.- Oh, Kenneth!

0:54:07 > 0:54:09Have you tried Milk of Magnesia for it, dear?

0:54:09 > 0:54:11Do you mind, Joan, I'm talking here.

0:54:11 > 0:54:15Listen to her. Can't get a word in edgeways.

0:54:15 > 0:54:22Anyway, to cut a long story short, I tried something new this morning.

0:54:22 > 0:54:24Put some foot powder up there.

0:54:24 > 0:54:26Can't do any more harm, can it?

0:54:26 > 0:54:30Let's see how that affects it, eh, Joan?

0:54:40 > 0:54:42Penny for your thoughts.

0:54:42 > 0:54:48- The reason for most of the smut in this world is boredom, isn't it, Joan?- Is it?

0:54:48 > 0:54:52Yes. People like to attribute it to reasons more profound,

0:54:52 > 0:54:58but in my opinion it's people's conceit that seeks profundity in reasons for behaviour, isn't it?

0:54:58 > 0:55:01I wouldn't know, I'm not that bright.

0:55:01 > 0:55:03Bad day was it?

0:55:03 > 0:55:07I always have a bad day, performing in such crapola!

0:55:08 > 0:55:13When I think of the shameless way I behave in these studios,

0:55:13 > 0:55:17the dirty mimes, the dirty songs, the obscene dialogue and...

0:55:17 > 0:55:20The crowds that gather around you like a family.

0:55:24 > 0:55:26Marry me, Joan.

0:55:26 > 0:55:28- What?- There'll be nothing messy.

0:55:28 > 0:55:31Just friendship, companionship.

0:55:31 > 0:55:33You've got your mother for that, Kenny.

0:55:33 > 0:55:35Yes, and you both get on, don't you?

0:55:38 > 0:55:41I need a little bit more than that, lovey.

0:55:41 > 0:55:44What else is there?

0:55:44 > 0:55:47I haven't given up hope yet, you know. I'm only 43.

0:55:47 > 0:55:50- 45!- Where there's life, there's hope.

0:55:50 > 0:55:52Besides, it wouldn't work out.

0:55:52 > 0:55:56You'd never be able to accept my tights drip-drying in your sink, would you?

0:55:58 > 0:56:01- I might.- You wouldn't.

0:56:01 > 0:56:04You'd grow to hate me with all my female paraphernalia on show.

0:56:06 > 0:56:08Perhaps you're right.

0:56:08 > 0:56:10I know I'm right.

0:56:10 > 0:56:12I can read you like a book, Kenny.

0:56:12 > 0:56:14A love story, am I?

0:56:14 > 0:56:16A love story.

0:56:19 > 0:56:21You've got a spastic colon.

0:56:21 > 0:56:24You make it sound like I've won the lottery!

0:56:24 > 0:56:27'He told me he'd keep his eye on it.

0:56:27 > 0:56:30'I told him everything about my predicaments.

0:56:30 > 0:56:35'He said I should find a suitable companion to share my life with, not to worry.'

0:56:35 > 0:56:40You don't have to go too far, Mr Williams. A little shared mutual masturbation won't hurt you.

0:56:40 > 0:56:44- I thank you for your professional advice, Doctor.- Good.

0:56:44 > 0:56:50Mind you, better to find someone older than yourself, not someone who's after your money.

0:56:50 > 0:56:52Quite.

0:56:52 > 0:56:54'Charming.'

0:57:01 > 0:57:06I sat alone in the park thinking of likely lovers.

0:57:10 > 0:57:13But not a type entered my head.

0:57:23 > 0:57:25Lovely day for it, don't you think?

0:57:26 > 0:57:28A walk in the park.

0:57:29 > 0:57:31Oh, lovely.

0:57:33 > 0:57:36Tres romantic.

0:57:50 > 0:57:52All this excrement.

0:57:52 > 0:57:53It's a disgrace.

0:58:00 > 0:58:03MUSIC PLAYS SOFTLY

0:58:03 > 0:58:06Oh, what can you say at the end of the day?

0:58:06 > 0:58:09Was the plot so sound or the lines profound?

0:58:09 > 0:58:12Was there rather less grain than chaff?

0:58:12 > 0:58:16Oh, what can you say at the end of the day?

0:58:17 > 0:58:22You can say you made them laugh.

0:58:24 > 0:58:30The essence of being funny is confidence. A buoyancy.

0:58:36 > 0:58:40My role in life is played out totally without credibility

0:58:40 > 0:58:45and so, of course, one falls back on personality playing

0:58:45 > 0:58:49and all the same old...

0:58:49 > 0:58:51tired tricks.

0:58:59 > 0:59:04'The press call seems to be going very well. We seem to have got away with it again.'

0:59:04 > 0:59:07I play the part of Thomas Cromwell,

0:59:07 > 0:59:12privy seal to King Henry VIII and protector of the crown jewels!

0:59:12 > 0:59:16- Mr Williams, could I have another word?- You may.

0:59:16 > 0:59:20What are you doing, continually appearing in these sort of films?

0:59:20 > 0:59:22Having a bloody good time, dear.

0:59:24 > 0:59:26I...beg pardon?

0:59:26 > 0:59:31Why are you continually associated with this chamber pot kind of comedy?

0:59:33 > 0:59:40Well, in our society, there was and always should be room for all kinds of entertainment,

0:59:40 > 0:59:47if it works on its own level, and that the only charge that would be taken seriously by us

0:59:47 > 0:59:54would be that the comedy, the burlesque in this case, didn't work, it wasn't funny. ..Don't you think?

0:59:54 > 0:59:57- Indubitably, Kenny. - But that's my point.

0:59:57 > 1:00:00Is your kind of comedy still funny?

1:00:02 > 1:00:06'I sometimes feel I am so useless.

1:00:06 > 1:00:10'I'm slowly splintering as a personality.

1:00:10 > 1:00:14'Feel as though I'm stuck together with stamp paper.'

1:00:15 > 1:00:21Kenneth, it's your turn to begin. The subject - stiff upper lip.

1:00:21 > 1:00:24You have 60 seconds as usual, and your time starts now.

1:00:24 > 1:00:30I have actually tried this myself at home and one evidently comes to resemble a ventriloquist's dummy.

1:00:30 > 1:00:33# Underneath the lamplight

1:00:33 > 1:00:36# Beneath the barrack door... #

1:00:36 > 1:00:39- Kenneth, you've been challenged.- Who challenged me?!

1:00:39 > 1:00:43- Clement Freud.- But I haven't finished, you great nit.

1:00:43 > 1:00:48I'm supposed to discuss it, you great fool. Interrupting me before I've even started...

1:00:48 > 1:00:55'Oh, dear. I think my star is on the wane, while all around me the rubbish proliferates.'

1:00:55 > 1:00:58- Who let this tat in here?- Kenneth...

1:00:59 > 1:01:02The Carry Ons used to be my mainstay.

1:01:02 > 1:01:05As long as they were there I never had to worry.

1:01:05 > 1:01:07Hey ho.

1:01:22 > 1:01:26I fell to musing on my condition.

1:01:26 > 1:01:30I can't have sex cos I just can't cope on that level

1:01:30 > 1:01:34and so I'm only really left with work.

1:01:34 > 1:01:37PHONE RINGS

1:01:38 > 1:01:43- Who is it?- Peter. Do you want to go on the television and chat with Michael Parkinson?

1:01:43 > 1:01:46Certainly not. North country nit.

1:01:53 > 1:01:56VOCAL INTRO

1:02:02 > 1:02:08# Oh, honey, picture me

1:02:08 > 1:02:10# Upon your knee

1:02:10 > 1:02:12# With tea for two

1:02:12 > 1:02:15# And two for tea... #

1:02:15 > 1:02:21'There is the endless question - will I remain solvent?

1:02:21 > 1:02:24'Will I last out until I am able to retire?

1:02:24 > 1:02:27'My whole life is trying to make it up to her.

1:02:27 > 1:02:33'Trying to erase all the sadness and the loneliness and only succeeding in making more loneliness,

1:02:33 > 1:02:40'cos the nights I don't spend with her serve to emphasise the others, or vice versa.'

1:02:41 > 1:02:43There's nobody in the world like my Kenny.

1:02:46 > 1:02:51'Awful dreams of Louie saying goodbye forever.'

1:02:51 > 1:02:55# ..And start to bake a sugar cake... #

1:02:55 > 1:02:58What would I do without you?

1:02:58 > 1:03:03# ..For you to take For all the boys to see... #

1:03:03 > 1:03:06Peter Eade's secretary rang.

1:03:06 > 1:03:11Thames Television, Mavis Nicholson chat show will raise the fee to £100.

1:03:11 > 1:03:13I said...

1:03:13 > 1:03:16Oh, all right.

1:03:17 > 1:03:20But this is a pyrrhic victory.

1:03:27 > 1:03:32- It's a comfort to me, Kenneth Williams, to learn that you always keep a diary.- Oh, yes.

1:03:32 > 1:03:35What's the saddest thing, when you read them, that you find in your diary?

1:03:35 > 1:03:41- That continually occurs in mine is depression.- Like saying you'd want to kill yourself or something?

1:03:41 > 1:03:45Oh yes. I often put down stuff about suicide.

1:03:45 > 1:03:47How would one go about it

1:03:47 > 1:03:49and what would be the best method?

1:03:49 > 1:03:50All that kind of thing, you know.

1:03:50 > 1:03:53Looking back, it's often, you know...

1:03:53 > 1:03:57- quite amusing.- Why do you think you'd want to kill yourself?

1:03:57 > 1:04:03Well, one would think it at the time because of an extremely low state...

1:04:03 > 1:04:08of morale. And so one does actually write something down, about what's practical.

1:04:08 > 1:04:12In terms of how one should go about it.

1:04:12 > 1:04:17After all, one tries to remain... cheerful.

1:04:17 > 1:04:19Doesn't one?

1:04:41 > 1:04:49He's been described as everything from an angry dowager to a wasp with adenoids.

1:04:49 > 1:04:53Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Mr Kenneth Williams.

1:04:55 > 1:04:59I didn't want to do this stinking rotten play in the first place!

1:04:59 > 1:05:03I'm sick to death of your complaints, Kenneth.

1:05:03 > 1:05:07You complain about the production, you complain about the cast, you complain about the lines.

1:05:07 > 1:05:09You complain about every bloody thing.

1:05:15 > 1:05:20When you're in a long run, Peter,

1:05:20 > 1:05:23the play lives with you, day and night.

1:05:23 > 1:05:25And if the conditions under which you perform

1:05:25 > 1:05:30are continually frustrating, then it ends in driving you to dementia

1:05:30 > 1:05:32and a nervous breakdown.

1:05:32 > 1:05:34Have you seen the Larry Grayson show?

1:05:34 > 1:05:37- No.- A complete crib of your act.

1:05:37 > 1:05:40- Really?- And John Inman is doing the same thing on the BBC.

1:05:40 > 1:05:43They're finding other people to do what you do, Kenneth.

1:05:43 > 1:05:45And cheaper, in every sense.

1:05:45 > 1:05:50Nevertheless, you must realise you're not as unique as you once were.

1:05:50 > 1:05:54The problem is, Kenneth...

1:05:54 > 1:05:58it's got about how difficult it is to fit you into a company.

1:05:58 > 1:06:03People find you a bit of a problem, your peculiar ways...

1:06:03 > 1:06:06Oh, the penny has finally dropped for them, has it?

1:06:06 > 1:06:09I've never bloody fitted in, Peter, have I?

1:06:09 > 1:06:11I've always been bloody peculiar!

1:06:11 > 1:06:14Strung out on a limb!

1:06:14 > 1:06:17That's what makes me so grotesque!

1:06:23 > 1:06:27I feel quite peaceful and unworried.

1:06:27 > 1:06:35It is odd. One minute I'm thinking I'll never act again and then I don't bother about it at all.

1:06:52 > 1:06:55DOORBELL RINGS

1:06:55 > 1:06:59Tomorrow, a voiceover for Unigate Milk.

1:06:59 > 1:07:02DOORBELL RINGS AGAIN

1:07:23 > 1:07:25I've had a terrible shock.

1:07:25 > 1:07:31I just met Louie in the street and she said, "'Scuse me, I know your face, what's your name?"

1:07:31 > 1:07:33She didn't recognise me.

1:07:33 > 1:07:34Happens all the time.

1:07:34 > 1:07:37What are you doing, not recognising Joanie?

1:07:37 > 1:07:39- Joanie?- A life-long friend.

1:07:39 > 1:07:46- My skirt's too tight. - What's the matter with her? - I'm giving it to the maid.

1:07:46 > 1:07:49Don't worry. It'll pass. Thanks, Joan.

1:07:49 > 1:07:55'Peter Eade phoned with yet another big television commercial.'

1:07:55 > 1:07:57Breathe in.

1:07:57 > 1:08:03- 'He mentioned not only Brooke Bond, Rumbelows and Creda...'- And out.

1:08:03 > 1:08:08'..but also Timex watches, the Post Office and Cinzano.

1:08:08 > 1:08:12'Yesterday was PG Tips. David Frost-type voice.

1:08:12 > 1:08:14'Dubbing a chimpanzee.'

1:08:14 > 1:08:16Well, Doctor?

1:08:16 > 1:08:18What would you have me do?

1:08:21 > 1:08:25Eat bland, mushy foods and chew well.

1:08:26 > 1:08:29Thank you, Doctor.

1:08:29 > 1:08:33I remember thinking as I lay in bed...

1:08:35 > 1:08:37..I am falling...

1:08:37 > 1:08:40I am falling.

1:08:40 > 1:08:45All my life has been the process of falling.

1:08:46 > 1:08:48I know what Stevie Smith meant.

1:08:50 > 1:08:52They all think I'm waving...

1:08:54 > 1:08:55..but I'm drowning!

1:08:57 > 1:09:01My whole career has been the waving.

1:09:04 > 1:09:07'I'm a cult, I am. I'm a cult.'

1:09:08 > 1:09:14I've been eating at myself for years, just living off body fat.

1:09:14 > 1:09:19And people say, "All he does now is go on and tell those old stories we've all heard before

1:09:19 > 1:09:25"with his usual lavatory gags and camp blether - pathetic!"

1:09:30 > 1:09:32LOUIE SNORES >

1:09:32 > 1:09:38The feeling is of a clamp under the heart. And there is sweating.

1:09:38 > 1:09:42And they've opened another lesbian restaurant.

1:09:44 > 1:09:46Lebanese!

1:09:46 > 1:09:49Yes, they're all over the place now.

1:09:49 > 1:09:50Everybody's at it.

1:09:50 > 1:09:52Lebanese, you silly cow.

1:09:52 > 1:09:57You'll be sorry you spoke like that to me when I'm not here.

1:09:57 > 1:10:01- What do you mean, when you're not here?- When I'm gone. Dead.

1:10:04 > 1:10:07# Bloo is the colour Bloo is the name... #

1:10:11 > 1:10:14You know I care for you, don't you, Lou?

1:10:14 > 1:10:17As I care for no-one else in the world.

1:10:17 > 1:10:19Pass the butter.

1:10:21 > 1:10:24That's the reason I'm totally uninhibited when I'm talking to you.

1:10:24 > 1:10:26I can say what I like.

1:10:26 > 1:10:29I can be myself with you.

1:10:29 > 1:10:31Almost.

1:10:31 > 1:10:35# Bloo is the colour

1:10:35 > 1:10:37# Bloo is the name... #

1:10:39 > 1:10:42You've never given me a kiss.

1:10:42 > 1:10:45You've never come up to the guardroom where I sleep.

1:11:48 > 1:11:52I'm afraid the gastroscopy shows there is an ulcer.

1:11:52 > 1:11:56A huge ulcer in the same place.

1:11:56 > 1:12:01What you've got to decide is whether you can go on taking the pills or have the operation.

1:12:01 > 1:12:04Operation?

1:12:06 > 1:12:10Yes, you've got to remember, having the operation is important.

1:12:10 > 1:12:13The timing of the operation is crucial.

1:12:13 > 1:12:16After all, you're no spring chicken.

1:12:24 > 1:12:28Oh, matron!

1:12:35 > 1:12:38Oh, matron.

1:12:58 > 1:13:00What are you doing?

1:13:00 > 1:13:02Doing?

1:13:02 > 1:13:04What does it look like I'm doing?

1:13:04 > 1:13:05I'm brewing the tea.

1:13:09 > 1:13:10How did that get in there?

1:13:18 > 1:13:24If this situation of loneliness and despair persists,

1:13:24 > 1:13:28I will have to do either pantomime or summer season.

1:13:31 > 1:13:34Blackpool could be nice.

1:13:38 > 1:13:40What time are you stopping till?

1:13:41 > 1:13:46- I'm not stopping.- Oh. I'm going to be left on my own again tonight?

1:13:46 > 1:13:51- You'll be fine. I've marked up your Radio Times.- There'll be nowt on.

1:13:51 > 1:13:55- I'll switch your electric blanket on, shall I?- I'll never notice.- No?

1:13:55 > 1:14:02I'm always cold nowadays. My feet and bum don't register anything.

1:14:04 > 1:14:05Yes. That's true.

1:14:11 > 1:14:15- What time would you like your tea? - I've had my cup of tea.

1:14:15 > 1:14:20In the morning. When will I fetch you a tea?

1:14:20 > 1:14:23Let's play it by ear. Goodnight, Lou.

1:14:24 > 1:14:26- Goodnight.- I love you.

1:14:26 > 1:14:28I love you.

1:14:29 > 1:14:33Kenny, have I got any sugar left?

1:14:33 > 1:14:35You're sweet enough.

1:14:36 > 1:14:38Flatterer.

1:14:38 > 1:14:41- Goodnight.- Goodnight, son.

1:14:49 > 1:14:52I've very little time for illness.

1:14:52 > 1:14:55I don't mind about dying, not at all.

1:14:55 > 1:14:59But I'm frightened to death about pain.

1:14:59 > 1:15:04I have a secret contempt for all weakness, including my own.

1:15:31 > 1:15:33Well, the cheek of it.

1:15:36 > 1:15:38Didn't even bother to wave goodbye.

1:15:38 > 1:15:40Could have waited for me.

1:15:40 > 1:15:42Fickle.

1:16:01 > 1:16:04Had meal with Louie at 5.30.

1:16:04 > 1:16:09Saw the news. Watched dreary saga of murder and mayhem.

1:16:09 > 1:16:16By 6.30 the pain in the back was pulsating as never done before.

1:16:16 > 1:16:21So this, plus the stomach trouble combines to torture me.

1:16:23 > 1:16:27Oh, what's the bloody point?

1:16:30 > 1:16:33What's the bloody point?!

1:16:58 > 1:17:00Kenny?

1:17:00 > 1:17:02Kenny!

1:17:04 > 1:17:05It's me.

1:17:05 > 1:17:07I've got you a cup of tea.

1:17:07 > 1:17:10SHE RINGS DOORBELL

1:17:21 > 1:17:24It's me.

1:17:24 > 1:17:28It's how you like it - sweet.

1:17:36 > 1:17:38Kenny?

1:17:42 > 1:17:45Kenny!

1:17:47 > 1:17:48Are you there, son?

1:17:52 > 1:17:54Oh...

1:17:54 > 1:18:01Kenneth Williams was found dead from an overdose of barbiturates, Thursday 14th April 1988.

1:18:01 > 1:18:03The Coroner asked...

1:18:03 > 1:18:09"Could the pills have been taken accidentally?"

1:18:09 > 1:18:11The doctor replied...

1:18:11 > 1:18:15"It is possible, but not likely."

1:18:15 > 1:18:18The Coroner recorded an open verdict.

1:18:52 > 1:18:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd