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Post by Nathan Dickel on May 1, 2020 15:15:40 GMT
A third episode of Benny's Anthology sitcom which lasted 3 series between 1961 and 1963 has surfaced (and this one's got 'The Benny Hill Show' as the title as apposed to the earlier two just being under the 'Benny Hill' banner).
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Post by stevej on May 1, 2020 19:45:16 GMT
That's good news and a fascinating discovery. A 'Benny Hill at the BBC' dvd set is surely long overdue- he did some very funny stuff for the beeb judging by what has surfaced on youtube. It would be nice to see it properly compiled and presented. I think Network's Thames Benny Hill sets have proved popular, so it would be well worth giving the same treatment to his surviving BBC work. Maybe one for Simply or Acorn to pick up on?
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Post by Richard Marple on May 1, 2020 21:50:34 GMT
I've also wondered what Benny's BBC work was like, as I've only ever seen his Thames shows.
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Post by tom rogers on May 1, 2020 23:15:35 GMT
Me, too. Here in the States all we saw (at least in the mid-Atlantic region) were the Thames TV shows. They ran here nightly for about 5 years in the 1980s and then ...
Would really love to see his earlier stuff with the beeb. I once had a chance to sit and have a talk with Graham Chapman (around 1985?) and the subject of Benny Hill came up. Graham was definitely a fan, but he thought that Benny's reputation, deserved or not, as "too much of a T & A man" (his exact words) would make it difficult for a lot of folks over here to assess his work fairly in those days. Politically incorrect? Sure. Sexist? Sure. Hilarious? Absolutely.
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Post by stevej on May 2, 2020 9:43:54 GMT
Here's a classic example of BBC-era Benny Hill stretching the technology of the time in his Juke Box Jury parody. Very clever stuff and so seamlessly done. I'm sure Benny would have been the driving force in pushing for visual innovation like this. Anyway...
and his take on The Knack...
The BBC shows benefit from some very fine comic support from the likes of June Whitfield, Hugh Paddick (who was also in 'Round The Horne' at the time), Gwendolyn Watts and the peerless Patricia Hayes.
Judging by what's out there on YT, it seems that official compilations of the BBC material were released on home video as 'Benny And The Jests' for the overseas market, but as far as I know they weren't available here in the UK for some reason, unless anyone knows different?
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Post by Nathan Dickel on May 2, 2020 10:13:32 GMT
Me, too. Here in the States all we saw (at least in the mid-Atlantic region) were the Thames TV shows. They ran here nightly for about 5 years in the 1980s and then ... Would really love to see his earlier stuff with the beeb. I once had a chance to sit and have a talk with Graham Chapman (around 1985?) and the subject of Benny Hill came up. Graham was definitely a fan, but he thought that Benny's reputation, deserved or not, as "too much of a T & A man" (his exact words) would make it difficult for a lot of folks over here to assess his work fairly in those days. Politically incorrect? Sure. Sexist? Sure. Hilarious? Absolutely. Wow, Chapman's probably the least likely Python I'd think of as a Benny fan and appreciator. Clearly a man of taste, and he obviously remembered Benny's fantastic work at the Beeb (not saying his Thames work is bad, just different) as Chapman would probably have still been in high school when Benny started on the tele. |
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Post by Nathan Dickel on May 2, 2020 10:30:11 GMT
Slightly OT but does anyone recognize the Ron Grainer tune used during the opening and closing titles?
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Post by andrew shutt on May 28, 2020 21:30:42 GMT
That YouTuber has just posted a excerpt from a 1963 episode from the Frankie howerd show,a pretty funny skecth and great bit of writing by galton and simpson that i havent seen before  |
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Post by Nathan Dickel on Jul 13, 2020 10:09:32 GMT
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Post by Gary Wilson on Jul 17, 2020 22:45:54 GMT
That YouTuber has just posted a excerpt from a 1963 episode from the Frankie howerd show,a pretty funny skecth and great bit of writing by galton and simpson that i havent seen before And the opening monologue, missing from his print, is in the Huntley Archive as part of an (incomplete?) 22 min print. As posted by someone in the Ray Lansgston thread. Perhaps we now have a whole episode between the two? |
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Post by stevehoare61 on Jul 19, 2020 11:22:28 GMT
Even more great news... surely theres enough footage for a BBC DVD by now...he might not be PC, but then neither are us old farts, that still find him funny.
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Post by Nathan Dickel on Jul 24, 2020 22:59:17 GMT
Even more great news... surely theres enough footage for a BBC DVD by now...he might not be PC, but then neither are us old farts, that still find him funny. I've wanted all his surviving BBC and ATV stuff for years, but I'm not holding my breath. Sadly the old BBC VHS compilations only scratch the surface. |
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