LWT Comedy Programmes
A look at London Weekend Television's comedy programmes, which ranged from slightly politically incorrect sitcoms to high quality romcoms.
Early successes in the comedy genre
London Weekend's first ever programme, We Have Ways of Making You Laugh, hosted by Frank Muir, was blacked out by an industrial dispute 15 seconds after the station went on air for the first time.
On The Buses was the station's first really popular comedy series, earning high viewing figures across the network and a subsequent long run.
A rare ITV outing for Ronnie Barker in London Weekend's 1968 comedy Hark at Barker. Curry and Chips - written by Alf Garnett creator Johnny Speight and starring Spike Milligan, Kenny Lynch and Eric Sykes - was LWT's first colour production in 1969. Set in a factory canteen, the intention was to highlight racial discrimination, but the Independent Television Authority felt the show to be racist and forced LWT to take it off the air.
Doctor In Charge, 1970s
Copyright © London Weekend Television/ITVplc
Doctor in Charge was a ratings-banker for London Weekend in the early 1970s and it was followed up with Doctor at Large. Both starred Robin Nedwell. |
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Please Sir!, 1969-1975
Copyright © London Weekend Television/ITVplc
John Alderton was the long-suffering hip young teacher in the highly popular Please Sir! which ran from 1969 until 1975. |
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Mind Your Language, 1977-1981
Copyright © London Weekend Television/ITVplc
Barry Evans played the beleagured English teacher in this cheesy comedy, set in an adult education centre. Mind Your Language, screened from 1977 to 1981, and written by Vince Powell, was set in a language class. The light-hearted series was accused of promoting racial stereotypes and was cancelled by Michael Grade when he became programme controller at LWT. An independent production company revived it for a brief run on ITV in 1986. |
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Slapstic, satire and sitcoms
The Fosters, 1974-1978, featured a young Lenny Henry, fresh from talent show success, in its cast.
Whoops Apocalypse was a highly entertaining cold war satire charting the events leading up to a notional Third World War. It should be repeated!
The Goodies, 1980-1981
Copyright © London Weekend Television/ITVplc
LWT bought the rights to The Goodies which had enjoyed a long run on the BBC in the 70s, but the move backfired when the true implications of the very high production expenses became apparent and the antics of Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor, ran for two seasons only on ITV. Click the image for the video. |
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Agony, 1979-1981
Copyright © London Weekend Television/ITVplc
Maureen Lipman was the star of Agony from 1979 to 1981, where she starred as a magazine and local radio agony aunt who had to cope with a highly complex family life herself. The show also featured Simon Williams. |
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A Fine Romance, 1981-1984
Copyright © London Weekend Television/ITVplc
A Fine Romance, with Judi Dench, Michael Williams and Susan Penhaligon, was an award-winning comedy for LWT, which ran between 1981 and 1984. Only 26 episodes were made but the show was hugely popular. Click the image for the video. |
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Me and My Girl, 1984-1988
Copyright © London Weekend Television/ITVplc
Richard O' Sullivan starred in the mid-1980s situation comedy Me and My Girl which ran between 1984 and 1988. Joanne Ridley played the daughter, Emma, and Joan Sanderson, of Please Sir fame, played the marvellous battleaxe of a mother-in-law. Tim Brooke-Taylor, of The Goodies fame, also starred in the show as O' Sullivan's business partner, Derek Yates. |
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Yuppie chuckles
Two LWT outings for Nicholas Lyndhurst, first in The Piglet Files, by Colin Bostock-Smith, and secondly in the popular mid-1980s yuppie drama, The Two Of Us, which dealt with an upwardly mobile young city couple and the trials and tribulations of setting up home together.
Cannon and Ball got big audiences with their comedy double act in the early to mid 80s.
Faith in the Future starred Lynda Bellingham and Julia Sawahla as mother and daughter. Hale and Pace kept many of us chuckling during Sunday nights from the late 80s to the mid 90s and James Bolam and Lynda Bellingham got together in Second Thoughts, a traditional sitcom format from LWT.
Other successful comedies from London Weekend Television included: the zany and rather clever part-networked skit on contemporary television, End of Part One.