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