Some 45 years after Sir David Jason first set foot into Arkwright’s convenience store, Still Open All Hours has been commissioned for a 5th series which will air later this year on BBC One. Jason will return in the role of Granville who inherited the shop from the miserly Arkwright, played by Ronnie Barker. Granville was […]
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Game of Thrones and Peaky Blinders star Aidan Gillen stars as comedian Dave Allen in BBC2’s upcoming biopic Dave Allen at Peace. The snappily-dressed Irish comic who died in 2005 was best-known for his 1970s comedy series, Dave Allen at Large, which featured a combination of sketches and Allen’s signature ‘solo joke telling while sitting on a stool with […]
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Comedy legend Ronnie Corbett CBE was honored in a service of Thanksgiving on Wednesday at Westminster Abbey. Corbett, who passed away in March 2016 at the age of 85, made up 1/2 of the brilliant sketch comedy duo on The Two Ronnies with Ronnie Barker. The special service of thanksgiving at the historic church included readings, prayers, reminiscences […]
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Sadly, this is no April Fools joke. Ronnie Corbett, the co-star of The Two Ronnies, one of the most successful and long running light entertainment shows on British television, has died at the age of 85. At its peak, over 17 million viewers each week watched the legendary sketch comedy show, which ran from 1971-1987 on […]
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Britain’s Royal Mail rolled out a long-overdue collection of stamps celebrating British comedy greats on Wednesday, April 1. Thankfully, this was no April Fools Day joke. The brilliant set features British comedy greats from the 1950s to the modern day, from Norman Wisdom and Morecambe and Wise to Spike Milligan and Victoria Wood. Stamps featuring […]
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I may be in the minority here, but one of my most favorite British situation comedies of all-time is Open All Hours. Written by Roy Clarke (Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances) and starring comedy legends Ronnie Barker and David Jason, Open All Hours ‘premiered’ in 1973 as a last-minute addition to Barker’s comedy anthology series, Seven […]
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Forty years ago this month, in a scene reminiscent of the Beatles’ first trip to America, four members of the Monty Python comedy troupe landed at Dallas’ Love Field and were mobbed by adoring fans. The troupe had just flown in from LA where Monty Python and the Holy Grail had just been screened for the first time to […]
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In the age of more and more communication via texts, email and FaceTime, the archaic practice of sending snail mail may just get a bit more fun beginning 1 April 2015. Royal Mail has just released the first images of a new set of stamps celebrating Britain’s comedy greats, including The Two Ronnies, Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie […]
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Ok, I know I went a bit overboard ranting last Fall over the fact that I saw no reason for CBS’ Elementary series after the genius that was the BBC’s Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. After all, what’s the point of creating another 21st century ‘Sherlock’ when the first was was the definition […]
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As comedy duos in the world of British comedy go, historically, most U.S. viewers are only familiar with the more recent juggernauts of Fry and Laurie or French and Saunders. As is particularly the case in the UK, comedy duos are not unfamiliar to U.S. audiences given the success of Martin & Lewis, Laurel & […]
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