The Two Ronnies

The Two Ronnies Unseen Sketches

This special programme relates how, just before Ronnie Barker's retirement in 1986, the Two Ronnies travelled to Sydney to make a series for Australia's Channel Nine. Their regular British show had been a huge hit down under, and now they were to create a new version especially for Australia.

The Big Show

The Big Show is an American comedy-variety-musical television series produced and broadcast by NBC for several months in 1980. The series aimed to revitalize the moribund variety television genre, which had been in a downward spiral since the cancellations of The Ed Sullivan Show and The Carol Burnett Show a few years earlier. The Big Show took its title seriously, using a huge stage set and filling a 90-minute time-slot, with at least one two-hour installment broadcast. Although the first broadcast received high ratings, poor reviews and low ratings of succeeding episodes resulted in the program being cancelled after only a few months. The series nonetheless was nominated for six Emmy Awards, winning for Outstanding Costume Design. Regular performers included Joe Baker, Graham Chapman, Mimi Kennedy, Shabba-Doo and Pamela Myers. Guest hosts included Steve Allen, Nell Carter, David Copperfield, Geoffrey Holder, Gary Coleman, and Sid Caesar. Skaters who performed in the show included Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, John Curry, and Toller Cranston.

Love Soup

Parallel storylines follow English perfume saleswoman Alice Chenery and American comedy writer Gil Raymond, who are seemingly perfect soulmates but never meet, as they deal with their chaotic lives and relationships.

Frost on Sketch Shows

Sir David Frost traces the development of the sketch show over the last fifty years, from variety theatre to primetime television.

Mark Saber

A half-hour 1950s detective television series that took different forms and titles during its run. From October 1951 to June 1954, ABC Mystery Theater stars Tom Conway as the titular character, a plainclothes English detective working with the NYPD Homicide Division. The Vise (seasons 1–4): Donald Gray portrays Saber as a one-armed private detective based in London. Broadcast on ABC from October 1954 to June 1957. Saber of London (seasons 5–7): Gray reprises his role in this final iteration, broadcast on NBC from September 1957 to May 1960.

Cilla

A mostly live weekly entertainment show starring Cilla Black and her special guests.

Would I Lie to You?

A comedic panel show featuring team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell plus two guests per side, hosted by Rob Brydon (formerly Angus Deayton). Each person must reveal embarrassing facts and outrageous lies during a series of different rounds including "Home Truths", "This Is My..." and "Quickfire Lies". It is up to the opposing team to tell tall tales from fantastic facts.

Extras

Andy Millman gave up his day job five years ago in the hope of achieving the big time, but he’s yet to land a speaking part, let alone saunter down the red carpet to pick up an Oscar. He remains optimistic however, as rubbing shoulders with the A-list on-set only serves to reinforce his belief that the big time is just a job or two away.

Monty Python: Before the Flying Circus

Discover how six seemingly ordinary but supremely talented men became Monty Python, sketch comedy's inspired group of lunatics who turned such unlikely sources of inspiration as Spam, dead parrots and the Inquisition into enduring punch lines. This entertaining documentary includes interviews with members of the troupe, as well as home movies, photos and rare recordings from Monty Python's early years.

Monkey Trousers

Monkey Trousers was a short-lived comedy series on ITV in 2005, featuring Alistair McGowan, John Thomson, Ronni Ancona, Mackenzie Crook, Griff Rhys Jones, Neil Morrissey, Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer, Marc Wootton and Steve Coogan. It was directed by David Kerr and produced by Bob Mortimer and Vic Reeves' production company, Pett Productions. It succeeded The All Star Comedy Show, which was written by Reeves and Mortimer, and produced by Coogan. Sketches of the show included the moronic, yet fearless 'Croc Botherer', Roy the eerie, lonely toy-shopkeeper, Alistair the hopeless estate agent, who replies to every question with "I don't know", the swearing chef, and the 'Geordie Astronauts'. A DVD of the series was released on 4 July 2005.

Noel's House Party

Noel's House Party is a BBC television light entertainment show hosted by Noel Edmonds that was broadcast live on Saturday evenings throughout the 1990s. It was set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo. The show was broadcast during the autumn-spring season. It was the successor show to Noel's Saturday Roadshow, and carried over some of its regular features such as the Gunge Tank, the Gotcha Oscar and Wait 'Till I Get You Home. In 2010, Noel's House Party was voted the best Saturday night TV show of all time. The show had many regular guests posing as fictional villagers, including Frank Thornton and Vicki Michelle. The show gave birth to Mr. Blobby in the Gotcha segment. The character became well known, ruining the premise of the segment, but Blobby still made appearances. There was also a contrived rivalry between Noel and Tony Blackburn. In addition, many episodes featured one-off guest stars, including Michael Crawford as Frank Spencer, who came in to find the whole audience dressed as Frank after Fantastic Stuart Henderson from Troon had performed as Frank singing The Beatles song "I Saw Her Standing There", and Ken Dodd in a highwayman's outfit - 'Going cheap at the Maxwell sale' - as Noel's long lost 'twin', Berasent.

The One Ronnie

One of Britain's most enduring and best-loved comics, Ronnie Corbett, turned 80 in December 2010. In this brand new comedy sketch show, the octogenarian comic legend appears alongside some of the biggest names in British comedy, in sketches featuring everything from a superannuated super-hero to a stage-struck dog. Add in a sprinkling of one-liners and a brand new Ronnie monologue in the famous chair for the must-see comedy of the festive season.

The Saint

Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.

The Picnic

A crusty old English General leads his eccentric family on a family picnic trip, and comic chaos ensues.

The Graham Norton Show

Each week celebrity guests join Irish comedian Graham Norton to discuss what's being going on around the world that week. The guests poke fun and share their opinions on the main news stories. Graham is often joined by a band or artist to play the show out.

Have I Got News for You

Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.

A Bit of Fry & Laurie

A British comedy television series with turns of phrase and elaborate wordplay, written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

Kroll Show

Kroll Show is an American sketch comedy television series created by and starring comedian Nick Kroll.

The Amanda Show

The Amanda Show is an American live action sketch comedy and variety show that aired on Nickelodeon from October 16, 1999 to September 21, 2002. It starred Amanda Bynes, Drake Bell, and Nancy Sullivan, along with several performing artists who came and left at different points, such as John Kassir, Raquel Lee, and Josh Peck. The show was a spin-off from All That, in which Bynes had co-starred for several years. The show was unexpectedly cancelled at the end of 2002, according to creator Dan Schneider's blog. Writers for the show included John Hoberg, Steven Molaro, Andrew Hill Newman, and Dan Schneider. Two years after the end of The Amanda Show, Dan Schneider created a new series, called Drake & Josh, featuring Drake Bell, Josh Peck and Nancy Sullivan.

Little Britain

A zany comedy show with Matt Lucas and David Walliams, featuring characters from all over Little Britain.