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Comedy Connections
''Comedy Connections'' is a BBC One Documentary film, documentary series produced by BBC Scotland that aired from 2003 to 2008. The show looked at the stories behind the production of some of Britain's comedy television programmes, showing how they tied in with the production of other comedy shows (hence "connections"). The show featured interviews with some of the cast and crew of the subject programme, as well as footage from the series. ''Comedy Connections'' mostly documented BBC comedies and sitcoms, although two programmes have been from ITV (TV network), ITV (three counting ''Men Behaving Badly'' which moved from ITV to the BBC after two series) and two from Channel 4. The first series consists of six episodes while the rest of the series consist of eight episodes each. The first two series were narrated by Julia Sawalha and the rest of the series by Doon Mackichan. Series summary Episodes The first two series were narrated by Julia Sawalha and the third series onwards ...
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Julia Sawalha
Julia Sawalha (born 9 September 1968) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Saffron "Saffy" Monsoon in the BBC sitcom '' Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992–2012). Her other television roles include as Lynda Day in '' Press Gang'' (1989–1993), as Hannah Greyshott in '' Second Thoughts'' (1991–1994) and its sequel series, '' Faith in the Future'' (1995–1998), Lydia Bennet in the television miniseries of Jane Austen's ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1995), Georgina and Kid's vocal effects in '' Sheeep'' (2000–2001), Carla Borrego in ''Jonathan Creek'' (2001–2004) and Dorcas Lane in the BBC's costume drama '' Lark Rise to Candleford'' (2008–2011). Her film credits include '' Buddy's Song'' (1991), ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1996), ''Chicken Run'' (2000) and '' Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie'' (2016). Early life and education Sawalha was born in Wandsworth, London, on 9 September 1968, and is the daughter of Roberta Lane and actor Nadim Sawalha. Her father was born ...
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Butterflies (TV Series)
''Butterflies'' is a British sitcom written by Carla Lane that aired in the 9 pm timeslot on BBC Two, BBC2 from 10 November 1978 to 19 October 1983, with each series repeated on BBC One, BBC1 a few months after the original transmissions. The subject, the day-to-day life of the comfortable social class in the United Kingdom#Middle class, middle-class Parkinson family, is treated in a bittersweet style. There are traditional comedy themes (such as Ria's terrible cooking, and various family squabbles) as well as other more serious themes such as Ria's unconsummated relationship with the outwardly-successful Leonard. Ria is still in love with her husband, Ben, and has raised two teenage sons, yet finds herself unhappy and dissatisfied with her life and in need of something more. Throughout the series, Ria searches for that "something more", and finds some solace in her unconventional friendship with Leonard. In a 2002 interview, Carla Lane explained, "I wanted to write a comedy ab ...
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Harry Enfield & Chums
''Harry Enfield & Chums'' (originally titled ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'') is a British sketch show starring Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse and Kathy Burke. It first broadcast on BBC2 in 1990 in the 9 p.m. slot on Thursday nights, which became the traditional time for alternative comedy on television. Enfield was already an established name due to his "Loadsamoney" character (which featured in a few entertainment programmes in the late 1980s), but the series gave greater presence to his frequent collaborators Whitehouse and Burke – so much so that, in 1994, the show was retitled ''Harry Enfield & Chums''. In 2001, a clip show series titled ''Harry Enfield Presents'' aired which featured compilations of sketches from the series featuring new linking material recorded by Enfield in character. History ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'' was written by Enfield, Whitehouse, Charlie Higson and Geoffrey Perkins and broadcast on BBC Two, BBC2. The original seri ...
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Three Of A Kind (1981 TV Series)
''Three of a Kind'' is a British comedy sketch show starring comedians Lenny Henry, Tracey Ullman and David Copperfield. Three series were made by the BBC between 1981 and 1983. The show bolstered the careers of Ullman and Henry, as well as being an outlet for young writers including Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, Ian Hislop and Nick Revell. As was typical of British comedy sketch shows of the time, the show often featured musical guests, including The Style Council, Thin Lizzy, and Toyah (whom Ullman had previously lampooned on the show as "Annoyah"). Ullman and Henry went on to greater success after the show, with Ullman initially launching a brief but successful pop career in 1983 before appearing in the films ''Give My Regards to Broad Street'' and '' Plenty''. She then co-starred in the ITV sitcom '' Girls on Top'' in 1985, before moving to the US and starting a career in American television in 1987. Henry was given his own BBC series '' The Lenny Henry Show'' in 1984, whic ...
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Spitting Image
''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television over 18 series which aired on the ITV network. The series was nominated and won numerous awards, including ten BAFTA Television Awards, and two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category. The series features puppet caricatures of contemporary celebrities and public figures, including British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major and the British royal family. The series was the first to caricature Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (as an elderly gin-drinker with a Beryl Reid voice). One of the most-watched shows of the 1980s, ''Spitting Image'' satirised politics, entertainment, sport and British popular culture of the era. At its peak, the show was watched by 15 million people. The popularity of the show saw col ...
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Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal humour, surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, who became known collectively as "Monty Python", or the "Pythons". The first episode was recorded at the BBC on 7 September 1969 and premiered on 5 October on BBC1, with 45 episodes airing over four series from 1969 to 1974, plus two episodes for German TV. A feature film adaptation of several sketches, ''And Now for Something Completely Different'', was released in 1971. The series stands out for its use of Surreal humour, absurd situations, mixed with risqué and innuendo-laden humour, Visual gag, sight gags, and observational sketches without punch line, punchlines. Live-action segments were broken up with animations by Gilliam, often merging with the live action to form Segue#In film or broadcast news production, segues. The overall for ...
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Red Dwarf
A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are not easily observed. Not one star that fits the stricter definitions of a red dwarf is visible to the naked eye. Proxima Centauri, the star nearest to the Sun, is a red dwarf, as are fifty of the sixty nearest stars. According to some estimates, red dwarfs make up three-quarters of the fusing stars in the Milky Way. The coolest red dwarfs near the Sun have a surface temperature of about and the smallest have radii about 9% that of the Sun, with masses about 7.5% that of the Sun. These red dwarfs have spectral types of L0 to L2. There is some overlap with the properties of brown dwarfs, since the most massive brown dwarfs at lower metallicity can be as hot as and have late M spectral types. Definitions and usage of the term "red d ...
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Hi-de-Hi!
''Hi-de-Hi!'' is a British sitcom created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and produced for the BBC. The programme initially began with a pilot on 1 January 1980 and aired for nine series between 26 February 1981 and 30 January 1988, and starred Paul Shane, Su Pollard, Jeffrey Holland, Ruth Madoc and Simon Cadell. Inspired by Perry's time serving as a Redcoat at Butlin's, the series takes place within the fictional Maplins holiday camp in Essex towards the end of the traditional British holiday period of the 1950s. The episodes themselves focus on the lives of the camp's entertainers and staff, who frequently greet campers with the titular phrase "Hi-de-Hi!", and consist mostly of struggling actors, comedians, wannabe stars, and has-been entertainers. The programme proved popular from its launch, gaining large audiences during its broadcast; its popularity helped it to win a BAFTA as Best Comedy Series in 1984. In a 2008 poll on Channel 4, ''Hi-de-Hi!'' was voted the 35th m ...
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The Young Ones (TV Series)
''The Young Ones'' is a British sitcom written by Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Lise Mayer, starring Adrian Edmondson, Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexei Sayle, and broadcast on BBC2 for two series, first shown in 1982 and 1984. The show focused on the lives of four dissimilar students and their landlord's family on different plots that often included Anarchy, anarchic, offbeat, surreal humour. The show often included slapstick gags, visual humour and surreal jokes sometimes acted out by puppets, with each episode also featuring a notable selection of guest stars and musical numbers from various performers. ''The Young Ones'' helped bring alternative comedy to British television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers. The show became a notable icon of 1980s British popular culture, and it received its own game and a home-media release while becoming the first non-music-related programme to appear on MTV in the United States in 1985. The ...
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Keeping Up Appearances
''Keeping Up Appearances'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke. It originally aired on BBC1 from 1990 to 1995. The central character is an eccentric and snobbish middle-class social climber, Hyacinth Bucket ( Patricia Routledge), who insists that her surname is pronounced "Bouquet". The show consisted of five series and 44 episodes, four of which were Christmas specials. Production ended in 1995 after Routledge decided to move on to other projects. All 44 episodes have since been released on video, DVD and streaming media. The sitcom follows Hyacinth in her attempts to prove her social superiority, and to gain standing with those she considers upper class. Her attempts are constantly hampered by her lower class background, and extended family, whom she is desperate to hide. Much of the humour comes from the conflict between Hyacinth's vision of herself and the reality of her underclass background. In each episode, she lands in a farcical situation as sh ...
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The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin
''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'' is a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role. Three series were produced from 1976 to 1979, based on a series of novels written by David Nobbs. Nobbs adapted the screenplay for the first series from the first novel. Some of its subplots were considered too dark or risqué for television and were toned down or omitted. A fourth series, ''The Legacy of Reginald Perrin'', also written by Nobbs, followed in 1996. The story concerns a middle-aged middle manager, Reginald "Reggie" Perrin who is driven to bizarre behaviour by the pointlessness of his job at Sunshine Desserts. The sitcom proved to be a subversion of others of the era, which were often based on bland, middle-class suburban family life. The first novel in the series, ''The Death of Reginald Perrin'', was published in 1975. Later editions were retitled to match the title of the television series. ''The Return of Reginald Perrin'' (1977) and ''The Better World o ...
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Father Ted
''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews (writer), Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for British television channel Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998, including a Christmas special, for a total of List of Father Ted episodes, 25 episodes. It aired on Nine Network (series 1) and ABC Television (Australian TV network), ABC Television (series 2 and 3) in Australia, and on TV2 (New Zealand), TV2 in New Zealand. Set on the fictional Craggy Island, a remote location off Ireland's west coast, ''Father Ted'' stars Dermot Morgan as Father Ted Crilly, alongside fellow priests Father Dougal McGuire (Ardal O'Hanlon) and Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly). Dishonourably exiled on the island by Bishop Leonard Brennan (Jim Norton (Irish actor), Jim Norton) for various reasons, the priests live together in the parochial house with their housekeeper Mrs Doyle (Pauli ...
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