Our sole recording today starts with the end of Dawn French’s More Men Who Do Comedy.
There’s a trail for Dragon’s Den Christmas Special.
Then, there’s an episode of Comedy Connections – Red Dwarf.
Rob Grant and writing partner Doug Naylor wanted to write a science fiction sitcom. They asked Paul Jackson his advice. “We said we want to write a science fiction sitcom, and he said, well, can I give you just one word of advice? Executives in television hate science fiction.”
Paul Jackson talks about Grant and Naylor’s early work on the writing team of Carrott’s Lib. “That was a core writing team of only about seven people. We used to work in the office, which was unusual. Writers normally wrote and sent their stuff in, and I asked them to join that team, and again they were a very important part of the team.”
There’s a fantastic clip of Chris Barrie playing three Labour politicians on a Call My Bluff spoof.
Ed Bye also knew the BBC’s antipathy to SF. “There was an urge from some executives at the BBC that a sitcom is a sofa and two chairs. It’s not a Wacking Great spaceship, and, you know, miles and miles of empty corridors, and The Last Man on Earth, Mutant Cats, hologrammic men, and deranged robots.”
Co-writer Doug Naylor: “It had been rejected three times. We didn’t rewrite the script. We just kept sending it back, and Paul kept insisting that they read it again because they hadn’t got it all, and he really had a great belief in it.”
Chris Barrie looks back at some of the voices he did for Spitting Image, also co-written by Grant and Naylor.
Craig Charles looks back at his early career as a Punk Poet.
There’s a clip of him appearing on Wogan, an invitation that came out of the blue for him.
Norman Lovett played Holly. He still seems upset that they replaced him later because he’d moved to Edinburgh and didn’t want to come down to Manchester for rehearsals. “I’ve got to put my hand on my heart and say no, I wasn’t happy because they promised they’d replace the part with, you know, someone different. That’s what they promised and they didn’t do that.”
Danny John-Jules on The Cat: “I didn’t want him to be this Huggy Bear. I didn’t want him to be pimpy, you know, and it was very difficult when you’re wearing more makeup than Diana Ross.”
When Robert Llewellyn talks about Scrapheap Challenge later in the programme, it’s strange to hear him describe himself as a “closet petrolhead” when he’s now a major proponent for clean energy and electric vehicles.
Hattie Hayridge talks about her one-off guest performance as Hilly leading to her replacing Norman Lovett as Holly.
There’s a clip from the American remake of the show.
Chloe Annette talks about the difficulties joining a long-running show as a newcomer, when she was brought in to play the revived Kristine Kochanski. “And they had been working together for so many years. They could all do anecdotes and joke around silly action, and they’d slip into it. And meanwhile, I’m still going, ha, ha, from the joke they just told.”
Here’s someone else’s upload.
Media Centre Description: Series charting the history of some of the best British comedy shows looks at the inside story of intergalactic sitcom Red Dwarf, written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. Interviewees include the two writers, stars Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Robert Llewellyn, Norman Lovett and Chloe Annett, and there’s a look at how their careers have involved programmes such as Spitting Image, Saturday Live, Carrott’s Lib, Happy Families and Robot Wars.
Recorded from BBC TWO on Tuesday 25th December 2007 00:15
BBC Genome: BBC TWO Tuesday 25th December 2007 00:15
Incidentally, if you’re confused that this entry is dated 24th December, that’s because we used the standard TV Scheduler’s day, which goes from 6am in the morning, to 6am the following morning, so according to those rules, this programme is actually for the 24th. It does make sense, honestly.
After this, there’s trails for The Terminal and Radio 5 Live Football coverage.
The recording ends with the start of the very first episode of Red Dwarf.