''The All New Alexei Sayle Show'' was a comedy sketch show broadcast on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

television for a total of twelve episodes, over two series in 1994 and 1995. The title sequence featured

Alexei Sayle Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th g ...

as an innocent, newly arrived man in London singing cheerful lyrics and dancing around Trafalgar Square, in a spoof of American television shows such as the Mary Tyler Moore Show. It was the successor to ''

Alexei Sayle's Stuff ''Alexei Sayle's Stuff'' is a British television comedy sketch show which ran on BBC2 for a total of 18 episodes over 3 series from 1988 to 1991. Cast Alexei Sayle's Stuff stars stand-up comedian Alexei Sayle, with a recurring cast including A ...

'', and predecessor of '' Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round''. Sayle's co-star from Channel 4's ''The Gravy Train'', future dual Academy Award winner

Christoph Waltz Christoph Waltz (; born 4 October 1956) is an Austrian and German actor. Primarily active in the United States, he gained international recognition for his portrayal of villainous and supporting roles in English-language films. His accolades i ...

appeared in a sketch during its run.

Recurring characters

The show differed from ''Alexei Sayle's Stuff'' mainly in its introduction of recurring characters who include: * Alexei's ''

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...

'', Bobby Chariot. Bobby is a

Scouse Scouse ( ), more formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English, is an Accent (dialect), accent and dialect of English language, English associated with the city of Liverpool and the surrounding Merseyside. The Scouse accent is h ...

comic of the old school, who appears as a warm-up act during breaks when the show has supposedly 'broken down' for technical reasons. His catchphrase "How you diddling?" will invariably fail to ignite the audience, prompting the reply, ". . . Bloody sod you, then." He will then regale them with anecdotes about his wife having left him, his drink problem, and sleeping in his Jag. He is an archetypal 'traditional' comedian who combines the least

politically correct "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...

sides of Jimmy Tarbuck,

Ken Dodd Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English stand-up comedy, comedian, actor and singer. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer" and was primarily known for his live stand-up comedy, stand-up pe ...

and Stan Boardman with a bit of Mr Sayle. He will often pick on the audience for cheap laughs, then turn on them when they remain unresponsive. Often, rather than being seen in front of the audience, he is pictured sitting among them, pouring his heart out to some poor uninterested, bored soul. Bobby also features in the subsequent show ''Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round''. * Bobby's even more depressing and hopeless gag writer, played by

Stephen Lewis Stephen Henry Lewis (born November 11, 1937) is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations in the 1980s and was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democr ...

, still bashing out bad puns on a manual typewriter. * A caricature of John Smith, who was leader of the Labour Party at the time. * Performance artists Egbert and Bill (a lampoon of real-life artists

Gilbert and George Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942) are artists who work together as the collaborative art duo Gilbert & George. They are known for their formal appearance ...

), perform together with

John Sparkes John Sparkes (born 6 January 1954) is a Welsh comedian and actor. He portrayed Barry Welsh, presenter of the HTV Wales series '' Barry Welsh Is Coming''. He has also had major roles in '' Naked Video'', '' Absolutely'', ''Fireman Sam'', '' Sha ...

. * Nancy and Spike. Two radical lesbians who run a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

bicycle shop in Hackney called "

Menstrual cycle The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that makes pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eg ...

s". Depending on viewpoint, these are either very un-PC or overly PC characters.

Running sketches

Both series of the show included running sketches. * ''Psycho Ward 11'' in Series 1 was a spoof Australian hospital soap featuring

Jean Marsh Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh (1 July 1934 – 13 April 2025) was an English actress and writer. She co-created and starred in the ITV series '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1971–1975), for which she won the 1975 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actr ...

and Peter O'Brien. *''Drunk in Time'' in Series 2 satirised the popular late 1960s cult sci-fi TV series ''

The Time Tunnel ''The Time Tunnel'' is an American color science-fiction television series written around a theme of time travel adventure; it starred James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction televisi ...

''. It featured

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, singer and guitarist. He portrayed the Twelfth Doctor, twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker i ...

as Sayle's fellow drunk time-traveling companion, and also

Jenny Agutter Jennifer Ann Agutter (born 20 December 1952) is an English actress. She began her career as a child actress in 1964, appearing in '' East of Sudan'', '' Star!'', and two adaptations of '' The Railway Children'': the BBC's 1968 television seri ...

and Alfred Marks as the scientists back at the base.

Sources

*
Johnson RK, ''British TV Show Reviews''
1990s British television sketch shows 1994 British television series debuts 1995 British television series endings BBC television sketch shows British English-language television shows {{BBC-comedy-tv-prog-stub