I have to be honest, I didn’t exactly have a rule against embedding GB News material on here. I didn’t think I really needed one. What was the likelihood that I’d ever have cause to do it?| Dirty Feed
Some of you may think I’m a little too obsessed with studio recording dates for sitcoms. It is surely something deeply unhealthy, which makes me look less like a proper TV historian, and more like someone who enjoys wading through irrelevant trivia.| Dirty Feed
“The finished movie we see on the screen is often far different from the director’s original conception. The Cutting Room Floor is the intriguing study of the wounds, bruises, Band-Aids, and sometimes miracle remedies that can often improve a film… or destroy it.”| Dirty Feed
19th September 1975, 9pm, BBC2, and the first programme of a little series called Fawlty Towers is broadcast. And whilst most of that first series of Fawlty Towers was shot in the summer of 1975, the very first episode – A Touch of Class – was recorded eight months earlier, in December 1974. The reason for this is simple: that first programme was a pilot. Unlike some programmes, which are re-recorded entirely for their first episode1, most of that pilot made it to air more or less in its ...| Dirty Feed
The Young Ones was written by Ben Elton, Rik Mayall, and Lise Mayer, with additional material by Alexei Sayle. One of those names is not like the others. After all, Ben Elton shows up on-screen in …| Dirty Feed
It somehow seems fitting that the very first thing recorded in studio for The Young Ones was one of its most well-remembered sketches. On the 23rd January 1982 at 7:30pm, without a studio audience …| Dirty Feed
“The pilot show of a new sit-com about Edina, a neurotic, but successful woman who runs her own PR/design/fashion business and is obsessed with keeping up with the times. Her very sensible, teenage daughter Saffron lives with her and is forced into taking the mothering role. Edina is easily lead astray by her degenerate friend, Patsy, who is a magazine editor. Bubble is Edina’s secretary.| Dirty Feed
Just what was changed between the pilot of Fawlty Towers and the eventual broadcast first episode?| Dirty Feed
MAROON: Look, Valiant. His wife’s poison, but he thinks she’s Betty Crocker. I want you to follow her. Get me a couple of nice juicy pictures I can wise the rabbit up with.| Dirty Feed
While watching a 1987 episode of Spitting Image the other day, something rather odd occurred. And something odd occurring during an episode of Spitting Image has rapidly turned into this site’…| Dirty Feed
Back in June, I published the first part of my Young Ones Music Guide, detailing every single piece of music heard in Series 1 of The Young Ones. Some of you may be wondering why the second part is…| Dirty Feed
It’s the 6th February 1984 in studio TC4, and Rik Mayall is having a circular saw aimed at his knackers. I write a lot about comedy on here. Sometimes I write some very silly things about com…| Dirty Feed
What does John Cleese hate about his magnum opus?| Dirty Feed
I have to be honest, I didn’t exactly have a rule against embedding GB News material on here. I didn’t think I really needed one. What was the likelihood that I’d ever have cause to do it?| Dirty Feed
DAISY: There was a time when you used to chase me all over the house. ONSLOW: That was before we got colour, wasn’t it. — Keeping Up Appearances, “The Art Exhibition”, TX: 1…| Dirty Feed
Old TV shows gather anecdotes over the years. They gather anecdotes until it’s sometimes difficult to see the real story through the detritus. It’s not really anybody’s fault. It …| Dirty Feed
I have to be honest, I didn’t exactly have a rule against embedding GB News material on here. I didn’t think I really needed one. What was the likelihood that I’d ever have cause …| Dirty Feed
I have to be honest, I didn’t exactly have a rule against embedding GB News material on here. I didn’t think I really needed one. What was the likelihood that I’d ever have cause to do it?| Dirty Feed
Part One • Part Two • Part Three • Part Four • Part Five • Part Six • Part Seven NICEY: Freddie was my most glorious introduction to pop. I remember the morn after the…| Dirty Feed
Shooting audience sitcom has all kinds of unique production problems compared to other types of television. After all, any TV show has to decide whether to shoot a given scene on location, or in th…| Dirty Feed
One problem with writing Dirty Feed is that there are so many strands of research here, that I end up losing track of some of them. Such was the case with early 80s Radio 2 sitcom Wally Who?, writt…| Dirty Feed
Some of you may think I’m a little too obsessed with studio recording dates for sitcoms. It is surely something deeply unhealthy, which makes me look less like a proper TV historian, and more…| Dirty Feed
Saturday the 12th April, 2014. I’m sitting in NC1, BBC One’s transmission suite. I’m not yet fully running things by myself; I’m still training. And one thing I’m stil…| Dirty Feed
Last month, I wrote about the 1993 Red Dwarf script book Primordial Soup, and how it gave us a little insight into the production of “Psirens”. But there’s plenty else of interest…| Dirty Feed
INSPECTOR FOWLER: We have all seen the musical Oliver, and are familiar with the images of jolly, apple-cheeked urchins in big hats. Well, dispel this cozy impression. The Artful Dodger was a thief…| Dirty Feed
What exactly is Smashie and Nicey – the End of an Era? One of the endless joys of the show is that it’s many things. A parody of a certain kind of DJ, of course. Also a pastiche of a ce…| Dirty Feed
MAROON: Look, Valiant. His wife’s poison, but he thinks she’s Betty Crocker. I want you to follow her. Get me a couple of nice juicy pictures I can wise the rabbit up with. VALIANT: For…| Dirty Feed
Having spent an entire year writing about flash frames in The Young Ones, you really would think I was done with the whole damn thing now. And I nearly am, I promise. However, I have one last thing…| Dirty Feed
1. Model Shot Starfield. We pan to reveal enormous sun. After a pause, Starbug beetles across the disc of the sun. 2. Int. Obs. Deck Dark. Various consoles click into life as we pan round the room,…| Dirty Feed
Sometimes, a sitcom mystery you’ve wondered about for years suddenly gets resolved. And for Dirty Feed, this one is the motherlode. After all, with the pilot episode of Fawlty Towers, youR…| Dirty Feed
AUGUSTUS: What a gift you Greeks have. Incidentally, the battle, you know: it wasn’t like that. No, not at all. But you described it poetically, I understand that. It was poetic licence. I…| Dirty Feed
Part One • Part Two • Part Three • Part Four • Part Five On the 8th May 1984, at 9:15pm ((At exactly 21:15:12, if my calculations are correct.)), something very odd happened on …| Dirty Feed
Assumptions are the enemy of research everywhere. Beware of anything which is “obviously” true. You can find yourself in a whole world of trouble. For instance, take the two Fawlty Towe…| Dirty Feed
One of my favourite things about The Fast Show is how many different textures it has. For instance: it isn’t just a programme which knows which sketches need to be shot on location, and which…| Dirty Feed
I’d like to quote to you one of my favourite pieces of criticism about animation. Scrub that, it’s one of my favourite pieces of criticism full stop. It’s from Michael BarrierR…| Dirty Feed
Jonathan Lynn’s Comedy Rules: From the Cambridge Footlights to Yes, Prime Minister is a slightly odd tome. Part autobiography, part an attempt to nail down the rules of comedy – while a…| Dirty Feed
On the 23rd December 1982, BBC2 broadcast the final episode of Series 3 of Yes Minister. Titled “The Middle Class Rip-off”, it’s an amusing satire on arts funding, and the nature …| Dirty Feed
Here’s a question for you. When did Alan Partridge first appear on television? Caveats: a) I specifically mean television. Radio is brilliant, and also outside the scope of this article. b) F…| Dirty Feed