QUERY - BENNY HILL AT BBC

[John Waters]

Hoping Andrew Martin will read this - Somebody enquired a number of years ago after a Benny Hill show recalled which included a film insert in which TV sets come to life. Adam lee said that (at that time) 14 shows existed but the sketch described didn't.

In later years I realised the sketch may never have actually appeared in Benny's BBC shows. As it almost definitely originated around 1966 - 68, according to the records everything from the BBC is held bar 3 shows, I think. Of the those the film inserts for 2 exist. This leaves a narrow margin for the loss of the sketch.

I seem to think its likely that the item was actually part of an ATV one off Benny Hill show made in 1967, (clips of which appeared in 'The unforgettable Benny Hill'

[jameshope]

Be great if Benny's BBC shows could be released on dvd

[Deleted]

There's a Region 1 compilation of his BBC shows out on DVD, which is pretty comprehensive. Not sure if it's still available but it's worth buying. Benny's BBC material seems much better to me than the broader Thames humour.

[RWels]

There is 1 BBC show that survives only as an optical transfer taken from a reel to reel recording. And half an ATV show. None of them were ever released.
He uses a lot of sets there, but I don't know if it really fits the OP's question.

[davidstead]

The 1964 show and the inserts from 1968 at the BBC don't include that sketch. He also had several early 60's series, as I uncovered the very first episode 'Portrait of a Bridegroom' and returned it around 10 years back. At that time there was only one other early sixties episode surviving from sr:2 I think. The bridgegroom one doesn't have that sketch, but don't know about the other episodes content.
Hope that helps.

[Deleted]

There seems to be some confusion here over Benny's BBC work. There were two types of show. The first was just called Benny Hill and was a series of self-contained comedy dramas (of which only a couple are known to survive - this is the series David was talking about above). The other series was called The Benny Hill Show, which ran right up till he moved over to Thames and of which a good many of the episodes still exist (and is the series I was referring to that had been released on R1 DVD!). This is a sketch show although, in my opinion, is much better than his ITV work. It's been unseen for many years now though and is therefore completely overlooked.

[Dave Wood]

Was nothing recovered from the UCLA archive? I seem to recall that some BBC Benny Hill material was identified there when we located The Avengers episode?

[johnstewart]

Feb 7, 2011 17:36:27 GMT @laurencepiper said:

Feb 7, 2011 14:36:12 GMT jameshope said:

I had a look in HMV in Glasgow's Argyle St Laurence and i couldn't find a copy of it but istill would like to see it being re-released on dvd

Hi Laurence - this is another cut and paste word for word of another old thread of mine. Warning - the phantom cut and paster is at work again.

[Deleted]

It's now been deleted, John. Some people obviously don't have an original thought in their head!