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Looking for Lise

Published 22nd March 2025

TV Comedy

The Young Ones was written by Ben Elton, Rik Mayall, and Lise Mayer, with additional material by Alexei Sayle. One of those names is not like the others.

After all, Ben Elton shows up on-screen in a surprising number of episodes: five, to be exact.1 Alexei Sayle appears in every single episode, mostly as various offshoots of the Balowski Family. And if you don’t know who Rik Mayall played, then please stop reading this article. But what about Lise Mayer? Surely she shows up in at least one episode?

Certainly, the Comedy Connections episode on The Young Ones, broadcast on the 18th July 2006, seems to think so. Take a look at this linking sequence:

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  1. Baz in “Demolition”, the DJ in “Flood”, Kendal Mintcake in “Bambi”, a Grange Hill student in “Sick”, and the man in the Hawk Lager ad in “Summer Holiday”. Five episodes… but at least six roles, because he also plays the cat in “Flood”. “My wife, she’s a terrible cook, though. Well she would be – she’s dead!”

    Can anyone think of any other voice-only roles he had in the series? ↩

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Strange Anarchic Happenings

Published 19th March 2025

TV Comedy

Recently, I’ve been rewatching quite a lot of documentaries about The Young Ones, seeing as I can’t seem to stop writing about that damn show. This is why I find myself watching The Making of The Young Ones from the 2007 DVD release… for the 2000th damn time.

One little section of that documentary stood out in particular to me this time round, about one of the early reviews the show got in the press:

ALEXEI SAYLE: There was a guy called Ray Connolly, he was the TV critic for the Evening Standard. He’d always disliked me, I think, he’d called me “as funny as a funeral” either before or in this review. But he said something really interesting. He said ‘There’s something going on in my house.’ He said ‘My kids are sneaking off to watch this show that I don’t understand at all, called The Young Ones. And yet they find it hilarious. I don’t get it.’ But clearly, it was like this idea that something was going on.

PAUL JACKSON: I think he almost made the analogy – of course, Ray came through as a writer in the 60s music generation I was talking about – I think he almost made the analogy to, you know, we had our music, this feels to me a bit like that. Like we had the Stones, they’ve got The Young Ones. Which was fantastic.

Wouldn’t it be nice to actually read this review, rather than going on Sayle and Jackson’s memories? Of course it would. Luckily, because they got the name of the TV critic correct – it was indeed Ray Connolly – it wasn’t very hard to find.

The review appeared in the Evening Standard on the 8th December 1982. This is the day after the first broadcast of “Interesting” from Series 1, and is a genuinely valuable snapshot of initial reactions to the show, from someone who wasn’t really its target audience.

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The Voice of Youth

Published 15th March 2025

TV Comedy

It somehow seems fitting that the very first thing recorded in studio for The Young Ones was one of its most well-remembered sketches. On the 23rd January 1982 at 7:30pm, without a studio audience – it was played in for their reaction the following night – Nozin’ Aroun’ was put in front of the cameras.

“Well, I’m standing up here on this scaffolding because that’s what this programme is all about – shock.”

The inspirations for Nozin’ Aroun’ are clear: a parody of TV “for young adults, made by young adults”, most obviously Something Else (1978-82) and the Oxford Road Show (1981-85). The latter is often mentioned in connection to The Young Ones, as Ben Elton made several appearances on it. A person contributing to the real thing… and also doing a parody of it. The link is irresistible.

Irresistible… and yet often slightly confused, especially when it comes to the chronology. For instance, BFI Screenonline tells the following story:

“But by the late 1980s Elton had decisively emerged from behind the typewriter. Although he had had some onscreen experience (even parodying his Oxford Road Show appearances in The Young Ones‘ mock youth TV programme Nozin’ Aroun’), it wasn’t until he became the regular host of Channel 4’s alternative comedy variety show Saturday Live (1985-87) and its successor Friday Night Live (1988) that his face became as famous as his scripts.”

So the Oxford Road Show appearances came first, and then The Young Ones. And yet on the DVD commentary for “Demolition”, the Young Ones pilot, with Paul Jackson and Geoff Posner1, we get:

PAUL JACKSON: Funnily enough, he [Ben Elton] went on to present the Oxford Road Show of which this is in fact a parody.
GEOFF POSNER: Absolutely. Oxford Road Show used to be a sort of youth show, done from Manchester, Oxford Road studios in Manchester, and he ended up sending himself up.
PAUL JACKSON: And then, having sent himself up, presenting the show.

Jackson and Posner seem to be talking at cross-purposes here; Jackson thinks The Young Ones came before Ben’s Oxford Road Show work, while Posner seems to think it came afterwards. It’s all a bit confusing. After all, how can you send yourself up in this fashion before you’ve appeared on the real show?

Still, the idea that Ben is directly making fun of his own work in Nozin’ Aroun’ is a fun one. It’s not difficult to imagine the thought process here, once you’ve disentangled the temporal confusion. Ben did some embarrassing early appearances on the Oxford Road Show, finally got a show of his own, and used it to mercilessly take the piss out of how awful he was on it. Or at the very least, how awful everybody was around him.

The truth is altogether more interesting.

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  1. Paul Jackson produced the pilot, so is an obvious choice for this commentary. Posner is perhaps slightly odd; he only joined the production for the rest of Series 1, as Associate Producer/Director. But we do get the story of Posner overhearing Jackson editing the pilot of The Young Ones deep within the bowels of the BBC, which probably makes it worth it. ↩

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Initiate Computer Search

Published 28th February 2025

TV Comedy

For reasons which will become apparent later in the year, I’m currently buried in research on Three of a Kind. It’s a show which I entirely dismissed a few years back on the strength – or otherwise – of its first episode, but now feel a certain amount of affection for. In fact, rarely has a comedy won me over so much from such a bad first impression.1

Fittingly, there were three series of Three of a Kind; the first started transmission in July 1981, the second in November 1982, and the third in September 1983. Also made as part of that final series was a Bank Holiday Special, which aired before the rest of the series, on the 2nd May 1983. It’s the usual mix of stuff that works and stuff which really doesn’t, with the highlight being a eight-minute “Cabaret” sequence near the end.

I’m particularly fond of Gladys Nightly, which is essentially Lenny Henry doing a proper drag act, and features a bonus cameo from Peter Brewis:

That split screen shot near the end of that sequence with the two Lennys is worth any amount of teletext graphics thrown at the screen.

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  1. I blame Gagfax, but that’s a whole other article. ↩

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In Place of Helen

Published 14th February 2025

TV Comedy

Here’s a question for you. Exactly how many opening title sequences did Drop the Dead Donkey have? I suspect the answer is: more than you think.

After all, to answer the question properly, we can’t just go by the broadcast material. In 2005, the DVD release of the first series contained the unbroadcast pilot, shot a couple of weeks before the series made it to air. These titles had the same visuals as Series 1 of the show as broadcast, but an entirely different theme tune, by Philip Pope:

I remember the utter shock of seeing – well, hearing – those titles for the first time. Truth be told, after that initial shock wore off, I don’t mind them that much. But teletype noises not withstanding, it really feels more like a chat show theme than a news theme. Drop the Dead Donkey is probably unique as a comedy which ended up working better without a theme from Pope.

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What a Mistake-a to Make-a

Published 3rd February 2025

Internet / TV Comedy

The other day, I received an email with the subject line “YouTube removed your content”. Oh dear, what have I done now?

“It looks like [your video] didn’t follow our Community Guidelines. We removed it from YouTube.

We think your content violated our hate speech policy.”

What the fuck?

“Content that promotes hateful supremacism by alleging the superiority of a group over those with protected group status to justify violence, discrimination, segregation, or exclusion isn’t allowed on YouTube. We review educational, documentary, artistic, and scientific content on a case-by-case basis. Limited exceptions are made for content with sufficient and appropriate context.”

Right, OK. I instantly appealed, and ten minutes later, got back the following reply:

We reviewed [your video] again and confirmed it’s not allowed under our hate speech policy.

Your video won’t be put back on YouTube.

We understand this may be frustrating, but we’re committed to keeping YouTube a safe place for everyone.

Our goal is to help you succeed on YouTube. We encourage you to take a look at our Community Guidelines and keep them in mind when posting content in the future.

So what was this totally outrageous video on my account?

A clip from ‘Allo ‘Allo, “The Confusion of the Generals”, transmitted on 12th November 1988.

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Everyone on One Side of the Table in the Restaurant

Published 29th January 2025

TV Comedy

Here’s one of my very favourite sketches from End of Part One, Renwick and Marshall’s magnificent sketch show which eviscerated contemporary television in much the same way Python did a decade earlier.1 It’s from Series 2 Episode 3, broadcast by LWT on the 26th October 1980.

Warning: contains a slang term for gay men near the top which I think is entirely satirically justifiable, but some of you may not enjoy.

It’s difficult to pick my favourite thing in that sketch. Obviously, there are a million and one sketches in the world which would benefit from being cut in half and adding ETC in big letters to the end. But I think the most devastating line in it has to be:

Second Floor: randy men who try and talk like Hancock.

Because I hadn’t realised, but bloody hell, yes, of course. Mr. Lucas, you’re an oaf.

That’s not the line we’re discussing today, however. You might have guessed which one we are discussing from the headline of this piece.

Everyone on one side of the table in the restaurant. Going up…

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  1. I remember once excitedly showing some friends the series… mainly to embarrassed silence. Similar also happened to me with Rutland Weekend Television. I don’t force people to watch half hours of comedy they’ve never seen before in my presence any more, it’s just too excruciating if they hate it. ↩

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Everyone We Know Loves The Dandy

Published 22nd January 2025

TV Comedy

Recently, I’ve been burying myself in Radio Times letters pages of the 1970s. It can be a grim place to be, with its long, outraged analysis of various current affairs programmes. It’s almost as bad as Bluesky.

So thank heavens for the following shaft of light, published in Issue 2575, cover date 17th-23rd March 1973:

What comic does Eric read?
In the Morecambe and Wise Show (BBC1) of 23 February, Eric was reading a comic which stated that it was the Dandy, but the phrasing on the cover was: The Comic with Minnie the Minx.’ Minnie is one of the most popular characters in the Beano.

Other Beano characters are Biffo the Bear, Grandpa, Lord Snooty, and Dennis the Menace (not forgetting his dog Gnasher).

Also, in a comic which was so clearly the Beano, what on earth was Desperate Dan of the Dandy doing?

The ultimate in stupidity was reached when Eric mentioned Pansy Potter, who is a regular feature of the Sparky!

Brian Spursell (aged 10)
Manchester

Sure enough, if we check Series 7 Episode 8 of The Morecambe and Wise Show, broadcast on the 23rd February 1973:

Eric and Ernie in bed, Eric reading the Dandy, and Ernie reading the Financial Times

The same, from a different angle

That most definitely is an issue of The Beano with a horrible fake Dandy masthead clumsily pasted over the top. This one, in fact: Issue 1578, dated 14th October 1972.

Full cover of The Beano, Issue 1578

Moreover, it really is supposed to be The Dandy – as Brian Spursell (aged 10) says, Eric specifically mentions Desperate Dan, a Dandy character:

ERNIE: It’s got my beat, I just can’t make it out. I just can’t understand it at all. The market’s down four points.
ERIC: It’s got me beat as well. Desperate Dan’s just eaten four cow pies and he’s still hungry.

Although Eric does then start talking about Lord Snooty later in the sketch, a Beano character. I want my licence fee refunded.

As for why they badly mocked-up a Dandy, rather than simply using a real issue: who knows. I very much doubt it’s product placement worries; we can clearly see Ernie reading the Financial Times, and a Beano is featured in the following sketch anyway. It smacks of an emergency fix by the prop department, but you’d think it’d still be easier just to pop down the shops than to start mocking up mastheads.

Never mind. Maybe we should just ask Eric Morecambe, as the Radio Times did back in 1973:

ERIC MORECAMBE replies:
I have received several letters making the same complaint, and I am delighted, because I was just testing you.

And there’s an Eric Morecambe joke few people have read for over 50 years. You’re welcome.

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That Nice Mrs Merton

Published 18th January 2025

TV Comedy

For many viewers, The Mrs Merton Show sprang fully-formed onto BBC2 on the 10th February 1995. But things are never quite as simple as that. And with Caroline Aherne and Mrs Dorothy Merton, the story is even more complicated than most.

Regional television can get short shrift in the history of comedy; regional radio even more so. Very little in-depth has been written about the origins of Mrs Merton in Frank Sidebottom’s Piccadilly Radio shows, or her appearances on 90s Granada talk show Upfront. Even tracking down some of this material is hard, and perhaps impossible if you’re a completist.

For instance, it’s very much worth listening to the following extremely early Mrs Merton, on Key 103:

But when was it actually broadcast? There’s no TX date attached to it at all. It’s probably 1988 or 1989, but that’s all I can really figure out.

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Genital Activity

Published 12th January 2025

TV Comedy

Just occasionally, my silly research for this site turns up something wonderful.

So, there I was, perusing the archives of that august organ Huddersfield Daily Examiner, when I spotted the following Channel 4 programme scheduled on the 30th November 1992:

11:00 CATHOLICS AND SEX Examining the Catholic Church’s attitudes towards birth-control and pre-marital sex. Catholic women talk about the ban on contraception, and teenagers give their views on virginity. A bishop gives an unusual justification of the Church’s teachings…

So far, so normal.

…and comedienne Caroline Aherne provides an alternative interpretation.

Oh, hello there.

This would be Caroline Aherne just pre-stardom. The Fast Show was a couple of years away, but by now she was appearing as Mrs Merton on programmes like Channel 4’s own Remote Control:

But I’d never heard of her appearance in Catholics and Sex. And frankly, it felt like I would be unlikely to ever see it. After all, who is going to bother uploading a copy online?

Answer: Reuters Screenocean has. And, predictably, it features Aherne as Sister Mary Immaculate, talking about contraception.1 I’m not going to be cheeky, rip that video and upload it here, but the two short sections with Caroline are at 10:13:41 and 10:32:54.

A VT clock for Catholics and Sex

Caroline Aherne as Sister Mary Immaculate

The whole thing is very worth watching, actually. I’m very at home with early-90s Channel 4 documentary-making. Anything with inserts shot on film in black and white I find extremely comforting.

  1. This is the second of four episodes; the other three have contributions from John Hegley, Bruce Morton, and Sean Hughes. ↩