0:00:02 > 0:00:05Years ago I was in a sitcom, and we used to film here for exteriors.
0:00:05 > 0:00:07This is Pinner Village Hall.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11And what I loved about it was the fact that I spent many hours
0:00:11 > 0:00:15in there waiting for my shot, and this was opened by Ronnie Barker.
0:00:15 > 0:00:21And there was a...a kind of a plaque thing inside, a stone plaque.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23It just seems so sort of ordinary.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25It seems to fit the guy, really.
0:00:28 > 0:00:29There you go.
0:00:29 > 0:00:36The most unspectacular kind of foundation stone you have ever seen.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38It always cheered me up at the time.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40Because it felt like you were, sort of,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42somewhere where comedy had been before.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58HE ROARS
0:01:00 > 0:01:01THEY LAUGH
0:01:06 > 0:01:08Hugh Dennis is one of our biggest comedy stars,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12appearing in the massively popular sitcom Outnumbered,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14in topical radio comedy,
0:01:14 > 0:01:18and as a favourite guest on panel shows,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22including a regular spot on Mock The Week.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26I genuinely get confused between Mervyn King and Marvin Gaye.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36But Hugh never quite intended to build a career out of making people laugh.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39I've just never really had a plan.
0:01:39 > 0:01:46I've always been delighted by the things that have happened to me.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Even now, I spend a lot of my career going, "Oh that sounds great.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53"No, I'd like to do that, yeah, that sounds good."
0:01:53 > 0:01:58And just being very, you know, I'm very pleased to be asked.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Hugh's in Cambridge, where he was a student in the early 1980s.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06He's meeting up with writer and comedian Steve Punt.
0:02:06 > 0:02:07Stephen.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Magnificent walking through a door there - marvellous.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13They've been working together since their student days.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17- I came up here thinking that I was much more stupid than everybody else.- Right.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Because I hadn't done very well in my A levels.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23- So I spent the first year and a half kind of in my room.- Yeah.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27Working. And I had the nickname "Desk" by virtue of that.
0:02:27 > 0:02:28Yeah. Desk Dennis.
0:02:28 > 0:02:29- Desk Dennis, yeah.- Yeah.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34No, I remember going to your room. It was very tidy and organised for a student room.
0:02:34 > 0:02:35- Oh, yeah. God, yeah.- Lot of books.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37I remember yours. It smelled of potato.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39It was not as organised.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44Your room was sort of mainly socks and crisps, as I remember. And scripts.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49In Hugh and Steve's day, students at Cambridge with comedy ambitions
0:02:49 > 0:02:53joined The Footlights, the dramatics club famed as the training ground
0:02:53 > 0:02:55for some of the leading lights of British comedy.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00You are auditioning, are you not, for the role of Tarzan?
0:03:00 > 0:03:05I think that Jean-Paul's masterwork is an allegory of man's search for commitment.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08- No, it isn't.- Yes, it is.- Isn't.- Is!
0:03:08 > 0:03:11That's the super, the lovely and the gorgeous.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15Well, I spent two years here not having anything to do with comedy.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18- I'd never heard of Footlights, at all.- You'd never heard of Footlights?
0:03:18 > 0:03:22No. I didn't know what Footlights was. Isn't that crazy?
0:03:22 > 0:03:24It's so embarrassing, I can't bear to tell them!
0:03:24 > 0:03:27When you say you're at Cambridge, they think you're really clever!
0:03:27 > 0:03:31I just chicken out. I just say I'm at Oxford.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33How did you know about Footlights?
0:03:33 > 0:03:35How did I know about Footlights?
0:03:35 > 0:03:39I knew about Footlights because my parents used to talk about,
0:03:39 > 0:03:44"Oh, Peter Cook and Monty Python, they all came from Cambridge Footlights, you know."
0:03:44 > 0:03:47We didn't have conversations like that in my house.
0:03:47 > 0:03:48Oh, that's, um...
0:03:48 > 0:03:50We watched quite a lot of comedy, though.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57On a Saturday night, everybody would watch The Two Ronnies.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Through the 1970s and '80s,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett kept Britain amused.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05- Is this the hearing aid centre? - Pardon?
0:04:09 > 0:04:12I just thought it was fantastically fun.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14Now we'll do the end, ladies and gentlemen.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17We'll do the end jokes now, having done the beginning jokes.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21You have to pretend you've seen it all, seen the show, and this is the end.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Then we throw you all out, and get another lot in.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27The Two Ronnies would always spell out the joke for you.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Sorry about that. It appears that we've had a problem with the news.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33They would always go, "And now the news.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35"And sadly the typewriter has no letter E."
0:04:35 > 0:04:38- Off we go.- And off you go.
0:04:38 > 0:04:39Off we go.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Good ovoing.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43I used to love it. I used to love it.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Her majesty the Quoon
0:04:46 > 0:04:50was at home today to unvoil a momorial
0:04:50 > 0:04:54to sovoral great Onglishmon of lottors and poots,
0:04:54 > 0:05:02including Anthony Trollopo, HG Wolls and Hillairo Bolloc.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05My favourite joke for years and years and years was that,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07you know, a ship carrying paint.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Now here is the late news.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12We've just heard that in the English Channel, a ship carrying red paint
0:05:12 > 0:05:16has collided with a ship carrying purple paint.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18It's believed both crews have been marooned.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24One Ronnie in particular inspired Hugh.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26Ronnie Barker was amazing.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28He was just supremely good,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32an incredibly sort of finely-tuned comedy machine.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35He could do anything, as far as I could work out.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Good evening.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40There is one called Rook Restaurant.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44Oh, look! The menu's shaped like a rook.
0:05:44 > 0:05:50And in Rook Restaurant, it's a restaurant that only serves rook.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54There's roast rook, braised rook, steamed rook, stuffed rook.
0:05:54 > 0:05:55What is this?
0:05:55 > 0:05:58HE SPEAKS FRENCH
0:05:58 > 0:06:00And Ronnie Barker just simply replies...
0:06:00 > 0:06:01Rook.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07And I...I still say that to myself.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09What's that? Rook.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13It's fantastic. It was sort of a classic Two Ronnies sketch.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18Why would you have a...? Who thought up Rook Restaurant?
0:06:18 > 0:06:21I expect it's nicer than it sounds.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23Bleeding isn't.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31The Two Ronnies weren't... By the time we got here, were they cool?
0:06:31 > 0:06:32- They weren't?- No.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36They were never cool, but they were deeply uncool in the early '80s.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40Although Hugh had no plans to do comedy himself,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43other students spotted that he had a talent.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45There was a group of us who were already doing Footlights
0:06:45 > 0:06:50and everyone suddenly went, "There's this bloke, apparently, who can do accents."
0:06:50 > 0:06:52- And that was it?! - And nobody else did accents.
0:06:52 > 0:06:53Was that the reason?
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Or if they did an accent, it would be one accent.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Hi, Nicotine.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Do you know who I am?
0:06:59 > 0:07:04What a flimsy reason for, you know, having a career in comedy.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Somebody thought I could do accents, and that was it.
0:07:08 > 0:07:15After university, Hugh and Steve continued writing sketches and performing occasional gigs.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17For Hugh, it was only a sideline.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19We did a few gigs in London.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Then you started selling toothpaste and deodorant.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24I think that's...that's demeaning it slightly.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27I was a Unilever marketing man.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29You were a Unilever marketing executive.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32And to Unilever people, that's quite important. It's not just flogging toothpaste.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34- Yeah. But it did...- Come, come.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39- ..mean that we could drive back from gigs whilst thinking of slogans for deodorant.- Yeah.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47In 1989, Hugh and Steve joined with their Cambridge colleagues
0:07:47 > 0:07:51David Baddiel and Rob Newman in The Mary Whitehouse Experience.
0:07:51 > 0:07:57After six years at Unilever, Hugh left his job for comedy full-time.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00In the early days of writing sketches, did you think,
0:08:00 > 0:08:05"I'm going to try and write a sketch a bit like Ronnie Barker"?
0:08:05 > 0:08:06Yeah, absolutely.
0:08:06 > 0:08:07This is the Belding building?
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Oh, yes, this is the Belding building,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11formerly the Fielding Wilding Belding building.
0:08:11 > 0:08:12Fieldind and Wilding?
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Yes, Fielding Moling and Wilding Welding,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17but what with Fielding folding and Wilding melding with Belding,
0:08:17 > 0:08:20it's become a Belding holding.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22And there's no Ponting Punting?
0:08:22 > 0:08:25No, we've got a Keeling and Greeling Wheeling and Dealing.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28I have a feeling there's a failing in your filing.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32I can sue the so-called publications for their trumped-up charges
0:08:32 > 0:08:34of the pecadiloes of the arms trade,
0:08:34 > 0:08:36the armadillos of the pet trade,
0:08:36 > 0:08:37and the cigarillos of the wall of trade,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40where I allowed this deal to go through. Fall through!
0:08:40 > 0:08:46Fall guy! I am not through. I shall definitely not be resigning.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50It wasn't just the wordplay in The Two Ronnies that impressed Hugh.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55There was also Ronnie Barker's performance in Hugh's favourite sitcom, Porridge.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57- I know you didn't take 'em. - How can you be sure?
0:08:57 > 0:08:58Cos I know you.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02I know the kind of person you are.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04Hm.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11Besides, when you was in the shower, I went through all your gear.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15I can definitely remember the, um, "Oh, yeah, Godber."
0:09:15 > 0:09:17"Oh, does it, Mr Mackay?"
0:09:17 > 0:09:20I used to say that about every 15 minutes.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22- "Oh, does it, Mr Mackay?"- Yeah.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24"Now that is where you're wrong, sir."
0:09:24 > 0:09:28Oddly enough, we shied away from doing that actually in our acts.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30We'd happily do any of the others,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32but it always felt slightly sacrilegious to do...
0:09:32 > 0:09:36- To do Ronnie. - ..to do Ronnie Barker. Cos he was too good to do.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41And when we eventually did do Fletcher and Godber...
0:09:41 > 0:09:42Night, Mr MacKay.
0:09:42 > 0:09:48'It was a one of those ones where it felt really sort of dodgy doing it.'
0:09:48 > 0:09:52I've felt like that about almost everything that I've done. Ever.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57Mind you, old Warblood, he's very popular with the screws.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02He must bear some responsibility for what I do,
0:10:02 > 0:10:07because he was sort of the master of the...of the thing that I now do.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20Now a comedy veteran himself, Hugh's going to take a fresh look
0:10:20 > 0:10:25at his hero, hoping to gain a deeper understanding of Ronnie's talent.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31The thing about Ronnie Barker, he was never really in the paper...
0:10:31 > 0:10:34I don't think there were many big interviews with him.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38I wasn't aware of his home life or any of that kind of stuff.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41So actually, I know nothing about Ronnie Barker
0:10:41 > 0:10:46other than what I have seen on television.
0:10:46 > 0:10:47And that he grew up in Oxford,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51so that seems like a fairly good place to start, really.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53And that's where I'm going.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Slowly, through the snow, carefully, cos it might be icy.
0:11:03 > 0:11:04Hi, Clive.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Hello, Hugh.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08Where are we heading - this way?
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Hugh and Ronnie's old schoolmate, Clive Denton,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15are visiting what used to be Oxford's grammar school for boys.
0:11:15 > 0:11:1874 years since I went through that door.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23Clive and Ronnie were in the same class here from 1939.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Ten-year-old Ronnie joined in a favourite playground game.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29The first one used to hold onto the railing there
0:11:29 > 0:11:31and bend down like that.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33The second one used to come behind
0:11:33 > 0:11:37- and put his head between your bum, like that.- OK.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39- Are you with me? - Yeah, no, I think I am, yeah.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44And all the way along until you had a whole load of about ten boys...
0:11:44 > 0:11:46- Yeah.- ..all in a long line of a barrel.
0:11:46 > 0:11:52- Yeah.- And then they take a terrific run and jump onto the barrel
0:11:52 > 0:11:55and see how far they could get to the end.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57- Oh, what, so kind of just push themselves along?- Yeah.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01Then they'd get off and they'd have to join on and the barrel got bigger and bigger and bigger.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04And did many boys go to hospital with neck injuries or...?
0:12:04 > 0:12:06No! No, no, no, nobody went to hospital.
0:12:06 > 0:12:07- No-one?- Never.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Everybody had nicknames, and in his case,
0:12:12 > 0:12:17because he was a little bit on the portly side, we'll say, um, together
0:12:17 > 0:12:23with this bumsy game, we decided that he's got to be Bumsy Barker.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25- Right.- So Bumsy Barker was his name.
0:12:25 > 0:12:26Right. OK.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29Oddly enough, he didn't use that on television.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31No, he didn't use it on television.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Bumsy Barker. So how long was he Bumsy Barker for?
0:12:34 > 0:12:40All the years, the six years I was here, he was Bumsy Barker and I was Skinny Billy.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Oh, OK. If I might say, that's a slightly better name.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Well, he was fat and I was thin.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51And once you got to know Ronnie, were you aware that he was funny?
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Did it...did it kind of surprise you when he ended up doing what he did?
0:12:54 > 0:12:59He was a bright boy. I mean, he got in there with a scholarship.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01- Yeah.- There's no way I would've got a scholarship.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06But his humour was much more sophisticated than ours.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08Ours was all slapstick stuff.
0:13:08 > 0:13:13He was much more advanced than any of us.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Ronnie's childhood home was a 30-minute walk away,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23in Cowley, then a new suburb.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28Hugh's meeting Ronnie's biographer, Richard Webber.
0:13:28 > 0:13:29So this has got a blue plaque,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33so I'm assuming that this is Ronnie Barker's house.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Yeah, it's where he spent I think the great part of his childhood.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39So he lived here. I can't read that - isn't that terrible?
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Lived here 1935 to 1949.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47So he must...this house must have been new, I guess, mustn't it, when he...when were these built?
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Yeah, it was built in... He moved into it as a new house.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54- Hello.- Hello.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56- Hi.- Hi.- Hi, I'm Zena.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Ronnie was the only boy in a comfortably middle-class family.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04His father worked as a clerk for an oil company.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06Got a nice one here of Ronnie as a young boy.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09That's just ridiculous, because that's Ronnie as an old man!
0:14:09 > 0:14:10That's not Ronnie as a young boy!
0:14:10 > 0:14:12That is Ronnie as an old man!
0:14:12 > 0:14:14This is a nice one. I like this one.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17This is showing the three generations of the Barker family.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22We've got Ronnie and his dad, Leonard, and his grandfather.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24That's the "I look up to him" sketch, isn't it?
0:14:24 > 0:14:26- It is, actually, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37I look down on him because I am upper class.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40I look up to him because he is upper class.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44But I look down on him because he is lower class.
0:14:45 > 0:14:46I am middle class.
0:14:50 > 0:14:51I know my place.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55Well, they've certainly got an idea of how to pose for a photograph, haven't they?
0:14:55 > 0:14:56Yeah, that's right, yeah.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59- That is a performing family, isn't it?- That's right.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03- He looks considerably younger than he does in that photograph. - Yeah, he does actually!- It's true.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08One of the things that Ronnie used to do
0:15:08 > 0:15:11was stage little playlets in the garden.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15He would write the script, they would rehearse.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19They would create a stage using sort of blankets that they'd throw up over the clothes line.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23And during little intervals, Ronnie's father would bring around strawberries,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25they'd have sandwiches and lemonade.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28It all seems very familiar to me.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31I mean, the whole country is full of houses like this.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36It's just a very... He obviously had a very sort of normal...
0:15:36 > 0:15:38suburban upbringing, really.
0:15:40 > 0:15:41I think it's a bit...
0:15:41 > 0:15:44I'm interested in this idea of putting on plays in the garden
0:15:44 > 0:15:46because...lots of kids put on plays
0:15:46 > 0:15:49and lots of kids put on plays in the garden.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53But this is a very, very, very open garden!
0:15:53 > 0:15:57I should think you'd get about 20 houses, 20 complete families
0:15:57 > 0:16:01watching your play. Takes a certain amount of showmanship, doesn't it?
0:16:01 > 0:16:02To do that, I think.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10On leaving school, Ronnie spent one unpromising term
0:16:10 > 0:16:14in architectural college followed by a short stint as a bank clerk.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Looking for some fun outside of work,
0:16:16 > 0:16:18he took up a friend's invitation to join
0:16:18 > 0:16:22a local amateur dramatics group called The Theatre Players,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24which performed in a church hall in Cowley.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Ooh.
0:16:28 > 0:16:29Now...
0:16:29 > 0:16:31HE CHUCKLES
0:16:31 > 0:16:35- ..it's got that classic smell of church hall, hasn't it, this? - It has, yeah.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Ronnie made his debut in an Emlyn Williams play,
0:16:42 > 0:16:43A Murder Has Been Arranged.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47He played the musical director, so most of the time,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49he had his back to the audience.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52"A ghost story in three acts."
0:16:52 > 0:16:54Now, he has to say, "Not now, Miss Groze.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56"Pull yourself together."
0:16:56 > 0:16:59So he gets the second line in the play,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03he gets the fourth line in the play...and that's it.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06- Doesn't reappear?- Quite an interesting stage direction
0:17:06 > 0:17:08in first line there, I noticed.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Oh. "He's a pleasant, matter-of-fact man,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14- "the personification of the ordinary."- Yeah.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17But it wasn't long before people involved in The Theatre Players
0:17:17 > 0:17:21realised that he was more than just an amateur actor.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25So they suggested why didn't he try to become a professional actor.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29- So he applied to the Old Vic Theatre School.- Oh, did he?
0:17:29 > 0:17:33He went up and intended to impress them with a speech from Richard III,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and it didn't go too well. And there's the uh...
0:17:36 > 0:17:39"Dear Mr Barker, the results of your auditions have been considered
0:17:39 > 0:17:42"and I'm sorry to inform you that your application
0:17:42 > 0:17:45"for entry to the acting course has not been granted."
0:17:46 > 0:17:47"Yours sincerely..."
0:17:47 > 0:17:50That's not a particularly nice letter, is it?
0:17:50 > 0:17:54- A bit cold, isn't it? - Very, very sort of matter-of-fact. - No real encouragement.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56But it didn't put him off.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Butlins, now! "Thank you for your reply to my advertisement.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02"I regret, however, that the situation has now been filled."
0:18:03 > 0:18:06But Butlins Intimate Theatre in Felixstowe, that's...
0:18:06 > 0:18:08Well, I wonder if that was the kind of thing
0:18:08 > 0:18:10he would've wanted to do, really.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13Mmm. I think he's just trying to find his break into the profession.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16- Mmm.- And then there's a another letter.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19Oh, OK, so this is The County Theatre in Aylesbury.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23The Manchester Repertory Company. And that's rather positive.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25So they're saying, "Our producer, Mr Wentworth,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28"will give you an interview regarding a possible vacancy
0:18:28 > 0:18:32"if it will suit you. Yours sincerely..."
0:18:34 > 0:18:38Ronnie had his first professional job in theatre.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44Within a few years, he secured a place in the repertory company
0:18:44 > 0:18:48he admired most - The Oxford Playhouse.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51He had more than 100 credits to his name by the time
0:18:51 > 0:18:56a young aspiring actress, Eileen Atkins, joined in 1954.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01I was what they called an assistant stage manager...
0:19:01 > 0:19:04- An ASM.- ASM, yeah, at Oxford Rep.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08And he was a leading member of the company,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11and I was terribly impressed by him.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15You know, he was somebody to really look up to.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17But I am stunned to find out today,
0:19:17 > 0:19:21to work it out that he was only five years older than me.
0:19:21 > 0:19:22Because he seemed much older?
0:19:22 > 0:19:24Yes, I thought of him as middle aged.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29But of course, I now realise he used to ask me out for...
0:19:29 > 0:19:33- It may have been more than just being nice to an ASM! - Too late now, isn't it?
0:19:33 > 0:19:37Far too late now. But he was very, very nice to me.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40- So is that the Ronnie you recognise? Or is that...?- Oh, yes.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43This is the Ronnie I thought was a middle aged man!
0:19:43 > 0:19:44BOTH LAUGH
0:19:44 > 0:19:47He's quite attractive, isn't he?
0:19:47 > 0:19:51- I thought he was the best actor in the company.- Yeah.
0:19:51 > 0:19:52He used to give me tips.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57I remember one director being really violently rude to me.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01But I was a waitress, and I only had one line like, "Here's your tea,"
0:20:01 > 0:20:02something like that.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06So, um, this man said to me "Oh, for God's sake, Eileen,
0:20:06 > 0:20:10"you come on, you just look an idiot. Just get it right,"
0:20:10 > 0:20:13without telling me what I'd done wrong.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18- Mmm.- And Ronnie came up to me and said, "Eileen, the thing is,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21"you know how you're carrying the tray?"
0:20:21 > 0:20:24I was carrying the tray up in the air on my hand like that
0:20:24 > 0:20:26and I was sashaying on stage with it.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31He said, "That's only in joke cartoons,
0:20:31 > 0:20:33"that anyone carries a tray like that.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36"Just bring the tray on like a real waitress."
0:20:36 > 0:20:39This is Ronnie Barker's autobiography,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42or at least the first part, called Dancing In The Moonlight.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46He's talking about his third part in which he plays
0:20:46 > 0:20:51- Charles the Chauffeur in a play called Miranda.- Oh!
0:20:51 > 0:20:55"On the first night I experienced my first real big laugh."
0:20:55 > 0:20:59- Ah.- "The sound of the audience on that Monday night all those years ago
0:20:59 > 0:21:02"is as clear to me as if it were yesterday.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04"The thrill that I experienced on hearing
0:21:04 > 0:21:06"that most wonderful of sounds.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09"I get goose pimples even now just thinking of it.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11"'This is what I want to do,' I thought.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13"'I want to make people laugh.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15"'Never mind Hamlet, forget Richard II,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17"'give me Charlie's Aunt.'
0:21:17 > 0:21:20"My mission in life was now crystal clear."
0:21:20 > 0:21:22Oh, how wonderful!
0:21:27 > 0:21:31That first sort of wave of laughter coming off an audience
0:21:31 > 0:21:37is simply addictive, I think. So once I'd started in Footlights,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39if no-one had laughed I think that would've been it.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44I think I would just have stopped and I would now be,
0:21:44 > 0:21:49you know, marketing various different types of toiletry.
0:21:49 > 0:21:55But someone did laugh, and that was enough, really.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Ronnie began to build a reputation as a comic actor.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04His stage career took him to London, where he also landed
0:22:04 > 0:22:06occasional roles in films...
0:22:06 > 0:22:08That's a blazing strange answer, Sir.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11..and radio shows like The Navy Lark.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15'Oh, my 'ead! Oh, my poor little 'ead.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19'There I was down at the blunt end trying to catch the big fella,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23'then all of a sudden, bang! I caught a palm tree.'
0:22:25 > 0:22:31He'd been acting for 15 years when, in 1966 the BBC offered him a part
0:22:31 > 0:22:36in a new topical comedy show for television, The Frost Report.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39I would like to protest against that word, "lost"
0:22:39 > 0:22:44which kept on being used in the introduction which we heard.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47- DEEP VOICE:- You could save a little off... - AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:22:47 > 0:22:49We could make some savings from a bit of waste and economies.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51FEMALE VOICE: I'm only too...
0:22:51 > 0:22:53AUDIENCE ROARS WITH LAUGHTER
0:22:53 > 0:22:55Hello, Sheila. How are you?
0:22:55 > 0:22:58The Frost Report was a proving ground for some of the best
0:22:58 > 0:22:59new comedy talent.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04I've had the feeling that there's someone else.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07And it introduced Ronnie to his long-time performing partner,
0:23:07 > 0:23:09Ronnie Corbett.
0:23:09 > 0:23:10Who was that, darling?
0:23:12 > 0:23:15It's over now. Don't let's talk about it.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Very occasionally, the sketches called for a woman.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Sheila Steafel played those roles.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28I'd never done comedy before. Before that, I was a very straight actress.
0:23:28 > 0:23:29You know where you are with comedy.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33When you play straight stuff, how do you know it's working?
0:23:33 > 0:23:36- Mmm.- You know, you've got to kind of hope for the best,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41and wait till someone comes backstage after the show and says,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44"Darling, you were lovely." And you know they're lying.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47I asked an agent once what you say if you go round
0:23:47 > 0:23:49and you haven't enjoyed the play at all.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53And he said, "What you do is you go 'wonderful isn't the word.'"
0:23:53 > 0:23:54SHE LAUGHS
0:23:54 > 0:23:57- A cracker, isn't it? - I must remember that!
0:23:57 > 0:23:58Gets you out of everything.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01And did you know that Ronnie had done rep?
0:24:01 > 0:24:03- Was that obvious, that he was sort of an actor?- Yes.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08Cos I'm sure he could have been a really excellent
0:24:08 > 0:24:12serious character actor. He was, of course, he was marvellous.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16He should've been at the RSC and the National.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20But I think that he had a sense of humour about himself,
0:24:20 > 0:24:22and kind of stood back.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26I think of Ronnie that way, of being quietly observant and wry.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29I think a lot of people are like that actually, aren't they?
0:24:29 > 0:24:32That you don't ever quite feel yourself in the situation.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36You're kind of watching yourself from a distance away.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38- Yeah. Do you do that? - I do that, yeah.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43A lot of the time, I'm outside looking in
0:24:43 > 0:24:45and thinking, "It'd be funny if he did that, wouldn't it?"
0:24:45 > 0:24:50"Hmmm. Yeah. Let's make him do that." You know what I mean?
0:24:50 > 0:24:53- Yes, I know exactly what you mean. - It's an odd kind of thing, isn't it?
0:24:55 > 0:24:58On your marks, set...
0:24:58 > 0:25:00GUNSHOT
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Possibly it was Ronnie's big break on television, wasn't it?
0:25:05 > 0:25:09- Oh, yes.- Is that fair? - Yes. Absolutely.- And for all you.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14Because it became an immense sort of cultural event, didn't it?
0:25:14 > 0:25:15Yes, it was.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25When The Frost Report won the Golden Rose of Montreux
0:25:25 > 0:25:31with Frost Over England, David Frost rushed over to pick up the prize.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34And very thrilled, David was,
0:25:34 > 0:25:39and gave speeches and took...hugged it and came back.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43And Ronnie Barker had printed,
0:25:43 > 0:25:47for the rest of the cast, certificates,
0:25:47 > 0:25:52and also a little press release that he'd written on lovely
0:25:52 > 0:25:54- tissue paper.- Oh, look at that. This is proper.- Yes.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56"The Golden Rose Mysteries.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58"Last night, police were still investigating
0:25:58 > 0:26:00"the mysterious circumstances in which
0:26:00 > 0:26:03"the Golden Rose Of Montreaux was carried off last month.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07"Although international operator David Frost is known to be directly connected with the incident
0:26:07 > 0:26:09"involving Europe's most prized possession,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11"people in the know are beginning to suspect
0:26:11 > 0:26:13"there were at least four other men involved,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16"and possibly two women, according to some reports.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19"Although there has been no mention in the press of these
0:26:19 > 0:26:21"undercover men, it is now believed that they may have played
0:26:21 > 0:26:23"quite a large part in the affair.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26"These questions will have to be answered soon, otherwise Frost will
0:26:26 > 0:26:29"have to carry the can for something he did not do on his own..."
0:26:29 > 0:26:30SHE LAUGHS
0:26:30 > 0:26:35- I think I'm beginning to understand the subtext!- Ah!- Yeah!
0:26:35 > 0:26:39"...unless, of course, he volunteers the names of his henchmen to the authorities.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42"Knowing Frosty, I don't think he will."
0:26:42 > 0:26:44BOTH CHUCKLE
0:26:44 > 0:26:46- Isn't that great? - It's good, isn't it?
0:26:46 > 0:26:49- What that a lovely thing to have. - Yeah, absolutely.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Ronnie Barker started off quite obviously now in rep
0:27:02 > 0:27:04and then working his way through
0:27:04 > 0:27:08and being a comedy actor or just a straight actor, actually,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10who had a gift for comedy, and then
0:27:10 > 0:27:14kind of fell into radio comedy and The Frost Report
0:27:14 > 0:27:17which was absolutely sort of cutting-edge comedy.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Our next round is called Newsreel. We play a recent piece of footage featuring people in the news
0:27:21 > 0:27:25and ask Hugh to suggest what might be being said. This week's clip features David Cameron.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28If there are any parallels to be drawn between my career and
0:27:28 > 0:27:32Ronnie Barker's career, it's that I sort of did the same thing, really.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37I kind of always thought of myself really as a comedy actor
0:27:37 > 0:27:40but who has ended up doing Mock The Week
0:27:40 > 0:27:44and The Now Show which are both, you know, weekly topical shows.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46AS DAVID CAMERON: "You'll enjoy this, look at that.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49"That's one of our riots. Yes, it's Croydon..." LAUGHTER
0:27:49 > 0:27:50"..but it could be Kabul. Yes."
0:27:50 > 0:27:52AMERICAN ACCENT: "Hey, big fella.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55"Merry Christmas, how was your year?" "Well, it wasn't bad actually."
0:27:55 > 0:27:57"I'll tell you a highlight of mine.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01"I personally tracked down and killed the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, yep.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04"There's no footage released because I did it on my own. Yeah, I did.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08"It's all me. Bang, I got him. I got him. Yup, that's me."
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Thank you, Hugh.
0:28:10 > 0:28:11CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:28:11 > 0:28:13OK, Harry?
0:28:15 > 0:28:18In 1967, David Frost moved his show to ITV
0:28:18 > 0:28:21and it became Frost On Sunday.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25Mmm-moo-mooo, mooo
0:28:25 > 0:28:27moooz, mew, mooz
0:28:27 > 0:28:31moo...mmm-mew-mew
0:28:31 > 0:28:33AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:28:33 > 0:28:37..mew, muse-mew-music. Music.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39Man who's just learned to read music.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43In addition to performing,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46Ronnie now began secretly to write sketches.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49It's well-known in comedy circles today that Ronnie
0:28:49 > 0:28:53submitted his sketches under the pseudonym, Gerald Wiley.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58Why do you think he didn't own up to it in the first place?
0:28:58 > 0:29:02Well, it's a bit... I can understand why. I'm sure you can.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05It would've put him in a very awkward position,
0:29:05 > 0:29:07being the only member of the cast writing.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11Kind of, but it also says something of his sort of, um...
0:29:11 > 0:29:14It seems to be a sort of innate modesty.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16- Yes.- Doesn't it?- Absolutely.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19You're much more likely to get a genuine judgement on your script,
0:29:19 > 0:29:21- if you send it in as... - Absolutely, yeah.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23I suppose it was the third week I did one
0:29:23 > 0:29:27and the editor came in, the script editor, and said,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30"Wiley's dropped a clanger this week. Load of rubbish," he said.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32"Is it really? Let's look." I read it through.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34I said, "Yes, absolutely hopeless. Chuck it out."
0:29:34 > 0:29:37We chucked it out, which means that it worked.
0:29:37 > 0:29:38For me, that worked.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43Whether it's lack of confidence or modesty,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46whatever it is, it's a great, great story, isn't it?
0:29:46 > 0:29:50That you send in sketches and then you don't admit
0:29:50 > 0:29:51that you've done them.
0:29:51 > 0:29:52- DIRECTOR:- Standby.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55- Are we going to go right ahead, Sir? - Yes, if you're happy, Sir.
0:29:55 > 0:29:56If I'm happy.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59Ronnie finally did reveal to his colleagues
0:29:59 > 0:30:00that he was the writer Gerald Wiley.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Sketch has been cut, Ronnie, it's out. Joe says...
0:30:03 > 0:30:05Phil says there's not enough time.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08But he continued to use the pseudonym for years to come,
0:30:08 > 0:30:09long after the secret was out.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12- You were saying?- I was saying raspberry, I think. Raspberry.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16Never mind the raspberry, it's been cut. The sketch is cut, we're not doing it... I'm sorry.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18- And you must be...?- Walter.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Frost On Sunday lasted for two series,
0:30:21 > 0:30:25during which audiences and critics alike recognised the brilliant
0:30:25 > 0:30:27pairing of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29I don't want a sweater.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33I moved slowly into the outside lane and then just as I was about to...
0:30:37 > 0:30:40We have exactly the same sense of humour.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44We don't even have to ask each other whether a line is funny...
0:30:44 > 0:30:48Well, you DO. You say, "So what should we cut here? That line?
0:30:48 > 0:30:51"Yes, that's out. And that's out. That's good, yes, that's fine.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55"And then we'll cut down to here..." We are identical.
0:30:55 > 0:30:56Five, four, three...
0:30:56 > 0:31:00The Ronnies were so popular together that in 1971,
0:31:00 > 0:31:02the BBC gave them a series of their own.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05THEME MUSIC AND APPLAUSE
0:31:05 > 0:31:07Thank you, good evening and welcome to the show.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09- I must say it's very nice to be with you all. Isn't it?- It is.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13- It's very nice to be with you. - Thank you, Ron. Yes, lovely to see you all...
0:31:15 > 0:31:18The Two Ronnies ran for 15 years,
0:31:18 > 0:31:20packed full of sketches by Gerald Wiley
0:31:20 > 0:31:23and watched by as many as 15 million people an episode.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29Hugh has come to the Victoria And Albert Museum Archives
0:31:29 > 0:31:32to look through their collection of Ronnie's scripts.
0:31:32 > 0:31:33Now this...
0:31:35 > 0:31:39These are Gerald Wiley's sketches.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43"Hear, hear.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47"Is the hearing aid centre?" "Pardon?"
0:31:47 > 0:31:51"Is this the hearing aid centre?" "Yes, that's right."
0:31:51 > 0:31:52"I've come to be fitted for a hearing aid."
0:31:52 > 0:31:55"Pardon?" It's just...
0:31:55 > 0:31:58I think you get it now!
0:31:58 > 0:32:00And on and on!
0:32:00 > 0:32:04Oh, I loved those sketches. The Morris Dancers. Oh, excellent.
0:32:04 > 0:32:05Fabulous.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09So is this written by...
0:32:09 > 0:32:14Gerald Wiley wrote and choreographed the Morris Dancers?
0:32:16 > 0:32:18Ronnie did more than write the lines.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22He also laid out the staging in meticulous detail.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25"The eight performers dance on.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27"They circle around in pairs and we super a caption -
0:32:27 > 0:32:31"'Due to illness, Arthur Clump's place will be taken by his sister.'"
0:32:34 > 0:32:40Incredible diagrams of how it works. Good grief.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42"Get lost, get lost, get lost, get lost..."
0:32:42 > 0:32:44- # Get lost - # Get lost
0:32:44 > 0:32:47- ALL:- # Get lost, get lost, Get lost among the new mown hay...
0:32:47 > 0:32:49So doff, so doff...
0:32:49 > 0:32:51# Sod off, sod off
0:32:51 > 0:32:52# So doff your hat, I pray. #
0:32:52 > 0:32:54Classic Two Ronnies.
0:32:56 > 0:32:57- Good evening.- "Good evening."
0:32:57 > 0:33:00You just knew - he used to come on, didn't he?
0:33:00 > 0:33:02It was a sort of a white background, wasn't it? Just him,
0:33:02 > 0:33:06and you knew you were going to get this spectacular sort of wordplay.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11I am the president of the Loyal Society For The Relief Of Sufferers From Pispronunciation.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14"For people who cannot say their worms correctly or who use
0:33:14 > 0:33:17"the wrong worms entirely so that other people cannot underhand
0:33:17 > 0:33:18"a bird they are spraying."
0:33:18 > 0:33:21It's just that you open your mouth and the worms...
0:33:21 > 0:33:24"The worms come tumbling-turbling out in wuk a say
0:33:24 > 0:33:26"that you dick not what you're thugging a bing."
0:33:26 > 0:33:29..in wuk a say that you dick not what you're thugging a bing.
0:33:29 > 0:33:30And it's very distressing.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34I'm always lewing it and it makes one feel unbumfortacacle.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37"You see how dicky felt it is. But help is at hand.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39"A new society has been formed by our mumblers to
0:33:39 > 0:33:42"help each other in times of excreme ices.
0:33:42 > 0:33:43"It's..." HE CHUCKLES
0:33:43 > 0:33:47"It is bald pismonouncers un-unanimous..." Good grief!
0:33:47 > 0:33:51Write to me, Dr Small Pith,
0:33:51 > 0:33:53The Spanner, Poke Noses
0:33:53 > 0:33:55and I will send you some brieflets to browse through
0:33:55 > 0:33:57and a brass badge to wear in your loophole.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59And a very quid night to you all.
0:33:59 > 0:34:00APPLAUSE
0:34:00 > 0:34:02Brilliantly written.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04I remember that sketch.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08He did it, I might say, considerably better than I did.
0:34:08 > 0:34:09That terrifies me.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12It's the thought of actually having to do it in one go.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14I just loved the...
0:34:14 > 0:34:18I loved the sort of contrivance of it, I think.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20This great sort of British tradition of just
0:34:20 > 0:34:23mucking about with...with words.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28"An ironmongers." Ooh 'ello.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Oh, this is Four Candles, is it?
0:34:30 > 0:34:35Yeah, this is a classic, um, this is it...so, "Annie Finkhouse."
0:34:35 > 0:34:36"Anyfink else?"
0:34:39 > 0:34:41Four candles.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46Four candles? There you are. Four candles.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48No, four candles.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51Well, there you are, four candles.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55No, fork handles. Handles for forks.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Lovely, lovely!
0:35:01 > 0:35:05- "What else? "Saw tips." - Saw tips.
0:35:05 > 0:35:06Saw tips?
0:35:09 > 0:35:11AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:35:15 > 0:35:18What do you want, ointment or something like that? What do you mean?
0:35:18 > 0:35:20It's such a great sketch.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24I think it's amazing that all the sketches that I...you know,
0:35:24 > 0:35:27the kind of signature sketches of The Two Ronnies
0:35:27 > 0:35:31were all written by Ronnie Barker, which is astonishing.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47In 1974, at the same time as The Two Ronnies, Ronnie Barker took
0:35:47 > 0:35:51the role of Norman Stanley Fletcher in a new sitcom.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53DOORS SLAM
0:35:53 > 0:35:54Porridge is considered by many
0:35:54 > 0:35:57to be the greatest British sitcom of all time.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Hugh's meeting Christopher Biggins, who got to know Ronnie
0:36:08 > 0:36:10while playing the character, Lukewarm.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16In that opening sequence, though, so when the door shuts
0:36:16 > 0:36:19and you get the voice which just goes, "Norman Stanley Fletcher..."
0:36:19 > 0:36:22'Norman Stanley Fletcher,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25'you have pleaded guilty to the charges brought by this court
0:36:25 > 0:36:30'and it is now my duty to pass sentence.'
0:36:30 > 0:36:32That is obviously the voice of Ronnie Barker.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37- That IS the voice of Ronnie Barker. - Which has always struck me as a bit of BBC cost-saving.- Ha ha ha!
0:36:37 > 0:36:41Well, he was so talented Ronnie, you see, he could do anything.
0:36:41 > 0:36:46- So you were basically playing a gay man, weren't you, in Porridge?- Yes.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51Now, did the depiction of it ever worry you?
0:36:51 > 0:36:56I mean, because in The Two Ronnies, it's very non-PC sometimes.
0:36:56 > 0:36:57No, I mean, it was...
0:36:57 > 0:37:01- In 1974 too, it was quite brave to have a gay character.- Mmm.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04Oooh, some girls have all the luck!
0:37:06 > 0:37:09I want you to copy out these letters in your own handwriting.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12'There was a wonderful scene where Ronnie wrote letters
0:37:12 > 0:37:17'to all the wives and girlfriends. The same letter to everybody.'
0:37:17 > 0:37:20Don't forget to put the names of your loved one at the top
0:37:20 > 0:37:21like "My beloved Iris".
0:37:21 > 0:37:24That's it. "My darling Norma."
0:37:24 > 0:37:26"My dearest Trevor." All right?
0:37:26 > 0:37:28LAUGHTER
0:37:28 > 0:37:31Of course, there was a moment on the bus when they were all
0:37:31 > 0:37:33going to visit, they realised they all had the same letter
0:37:33 > 0:37:35and there was a cutaway to my boyfriend
0:37:35 > 0:37:38who'd never been seen before and he was reacting as well,
0:37:38 > 0:37:39and it got the most wonderful laugh.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41I mean, it was fantastic.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50Television audiences knew Ronnie as a virtuoso of sketch comedy.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55Porridge was the first time they got to see him really act.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Oh, all right. I won't say no, son.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00It's meant as a thank you.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Ronnie's friendship with the young actor Richard Beckinsale
0:38:03 > 0:38:04mirrored the script.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Ronnie and he were like father and son.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12I mean, to watch in rehearsal, in the studio, on television,
0:38:12 > 0:38:16I think it's probably one of the finest combinations
0:38:16 > 0:38:17that you're ever likely to see.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20I know, it was an absolutely tremendous combination.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22It really was.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25You'll get used to it, son.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28I mean, a night ain't all that long, is it?
0:38:28 > 0:38:30It's just your human spirit, you see.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33That's what they can't grind down, your human spirit.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36- 'It's timeless, Porridge, isn't it? - It is.'
0:38:37 > 0:38:40- You don't go outside.- No.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42- So you're not, sort of, aware of the world?- No, exactly.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47# Born free. #
0:38:49 > 0:38:52It's all interiors pretty much, isn't it, or down on the farm?
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Absolutely, or in the coal cellar.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59I remember that. We were all playing cards and they put the coal in.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15Do you know what it made me want to do, in a way?
0:39:15 > 0:39:17I'm not sure whether this is good or bad.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19It almost made me want to go to prison.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21BIGGINS LAUGHS
0:39:21 > 0:39:24- Cos it looked like a really good place to be.- I know!
0:39:24 > 0:39:28I think unfortunately we did paint that wrong picture.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30One, bide your time.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33Two, keep your nose clean.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35And three, don't let the bastards grind you down.
0:39:38 > 0:39:39Oh, sorry.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43As popular as it was, Porridge only ran for three series.
0:39:43 > 0:39:49I think, you know, people go on and on and on doing a situation comedy
0:39:49 > 0:39:50and it gets really boring.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52- I think, you know, Outnumbered should stop now.- Yeah.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54HE LAUGHS
0:39:54 > 0:39:57I'll tell you what,
0:39:57 > 0:40:01let's see if we can get one more series out of that.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10For all his appearances on television,
0:40:10 > 0:40:13Ronnie was also everywhere behind the scenes.
0:40:13 > 0:40:14DIRECTOR: Shot 52, take 1.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21Television Centre in London was then the heart of BBC Entertainment.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26While other stars and producers mingled in the BBC Club, Ronnie
0:40:26 > 0:40:30spent his spare hours in windowless cutting rooms and sound studios.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37Hugh's come to meet one of Ronnie's most long-standing collaborators
0:40:37 > 0:40:40who first worked with him in 1966 -
0:40:40 > 0:40:43film editor, Ray Millichope.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48The Frost Report is when he picked up his first irritating habit.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50- I didn't know the man... - His FIRST irritating habit?!
0:40:50 > 0:40:55He would take off bits of film and put them back on the wrong peg.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59- Oh, no.- Over the years I did explain to him that it was important
0:40:59 > 0:41:01to put the trims back on the correct peg.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03Or the programme would be in the wrong order.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05Yes, and I had 30 years of this.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08But he did improve as he went on.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10He said to me that if he wasn't Ronnie Barker
0:41:10 > 0:41:12he'd like to be a film editor.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17He decided that he'd like to spend three or four days with me a week.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19He became my assistant.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21So was he just interested in the process of doing it?
0:41:21 > 0:41:24Was he one of those people who was interested in everything?
0:41:24 > 0:41:25He was interested in everything.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28- And did he physically do the cutting?- No, he didn't.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30But he would do rewinding,
0:41:30 > 0:41:32and he would answer the phone occasionally.
0:41:32 > 0:41:33- As Ronnie Barker?- Yes.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35He used to sit there in his short-sleeve shirt.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38- Always wore a short-sleeve shirt. - He seems to be a very ordinary man.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42I once said he is Marks and Spencer's.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46He was Marks and Spencer's. He was quite happy with all that.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51And if we had, for instance, overnight prints to be picked up at the lab,
0:41:51 > 0:41:54his car from the Centre would call into dispatch,
0:41:54 > 0:41:56he'd go in dispatch, pick up the rushes,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59and sometimes we'd get a call from dispatch saying that
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Ronnie Barker's been in, he's had a cup of tea, signed autographs
0:42:02 > 0:42:05and he's on his way up to you, and he would come in with the rushes.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07How fantastic.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10A highlight in each episode of The Two Ronnies
0:42:10 > 0:42:13was the spoof film feature.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16This was The Worm That Turned. I don't know what series this was.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18It began with "The Worm That Turned," didn't it?
0:42:18 > 0:42:21That's right, yes.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25THEME MUSIC PLAYS
0:42:40 > 0:42:43He always walked about with this dreadful brown suitcase,
0:42:43 > 0:42:48which was the Barker sound effects library.
0:42:48 > 0:42:49He used to have...
0:42:49 > 0:42:51This was his favourite.
0:42:51 > 0:42:52- A football rattle?- Yeah.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57I never knew what a Swanee whistle was until I met Ronnie Barker.
0:42:59 > 0:43:00That's a classic.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04Everything in The Two Ronnies revolved around the Swanee whistle.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06But, I mean, there was also saucepans
0:43:06 > 0:43:11and on one occasion he came in with a cabbage.
0:43:11 > 0:43:12And when I asked him,
0:43:12 > 0:43:14"Ron, there's a cabbage in the suitcase, what's it for?"
0:43:14 > 0:43:16He smashed it on the ground and he said,
0:43:16 > 0:43:20"If we record that it sounds like someone's being banged on the head."
0:43:20 > 0:43:21Well...
0:43:21 > 0:43:24But you see, you have to realise that Ealing studios,
0:43:24 > 0:43:27they all had a full complement of effects.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30- They had everything you could wish for.- On tape?
0:43:30 > 0:43:34On tape, but he would walk in with this suitcase.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37This is the cabbage,
0:43:37 > 0:43:41or something like that or an apple or something like that,
0:43:41 > 0:43:42that he would carry with him.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46Ronnie's sound effects turned up again and again in the film spoofs.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48- They always went in the middle of a show, didn't they?- Yes.
0:43:48 > 0:43:49So there was that
0:43:49 > 0:43:52and there was The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Most of the effects in the Barker library
0:43:54 > 0:43:56were for The Phantom Raspberry Blower.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Speaks for itself, doesn't it, really?
0:43:59 > 0:44:03Is there a message I may give to the Prime Minister-er-er?
0:44:03 > 0:44:07Yes, tell him this.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09RASPBERRY BLOWS
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Who blew the raspberry?
0:44:14 > 0:44:16Oh, Mr Barker would have done that.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18I think so, yes, I think so.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20He would have created that sound.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28It's interesting, though, because you sort of assume that,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31at that kind of level that,
0:44:31 > 0:44:34you know, he'd be off playing golf,
0:44:34 > 0:44:36but he seems not to have been.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38He just seems to have been fascinated by everything.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40It's great, I think.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44And do you think he was ever kind of tempted to be a producer, actually?
0:44:44 > 0:44:47Yeah, sometimes you wondered if he was!
0:44:47 > 0:44:53When not at work, Ronnie was an avid collector of antique postcards.
0:44:53 > 0:44:54We used to write to each other.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56If I found something in the newspaper that was funny
0:44:56 > 0:44:59I'd send it to him and I'd get a prize.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02"Dear Ray. I'm happy to tell you your newspaper cutting,
0:45:02 > 0:45:07"which nearly made me have a fit and practically gave me a hernia,
0:45:07 > 0:45:09"has won you this week's star prize.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13"Thanks so much and best wishes to all at the fun factory."
0:45:13 > 0:45:15This was the prize, see.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18So this is his Book of Bathing Beauties?
0:45:18 > 0:45:20I think I've got three of those now.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25- And these were all postcards from his own collection?- Hmmm.
0:45:28 > 0:45:34So this is literally just a history of bathing beauties.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38It's an odd book to do, isn't it?
0:45:38 > 0:45:40My own personal feeling about this book is
0:45:40 > 0:45:42he should never have done it.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44I think it's bad taste, I really do.
0:45:46 > 0:45:52Hugh wants to understand Ronnie's keen interest in saucy postcards.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54Ronnie's collection was eventually sold,
0:45:54 > 0:45:59but Cartoon Museum curator Anita O'Brien has gathered his books
0:45:59 > 0:46:03as well as cards by the same artists that Ronnie collected.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05Lots of naked ladies.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07Lots of naked ladies, yes,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10and ladies reclining or, um...
0:46:11 > 0:46:13What is that lady doing there?
0:46:13 > 0:46:17She seems to be re-glazing a window naked.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19What's going on?
0:46:19 > 0:46:23"Outdoor repairs. Watch out for splinters."
0:46:23 > 0:46:27Yeah, well, that's good advice but not as good advice as
0:46:27 > 0:46:30put some clothes on before going outside to repair a window.
0:46:30 > 0:46:35Ronnie was also interested in the naughty kind of cards.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37The ones where you've got the caption and the image
0:46:37 > 0:46:40and there's a bit of double entendre and so on.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43"Here's a lovely pair every woman ought to have."
0:46:43 > 0:46:46- Yeah. - It's all in the gaze, isn't it?
0:46:46 > 0:46:49- So she's looking demurely down. - And so is he, but...
0:46:49 > 0:46:52Yeah, but at something different. That's it.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57And also this, "Very hot weekend in view down by the seaside."
0:46:57 > 0:47:02Yes, exactly. A man looking directly at a woman's posterior.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04Yes, but a very shapely one.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08Yeah. That's an absolutely extraordinary card.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11"I will give you a stick of rock, cock!"
0:47:11 > 0:47:14It's unbelievable, isn't it?
0:47:14 > 0:47:15Good grief.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17It feels a bit strange that someone who was sort of such
0:47:17 > 0:47:20a national kind of institution
0:47:20 > 0:47:22and such a wordsmith
0:47:22 > 0:47:25and all those really clever things that I loved about Ronnie Barker
0:47:25 > 0:47:28would have a collection of,
0:47:28 > 0:47:31you know, slightly sexist postcards.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34I think there's something very British about it,
0:47:34 > 0:47:36if you think of the Carry On films.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39- Yeah, exactly. Well, they were exactly that, weren't they?- Yeah.
0:47:39 > 0:47:44This kind of suggestive humour is perhaps difficult to enjoy today.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48But innuendo was as much a part of Ronnie's comedy as wordplay
0:47:48 > 0:47:51and he gave it full expression by writing a film which brought
0:47:51 > 0:47:54the seaside postcard to life.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57- I believe my DVD drive is warming up.- Is it?
0:47:57 > 0:48:00That's not a euphemism. That's actually what's happening.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10In 1982, Ronnie's labour of love, By The Sea,
0:48:10 > 0:48:13was shown on BBC television.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17It's odd, though, you know, in that it lacks words,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20- which is what I mostly associate with Ronnie Barker.- Mmm.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23Well, I suppose that's the thing about a lot of the comedy.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27That people could enjoy it on different levels.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29There was the physical comedy
0:48:29 > 0:48:32and there was the innuendo.
0:48:36 > 0:48:37It's interesting,
0:48:37 > 0:48:41that guy there is the character played by Ronnie Barker.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44Definitely. Even with the hat and the moustache.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Yeah, he's got a monocle?
0:48:47 > 0:48:50This is the point at which this kind of comedy stops, though, I think.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53It's a rather interesting historical moment,
0:48:53 > 0:48:57because you've been able to do this kind of comedy, haven't you, since...?
0:48:57 > 0:49:00Probably early 1900s.
0:49:00 > 0:49:05So it's had, you know, it's had 84 years, and this is the moment.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07Mmm.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11So while this is happening, all this kind of, girls bending over
0:49:11 > 0:49:14and men kind of going like that,
0:49:14 > 0:49:17was on at the same time as The Young Ones.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23The 1980s saw the rise of alternative comedy.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29Even mindless violence seems boring today.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33The anarchic performances of comics like Ben Elton and Alexei Sayle
0:49:33 > 0:49:38had no room for the saucy innuendo that featured in Ronnie's shows.
0:49:38 > 0:49:43Screw you, you complacent, misogynistic bum splat!
0:49:54 > 0:49:57I've just received an unexpected flash.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01How much longer do you think The Two Ronnies can run?
0:50:05 > 0:50:08I don't know. Six, seven, eight...
0:50:09 > 0:50:11..days.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Ronnie remained hugely popular,
0:50:19 > 0:50:24and had a second great sitcom success starring in Open All Hours
0:50:24 > 0:50:27with Lynda Baron and David Jason.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29How do you manage to do your laundry every week
0:50:29 > 0:50:31with clapped out stuff like that?
0:50:31 > 0:50:33- It's easy.- How can it be easy?
0:50:33 > 0:50:35He does it.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39Oh, the poor lad. You must be a blight on his adolescence.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43Hey, G-G-Granville, come out of there at once!
0:50:45 > 0:50:50For his next sitcom, in 1988, Ronnie revived a character, Clarence,
0:50:50 > 0:50:54that he'd played 16 years earlier opposite actress Josephine Tewson.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59We'd done a little half-hour play,
0:50:59 > 0:51:02which was about this short-sighted removal man
0:51:02 > 0:51:04and the maid of the household.
0:51:04 > 0:51:05And we'd done that and he said,
0:51:05 > 0:51:08"I've always thought that would make a nice series."
0:51:08 > 0:51:10He's a funny bloke, Clarence.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13Blind as a bat and clumsy as a bull in a china shop.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17Under the pseudonym Bob Ferris, Ronnie wrote the script.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19He said, "Are you doing anything in June?"
0:51:19 > 0:51:22So I immediately decided no, I wasn't.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26And he said, "I'd better warn you, when I've finished doing that series
0:51:26 > 0:51:28"I'm going to leave the profession."
0:51:28 > 0:51:30I said, "What do you mean? Are you ill?"
0:51:30 > 0:51:34"No, no, no, no, no. I'm just going to, you know, stop."
0:51:34 > 0:51:36"What do you mean? Suppose they want to do another series?"
0:51:36 > 0:51:38"No, no, just going to do that one series."
0:51:38 > 0:51:40But he said, "You mustn't tell anyone.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43"I've told Ronnie Corbett, I've told the BBC, and I'm telling you,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46"but you mustn't say anything because I don't want it to get out."
0:51:46 > 0:51:49And I thought somebody would persuade him to carry on.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52But they couldn't and he didn't and he was perfectly happy giving up,
0:51:52 > 0:51:53he really was.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56So when Clarence was on, which was the late '80s,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59which was when I was starting out, really,
0:51:59 > 0:52:02telly was changing very, very rapidly, really, wasn't it?
0:52:02 > 0:52:05Do you think that affected Ronnie's decision?
0:52:05 > 0:52:09- Do you think he felt that his time had gone?- I don't think so.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11He may not have liked what he saw.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15I don't know, I really don't know about that.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18I do find the desire to retire quite interesting, actually.
0:52:18 > 0:52:23- Most actors have no desire to retire at all, do they?- None at all.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25It's one of the great things, is you can just keep on going.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29Yes, you can, and you'll find, eventually, it retires you.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32You don't have to do anything about it yourself.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34It'll happen in the normal, ordinary course of events, I find.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37How long do you think you have to be out of work for the penny to drop?
0:52:37 > 0:52:40To realise? I don't know!
0:52:41 > 0:52:45In his retirement, Ronnie joined his wife Joy running an antiques shop.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51If you didn't know that it was Ronnie Barker's shop
0:52:51 > 0:52:55and you walk into a shop and there is Ronnie Barker behind the counter...
0:52:55 > 0:52:58- I know.- ..you assume it's some kind of a set-up of some sort, don't you?
0:52:58 > 0:53:02Yeah, but I think he liked chatting to people in the shop.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06I think he just liked family life, he really did.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13It's why actors and comedians are so lucky, really, because they get
0:53:13 > 0:53:16to spend their lives, mainly, doing stuff that they really like.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21It's not drudgery being on the telly
0:53:21 > 0:53:24and going out on a Saturday night to 15 million people.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26It's fantastic, isn't it?
0:53:26 > 0:53:29And just...
0:53:29 > 0:53:34to stop is, I would have thought is really, really difficult.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37But good.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39Well done 'im.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41"Your days as a big..."
0:53:41 > 0:53:42Is that an O or an I?
0:53:42 > 0:53:44An O.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46"Your days as a big shot are numbered."
0:53:49 > 0:53:5216 years after he retired,
0:53:52 > 0:53:56BAFTA honoured Ronnie with a lifetime achievement award.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59So duly deserved, this BAFTA,
0:53:59 > 0:54:02goes to my dear friend, the guvnor.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the man himself,
0:54:05 > 0:54:07Mr Ronnie Barker!
0:54:07 > 0:54:09APPLAUSE
0:54:11 > 0:54:16Standing here before you with this most honoured award
0:54:16 > 0:54:19bestowed upon me by you, what luck.
0:54:19 > 0:54:25What wonderful luck to be flanked on either side by my two best friends.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28APPLAUSE
0:54:31 > 0:54:33And I might cry.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36Gwyneth Paltrow, watch out.
0:54:36 > 0:54:37LAUGHTER
0:54:37 > 0:54:40Thank you very much.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42APPLAUSE
0:54:44 > 0:54:48Ronnie appeared on television for the final time, behind a desk
0:54:48 > 0:54:51with Ronnie Corbett, introducing a collection of old sketches.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57Actually, Ron, after nearly 40 years,
0:54:57 > 0:55:00we are rather like Christmas, in fact, aren't we?
0:55:00 > 0:55:01I know what you mean, yes.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Just like holly, we've grown a bit prickly.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08Just like the paper chains, getting a bit droopy.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11Just like Christmas lights, we're on the blink.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13And only turned on once a year.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18Speak for yourself!
0:55:19 > 0:55:23The programme was shown at Christmas in 2005,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26two months after Ronnie died from heart failure.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29MUSIC: "A Rainy Day Refrain" by The Andrews Sisters.
0:55:29 > 0:55:33# Da-dim, da-dum, da-dim, da-dum Da-dim, da-dum, da-dim, da-dum
0:55:33 > 0:55:37# I'm dreaming to the rhythm of the rain
0:55:38 > 0:55:41# Da-dim, da-dum, da-dim, da-dum
0:55:41 > 0:55:46# I get the sweetest memories from the rhythm of a rainy day refrain. #
0:55:46 > 0:55:50Ronnie's memorial service took place at Westminster Abbey.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53Josephine Tewson read one of the lessons.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58The one thing I didn't realise, when they come up
0:55:58 > 0:56:04they always process up, the choir and everybody, with two candles.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06And that day they had four candles.
0:56:06 > 0:56:07- Oh, how fantastic!- Yes.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10I mean, it is given to sadness and poignancy and all the rest of it
0:56:10 > 0:56:14- but half of comedy is finding... - Funny things happening at funerals!
0:56:14 > 0:56:16Yeah, funny things happening at funerals, yeah.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19- And Ronnie would have been the first to write it, too.- Yeah.
0:56:21 > 0:56:26# Da-dim, da-dum, da-dim, da-dum Da-dim, da-dum, da-dim, da-dum
0:56:26 > 0:56:29# I'm so in love I'll always love the rain. #
0:56:39 > 0:56:41So, this is Aylesbury.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45This is where Ronnie Barker's career began at Aylesbury Rep,
0:56:45 > 0:56:47and behind us is Aylesbury Theatre now.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50And over here,
0:56:50 > 0:56:56I believe that is a statue of Ronnie Barker.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02In the guise, I think, of Norman Stanley Fletcher.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05He's escaped from prison and he's ended up in Aylesbury.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08Here we go.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10"Ronnie Barker first performed professionally in 1948
0:57:10 > 0:57:13"at the old County Theatre in Market Square, Aylesbury."
0:57:15 > 0:57:18Well, he liked being matter-of-fact.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20He wasn't showbiz.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24So I guess it is rather fitting that he is now
0:57:24 > 0:57:27sitting between a construction site
0:57:27 > 0:57:30and the A41.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38I've had greatness thrust upon me.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45I knew very, very little about him when I started,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48other than what I'd seen on screen.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51I didn't know really that he was an actor.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54He was really an actor even when he was being a comedian.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57But what I really have liked about it
0:57:57 > 0:58:01is the discovery that he was,
0:58:01 > 0:58:04you know, he was enormously famous,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07but he was kind of accidentally famous.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12You know, it was all a by-product
0:58:12 > 0:58:15of doing a thing that he loved doing.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18He was just interested in
0:58:18 > 0:58:20making people laugh
0:58:20 > 0:58:25and getting the very best out of every show he was in, really.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29I rather admire that, you know.
0:58:59 > 0:59:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd