0:00:02 > 0:00:04Telly - that magic box in the corner.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07It gives us access to a million different worlds
0:00:07 > 0:00:10all from the comfort of our sofa.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13'In this series, I'm going to journey through the fantastic world
0:00:13 > 0:00:17'of TV with some of our favourite celebrities.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21'They've chosen the precious TV moments that shed light...'
0:00:21 > 0:00:24- Figure that one out. - It's called scone pizza.
0:00:24 > 0:00:25'..on the stories of their lives.'
0:00:25 > 0:00:29I used to go mental if a swimmer was on. It would just make my life!
0:00:29 > 0:00:31'Some are funny.'
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Ooh... Ooh-sha-bob...
0:00:33 > 0:00:35- Oh, my word!- 'Some...'
0:00:35 > 0:00:38- There's been a murder. - '..are surprising.'
0:00:38 > 0:00:41My mother didn't laugh that much. It was hard going.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43But, God, she laughed at that.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45'Some are inspiring...'
0:00:45 > 0:00:47In all of those programmes, in different ways,
0:00:47 > 0:00:52- there's something special going on. - '..and many are deeply moving.'
0:00:52 > 0:00:54- Oh!- The death of John F. Kennedy...
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Now, we can't imagine what it was like
0:00:57 > 0:01:00to receive such devastating news then.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03'So come watch with us as we hand-pick the vintage telly
0:01:03 > 0:01:06'that helped turn our much-loved stars
0:01:06 > 0:01:08'into the people they are today.'
0:01:08 > 0:01:10Welcome to The TV That Made Me.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22My guest today is a much-loved broadcaster and renowned brainbox.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Now, back in the '80s, he was brightening up our mornings
0:01:25 > 0:01:29with his jazzy jumpers on the breakfast show TV-am...
0:01:29 > 0:01:32..but Gyles Brandreth is just as comfortable
0:01:32 > 0:01:35in the House of Commons as he is on our breakfast telly.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38He served as a government whip during his five years
0:01:38 > 0:01:42as an MP in the early '90s and the TV that shaped him
0:01:42 > 0:01:45includes a royal coronation...
0:01:47 > 0:01:49'Prince Charles and Princess Anne waving, there
0:01:49 > 0:01:51'just as their mother did...'
0:01:51 > 0:01:54- What time is it? - '..and a comedy rag-and-bone team.'
0:01:54 > 0:01:58- Have you loaded the car?- Not yet. - Well, what are you hanging about for? Go on. Get your finger out.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02It can only be the one and only - Gyles Brandreth is with us today.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04- Welcome, Gyles. - It's good to be with you.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08- Are you excited about what we have in store for you?- I'm quite excited.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10I'm not very good at looking back.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13I prefer to look forward, but I'm ready to look back.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15OK. Well, I'm glad you're ready because it's a celebration.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19It's a selection of TV classics that made you into, possibly,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22- the man you are today, Gyles. - Oh, dear!
0:02:23 > 0:02:29Gyles was born in March 1948 in a British forces hospital in Germany,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32where his father was serving as a legal officer.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36The family soon moved back to England, settling in London,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40and the young Gyles was enrolled at Bedales boarding school.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45His love of performing and politics shone through from a young age.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48Even before he was in his teens he began treading the boards
0:02:48 > 0:02:53and dabbling in politics, and in 1964, during the general election,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57Gyles even stood as a Lib Dem candidate
0:02:57 > 0:02:59in his school's mock elections.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Well, it feels strange to see a fellow there with hair.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05It's quite alarming.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09The 1950s was a golden time to be a child,
0:03:09 > 0:03:14and it reminds me, actually, of what a good, secure upbringing I had.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19I was very lucky in my parents. I truly did have a wonderful childhood.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27So, I'm going to take you back to your earliest memory now.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29The Queen's coronation.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33Yep. In the early 1950s, I was living in London with my parents.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36We lived in a block of flats in South Kensington.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39We, and a whole raft of families around the country,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43got, for the first time, a television set for the coronation.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48- I was five years of age, and this machine came into the house.- Yes.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51It was quite small with a very small screen,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54- and it took a LONG time to warm up. - Yeah.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57And then when you turned it off it took a long time to go away.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Shall we have a little look at the Queen's coronation?
0:03:59 > 0:04:02- I'd love to.- Your choice. First choice, here it is.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04Gyles and the Queen's coronation.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09CROWD SING: "God Save the Queen"
0:04:13 > 0:04:16THEY CHEER
0:04:18 > 0:04:23I mean, it was a huge outside broadcast, a triumph for the BBC.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27This was the most watched television in the history of television,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29when this was first broadcast.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34Queen Elizabeth II was crowned on the 2nd of June 1953.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Never before had a British monarch's coronation been televised.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42For most of us, this was the moment broadcasting technology
0:04:42 > 0:04:46found its way into our homes and our lives for the first time.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53Up and down the UK, families rushed out to buy their first TV set,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55so they could watch this historic event,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59boosting TV ownership by almost 50%.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Over 20 million people in the UK tuned in.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08With only 2.1 million television sets in the country,
0:05:08 > 0:05:10at least nine people were crowded around each one,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13trying to catch a glimpse of the new Queen.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16This was the birth, in a sense, of popular television
0:05:16 > 0:05:18in the United Kingdom, was the coronation.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22And, of course, it was quite controversial, it being broadcast at all.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25There were a lot of people who felt it was wrong to broadcast
0:05:25 > 0:05:28something as solemn and sacred as the coronation,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32and the most sacred moment of the coronation,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35you don't actually see the Queen.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38So you see her as she arrives, you see the service,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41- but when the holy oil is anointed on the Queen...- Aah.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44..that was considered a sacred moment, and was not broadcast,
0:05:44 > 0:05:49and there was an archbishop at the time who said, "I don't think
0:05:49 > 0:05:52"they should be showing this on television, because it could be
0:05:52 > 0:05:56- "watched in public houses with people wearing their hats."- Oh, no!
0:05:56 > 0:05:58Well, the idea of people watching the Queen
0:05:58 > 0:06:01while keeping their hats on was considered very shocking...
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Look, there! And there is Prince Charles.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Prince Charles is exactly the same age as me.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08He's just had a tougher life.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Your second choice, Gyles, is something you used to watch
0:06:16 > 0:06:18as a young little Brandreth.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22As a little Brandreth in the mansion flat in London,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25sitting with my mother, I watched with mother.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Aw. Let's have a little look, shall we?
0:06:29 > 0:06:32'First, out came their little faces,
0:06:32 > 0:06:34'smiling all over.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39'Then their little hands, with big garden gloves on.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43'They both turned round and saw each other.'
0:06:43 > 0:06:45'Oh... Wha-le-le-la...'
0:06:45 > 0:06:48- I think everything is explained by this.- Really?
0:06:48 > 0:06:49My whole life is explained by this.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52This is what I watched during my formative years.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54THEY SPEAK GOBBLEDYGOOK
0:06:58 > 0:07:02- Bill and Ben. They were heroic figures, Bill and Ben.- Yes.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04I assume Bill was the one sitting on the left and Ben was on the right...
0:07:04 > 0:07:07It's a bit like Ant and Dec. You're not quite sure.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09You're never quite sure which one is performing at any one time,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13and the voice was incomprehensible. There was a tortoise that came along, wasn't there?
0:07:13 > 0:07:15At one point. It used to slow the whole thing up.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17It used take ages to come on...
0:07:17 > 0:07:21THEY MIMIC BILL AND BEN
0:07:21 > 0:07:24THEY SPEAK GOBBLEDYGOOK
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Every day, Watch With Mother had different characters,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31and this was by far my favourite.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35The flowerpot men spoke in their own strange language
0:07:35 > 0:07:38called Oddle Poddle, which was created
0:07:38 > 0:07:42by the voice of the Doctor Who Daleks, Peter Hawkins.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45The puppetry in these short programmes was basic,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49with the flowerpot men's strings clearly visible -
0:07:49 > 0:07:53though this did not seem to affect the magic of the show.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57The series was part of Watch With Mother, which ran for 22 years,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59and included the pre-school puppet show
0:07:59 > 0:08:04The Woodentops, which depicted the everyday lives of a family
0:08:04 > 0:08:07of wooden dolls who lived on a farm.
0:08:07 > 0:08:08I never got the Woodentops.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11What did you think of the acting in the Woodentops?
0:08:11 > 0:08:15I have to say, Daddy Woodentop was quite a sinister figure, as far as I'm concerned.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Hello, young fellow. I hear you've been a bad boy.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21Oh, no, you don't, young man.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24I think he's been drinking. Look, he's all over the place.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Yes, indeed.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29There was something about him I really did not like.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32He wasn't like I imagine a father to be.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35Look what I found when I was digging this morning.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37One of your old bones.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39This was a more innocent time.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Ventriloquists appeared, and you saw their lips move.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46Bill and Ben appeared, you saw the strings
0:08:46 > 0:08:50- pulling them out of the flowerpots. - Mm-hmm.- It was marvellous.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53There's something wonderful about it, and I have to say,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56still, I think anything on television that's in black and white
0:08:56 > 0:08:59is automatically going to be better than anything in colour.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02- Really?- Yeah. And sometimes to improve a programme,
0:09:02 > 0:09:04I now change the contrast to take away the colour
0:09:04 > 0:09:08and turn it into black and white and immediately it seems better.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11- The truth?- It is the truth. - Really?- The truth! Oh, yeah.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13Well, should we do it now? Should we do it now?
0:09:13 > 0:09:15Here's my invisible contrast button.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Oh-ha-ha-ha!
0:09:18 > 0:09:21- Look at that.- What do you think? It's a lot better.- I like my shirt.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24- Yeah.- I like the look. - What do you think?
0:09:24 > 0:09:26- I don't think it's...- It's good.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30- No, honestly, I do like it. - Black and white suits you.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32And I think what would be interesting
0:09:32 > 0:09:34is if we could do the puppets.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Oh, we could be strings attached.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41THEY MIMIC BILL AND BEN
0:09:41 > 0:09:44- Whee!- Whee!- Whee!
0:09:44 > 0:09:46- I tell you who we don't want to be. - Go on.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49- Daddy Woodentop.- No. Well, I think he'd been drinking.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51He was all over the place. He was, he was like...
0:09:51 > 0:09:54- Yeah.- Sit down.- Come on, sit down.
0:09:54 > 0:09:55Let's bring it back, let's bring it back.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59Thank you.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02So, you had a fond love of bears, I believe.
0:10:02 > 0:10:08Well... Monday - Andy Pandy, Looby Loo and Teddy,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12and I think Teddy was the bear that introduced me
0:10:12 > 0:10:16to my fascination with the teddy bear, which has gone on all my life.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19I have a collection of teddy bears,
0:10:19 > 0:10:25and my very favourite television teddy is undoubtedly this one.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28- What have you...? - I brought this to show you.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30To watch TV with us...
0:10:30 > 0:10:35here is the original television Paddington Bear.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Isn't that amazing? I'm so pleased you brought this in.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Now this... In the 1970s, Paddington Bear appeared first on television.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46The stories were told by a great actor, Sir Michael Hordern.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48- Shall we put him down here? - You can put him down there.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52And this is the original Paddington who appeared in those television
0:10:52 > 0:10:56programmes, and these programmes were made by a company called FilmFair.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58- Can I hold him?- You can hold him. - Oh, look at that.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02And the FilmFair was a company that was run by a man
0:11:02 > 0:11:05- called Graham Clutterbuck. That's a good name, isn't it?- Mm-hmm.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08And Graham Clutterbuck had been in the Army with my dad,
0:11:08 > 0:11:14and so my dad managed to secure for me the original Paddington Bear
0:11:14 > 0:11:16through his friend Mr Clutterbuck.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20This is the oldest and earliest Paddington Bear in the world,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24now sitting in his armchair, on your sofa, Brian.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27I like the fact you're getting quite emotional about it.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Well, I have to say, I was a member of parliament for a while,
0:11:31 > 0:11:33and sometimes people used to mock me.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35They would say, "Gosh, this enthusiasm for teddy bears...
0:11:35 > 0:11:38"You know, you want to be a member of parliament,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40"and you're waxing lyrical about teddy bears."
0:11:40 > 0:11:44I said, "When you think of the hobbies that some members of parliament have,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47"you should be grateful that I'm an enthusiast for teddy bears."
0:11:47 > 0:11:49- Yeah.- But... Do you know?
0:11:49 > 0:11:54I think it's quite important in life, not to be childish,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57but to sometimes be childlike, and to keep in touch with your childhood.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00- I agree, I agree.- And the concept of Watch With Mother
0:12:00 > 0:12:04was one where you actually sat down and had a quiet time
0:12:04 > 0:12:06with your mum, sharing something together.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Gyles, we're going to move onto your Family Favourite now,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16something you used to watch as a family.
0:12:16 > 0:12:22You haven't really spoken much about the arrangement within the house.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24Yeah. My father would come home from work relatively...
0:12:24 > 0:12:28At a relatively good time, I think, about 6.30, 7.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33And we would have supper at the table in the kitchen.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35I don't think we ate in front of the television in those days.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39And then we would come in and settle down to watch a programme.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42And I think it was Sunday nights
0:12:42 > 0:12:45that we would watch my parents' favourite,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48which became our favourite, which was a programme called What's My Line?
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Aah, yes. We have that for you now.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54So this will take you back to your parents' favourite,
0:12:54 > 0:12:56What's My Line?
0:12:59 > 0:13:01Once again, you're welcome to What's My Line?
0:13:01 > 0:13:04and let's straightaway introduce the panel. Top of the table we have...
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Eamonn Andrews, who also presented a children's programme
0:13:07 > 0:13:10- called Crackerjack...- Oh, yes! - ..and therefore was a very...
0:13:10 > 0:13:11Can I? Crackerjack! Moving on.
0:13:11 > 0:13:17Yeah. ..was a very good crossover performer because, as it were,
0:13:17 > 0:13:19he had his children's audience through Crackerjack,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22and then there was a family audience for this show here.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25- He was Mr Television in the 1950s. - Yes.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28What's My Line? was a game show format from America
0:13:28 > 0:13:33that hit television screens in the UK in July 1951.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37The show was hosted by the Irish presenter Eamonn Andrews,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41and featured regular panellists guessing the occupation
0:13:41 > 0:13:43of various members of the public.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46The series was renowned for its classy style,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49with the men donning tuxedos and the women in ball gowns.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53By the time it left our screens for good in 1963, it had achieved
0:13:53 > 0:13:57an incredible 12 million viewers for its Sunday night slot.
0:13:57 > 0:13:58Thank you.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Pull in your chair there, and we will show you at home
0:14:04 > 0:14:08what Mrs Fiorita Morris does for a living.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11APPLAUSE
0:14:13 > 0:14:14Do you give a service?
0:14:14 > 0:14:18- Yes.- You do. Is it a service you could give to me?
0:14:18 > 0:14:21LAUGHTER
0:14:22 > 0:14:26- Yes. I don't think those sorts of jokes were intended.- No, I know.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28But you see, Eammon Andrews is wearing his dinner suit...
0:14:28 > 0:14:31- Look at that.- ..and every wrong answer scores a point.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33- He would place into his computer. - Yeah.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37Oh! Oh, this is Lady Isobel Barnett.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Do you yourself entertain the public?
0:14:39 > 0:14:43- Yes.- Is there anything like mind-reading concerned?
0:14:43 > 0:14:44- No.- No.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Lady Isobel Barnett was effortlessly elegant.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51She lived in Leicestershire, she was a doctor - she was a GP -
0:14:51 > 0:14:56and this was the beginning of television royalty, the 1950s.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Television was now spreading out across the country.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01In the mid-1950s you get ITV as well.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Now, by the end of the 1950s, everybody's got a TV set,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07and these people on this programme become TV royalty,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10and Lady Isobel Barnett is... You're not going to meet
0:15:10 > 0:15:14Princess Margaret or the Queen but you might have Lady Isobel Barnett
0:15:14 > 0:15:16opening your local church fair.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18So would you enjoy watching
0:15:18 > 0:15:20- something like this with your parents?- Yeah.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23- Very much a family thing?- Very much a family thing, but not chatting.
0:15:23 > 0:15:24No chit-chat.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27- None of this Gogglebox stuff, talking, non-stop commentary.- No.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30- I wasn't allowed to talk over anything on the TV.- No!
0:15:30 > 0:15:32A certain respect would be shown to What's My Line?
0:15:32 > 0:15:34So it became an event. Everything was an event.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36Everything was an event, and ly,
0:15:36 > 0:15:37we still try to create an event.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41When our grandchildren come round to watch a movie on television,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44we do what we did with our children.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46We draw the curtains, turn the lights down,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49they make little tickets, they sell the tickets at the door...
0:15:49 > 0:15:53- Oh, lovely.- I think it's worth making it a sense of occasion.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02We're moving onto Inspirational Television now for you,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05and for me too. I mean, it was a must-see.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10It revolutionised the way we looked at politics.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13I'm not going to say any more, only that it's
0:16:13 > 0:16:16That Was The Week That Was.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19# That Was the Week That Was
0:16:19 > 0:16:21# It's over How it fled
0:16:21 > 0:16:23# McNamara's week it was... #
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Now, this was a hugely controversial programme.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31You've got to remember, the 1950s was an era of respect and deference.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35Politicians would appear on television, and the interviewer would
0:16:35 > 0:16:39simply say, "Prime Minister, tell me about your plans for the country."
0:16:39 > 0:16:43And then the Prime Minister would speak for a few moments, and then the interviewer would say,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46"Thank you, Prime Minister, for sparing us the time to talk."
0:16:46 > 0:16:50And that began to change towards the end of the 1950s.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52Interviewers like Robin Day came along.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56But it really changed in the 1960s, and the advent
0:16:56 > 0:17:00of That Was The Week That Was, starring David Frost
0:17:00 > 0:17:02and a whole raft of people -
0:17:02 > 0:17:07Willie Rushton, Lance Percival, Roy Kinnear... That changed everything.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10At the request, we're told, of Mrs Jackie Kennedy,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14the Mona Lisa is now on the high seas in a plastic bag...
0:17:14 > 0:17:16LAUGHTER
0:17:16 > 0:17:19..en route to be exhibited in Washington.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21Now, why was Mrs Kennedy so keen?
0:17:21 > 0:17:25Are we going to be in for a spate of news pictures like this?
0:17:25 > 0:17:27LAUGHTER
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Still, at least that would be better than if the Mona Lisa
0:17:30 > 0:17:33were to be returned to the Louvre looking like this.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36That Was The Week That Was was presented by David Frost,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and first appeared on the BBC in 1962
0:17:39 > 0:17:42after a decade of Conservative government.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47The show was loosely based on a pilot idea of satirical sketches
0:17:47 > 0:17:49created by Peter Cook.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Never before had politics and comedy
0:17:52 > 0:17:56merged on our screens. The results were revolutionary.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59BBC executives were nervous about airing the show during
0:17:59 > 0:18:03the election year of 1964, and it was cancelled
0:18:03 > 0:18:05after only two series.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08- It was the birth of TV satire, completely.- Yeah.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13And it was also the beginning of the age when deference was over,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16when we actually could cross-question politicians,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20not accept what they had to say, send them up rotten,
0:18:20 > 0:18:22make fun of public life.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24It coincided with Beyond the Fringe in the theatre,
0:18:24 > 0:18:28it coincided with the '60s, the end of censorship,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31the arrival of the controversial book Lady Chatterley's Lover
0:18:31 > 0:18:33being published, with all those four-letter words in it.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36The world was changing, and this show exemplified it.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39What satire has been around since that has impressed you,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41that you've enjoyed?
0:18:41 > 0:18:43Well, the problem with the world as it now is,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46is who needs satire when you've got the real thing?
0:18:46 > 0:18:49That is, in a sense, a difficult one...
0:18:49 > 0:18:53I was an MP in the 1990s, when John Major was the Prime Minister,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55and I was in the whip's office then,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and I published a diary of my time in the whip's office,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01and it was recently reissued, and people were reading it saying,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05"This is House of Cards brought to life. This is..."
0:19:05 > 0:19:10Mock the Week couldn't mock enough for what the people,
0:19:10 > 0:19:11the guys themselves do.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14You know? Caught with their trousers down, their hand in the till...
0:19:14 > 0:19:17You couldn't make it up. But it all began,
0:19:17 > 0:19:22the exposing of politics, all began with That Was The Week That Was.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24Since That Was the Week That Was,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28we have enjoyed a wealth of political satire.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30The Frost Report, from 1966,
0:19:30 > 0:19:36the unapologetic Not the Nine O'Clock News, from 1979.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40From the '80s, the grotesque puppetry of Spitting Image,
0:19:40 > 0:19:42and Rory Bremner, starring Bird and Fortune,
0:19:42 > 0:19:46who had worked with Peter Cook on his original sketch show,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49and by the 1990s, we had Brass Eye and The Day Today,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53which introduced us to Alan Partridge and Chris Morris.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56And, lastly, the political panel show Have I Got News For You,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00which we've been enjoying for over 25 years.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03It's curious seeing all these programmes,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06because it's making me realise that my whole life is actually
0:20:06 > 0:20:10based on what happened to me between 1950 and 1962.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14There has been no development, no progress of any kind.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22We're going to move onto your dad's favourite programme now.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24- Do you remember what it was?- Mmm!
0:20:24 > 0:20:29- My father was allowed his moment of comedy during the week.- Yes.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31My dad loves Steptoe and Son, and I did too.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35Steptoe and Son, written by Galton and Simpson, who had written
0:20:35 > 0:20:39Hancock's Half Hour, which was the classic television comedy
0:20:39 > 0:20:40of the 1950s.
0:20:40 > 0:20:47This was their next big success, and it's about a rag-and-bone man,
0:20:47 > 0:20:51- father and son. It's an amazing... - Ran for 12 years.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55- Extraordinary.- Yeah. Let's have a little look. Steptoe and Son.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01You lazy old devil.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05LAUGHTER
0:21:05 > 0:21:06Look at him.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08The sleeping beauty.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13You see? Black and white. You know it's going to be good.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Old man, weak heart.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18Died in his sleep.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21No-one would miss him.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23I'll be free.
0:21:23 > 0:21:24I could get out!
0:21:24 > 0:21:27And the business would be mine.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30No-one would know.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Oh! Hello, Dad!
0:21:32 > 0:21:37I was just going to put this behind your head and make you comfortable.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40- Have I been asleep? What time is it? - Five past four.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43This is very depressing, cos my wife tells me constantly, she says,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46"You're looking more and more like Steptoe Senior
0:21:46 > 0:21:48"every time I look at you."
0:21:48 > 0:21:50- Look! Look at him! - Go on, get your finger out. Go on.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53Go out and unload it. What are you standing about for?
0:21:53 > 0:21:57The hilarious squabbles of scruffy Albert Steptoe and his aspirational
0:21:57 > 0:22:03son, Harold, brought working-class comedy to the nation in 1962.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Along with Tony Hancock and Sid James, they helped inspire
0:22:06 > 0:22:09a rich tradition of sitcoms featuring two blokes
0:22:09 > 0:22:12who don't always see eye to eye.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17From Del Boy and Rodney Trotter trying to make their millions
0:22:17 > 0:22:19in Only Fools and Horses...
0:22:21 > 0:22:25..to Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's comedy relationship
0:22:25 > 0:22:28in the 2005 series Extras.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32More recently, the comedy duo Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan
0:22:32 > 0:22:36hit our screens in The Trip, a mockumentary
0:22:36 > 0:22:40that followed the bickering pair on their foodie adventures.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43What did your dad love so much about this?
0:22:43 > 0:22:46I think he loved the characters,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49but the wit, the cleverness of the language...
0:22:49 > 0:22:52What's interesting about the dad, Wilfrid Brambell,
0:22:52 > 0:22:56is you see how awful he looks, there? This gnarled old figure...
0:22:56 > 0:22:59HE IMITATES STEPTOE All that going on.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03When you see him in the street - tall, elegant, a dandy.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06- So, he was a good actor? - They were both wonderful actors.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09And people of my parents' generation, who'd come through
0:23:09 > 0:23:13the war in the 1940s - in the 1950s, there was a country
0:23:13 > 0:23:15that had all done that together.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18All types of people, middle-class people like my parents,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20the toffs, people like Steptoe and Son,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24working people, actually had a shared experience,
0:23:24 > 0:23:28and that made for a united country, more so perhaps then than now.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35Gyles, I wish to take you back now.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40You and Paddington, back to 1968, I believe.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44You were at university. This was your first big break in television.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46I first appeared, I think, in 1968,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49in a programme featuring Kenneth Tynan,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53a controversial figure, the man who first used the four-letter word
0:23:53 > 0:23:57- on TV.- Really?- Yes. He had been a celebrated figure
0:23:57 > 0:23:59at Oxford in the 1940s.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04He came to Oxford in the 1960s, and chose me as the equivalent of him
0:24:04 > 0:24:0920 years later - as a, sort of, darling of Oxford in 1968.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11So I made this TV show.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14It would be amazing if we had a clip from that, wouldn't it?
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Well, I fear that it was wiped.
0:24:18 > 0:24:19Fear not.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Within university, I suppose, I'm a professional dilettante
0:24:24 > 0:24:27in the sense that I am interested in a whole range of things,
0:24:27 > 0:24:31in journalism, in the theatre, in the union, and in each of them,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34I don't... On purpose, I'm not very earnest.
0:24:34 > 0:24:35I don't take it very seriously.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37My word!
0:24:37 > 0:24:40- This is interesting. - And when did you last see this?
0:24:40 > 0:24:41I've never seen it.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43I'm putting on a play. What am I doing?
0:24:43 > 0:24:45A pantomime, because I want to do a pantomime, cos it's fun,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47and we're young and it doesn't really matter.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49Oh, my God, this is embarrassing.
0:24:49 > 0:24:50One entertains them.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53One writes amusing columns, because this is light...
0:24:53 > 0:24:54Oh, dear!
0:24:55 > 0:24:58Oh, this is agony!
0:24:58 > 0:25:01I said I thought it was wiped, because clearly I HOPED it was wiped!
0:25:03 > 0:25:06You could hardly believe, he's 19 years of age, this boy.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09- You're defending him now, aren't you?- 19! Bless him.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11He's 19 going on 60.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16'The rising generation marches breast-forward into the future.'
0:25:16 > 0:25:17Now, this is a good sequence.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20- Yeah?- I've not seen this. I've only seen stills of this.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23I never watched this, cos, of course, we didn't have recorded programmes.
0:25:23 > 0:25:24- Yes, yes.- So it went out live.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31WATER SPLASHES
0:25:37 > 0:25:40- That's amazing.- Wh-wh... - Now, why was I doing that?
0:25:40 > 0:25:41Yes, please, tell me.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45This was a programme about Oxford University.
0:25:45 > 0:25:51And a famous English writer called Max Beerbohm wrote a novel
0:25:51 > 0:25:57called Zuleika Dobson, about a hero who kept falling in love with girls
0:25:57 > 0:26:00and when it was unrequited, he would drown himself,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02throw himself into the river.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05So I was recreating the Oxford of an earlier era,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07walking straight into the river.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09I don't regret my years at Oxford,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11because when I was at Oxford, I produced a pantomime,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13as I mentioned, there - Cinderella.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17And I invited... I put up notices all over the university
0:26:17 > 0:26:20looking for a Cinderella, saying, "If you are young and beautiful
0:26:20 > 0:26:23"and think you have the qualities to make you a fairytale princess,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26"please come to this room on this day."
0:26:26 > 0:26:31And all sorts of young lovelies came to audition for the part,
0:26:31 > 0:26:37and to one of them, I said, "Would you mind staying behind?"
0:26:37 > 0:26:40And she did stay behind.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44And that was 47 years ago.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47- That was of course your wife.- Yes.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51That was indeed my wife, Michelle, who amazingly met me
0:26:51 > 0:26:54when I looked like and sounded like that.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Do you think TV made you?
0:26:58 > 0:26:59Well, I think it's improved me.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02You hope, as the years go by, maybe, that you've learnt
0:27:02 > 0:27:04something along the way.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07I suspect I'm probably exactly that same person,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09but without the hair, and without the glasses.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12- Have you enjoyed today? - It's definitely been an emotional rollercoaster.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14There's a value to all these programmes.
0:27:14 > 0:27:20There's humour, intelligence, charm, wit.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22In all of those programmes, in different ways,
0:27:22 > 0:27:24there's something special going on.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32- Gyles, what do you watch now, then? - Well, I love watching The One Show.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35- I like watching Countdown. - I wonder why, I wonder why.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38- And actually I like watching Kirstie & Phil.- Yeah...
0:27:38 > 0:27:39- I've got the hots for Kirstie. - Really?
0:27:39 > 0:27:41She's my kind of woman. Yeah.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44I want to thank you for being my guest.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46On the show we give our guests the opportunity
0:27:46 > 0:27:48to pick a theme tune to go out with.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51What is it going to be? What would you like us to play out with today?
0:27:51 > 0:27:54- What would be your theme tune? - I think it's got to be...
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Dedicating this, as it were, to the memory of my parents...
0:27:57 > 0:28:00I can hear in the background my mother's knitting needles
0:28:00 > 0:28:04clacking away as we play the theme tune of Steptoe and Son.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06- My thanks to you.- Thank you, Brian.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09My thanks to little Paddington, and my thanks to YOU
0:28:09 > 0:28:13for watching The TV That Made Me. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.
0:28:13 > 0:28:21MUSIC: Old Ned by Ron Grainer