The Benny Hill 1970 Annual
Thames TV and Fremantle Media
Released in Australia by Roadshow
R4 DVD
Reviewer:
Bob Estreich
In
the beginning there was the BBC, and it knew what sort of radio and television
the people of Britain needed. Unfortunately the people of Britain didn’t agree
and the British Government was pressured into allowing other TV networks to
open. One such was Thames TV, which started in mid 1968. The problem with a new
TV station is you have to find something to broadcast. The BBC was funded by
radio and TV license fees, but Thames had to rely on good shows to attract
viewers. It is to their great credit that they got it substantially right and,
among other areas, made their mark in British comedy. Many of Britain’s most
influential post-WW2 comedians got their start at Thames including some of the
immortal Monty Python crew.
An
early recruit was a young round-faced comedian named Benny Hill. They took him
from ATV, another network, and gave him a show in 1969. It was a standard
“variety” format for the time – some short sketches, standup comedy monologues,
funny songs and a visiting singer or group who could use a bit of publicity.
His show had run on the BBC for thirteen years (32 shows) and for another three
years on Associated TeleVision (8 episodes and a special), but a certain amount
of editorial control (censorship?) had not allowed the show to really blossom.
In
this 2-DVD set we see some of Benny Hill’s earlier work for Thames TV as the
show settled into the format that lasted from 1969 to 1989. The first show is
from 14th February 1970. The performance is still a little quaint
but the characteristics that made the later Benny Hill shows are there – the
risqué jokes, the standard supporting crew of Bob Todd, Henry McGee and Jack
Wright, the high-speed puns and jokes and a quick swipe at Thames TV itself as
represented by a very young Nicholas Parsons. This show also features one of
Hill’s early characters, Fred Scuttle, as a “program director” for Thames:
You
must remember, sir, that most of our viewers are broken down by age and sex.
Into categories, sir.
This
also introduced “A Director’s Nightmare”, a reconstruction of the things that
can go wrong on a TV show in the making. The segment proved popular and it was
carried on through a number of further shows.
It
all looked pretty low budget, mostly filmed in studio, but even in those early
Thames days Benny Hill’s genius showed through. Thames didn’t exercise too much
control and the result was a show that became one of the highest rating in
Britain and even made the translation (somewhat edited) to the United States.
The final British show aired to more than nine million viewers.
Hill,
who wrote his own scripts and songs, had a brilliant grip on the English
language and loved the pun. Puns popped up regularly in his monologues, poems
and musical items, as did almost unlimited double entendre and, unusually for
those times, even homosexual references. As the shows gained more popularity
the standard of the guests improved and an appearance on Benny Hill was sought
after.
He
was often criticised for the depiction of women as sex objects in his shows.
His reply was that he did not treat them as sex objects but lampooned the
people who wanted to see women as sexpots. His many female co-actors supported
him in this. His staff were surprisingly loyal to him right through the show’s
long history.
Are
Thames executives against attractive nude women?
Not
as often as they’d like to be, sir.
As
I watched the four shows I was astounded at the number of his jokes that are
still current after all this time. Instead of standup comedy monologues Hill
liked to recite poetry of his own writing. It was here that his true skills
really showed.
Ted
meets this fancy piece in town
And
Ted don’t hang around
He’s
back inside her flat quick as a wink
She
starts to pour him a gin and then
She
says “now you just tell me when”
He
says “right after I finish that there drink”
In
later shows he started to bring in a quick series of one-liners and brief skits
to handle the jokes that didn’t seem to fit anywhere else.
Doctor:
Don’t worry, my dear. You haven’t got Asian flu. You’ve got Egyptian Flu.
You’re going to be a mummy.
By
the show of 23rd December 1970 The Benny Hill Show had proved to be
one of Thames’ most popular shows, although he must have come close to
offending many people many times. The show now contained more outside location
filming (costly for a TV channel) and this episode featured A Tribute to the
Lower Tidmarsh Volunteer Fire Brigade, a true piece of slapstick humour in the
old music hall style that Hill so loved. It also featured, as part of a spoof
on talent shows, what became his biggest hit in another medium. Ernie
(he drove the fastest milkcart in the west) was a brilliant parody of
the old western gunfight story between a milkman and a baker for the
affections of a young lady. It was so popular that it was issued on record
where it clocked up quite respectable sales.
Now
Ernie dragged Ted from his van and beneath the blazing sun
They
stood there face to face then Ted went for his bun...
Hill
tried to produce a special show each year. This DVD set contains the 30-minute
1970 special Eddie In August as an extra. It is a series of skits
showing Eddie trying in vain to impress the girl of his dreams. It is a rather
sad little piece, but in the end love (or lust) triumphs.
The
show was still being aired as recently as 2004 and Thames is now releasing the
shows in annual sets. So far they are up to the early 1980s. The DVDs are,
let’s face it, TV videotape quality. They could do with a bit of cleaning up
perhaps but they are still quite viewable in spite of their age and they are
still great fun to watch. It’s worth putting up with the minor quality issues
to watch one of Britain’s greatest comics at work.
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This
review will appear in Volume 2 No.5
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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