UK TV

An archive of blog entries about UK TV programmes and production.

More Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul

23 July 2008 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Just in case you didn’t find the first series enough, there’s another series of Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul coming soon. You can get tickets to watch it (being filmed? Or just played on a big screen to you?) next Friday:

BBC Studio Audiences are delighted to announce that tickets are available for a special screening of Harry And Paul in August.

Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse first worked together in the late 1980s creating memorable characters like Stavros and Loadsofmoney on the cult hit show Saturday Live. They then went on to work on the enormously successful and multi-award-winning Harry Enfield’s Television Programme and Harry Enfield and Chums with Smashie and Nicey, Tim Nice but Dim, the Scousers, the Slobs, Kevin and Perry and many others.

Last year they re-united for Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul, which was described as “hilarious, reminded us of what we have been missing since they last appeared together” and “the veteran duo are blazing a trail with this cracking comedy comeback”.

Now in this second series they return with many of the characters that made a big impact last time such as the amazingly fast talking surgeons, the Posh Scaffolders, Nelson Mandela as you have never seen him before, the I saw you Coming shop, the Polish café and many more plus some hilarious new additions.

To be part of the audience for this special screening taking place on Friday 1 August at the BBC Radio Theatre, Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London, call the BBC Ticket Line on 0370 901 1227* or visit the website by clicking here. Doors open at 7.15pm.

Wednesday’s hot holy warrior news

23 July 2008 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Doctor Who

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Music

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Tuesday’s not very Australian news

22 July 2008 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Doctor Who

Film

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US TV

Monday’s saintly philanthropist news

21 July 2008 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Doctor Who

Film

Comics

  • Alan Moore already disowning Watchmen but loves The Wire

British TV

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Classic TV

Lost Gems: The Ice House

18 July 2008 Rob Buckley 16 Comments

The Ice House

Christmas is a time traditionally associated with ghost stories. I don’t know why that is – maybe it’s a pagan hangover, since “let’s celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ by scaring each other silly” doesn’t strike me as a particularly coherent Christian concept.

Probably the most famous teller of Christmas ghost stories is MR James, the Cambridge don who used to gather friends and students round at Christmas and scare them silly with tales such as Whistle and I’ll Come To You, A Warning to the Curious, The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral and Lost Hearts. These were eventually collected into various omnibuses and back in the 60s and 70s, the BBC started adapting the stories, airing a new tale at Christmas.

Initially, just one-offs, the strand eventually was formalised as A Ghost Story for Christmas, with Rosemary Hill as producer and Lawrence Gordon Clark as director. Sticking with James for the first few years, Hill strayed in 1975, getting Andrew Davies to adapt Charles Dickens’ The Signalman for the strand. She then chose to forego literary sources altogether and began commissioning original stories instead.

The first of these was Clive Exton’s Stigma (which I might deal with at a later time, if you’re lucky), but for reasons known only to the Beeb, the strand concluded with John Bowen’s The Ice House in 1978. Although BBC2 and BBC4 have repeated many of the episodes and the BFI have released some on DVD, The Ice House has never been repeated. It’s a Lost Gem.

Continue reading “Lost Gems: The Ice House”