0:00:02 > 0:00:05For more than 60 years, one woman has been at the beating heart of British comedy.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12She has performed with every major British comedian.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19She has worked with so many top comedians.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23And it shows that she had great comic timing.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Every comic she ever fed a line to relied on her.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Classically trained and born to perform, this actress has hardly
0:00:30 > 0:00:34put a foot wrong in any of the comic characters she has inhabited.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41She was, always was, an absolute joy to write for,
0:00:41 > 0:00:45because not only did she give you what you intended in the lines,
0:00:45 > 0:00:49she gave you things you hadn't expected would come out.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Now, sonny Jim, that's no way to speak about your future mummy.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55Her range is seemingly limitless.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Song and dance, straight, comic, sedate or seductive,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03as well as an all-too-rarely-seen gift for physical comedy.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07In a moment, the awful realisation will hit me.
0:01:07 > 0:01:08It hasn't hit me yet.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12There, it's hit me.
0:01:12 > 0:01:19But could a lack of confidence about her looks have led her to discover that her gifts lay in comedy?
0:01:19 > 0:01:21She's always said that she went into comedy
0:01:21 > 0:01:24because she didn't think she had the looks to do the straight parts.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27I could have married anyone I pleased.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30- Yes, but you didn't please anyone. - Oh!
0:01:30 > 0:01:38I was never confident in myself, I think that's why I was always, to start with, wearing wigs or glasses
0:01:38 > 0:01:44or playing a character of some kind, because I was terrified of appearing as myself.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50These are the many faces of June Whitfield.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11In 1991, 40 years after her TV debut,
0:02:11 > 0:02:16June Whitfield made a brief appearance in the sitcom pilot Absolutely Fabulous.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Set in the fickle and superficial world of PR,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27she played Jennifer Saunders' mother in a flashback scene.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31Her cameo role was brief, but memorable.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Hello, Edwina, dear.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Good concert? Why don't you come in and tell us all about it?
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Your father and I are still up.
0:02:47 > 0:02:54Jennifer always said she had always wanted me to play her mother and that's how Ab Fab came about for me.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58Here she is.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01Where was the concert this time, dear?
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Eel Pie Island again, was it?
0:03:03 > 0:03:05And who was it?
0:03:05 > 0:03:07Anyone we should have heard of?
0:03:07 > 0:03:12The Beatles, the Stones, The Rolling Who?
0:03:12 > 0:03:16There was never anybody else who was going to play that part,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19and we sent it to June and June said yes,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23so it was one of these best pieces of casting ever.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27Is that cider I can smell on your breath?
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Mother was there for all of 30 seconds, but apparently the message
0:03:30 > 0:03:33was Jennifer had said,
0:03:33 > 0:03:38IF it goes to a series, Mother would definitely be in it.
0:03:38 > 0:03:44And I must say, I thought the script was so funny, you know, that I did it.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47And I'm very glad I did. It was wonderful.
0:03:49 > 0:03:55The success of the pilot ensured that Absolutely Fabulous was given an immediate green light.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58It was an instant hit.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03And with more than 30 seconds to play with this time, June Whitfield proceeded to do what she does best.
0:04:05 > 0:04:11June's done more comedy than almost anybody else in Britain, nay, the world.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:04:16 > 0:04:20I worked with her most on Absolutely Fabulous and...
0:04:20 > 0:04:23her ability to place a line,
0:04:23 > 0:04:30I don't know that I have ever come across anybody who places a line as well as she does.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Do you know, darling, the real problem started, sweetie,
0:04:33 > 0:04:35because I wasn't even breastfed.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Oh, don't be ridiculous, dear, it wasn't done in those days.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Imagine me having that clamped to my breast.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46June was and is a consummate character actress.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50She's pin sharp.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53- How long have we got left? - Four days, darling.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56You shouldn't eat so much, little piggy.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58SHE OINKS
0:04:58 > 0:05:02You haven't got the biggest part in the half-hour,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05but my God, you're going to be memorable.
0:05:05 > 0:05:11My God, you're going to make sure that what you HAVE got works.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Anyway, sweetie, can I just say at least you're not fat, like me.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19What you two don't seem to realise is that inside of me, inside of me,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22there is a thin person just screaming to get out.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Just the one, dear?
0:05:25 > 0:05:30I always thought of the whole thing as a cartoon, really. Caricatures.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35But Mother, I thought, was just this suburban housewife.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38But she turned out to be a kleptomaniac.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43She climbed through windows.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47I think she was quite aware of everything that was going on,
0:05:47 > 0:05:51but wasn't going to let on because she wanted to be there.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54I think it's time for another of those pills.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Oh, get me a couple, honey.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58- They'll help you with your periods. - Yes.
0:06:00 > 0:06:08It was great. And the laughter, I mean, was so genuine in the studio, which, again, is good to hear.
0:06:08 > 0:06:15Sometimes you see a show on television and the laughter sort of goes, "Haaaa...
0:06:15 > 0:06:19"Haaa." And you think, "I don't think so."
0:06:19 > 0:06:21- I've got condoms and Femidoms.- Right.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26- Have you opened these?- No.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29They don't put fingers on these glove things...
0:06:29 > 0:06:34LAUGHTER
0:06:34 > 0:06:40MAN: June's had a very long career in comedy and I guess you could say part of that is just keeping working.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46Get out, get out! They let the water in any way.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51I think she has had periods when the work hasn't been there,
0:06:51 > 0:06:57and, of course, in order for somebody like June to work, you have to have the parts that June is fantastic for.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04Those parts have been plentiful and June's career has included unforgettable highlights.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09She starred in one of the most enduring sitcoms in British television.
0:07:09 > 0:07:16Her impeccable timing made her the first choice of every major comedian of the '50s and '60s.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20She was a major radio star in her mid-twenties
0:07:20 > 0:07:24and before that was an established face in London's West End.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30The source of this life of solid performing goes back to her early childhood.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34To the leafy suburbs of South London in the 1920s,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38where a young June Whitfield was no stranger to the stage.
0:07:41 > 0:07:48Performing at dancing school, that was in Streatham.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53Robinson's School of Dancing. And I went there at quite an early age.
0:07:53 > 0:07:54About three-and-a-half, I think.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03We donned men's evening tail suits and top hats and things,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06and sang various numbers in a trio.
0:08:06 > 0:08:13And I can remember I did a monologue with a bit of tatty fur round my face.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Rabbit! I was a rabbit, I think.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20SHE LAUGHS
0:08:20 > 0:08:23So that was the start of it.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28And then, of course, my mother was a very keen amateur actress
0:08:28 > 0:08:33and her father would never let her go on the stage professionally.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36It was all rogues and vagabonds.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40So she made it fairly easy for me.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44I think Granny nowadays would have been considered a very pushy mother,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48because Mum was dancing from the age of three and doing all this.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51And my grandmother was very into amateur dramatics.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Would it have happened without Granny gently pushing? I think it probably would.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57I think Mum would have enjoyed it,
0:08:57 > 0:09:03but because she started so very young, you know, her love of it she found very early, really.
0:09:06 > 0:09:12In 1942, at the height of the Second World War, when Britain was being bombarded by the Luftwaffe,
0:09:12 > 0:09:18the 16-year-old June Whitfield attended an audition for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21where the effect of the war was very apparent.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Well, RADA had a great lack of men.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30There were SOME.
0:09:30 > 0:09:37Richard Attenborough was just in his last term when I was in my first.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40And Miriam Karlin.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44In fact, Miriam and I joined on the same day, I think.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49We met in the lobby on the way in.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53June auditioned and her mother was there,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56and that impressed me hugely.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00And I remember going back to Berkhamsted and saying, "Mummy,
0:10:00 > 0:10:06"there was a girl there called June Whitfield, who was auditioning, and her mother was there."
0:10:06 > 0:10:08I said, "Why weren't you with me?"
0:10:08 > 0:10:15Anyway, we both got in and I always remember one of the tutors pointed out
0:10:15 > 0:10:20that June was clearly the most professional of all of us
0:10:20 > 0:10:24because she'd brought her handbag along as a prop.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28In 1944, in her final year at RADA,
0:10:28 > 0:10:35June Whitfield made her West End debut in the play Pink String And Ceiling Wax.
0:10:35 > 0:10:41By the end of the war, she was a professional actress, learning her trade in touring productions.
0:10:41 > 0:10:47But in 1950, she received a call to audition for theatrical Titan Noel Coward.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51In a fateful decision, June would sing Wonderful Guy
0:10:51 > 0:10:57from the smash musical South Pacific, which she had seen only weeks before on Broadway.
0:10:57 > 0:11:05And when I was asked to audition, I took that music, you see, and sang that song.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08And when I'd finished he said, "Where did you get that song?"
0:11:08 > 0:11:12And I said, "Well, I've brought it with me from America."
0:11:12 > 0:11:15And he said, "It's not published here yet."
0:11:15 > 0:11:19And I said, "I know, but..." And he said, "Oh, well, well done."
0:11:19 > 0:11:22And then he said,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26"Can you do a South London accent?"
0:11:26 > 0:11:29And I said, "Well, I hope so, I was born in Streatham."
0:11:29 > 0:11:32So he said, "Very good."
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Anyway, that was sort of that.
0:11:37 > 0:11:43June was cast in Coward's musical Ace Of Clubs, set in the underworld of London's Soho gangsters.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47She was a small-part player, but a small-part player in a show
0:11:47 > 0:11:53written, directed and staged by the man known simply as "The Master."
0:11:54 > 0:11:59For 25-year-old June, it was to be an unforgettable mix of glamour and socialising,
0:11:59 > 0:12:03while still learning everything she could from the great man of theatre.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08He was wonderful to work for.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10Absolutely marvellous.
0:12:10 > 0:12:16He knew everything. He knew everybody's job better than they did, including the actors.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Musicians, backstage...
0:12:19 > 0:12:22You know, he was a genius, no doubt about it.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27Working with Coward offered June and the cast a passport into the rarefied glamour
0:12:27 > 0:12:34of London in the early '50s, where bright young things dressed to kill and partied to the wee small hours.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38I think people were consciously glamorous,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41and occasionally you'd be invited to something like,
0:12:41 > 0:12:46Noel Coward invited the cast to go to the Cafe de Paris
0:12:46 > 0:12:50to watch him one evening and another evening to watch Marlene Dietrich.
0:12:50 > 0:12:56Come on, I came up from Croydon and I didn't have a penny to bless myself.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59It was extraordinary to have that kind of glamour.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06The Cafe de Paris in London's Piccadilly
0:13:06 > 0:13:12was an exclusive night-time enclave, where film stars and hepcats rubbed shoulders with royalty.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18There were tables around the balcony, but all with white cloths,
0:13:18 > 0:13:23and you know, there was lighting and I think there were chandeliers and various things.
0:13:23 > 0:13:29And these two magnificent staircases, where the cabaret act
0:13:29 > 0:13:32would come and stand at the top of the staircase,
0:13:32 > 0:13:36take their applause and then come down and do their act.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44People like, oh, Liberace,
0:13:44 > 0:13:49Kay Thompson and the Williams Brothers, one of whom was Andy.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Oh, all kinds of really top-ranked people.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55It was a very, very glamorous time.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58Yes, I stayed up quite late in those days!
0:14:02 > 0:14:09After Ace of Clubs, June's upward momentum continued and landed her Stateside in New York.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14It was a former friend from RADA who played a key role in getting her a break on Broadway.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20In 1951,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24I was in a play called Women Of Twilight.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30And there was one part which they couldn't cast.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35And I suggested June.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Miriam, really, got me that job.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41She had suggested me and she said, "Do you want to go to America?" I said yes.
0:14:41 > 0:14:49Broadway of 1952 offered many temptations to young, aspiring actresses.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54Although the experiences of New York for Miriam Karlin and June Whitfield contrasted sharply.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58I would come rolling in
0:14:58 > 0:14:59pretty stoned,
0:14:59 > 0:15:06having done a lot of naughtiness at, sort of, 2:30 or 3 in the morning.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09And June would be sitting up in bed
0:15:09 > 0:15:14and she would tell me that I owe her
0:15:14 > 0:15:1875 cents for some bread.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23Or she owed me 45 cents for some milk, or something like that.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26And I used to say, "Oh, I don't know, all right, take it."
0:15:26 > 0:15:27Women Of Twilight was a flop.
0:15:27 > 0:15:33The subject matter, unwed mothers, didn't attract an audience, and the show closed after a week.
0:15:33 > 0:15:40But during this week, June befriended two young composers who were bringing a musical to London.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44The show, Love From Judy, would change June's life for ever.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49When she got to take over the lead role, she attracted the attention of Britain's brightest
0:15:49 > 0:15:53comedy writers, who were just then on the hunt for new blood
0:15:53 > 0:15:57for BBC Radio's funniest sketch show, Take It From Here.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04Well, one day, during Love From Judy, the phone rang,
0:16:04 > 0:16:09and the voice said, "Muir and Norden here".
0:16:09 > 0:16:15And I had heard of Muir and Norden and I said, "Oh, yes, and I'm the Queen of Sheba."
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Because I thought it was a couple of friends having a laugh.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21"No, no, no," they said, "it is.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24"I'm Frank Muir and I'm Denis Norden."
0:16:24 > 0:16:26I said, "Oh, how fantastic."
0:16:26 > 0:16:30And they said, "We'd like you to audition for Take It From Here."
0:16:30 > 0:16:34Well, we started Take It From Here with Jimmy Edwards,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Dick Bentley and Joy Nichols,
0:16:37 > 0:16:41all of whom were very strong, very forceful
0:16:41 > 0:16:43comedy characters, essentially.
0:16:43 > 0:16:50And then Joy Nichols decided she was going back to Australia, and it was decided that,
0:16:50 > 0:16:54to replace Joy Nichols, we would have two girls,
0:16:54 > 0:16:59one a singer, and one to do the sketches and the script.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01# Take it from here! #
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Denis Norden and Frank Muir saw hundreds of performers,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09but their minds were made up when rising West End star June Whitfield attended
0:17:09 > 0:17:14the auditions, along with singer Alma Cogan, also making a name for herself in London's cabaret circuit.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17'With June Whitfield, Alma Cogan, Wallas Eaton
0:17:17 > 0:17:19'all inviting you to...
0:17:19 > 0:17:24' # Take it from here! # '
0:17:28 > 0:17:33June was to play a long-suffering girlfriend in a new strand in the show called The Glums.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36With the nation eagerly anticipating the new series,
0:17:36 > 0:17:40the pressure was on to find a voice for this new character.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43June's mother would make an inspired suggestion.
0:17:43 > 0:17:50I was living at home at the time and I said to my mum, "Oh, golly, how am I going to do this, this character?"
0:17:50 > 0:17:54And she said, "I know, do it like Mrs G."
0:17:54 > 0:17:57And Mrs G was somebody we knew.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01- IN A HIGH, TREMBLING VOICE: - And she talked like that.
0:18:01 > 0:18:07Everything she said was in the same tone of voice, whether she was
0:18:07 > 0:18:12telling you about a disaster or something lovely that had happened.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14It was all the same.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18So I thought, "That will do for Eth." And that's how Eth was born.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Isn't it nice sitting here on the sofa,
0:18:33 > 0:18:35quietly doing the crossword together?
0:18:35 > 0:18:37Yes, Eth.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41What have you put down for eight across, beloved?
0:18:41 > 0:18:43Eight across? Flobbagob.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45LAUGHTER
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Flobbagob? I've never heard of that word, Ron.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Neither have I, Eth.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55They were the first dysfunctional family, because Frank and Denis had got fed up
0:18:55 > 0:19:01with The Huggetts and everybody being so nice to everybody, so they introduced this awful family.
0:19:01 > 0:19:07And Jimmy Edwards was Pa Glum, and Dick Bentley was his son, Ron.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10And I was Ron's fiancee, Eth.
0:19:10 > 0:19:18Permanent fiancee, because Frank and Denis said it was the time when everybody got engaged.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23The thing was that engaged couples, in those days,
0:19:23 > 0:19:30did not do it. You see, they knew they were GOING to do it,
0:19:30 > 0:19:35and there were some in their circle who DID do it, but on the whole,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39while they intensely wanted to do it, they didn't do it.
0:19:39 > 0:19:44Look, see! Notice anything about my legs when I walk?
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Oh, yes, they keep going past each other.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48LAUGHTER
0:19:48 > 0:19:50Oh, no, Ron.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52Ron, about what you can see.
0:19:52 > 0:19:58Ron...I've... I've shortened my skirt!
0:19:58 > 0:20:02It doesn't make me look too sensuous, does it?
0:20:02 > 0:20:06It was an incredible piece of writing from Frank Muir and Denis Norden,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09but they had two brilliant people to interpret it.
0:20:09 > 0:20:15And I think in many ways, that is what established her as a brilliant comedy character actress.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Oh, Ron...
0:20:25 > 0:20:29somehow you've just got to smarten up before this interview.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32I mean, those shoes you've got on...
0:20:32 > 0:20:34They're all right, Eth.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39The Sunday paper said brown and white shoes are very smart for summer.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Not one brown and one white, Ron.
0:20:42 > 0:20:43'Taking Ron to the tailor.'
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Got to get Ron a new suit, Eth.
0:20:46 > 0:20:52So they go to the tailor and go in and there's nobody there.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57So there's a bell on the thing, so they ring the bell. Nothing happens.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Oh, dear, oh dear, where's the assistant?
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Yes, where's the blasted, perishing, blooming assistant?
0:21:03 > 0:21:07You can't say that! Shhh! Somebody will hear you.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11It's all right, Eth, it says so on the counter, see? "Modern men swear."
0:21:11 > 0:21:13LAUGHTER
0:21:13 > 0:21:17I think that writing
0:21:17 > 0:21:19just makes me giggle. I love it!
0:21:19 > 0:21:25She was, always was, an absolute joy to write for, because not only
0:21:25 > 0:21:31did she give you what you intended in the lines, she gave you things you hadn't expected would come out.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36And without her, The Glums wouldn't have had a chance. She was a rock.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40She was the rock of truth in this nonsense.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49At its height, Take It From Here attracted 22 million listeners.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53June was now a household name, but not a household face.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00By playing Eth in The Glums, June had created a character that was career-defining.
0:22:00 > 0:22:01But far more was to come.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06Television was stepping out of radio's shadow and would soon become the force it is today.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Comedy was at the heart of the BBC's output,
0:22:12 > 0:22:18and before long, there would be very few shows that would NOT make use of June Whitfield's comic talents.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Oh, dear. A-who a-who a-who are you?
0:22:27 > 0:22:30I'm the Fairy Queen, my dear.
0:22:30 > 0:22:31I rule the skies
0:22:31 > 0:22:35- this time of year. - Oh fairy, dear, what's the reason?
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Dost thou not know? 'Tis panto season.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41'I worked quite a lot with Arthur Askey.'
0:22:41 > 0:22:42I'll have a bash at panto, eh?
0:22:42 > 0:22:45'Arthur said one time'
0:22:45 > 0:22:51that he always thought of television as just
0:22:51 > 0:22:54talking to two people sitting on their sofa.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57I'll fix you up in Robinson Crusoe.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01'I thought that was a pretty good rule to go by,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05'to not be terrified of the thought that millions might be looking.'
0:23:07 > 0:23:09June is exceptional.
0:23:09 > 0:23:15She didn't have what you'd call that sort of glamorous star quality.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20Arturo, I've come back...
0:23:20 > 0:23:24'But she was such a consummate professional.'
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Your tiny hand is frozen.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29I know, my love, it's so cold in here.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32'Every job she did, she was so good at.'
0:23:32 > 0:23:35'People always wanted to employ her and work with her again.'
0:23:35 > 0:23:36Will you take my cape?
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Every little helps. Yes, there you are.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45She's very un-showbusiness, in that she's businesslike.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47SHE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Oh, don't be filthy.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54With wonderful instinct for comedy.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59She'll sidle up and say, "My dear, what if I put this..."
0:23:59 > 0:24:01and she's always spot-on.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05She's worked with so many top comedians, and it shows
0:24:05 > 0:24:10that she had great comic timing, and she was a great foil to them.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15- Is it ready yet? - Won't be a minute.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21- The Times Literary Supplement's on the table if you want it.- Thanks.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24'June was always a success
0:24:24 > 0:24:27'because everyone relied on her.'
0:24:27 > 0:24:30- CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS - I find Brahms so inspiring, don't you?
0:24:30 > 0:24:32# Bom-bom-bom-bom! #
0:24:32 > 0:24:34It's Beethoven.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36Yes? Oh. Yes.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39THIS is, but I like Brahms as well.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41I'll go and get the dinner.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46'Every comic she ever fed a line to relied on her.'
0:24:46 > 0:24:51You should never think that because one person gets the laugh...
0:24:52 > 0:24:54How's the laugh fed?
0:24:54 > 0:24:57# Oh, won't you buy me lovely violets? #
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Go away!
0:24:59 > 0:25:02How does it sound to get that upward peak of the humour?
0:25:02 > 0:25:04You get it from someone like June Whitfield.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07# Oh, won't you buy me lovely violets?
0:25:07 > 0:25:11# Won't you buy me violets? #
0:25:11 > 0:25:13What are you selling, child?
0:25:13 > 0:25:14LAUGHTER
0:25:14 > 0:25:16Daffodils, you great nit.
0:25:16 > 0:25:22I think she's got incredible timing, for a start, which all comic actors have to have.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26RAUNCHY MUSIC
0:25:33 > 0:25:36'She can twist a word or a phrase and make something
0:25:36 > 0:25:40'comedic out of something which on the paper doesn't even appear to be.'
0:25:40 > 0:25:42Oh, mind out, look. See that?
0:25:42 > 0:25:44It's an engagement ring.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47- Your dad and me is engaged, all right?- Engaged?
0:25:47 > 0:25:52And add on to that another layer of sort of physical gesture or a tic,
0:25:52 > 0:25:57or something, which again, I think all her characters are based on people she's known.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01Now, now, sonny Jim, that's no way to speak about your future mummy.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05'She's very good at what she does.'
0:26:05 > 0:26:08And she's a chameleon, I think she adapts very well.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13She's always said she went into comedy because she didn't think she had the looks to do straight parts,
0:26:13 > 0:26:18which is rubbish, because I think she was very beautiful when she was younger. But obviously that
0:26:18 > 0:26:21feeling she's carried with her, so she's always slightly...
0:26:21 > 0:26:23She likes to play the second fiddle.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27# It seems we stood and talked like this...
0:26:27 > 0:26:33# For...we looked at each other in the same way then
0:26:33 > 0:26:37# But I can't remember where or when. #
0:26:39 > 0:26:42'I was never confident in myself.'
0:26:42 > 0:26:46I think that's why I was always, to start with,
0:26:46 > 0:26:50wearing wigs or glasses or playing a character of some kind.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Because I was terrified of appearing as myself.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58# Seemed to be happening again. #
0:27:00 > 0:27:06'I mean, I never for a minute thought of myself as being attractive,'
0:27:06 > 0:27:11so I was quite happy doing character things.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15I thought nobody will believe it if I start doing something else.
0:27:15 > 0:27:21But looking back now, in my old age, I wasn't bad-looking at all!
0:27:22 > 0:27:27# But who knows where or when? #
0:27:27 > 0:27:30I can remember, even as a child, people would say -
0:27:30 > 0:27:37my mother was gorgeous - and people would say, "Oh, she's so like her father, isn't she?"
0:27:37 > 0:27:43My dad was lovely, but you couldn't say that he was desperately good-looking.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47So I think that went home.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53'But a lack of confidence about her looks had its benefits.'
0:27:53 > 0:27:58'Never striving for centre stage and always more comfortable in character, June was carving out
0:27:58 > 0:28:04'a successful niche for herself in the male-dominated comedy world of the 1960s.'
0:28:09 > 0:28:12RAUNCHY MUSIC
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Mummy's not in.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25If you were a 1960s entrepreneur, you'd say June didn't have an act.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28# Falling in love again
0:28:28 > 0:28:31# Never wanted to... #
0:28:32 > 0:28:37June was a wonderful character comic performer.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41Frankie Howerd had an act, Tony Hancock had an act.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44A jolly nice kite that's made of real nylon.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47I know, darling, I've got a nightdress made of it.
0:28:49 > 0:28:55'So you gave that person the show and then you needed really good people around them,
0:28:55 > 0:28:59'and if you had any sense, June was almost the first person you rang.'
0:28:59 > 0:29:03- Marvin.- Would you like to see my conkers?
0:29:03 > 0:29:08June had this thing, which she's still carrying throughout her career,
0:29:08 > 0:29:13and it's the reason why so many comedians, particularly those who
0:29:13 > 0:29:20specialise in grotesque situations, why they go for her. She grounded
0:29:20 > 0:29:24the comics around her without detracting from them.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28If you're in somebody else's show,
0:29:28 > 0:29:32the main thing is
0:29:32 > 0:29:37to hope that they can rely on you to do what you are supposed to do,
0:29:37 > 0:29:41because they're busy enough worrying about what THEY'VE got to do.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45You're not there to promote yourself, you know,
0:29:45 > 0:29:51in that way. You're there for them,
0:29:51 > 0:29:54and that's what I have always gone along with.
0:29:54 > 0:30:00As I say, I think maybe the reason I've worked with so many of them is that I'm no trouble.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04Oh, James, it's so nice to see you at home.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06I see so little of you these days,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09and time hangs very heavy in this great big house.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Your business affairs seem to occupy you more and more.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17I sometimes feel that I'm just an unnecessary encumbrance to you.
0:30:17 > 0:30:22'The fact that June was playing second fiddle to men,
0:30:22 > 0:30:26'I think was simply because that's how it was.'
0:30:26 > 0:30:28..not always on at me to talk to you.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32Half the time, I don't even know you exist.
0:30:32 > 0:30:38I don't think June had ever thought of complaining that she was playing second fiddle.
0:30:38 > 0:30:43It's true, she WAS second fiddle to men, always.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47I'm a woman, James, and a woman needs something more.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49Now, then!
0:30:49 > 0:30:51LAUGHTER
0:30:51 > 0:30:59'June has always known that you're in a safer place if you're not top of the bill.'
0:30:59 > 0:31:02I'm unhappy, unhappy and lonely.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06I had no idea you felt like that, Lettie.
0:31:06 > 0:31:11It would have been better for you if we'd had a child.
0:31:11 > 0:31:12We've GOT a child!
0:31:13 > 0:31:18I suspect there's a bit of her that has gone, "Actually, if I work with
0:31:18 > 0:31:26"this very funny guy or very funny woman, and I do a half good job, then I'm the one people remember."
0:31:26 > 0:31:32Always quite good to be the one people remember, even if you didn't have the biggest part.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36Like all actors, June loved the work, and loved comedy.
0:31:36 > 0:31:43Some performers remained remote and withdrawn, but one in particular would become a lifelong friend.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46APPLAUSE
0:31:50 > 0:31:55With Frankie Howerd I did radio, television...
0:31:55 > 0:31:58Marvellous, I mean, he was great fun.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02I loved Frank. We really did become friends.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06- It's me, in disguise. - LAUGHTER
0:32:06 > 0:32:10He'd phone up and say, "What are you doing on Thursday?"
0:32:10 > 0:32:12I'd say, "Nothing, Frank."
0:32:12 > 0:32:14Thinking, I wonder where we're going?
0:32:14 > 0:32:18And he'd say, "Right, we'll be round for dinner at eight."
0:32:18 > 0:32:21- I'm Charisma.- Are you?- Mmm.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25The titular head of the harem.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27The titular head?
0:32:27 > 0:32:28Yes, you have a point there, yes.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30Ooh!
0:32:32 > 0:32:35Well, it was so ridiculous.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38I had these tassels
0:32:38 > 0:32:43on my bra, which I was supposed to flick, which I didn't do extremely well.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45And I think that made both of us giggle.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48You have no need to worry.
0:32:48 > 0:32:54The Caliph is in his robing room, preparing himself for the new maiden he's just found.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56- Ooh.- Mmm.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58If the...
0:32:58 > 0:33:01Caliph is in there, tell me where...
0:33:01 > 0:33:04Is this beautiful maiden by any chance called Saccharin?
0:33:04 > 0:33:06Yes. As a matter of fact,
0:33:06 > 0:33:11the name of the new maiden IS Saccharin.
0:33:11 > 0:33:17- Yes, I thought it might. Whose turn is it now?- Yours!
0:33:17 > 0:33:19LAUGHTER
0:33:19 > 0:33:23June was the funny man's favoured foil of choice.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27She worked with the best, and the best knew they could rely on her faultless performances.
0:33:27 > 0:33:34But it was in 1968 that she would become one half of one of the most enduring partnerships in comedy.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38BBC producer Kenneth Carter asked June to meet up with a comedian
0:33:38 > 0:33:41who was about to start work on his upcoming sketch show.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44# In this pleasant spot where it's always hot
0:33:44 > 0:33:47# I'm the guy who always wins. #
0:33:47 > 0:33:52Ken was living I think in Fulham somewhere, and he invited both
0:33:52 > 0:33:58Terry and myself to go and meet, obviously giving me the once-over from Terry's point of view.
0:33:58 > 0:34:03# Life was pretty thin down here somehow, so I... #
0:34:03 > 0:34:08We just chatted and said hello and everything, and I eventually left,
0:34:08 > 0:34:12and apparently Terry said, "She'll do."
0:34:14 > 0:34:19So that was how we came to do... I came to be in the Scott Ons.
0:34:24 > 0:34:29I first met June when we were involved with Scott On.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Terry had done a series of Scott Ons, and June had been his partner
0:34:33 > 0:34:35in domestic sketches and all kinds of sketches.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39That's how I started working with June, which was a great thrill,
0:34:39 > 0:34:43because as a small boy in Scotland where I was born and listened to
0:34:43 > 0:34:47the radio on Sunday afternoons, I knew June Whitfield from Take It From Here,
0:34:47 > 0:34:54and also from the many works she had done with Tony Hancock and those shows, both radio and television.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03She knew and understood the material.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05She knew what was needed of the material.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08I think that's one of the reasons she's been so immensely popular
0:35:08 > 0:35:11with so many comics, who are tremendously neurotic.
0:35:11 > 0:35:17Not all of them, but a great many of them are neurotic. Even Terry was worried all the time about the show.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19I worked with Terry Scott in a play
0:35:19 > 0:35:23and, though socially I thought he was great fun,
0:35:23 > 0:35:25he was a nightmare to work with on the stage.
0:35:25 > 0:35:31And yet I remember him always, in conversation, singing the praises of June Whitfield,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35saying how wonderful she was, and she was magic and a very special person.
0:35:35 > 0:35:42So obviously June had a great talent for handling, you know, complex personalities.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52'When they got into a disagreement,
0:35:52 > 0:35:57'Terry argued exactly like he does on screen, exactly the same.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00'June was always, she just stood her ground.'
0:36:00 > 0:36:02Well, you did it!
0:36:02 > 0:36:04What do you mean, I did it?
0:36:04 > 0:36:07I've lived through the Battle of Britain, the Blitz
0:36:07 > 0:36:10and the Korean War, but this was the worst night
0:36:10 > 0:36:15- of my life, and it's all your fault! - My fault?!
0:36:15 > 0:36:17'The rehearsals were always interesting, seeing
0:36:17 > 0:36:23'the reality and the illusion of the show being reflected in the reality of their working relationship.'
0:36:23 > 0:36:27And he respected her enormously,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30and there was a tremendous affection between the two of them.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34He wasn't always easy, as I say, he was passionate about his work.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39Terry Scott could be naughty, yes, in the sense of,
0:36:39 > 0:36:43if there were other people in the show,
0:36:43 > 0:36:48and if they didn't know their lines and if Terry saw them reading
0:36:48 > 0:36:52a newspaper or something in rehearsal, he'd be muttering.
0:36:52 > 0:36:57You know, "Why can't they be learning their lines instead of reading the newspaper?"
0:36:57 > 0:37:03Yes, he was a bit of a perfectionist.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05Are you by any chance criticising my cooking?
0:37:05 > 0:37:08May I remind you, the last time my Uncle Dan was in this house
0:37:08 > 0:37:11he said my shish kebab was the finest he ever tasted?
0:37:11 > 0:37:16- I'll never forget what he said about my shish kebab.- How could you? They were his last words!
0:37:16 > 0:37:20Sometimes he'd say to me, "I think you should do it this way"
0:37:20 > 0:37:24or, you know, "Maybe it would be better if you did this."
0:37:24 > 0:37:27And I'd say, "Yes, you're absolutely right."
0:37:27 > 0:37:32And then I'd do it really the same way, and he'd say, "That's better."
0:37:32 > 0:37:34I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE!
0:37:34 > 0:37:36I'm going out for some fresh air.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39CLATTERING
0:37:42 > 0:37:45You always walk into the cupboard when you lose your temper.
0:37:46 > 0:37:51In the Scott Ons, she did some wonderful comic bits and pieces,
0:37:51 > 0:37:55and also she was a wonderful physical clown. There was a sketch called The Language Of Dance,
0:37:55 > 0:38:00where she plays a ballet teacher who was running this rather shabby school.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Here we are, and I'll explain as we go along
0:38:03 > 0:38:06what each of us is saying with our bodies as we say it.
0:38:06 > 0:38:12Here am I with my fellow swans, because everyone you see in the picture is a swan.
0:38:12 > 0:38:18'And she does, at the end of it, a film of her doing the dying swan, which she narrates.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21'It's a wonderful physical piece of comedy.'
0:38:21 > 0:38:25..my colleagues that if I should meet a handsome prince with a crown,
0:38:25 > 0:38:33and I should fall in love with him and I should marry him, then I would a swan no longer be.
0:38:33 > 0:38:38It also showed, that particular sketch, how much respect Terry had for her.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Because in fact, it is June's sketch.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44He does one or two bits in there, but really the sketch is...
0:38:44 > 0:38:50And without a demur he said "Yes, fine, let's do it". If it was funny, he'd put it into the show.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Also, he trusted June completely.
0:38:53 > 0:38:58Anything that she did, I don't think she ever put a foot wrong in all the series we did.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Now here comes Rudi as the Prince.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04He's out for whatever he can get in the way of game.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06LAUGHTER
0:39:06 > 0:39:11He tells us that he's been walking for miles and his feet hurt him.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17LAUGHTER
0:39:18 > 0:39:23Well, I don't think I thought of it as leading at the time,
0:39:23 > 0:39:27but I was quite prominent in that, yes.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30"Will you me marry?"
0:39:30 > 0:39:37No, I cannot you marry, for I am already betrothed to another.
0:39:37 > 0:39:43And then he hears the clock strike 12 and he leaps off before he turns into a swine herd.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45'Obviously I loved doing it, yes.'
0:39:45 > 0:39:52But it's so strange seeing some of these things that I've completely forgotten about.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54I suppose that happens.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58In a moment, the awful realisation will hit me.
0:39:58 > 0:39:59It hasn't hit me yet.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03There, it's hit me.
0:40:04 > 0:40:10The relationship between Terry and June was very much what you see actually on the screen.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12No wonder people thought they were married in real life.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Have you been drinking?
0:40:19 > 0:40:21No, no, it's just that I...
0:40:21 > 0:40:24I feel affectionate.
0:40:24 > 0:40:30'Terry with his enthusiasm, tremendous passion for this, and June was always the calming influence.'
0:40:33 > 0:40:36I mean, she had a wonderful marriage to Tim.
0:40:36 > 0:40:43Tim was almost the counterpart of June, in that he was almost as calm as she was.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45He had nothing to do with showbusiness,
0:40:45 > 0:40:50and I think going home to him every night kept her on a very even keel.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54He was a delightful man and they were very happily married for many years.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58June married Tim Aitchison in 1956.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03A surveyor by profession, he was always happy to support his wife in her demanding career.
0:41:03 > 0:41:09They were married for 45 years, remaining inseparable until Tim's death in 2001.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13He was an amazing man, my dad.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16He was a very genial, very... I mean, everybody loved him.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21He was very suave, a typical Englishman, really.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25And again, a great sense of humour, and he was wonderful with Mum.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28He supported her wholeheartedly.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34She would, though, with Dad and me, we did have to hear the lines a lot, which I enjoyed actually.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36That was quite fun.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41I think with Dad, it was a little bit more sort of, "Yes, dear, and try and
0:41:41 > 0:41:45"speed it up a little bit like that." But she didn't
0:41:45 > 0:41:49do a massive amount of preparing, and we didn't have to walk around going,
0:41:49 > 0:41:52"Mum's working," nothing like that.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56I think Mum has always very much worked to live, not lived to work,
0:41:56 > 0:41:58so therefore it fitted in
0:41:58 > 0:42:01around the family, as opposed to the other way round.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08Having a successful marriage provided a bedrock for June
0:42:08 > 0:42:13in the capricious world of showbiz, and art was about to imitate life when, at the suggestion of the BBC,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16June was about to enter ANOTHER happy marriage.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18You know how the tune goes!
0:42:18 > 0:42:22MUSIC: "Terry And June" Theme Tune
0:42:30 > 0:42:35Periodically, over a period of 20 years, I worked with Terry, yes.
0:42:35 > 0:42:41First with Scott On, then Happy Ever After, then Terry And June.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51And that became Terry And June because nobody could think of another name.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56I think it was probably Terry who eventually said, "Oh, let's just call it Terry And June."
0:42:56 > 0:42:58Couldn't think of anything else.
0:43:07 > 0:43:12We worked together so much that, of course, it makes life easier
0:43:12 > 0:43:16because you can anticipate what the other person is going to do.
0:43:16 > 0:43:23But if anybody asked about our relationship, Terry would say, "Oh it's great,
0:43:23 > 0:43:28"you know, we get on like a house on fire.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30"There's nothing we wouldn't do for each other.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33"I do nothing for her and she does nothing for me!"
0:43:33 > 0:43:36- Hello, darling.- Hello, flower!
0:43:38 > 0:43:41What? Oh, am I covered in it?
0:43:41 > 0:43:46Yes, don't go near that hot oven, you'll break out in puff pastry.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48I can't get the dough to rise.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51Have you tried playing the National Anthem? Boom!
0:43:51 > 0:43:55- I think it's the yeast. - Perhaps it's gone west. Boom!
0:43:55 > 0:43:59One of the Terry And Junes we did was called In Sickness And In Health,
0:43:59 > 0:44:05and the idea was a contrast between Terry being ill, a man being ill, and a woman being ill,
0:44:05 > 0:44:08and how the differences are apparent.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10Good morning, invalid. How are you feeling?
0:44:10 > 0:44:12Terrible, terrible.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15I feel like I've got one foot in the grate.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17You mean grave.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19No, grate.
0:44:19 > 0:44:20I want to be cremated.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22LAUGHTER
0:44:22 > 0:44:28Terry, of course, going to bed and turns into a child, and June becomes the mother.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31Come on, sit up.
0:44:31 > 0:44:36- I'll give you your medicine. - No, not that one first. That's the horrible one, no.
0:44:36 > 0:44:37Open wide.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42There's a good boy. Now the nasty.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45Take the lid off the pink flavour before you give me that, please.
0:44:45 > 0:44:51- Don't be such a baby.- Any delay in administering the pink one gives a nasty taste in my mouth, see?
0:44:51 > 0:44:54Hold your nose.
0:44:54 > 0:44:55Quick, hurry up, hurry up.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58LAUGHTER
0:44:58 > 0:45:01- Come on, June, come on.- Don't, Terry, you'll make me spill it.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12When the boot is on the other foot, when she's ill, because she gets flu
0:45:12 > 0:45:16and when he's better, and the man resents it when his wife get ill.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19He's got to become the mother, bring soup and things like that.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23Just lie there and relax and get well!
0:45:25 > 0:45:28- Where are you going? - To pamper you, damn it!
0:45:31 > 0:45:36The idea was that Terry, whether subconscious or not, provoked her
0:45:36 > 0:45:39to lose her temper so he could feel he'd have one up on her.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41Angel...
0:45:41 > 0:45:46what's your preference in toast? Sweetheart!
0:45:48 > 0:45:50I think it was about eggs. How do you want your eggs?
0:45:50 > 0:45:58And he keeps going and going on about how she wants them, until I wrote it that she loses her temper.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00JUNE?
0:46:00 > 0:46:02Whereabouts in the cupboard?
0:46:02 > 0:46:04It's in the tin.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08What are you doing down here? You should be upstairs relaxing.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12The writer would say, "Just say it, do it, because it's a big laugh."
0:46:12 > 0:46:18But for June, no, it was the reality of her as a woman with a cold that was the important thing.
0:46:18 > 0:46:23That's when she revealed, actually there was this spine of steel that she had.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27We argued, at least I argued, I cajoled, "But no,
0:46:27 > 0:46:30"you're not feeling well, you're weak, you lose your temper."
0:46:30 > 0:46:31"No, I'm not going to do that."
0:46:31 > 0:46:36She did it very nicely, very sweetly but she refused to absolutely do that.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40That's because of her understanding of who she was.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42One other thing, how'd you like your eggs?
0:46:42 > 0:46:45- Oh, I don't want eggs. - You can have them any way you like.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49- No, thank you. - Poached, scrambled, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, just you say.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52- I really don't want any. - Souffle, omelette, devilled...
0:46:52 > 0:46:55No, I don't want eggs.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59I don't want them hard, soft, poached, scrambled, souffled,
0:46:59 > 0:47:03omeletted, devilled, raw, blown, poached or hatched.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06For the last time, Terry, I DO NOT WANT EGGS!
0:47:10 > 0:47:12She's not well, you know.
0:47:13 > 0:47:20I think whatever June is doing, she brings truth to it.
0:47:20 > 0:47:25And that's so important, because you need that, not only with
0:47:25 > 0:47:30serious and classical performances, but you need truth hugely in farce.
0:47:30 > 0:47:35In comedy, just think of the visual things we know June for.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37They're always truthful.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39I don't like it, Tarquin.
0:47:39 > 0:47:40I don't like the idea of it at all.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44But he can't stand up in the car, your car hasn't got a sun roof.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46Why can't he simply sit in the car?
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Because it's important that he's noticed.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51- He'll be noticed! - Vote for Medford.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Medford is made for the job!
0:47:54 > 0:47:57Come along, June, let's get this show on the road.
0:47:57 > 0:48:02The long life of Terry And June, which was your average sitcom -
0:48:02 > 0:48:07which was, in a sense, everything The Glums weren't -
0:48:07 > 0:48:10I think the long life of it again could
0:48:10 > 0:48:16be contributed to the fact that June made you believe in those two people.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25'While Terry was rather Hancock-y in a way,
0:48:25 > 0:48:28- 'full of pretentions and fantasies...'- Vote for Medford!
0:48:31 > 0:48:34..she always had that core of truth in it.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38And I think that's what made that particular series run
0:48:38 > 0:48:41as long as it did.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44The next turning to the left, please.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47What's the point of going down there if you don't know where it leads to?
0:48:47 > 0:48:49Take the next left, please.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56'I really think the viewers liked it and the critics hated it.'
0:48:56 > 0:48:58Vote for Medford.
0:49:00 > 0:49:07They thought it was too middle-class, Middle England, middle this, middle that,
0:49:07 > 0:49:12and nowadays that just doesn't seem to be acceptable, which is a pity,
0:49:12 > 0:49:15because there's a lot of Middle England about.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22APPLAUSE
0:49:24 > 0:49:28Terry And June regularly attracted nine million viewers,
0:49:28 > 0:49:33but by its ninth series, the BBC buckled to the critical backlash and the sitcom was dropped.
0:49:33 > 0:49:40In 1987, after 13 years, the lights and cameras moved out of the Medfords' drawing room.
0:49:46 > 0:49:52After Terry and June finished, we were right in the midst of alternative comedy
0:49:52 > 0:49:58and I was trying to find other jobs as a writer, coming up with ideas, and I'd go to producers.
0:49:58 > 0:50:03I remember one producer said to me when I had presented a story idea, "I'm sorry, what you must understand,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06"John, is the age of the flock wallpaper comedy is over."
0:50:08 > 0:50:11After the demise of Terry And June, a new generation of performers
0:50:11 > 0:50:14and writers were ushered into television.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17They may have been defined by their antipathy towards the gentler sitcom,
0:50:17 > 0:50:22but when they got their big breaks, they too wanted June on their shows.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26And June was happy to oblige.
0:50:27 > 0:50:34There are actors, I think, of her generation who
0:50:34 > 0:50:37reached a point where they thought,
0:50:37 > 0:50:41"Well, fine, I've done what I've done and I'll quietly
0:50:41 > 0:50:43"steal away into the wings."
0:50:43 > 0:50:49June never really understood that notion. She just kept going.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53In 1992, while working on Carry On Columbus,
0:50:53 > 0:50:58one of those young performers propositioned June between takes.
0:50:58 > 0:51:03Julian appeared at my dressing-room one time and said, "I'm Julian Clary
0:51:03 > 0:51:07"and there's a part for you in an episode in my new series."
0:51:07 > 0:51:10I said "Oh yes, that's very nice, what's that?"
0:51:10 > 0:51:12He said, "Terry And Julian".
0:51:12 > 0:51:15I'm sorry about all this, Mrs Wilson, really I am.
0:51:15 > 0:51:16I know what you're up to.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20'I said, "I see, and what's the part?" "Oh, it's fine.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24' "She's the wife of the Governor of the Bank of England." '
0:51:24 > 0:51:25And I know why.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28And I said, "Yes, and what does she do?"
0:51:28 > 0:51:32And he said, "As a matter of fact, she tries to seduce me.
0:51:32 > 0:51:33"Now, there's a challenge."
0:51:33 > 0:51:35So how could I refuse?
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Julian, you're a man
0:51:38 > 0:51:40and I'm a woman.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43You're a married woman, Mrs Wilson.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46- But you're a very attractive man, Julian.- Yes, that may be so.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50But what you don't realise is I bat for the other side.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54Can't you just imagine I'm a lorry driver?
0:51:54 > 0:51:57June's comedy work remains prodigious
0:51:57 > 0:52:00and she appears to this day on the BBC's Last Of The Summer Wine.
0:52:00 > 0:52:05But although she's rarely off our TV screens, she has never strayed too far from the radio.
0:52:05 > 0:52:11For 16 years, she appeared in the topical sketch show, The News Huddlines.
0:52:11 > 0:52:16If the honourable members can stop taking bets on the next Tory leader for a minute,
0:52:16 > 0:52:17it is quarter past three and
0:52:17 > 0:52:21that means it's question time, and here they are with a smile, a song,
0:52:21 > 0:52:23and a slim majority, the Two Johnnies.
0:52:26 > 0:52:31It was also on radio that she turned her considerable acting talents to crime.
0:52:34 > 0:52:40Yes, I did all the Miss Marples, which was thanks to Enyd Williams,
0:52:40 > 0:52:45who decided that she would like me to do it.
0:52:45 > 0:52:50I'm very grateful to her, because I loved it, it was great.
0:52:50 > 0:52:56I wanted to choose somebody who could play fluffy and innocent, and also with a twinkle.
0:52:56 > 0:53:04Lovely June Whitfield has a marvellous twinkle in her voice as well as in her eyes, you know?
0:53:04 > 0:53:09One of the Miss Marple stories is called The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side,
0:53:09 > 0:53:16and at the end of it, Miss Marple comes upon a dead person, the very
0:53:16 > 0:53:20end of the book, and she quotes the lines from Tennyson.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23He said, "She has a lovely face.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28"God in his mercy lend her grace.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31"The Lady of Shalott."
0:53:31 > 0:53:37When June did those classic lines, she broke our hearts.
0:53:37 > 0:53:44You know, seasoned studio managers, engineers, cast, everybody around.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46She just brought tears to our eyes.
0:53:46 > 0:53:54I think she's a wonderful serious actress as well as that fabulous comedy ability she's got, you know.
0:53:56 > 0:54:03That comedy ability was so ably demonstrated in Absolutely Fabulous, the biggest comedy hit of the 1990s,
0:54:03 > 0:54:07and now the programme with which June Whitfield is most readily identified,
0:54:07 > 0:54:11but it might never have happened without a gentle push from her husband.
0:54:13 > 0:54:18He would encourage her to do things that maybe she wouldn't have taken the risk with.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22I remember with Ab Fab, when the script came along from that, it was for the pilot.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26Dad said, "I think you should do this", because Mum was going, "Oh, should I?"
0:54:26 > 0:54:28and Dad said, "Absolutely."
0:54:28 > 0:54:30Talking to yourself, dear?
0:54:30 > 0:54:32- That's the first sign of madness. - Really?
0:54:32 > 0:54:34I thought it was talking to you.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40I suppose in Absolutely Fabulous, I mean, some people would say,
0:54:40 > 0:54:44"Oh, she has been rediscovered," this is what people keep saying.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46She hasn't, I mean, it was June!
0:54:47 > 0:54:52She just does a hugely professional job, the character comes alive,
0:54:52 > 0:54:57and everybody says, "Isn't she wonderful?" But she's always been wonderful.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01We're all out of cocoa and I promised Mr Potter a chocolate cake this week.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03This is all my stuff you use, is it?
0:55:03 > 0:55:08- What, dear? - All this wheat powder, what is this?
0:55:08 > 0:55:11- Flour, dear.- Flour, yes.
0:55:12 > 0:55:17I remember saying to her once that she started by lending this
0:55:17 > 0:55:22kind of reality to the absurd figures of Dick and Jimmy, and now
0:55:22 > 0:55:29umpteen decades later she's doing exactly the same job
0:55:29 > 0:55:35of grounding into...in reality the absurd figures of Jennifer Saunders
0:55:35 > 0:55:40and Joanna Lumley, so that in a sense you could say she hasn't progressed at all!
0:55:43 > 0:55:45June's career continues.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49She remains one of the most recognisable faces in British life.
0:55:49 > 0:55:55She's appeared in more than 250 different comedy shows.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58It's a unique body of work that spanned the heady days
0:55:58 > 0:56:03of musical theatre, the golden age of radio, and the dominance of television.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07And the reasons for her success remain the same.
0:56:10 > 0:56:15One of the reasons that she has been so successful is she has been given the jobs.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19You know, Julian Clary wanted her in his show.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21Ab Fab wanted her.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24It may be affection, having grown up with her on the box
0:56:24 > 0:56:29and Terry And June, but nevertheless you don't just work with someone just because you like them.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32You have to admire them as well, and they do admire her.
0:56:32 > 0:56:33Call me anything you like.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36How about Thursday?
0:56:36 > 0:56:38'People ask what was her best work?'
0:56:38 > 0:56:43In a sense, you could say Terry And June
0:56:43 > 0:56:50because she made domestic sitcom last for much longer
0:56:50 > 0:56:52than it was expected to.
0:56:52 > 0:56:59Personally, we were highly satisfied with what she did on Take It From Here with Eth.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01Oh, Ron!
0:57:01 > 0:57:03LAUGHTER
0:57:03 > 0:57:08I think it's a really good thing that some of us are still going.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10I mean, me, in spite of being decrepit,
0:57:10 > 0:57:18I'll always feel that June has somehow been able to take care of herself in a very sober fashion.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21She's been a proper
0:57:21 > 0:57:26human being as well as being a jolly good woman.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29And a very, very fine actress.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33As well as the respect of her peers, June is now one of the few
0:57:33 > 0:57:36individuals who have the unofficial title of national treasure.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40But there's other accolades in a career that is now in its eighth decade.
0:57:40 > 0:57:46Not one, but two appearances on This Is Your Life, and an official title, too.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49June Whitfield CBE.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53And finally, June sheds a little light on her secret.
0:57:53 > 0:57:58I don't think I've ever thought ahead or planned ahead or anything.
0:57:58 > 0:58:00I've just...
0:58:00 > 0:58:06taken things as they happen.
0:58:06 > 0:58:11After every job, every actor thinks, "Well, that's it, that's the end of my career."
0:58:11 > 0:58:13You know, there'll never be another.
0:58:13 > 0:58:14And then,
0:58:14 > 0:58:20if you're lucky, the phone rings and, yes, you do get asked to do something else.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24That's the way it's always been.
0:58:24 > 0:58:28I've never planned and thought, "Well, now I'd like to do this,
0:58:28 > 0:58:30"or now I'd like to do that."
0:58:30 > 0:58:32Just sort of wait and see what happens.
0:58:48 > 0:58:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd