Current Television Comedy

What, in the way of television comedy, do the networks have to offer us at the moment? BBC1 can give you a rehash of the classic 1970's show 'Porridge.' It was revived as part of the BBC's 'Sitcom' season, something to do with it being 60 years since the first 'Hancock' television series. They gave us  rehashes of 'Are You Being Served?' (really awful. The original was never brilliant, a lot of cliches and rather annoying catch-phrases, Mr Humphry's limp wrist and Mrs Slocombe's cat and her over-the top hairstyles, but definitely stuck in a 1970's end-of-the-pier type comedy limbo.) Also, a prequel to 'Keeping Up Appearances' (I never saw it). The one-off episode of 'Porridge' was alright, up to a point, but it wasn't exactly what you'd call 'comedy gold.' It's the one episode which has been developed as a full series of six episodes. But let's be honest, 'Porridge,' in it's original incarnation, was brilliant for being great basically because it was a well-written and acted gem because of it's leading actor, Ronnie Barker. How on earth can an actor emulate his timing, his skill as a comic actor and general all-round likability? The BBC had revived another of his comic hits, 'Open All Hours,' and given David Jason's character, the downtrodden nephew, Granville, the central role. From being the put-upon delivery-boy to becoming the owner of the corner shop, might sound a good idea, basically because Jason is such a popular actor, and they know, with him in it, audiences will watch regardless. It's just that there remake, which is called, unimaginatively, 'Still Open All Hours' is just a clone of the original and is stuck determinedly in the mid 1970's. By now real corner shops have moved on, to being Tesco Extras and Little Waitroses. I think Arkwright's shop would have been taken over by Tesco's by now. It's just a rather creaky excuse for some corny jokes.

Let's leave off about the reboots. Please, BBC, don't do any more. Just because they get large ratings doesn't mean it's a good idea to do more. ITV revived 'Birds of A Feather' which was originally made for the BBC, and gets good ratings, but why do they have to keep on copying what the other channel does?

To original sitcoms. There's 'W1A', which isn't what I'd call a traditional sitcom in the sense that a sitcom is made in a television studio, with around 3 electronic camera, and is performed and recorded before a live audience. 'W1A' isn't made in that format. It doesn't have a live audience, to begin with, is shot (presumably) using a single camera, on location, in the style of a 'mockumentary.' It was a 'sort of' spin-off from the earlier series '2012' (to tie in with the London Olympics.) It has many of the same actors from that, Hugh Bonneville being one of those actors. There is a commentary, delivered by David Tennant (which is something traditional sitcom never has.) It is something of a one-joke comedy.

I've just discovered something on Gold, one of the UKTV digital channels. It's called 'The Rebel' and stars Simon Callow who plays Henry Palmer, a pensioner who absolutely detests the way old people are treated in society. It's based on a comic strip in 'The Oldie' magazine. In this way it is similar to a Radio Four sitcom called 'Clare In The Community' which is based on Harry Venning's 'Guardian' cartoon strip of the same name. 'The Rebel' is currently in it's second series, but, as I've only just discovered it, I've started watching it from the beginning of the first series which is available on catch-up. One of the advantages of having this technology is that you can watch series which you might not have otherwise managed to see. I know you can do this if you have DVDs of series, but in some way catch-up is better because you don't have to have piles of DVDs you watch once and probably never watch again. Anyway, I don't think Simon Callow has ever done sitcom before. He's generally known for fairly light comedy, or at least learning towards that sort of area, but I've never seen him in this sort of vehicle before. It's great to see actors in something that is slightly different from their usual roles. I can't see this being shown on the main channels, BBC1 or BBC2, although it might be shown after the watershed, because the language and some of the subject matter is quite, what I'd call contentious. By the way, don't confuse 'The Rebel' with the Tony Hancock film of he same name. There is no connection in any way with that film. Just a note.

Another more recent sitcom, although not in the stereotypical mould is 'Boomers'which is about three couples who are in the category of being retired. They live in 'Norfolk's only west facing resort, Thurnmouth. It ran for two series as well as a couple of Christmas specials on BBC1 and was written by Richard Pinto. It starred Philip Jackson, Alison Steadman, Russ Abbott, June Whitfield, Stephanie Beacham and Paula Wilcox. It was written by Richard Pinto. It's shot on film and has a similar feel to a much earlier series which also starred Russ Abbott with the sorely missed actor, Michael Williams, married to the fantastic Judi Dench and called 'September Song.' I think you would describe it as being 'bitter/sweet' as it could be extremely funny one minute and the next quite sad and extremely poignant. I think the best comedy should be able to shift between sad and the next be amusing. In a sense Anton Chekov's plays have a similar feeling to them, not entirely achingly funny, but having a depth to them beyond being merely amusing. It could definitely leaving you with a lump in your throat and give you pause for thought. Not a lot of modern comedy can do that. It moves from being funny one minute and the with a shift of emphasis be quite profound.

Radio Sit-Com

Having discussed sitcom in my last blog post, it's easy to write off one area that sitcoms are really successful. We tend to dismiss radio's contribution to the genre, and think that television is the only place for their production. But if it wasn't for BBC Radio Four (or, up until around 1967, when the stations were re-named) Home Service and Light Programme (which became Radio Two) we would never have had such delights as Hancock's Half-Hour which is considered, by many, to be the grandfather of sitcoms. The early episodes, right through to the much later episodes, are broadcast regularly on the digital station Radio Four Extra (originally called Radio Seven up until a few years ago.) A huge range of shows were, and still are, produced by the BBC. I could name not only 'Hancock's Half Hour' but also, 'The Navy Lark', 'The Men From The Ministry' and those shows which were adaptations of successful television shows such as 'Steptoe and Son' and 'Dad's Army'. Lesser-known, or indeed even remembered, are shows such as 'Marriage Lines' which starred very young actors of the likes of Richard Briars and Prunella Scales. 'Not In Front of The Children' which I seem to recall from the 1960's and which starred Wendy Craig. Some shows work really well on radio, whilst others don't seem to adapt too well. Perhaps if you're familiar with the television version the radio version would work for you. With radio you have to do quite a lot of work yourself as an audience-member. You have to concentrate harder when you have to listen to fairly complicated dialogue and when there's a difficult plot-situation. With radio you do have to LISTEN and CONCENTRATE, with television you don't have to work anywhere near as hard because so much of it is visual. Fairly obvious I suppose, because it has pictures as well as sound. You can have visual gags which, obviously, radio can provide.

It seems odd to think that you'd adapt a successful television sitcom for radio, as with 'Dad's Army' and 'Steptoe and Son.' Particularly 'Dad's Army' which had so much visual comedy in it's television version. 'Hancock's Half-Hour' used the idea of Tony Hancock having a sort of 'stage personality' an 'alternative' persona. The pompous, lazy, 'actor' or 'comedian.' It didn't (one presumes) really reflect his 'real' persona. It wasn't until the writers, Galton and Simpson, were rejected by Hancock as writers when he moved to I.T.V. that the B.B.C. allowed them a free hand with creating several 30-minute comedy plays that the eventual series of 'Steptoe' was developed from one particular episode called 'The Offer.' Putting character actors into the main roles meant that there was room for more character-driven plots and far more believable situations than they could write for Hancock.

As for the 'Navy Lark,' there is a certain amount of what can only be described as 'slapstick' in this very amusing show. I know it sounds crazy to describe it in those terms, but having listened to it recently on BBC Radio 4 Extra, there is nearly always some sort of incident when the ship it's set on H.M.S. Troutbridge, ends up crashing into another ship or a harbour wall or something and there's a great deal of noise and commotion as a result. In fact, that's why so much radio comedy work better in some respects than television, the sound effects that are used. I know 'The Goons' can never be classed as a sitcom, more a string of sketches, but it must have been quite revolutionary in it's use of sound effects. Feet running, explosions, clangs, pianos falling, etc etc which are just completely nuts and very funny.

A favourite radio comedy of mine is 'Clare In The Community.' It's based on the comic strip which appears in the Guardian 'society' section. Clare is a social worker who manages to sort out other people's problems but can't deal with her own, more specifically, her relationships. There's a good mix of characters and it works well on radio. I just don't want it to move to television because it will lose it distinctive flavour. Imagining what the characters look like is one of the best reasons for any form of radio drama or comedy. It's a bit like reading a novel and imagining how the characters sound and look. It can be a real disappointment when there's a film or television adaptation of your favourite novel when you see how a particular character is cast and presented, it can be a real let down.

One of the best things about radio, again particularly with comedy but also with drama in general, is that it can really stretch actor's abilities. Thinking in particular with people like Kenneth Williams, who was one of the supporting actors in 'Hancock's Half-Hour.' He had an incredible voice range and could conjure up an almost endless parade of weird and wonderful characters to support Hancock, whether it be an annoying neighbour, policemen, doctors or whatever a particular story required. It's no wonder that Hancock became obsessed with how he was so 'up-staged' by not just Williams but by Sid James and as a result they didn't move to television with him in the early 1960's.