The first recording today in an edited repeat of Star Trek: The Next Generation – Redemption.
Media Centre Description: Sci-fi drama series set aboard the USS Enterprise. As civil war threatens the Klingon empire, Worf’s loyalties are torn between the Federation and his people.
Recorded from Virgin1 on Friday 8th August 2008 19:58
The next recording is another episode of Comedy Connections – Ripping Yarns.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the background Terry Jones has chosen for his interview? He talks about seeing Michael Palin at Oxford doing comedy, including a sketch where he eats some washing powder. “I remember seeing them and just thinking they were doing the very funniest stuff I’d seen around for ages, and very imaginative, and thinking that Mike was particularly funny, especially when he ate Tide. Always got a good laugh and ruined his gums, I believe.”
Michael Palin talks about the move from college cabaret to playing in more general public venues. “Suddenly it was a sort of national audience there, instead of just your friends at university. These were people actually paid for their tickets, and there were plenty of other shows they could go and see if they didn’t like yours.”
James Gilbert talks about one of Palin and Jones’ first TV gigs, The Frost Report. “We were very fortunate in that series in that we had the cream of all the best young writers in the country writing for us, of which Michael and Terry were a very important pair. They had a great visual sense as well, which they were to make good use of.”
Terry Hughes first worked with Palin and Jones when they were among the pool of writers on The Two Ronnies. “When Monty Python was becoming a huge hit, as we all know it became, all the writers on it were still thought of themselves as writers rather than performers, and when they weren’t doing Python, they were writing scripts for other shows. In fact, we had a contract with Palin and Jones as a team to write party sketches. They write a party sketch every week. So they were writers for hire, and I always looked forward to the Palin and Jones scripts. They were wonderful. I remember even the stage directions were very funny. I just used to enjoy reading them.”
Kenneth Colley talks about appearing in The Testing of Eric Olthwaite. “Well, we were up in County Durham and there’s a waterfall there which is the highest fall in England. And it was in spate because it was spring. And Michael said, we’re going to jump off the top of there and we’re going to fall down the mountain. Oh, yes, that’s right. And then two other men turned up and said, well, we’re the stuntmen. They’d done James Bond movies and they were going to do it for us. So that was a bit of a relief.”
Judy Loe talks about her role as Chief Petty Officer Mister Russell, surely an inspiration for Gabrielle Glaister’s Bob in Blackadder. “The trouble was that I wasn’t terribly well endowed in the chest department and so I had to be padded out and wardrobe had to sort of pad me out and even so I had a very stiff naval jacket on.”
Charles McKeown was a frequent face in Python-related programmes and films. “I mean, being a devoted fan of theirs and taking it all very seriously, of course, I thought this was an opportunity to exercise all that I’d learnt at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.”
David Leland appeared in Golden Gordon. “Mr. Dainty is a gift to any actor, really. Any actor with a sense of humour and long thin legs.”
Media Centre Description: Series charting the history of the best of British comedy. A look at Ripping Yarns, Michael Palin and Terry Jones’s post-Python parody of pre-war Boys’ Own adventure comics. The pair share bittersweet memories of their time making the programme – it was abandoned mid-way through its second series, due to spiralling costs, and it saw the end of their decade-long writing partnership. With contributions from director Terry Hughes and actors David Leland, Judy Loe, Ken Colley and Charles McKeown.
Recorded from BBC ONE on Friday 8th August 2008 22:33
BBC Genome: BBC ONE Friday 8th August 2008 22:35
The next recording is an edited repeat of Star Trek: The Next Generation – Frame of Mind.
Media Centre Description: Sci-fi drama series. Riker thinks he is losing his mind when reality keeps shifting between an alien mental hospital and the Enterprise, where he is rehearsing a play.
Recorded from BBC TWO on Saturday 9th August 2008 00:18
BBC Genome: BBC TWO Saturday 9th August 2008 00:20
Finally today, it’s an edited repeat of Star Trek: The Next Generation – Suspicions.
Media Centre Description: Sci-fi drama series. Guinan finds Beverly Crusher about to depart for a disciplinary hearing which she fears will end her career after she has gone against orders to investigate a death.
Recorded from BBC TWO on Saturday 9th August 2008 01:03
BBC Genome: BBC TWO Saturday 9th August 2008 01:05