The Benny Hill Show: Difference between revisions

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The Benny Hill Show is a popular British comedy television show starring Benny Hill.

There were various incarnations of the show, between 1951 and 1991, and it aired in over 140 countries. The show was generally sketch-based, with heavy use of slapstick, mime, parody and double-entendre. Thames Television cancelled production of the show in 1989, due to declining audience ratings and large production costs

The Benny Hill Show features Benny Hill in various short comedy sketches.

The show also features occasional extravagant musical performances by top artists of the time. Hill appeared in many different costumes and portrayed a vast array of characters. Slapstick, burlesque, and double entendre were his hallmark. A group of critics accused the show of sexism, but Hill claimed that female characters kept their dignity while the men chasing them were portrayed as buffoons.

The show often used undercranking and sight gags to create what he called 'live animation' and he employed techniques like mime and parody. The show typically closed with a sped-up chase scene involving himself and often a crew of scantily-clad women, a takeoff on the stereotypical Keystone Kops chase scenes. Benny Hill also composed and sang patter songs and often entertained his audience with lengthy high-speed double-entendre rhymes and songs, which he recited or sang in a single take.

Hill also used the television camera to create comedic illusions. For example, in a murder mystery farce entitled "Murder on the Oregon Express" from 1976 (a parody of Murder on the Orient Express), Hill used both editing, camera angles and impersonations to depict a Quinn Martin–like TV "mystery" featuring Hill in the roles of 1970s American television detectives Ironside, McCloud, Kojak, Cannon and Hercule Poirot).

During his television career, Hill performed impersonations or parodies of American celebrities, such as W. C. Fields, Orson Welles (renamed "Orson Buggy") and Raymond Burr, and fictional characters, ranging from The Six Million Dollar Man to Starsky and Hutch to Kenny Rogers, to The A-Team, to Cagney & Lacey. His own country's celebrities did not escape his comedic eye either: Hill also delivered impersonations of such British stars as Michael Caine (in his Alfie role), newscasters Reginald Bosanquet, Alan Whicker and Cliff Michelmore, pop-music show hosts Jimmy Savile and Tony Blackburn, musician Roger Whittaker, his former 1960s record producer Tony Hatch, political figures Lord Boothby and Denis Healey, and Irish comedian Dave Allen. On a few occasions, he even impersonated his former straight man, Nicholas Parsons. A spoof of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? saw him playing both Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Hill's show was considered funnier than Monty Python by two TV stations!

The show's theme song, "Yakety Sax", which has gained a particular cult following on its own, was written by James Q. "Spider" Rich and performed by Boots Randolph. The show's musical director was noted pianist and easy listening conductor Ronnie Aldrich, and vocal backing was provided by session singers, The Ladybirds, (who also frequently appeared on camera from 1969 to 1974). For three episodes of the 1973–74 season, Albert Elms filled in for Aldrich as musical director.

Apart from the theme tune, another signature of the show was the enthusiastic announcer intro: "Yes! It's The Benny Hill Show!" (The announcer was often cast member McGee.) From 1975 onwards, Hill was also introduced at the start of each show as "The Lad Himself". The show closed with Hill's salute: "Thank you for being with us, and we look forward to seeing you all again — very, very soon. Until then, bye bye."

The main supporting cast included Henry McGee, Jon Jon Keefe, Nicholas Parsons, Bob Todd and Jackie Wright.

The regular sexpot type females included Jenny Lee-Wright, Sue Bond, Bettine Le Beau, Lesley Goldie, Cherri Gilham, Diana Darvey and Hill's Angels Louise English, Jane Leeves and Sue Upton. Angels who only appeared once, include Susan Clark and Sue McIntosh.

Character actresses includes Anna Dawson, Bella Emberg and Rita Webb,Patricia Hayes

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• Don Estelle
• Paul Eddington
• Paula Wilcox

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• Patrick Newell
• Hugh Paddick
• Kathy Staff

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• Trisha Noble
• Dilys Watling
• Stella Moray

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• Percy Thrower
• Liz Fraser
• Carl Wayne

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In the 1980s, as the climate of political correctness continued to grow, two of these former guests — Eddington and Wilcox — refused to allow the respective editions in which they appeared to ever be shown on British television again.

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• Petula Clark
• Alma Cogan

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• Kiki Dee
• Judith Durham

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• Cleo Laine
• The Mike Sammes Singers

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• Anne Shelton
• The Springfields

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• Design

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Hill also gave the first major exposure to several Spanish groups, including Luis Alberto del Paraná and Los Paraguayos on his show. With few exceptions, most of the musical numbers did not make it to the U.S. syndicated series.

In the late 1970s, Thames Television purchased a week's transmission time on two stations owned by RKO General which were offering a "British Week" schedule and were in the two largest American television markets; New York City's WOR-TV and KHJ-TV in Los Angeles. This introduced the show to American audiences and was immediately popular; subsequent screenings involved a series of re-edited half-hour programmes culled from the ITV specials. Due to heavy editing, the U.S. versions of his show have far less risqué material than those aired in the UK.

The show was awarded the 'Special Prize of the City of Montreux' at the Rose d'Or festival in 1984. Selected sketches from the first four years (1969–1972) of the Thames run were also edited into a feature film, The Best of Benny Hill (1974).

Hill in 1977 produced a special in Australia (see below) whose contents found their way into scattered episodes of the U.S. half-hour syndicated edits. The cast of that Australian show included Barry Otto and Ron Shand.

In June 1989, Thames Television's new Head of Light Entertainment, John Howard Davies invited Benny in for a meeting. Having just returned from a triumphant Cannes TV festival Benny assumed that they were to discuss details of a new series. Instead John Howard Davies thanked Benny for all he had done for Thames Television and then sacked him.

In a documentary on Benny Hill, John Howard Davies stated that there had been three reasons for the cancellation: "...the audiences were going down, the programme was costing a vast amount of money, and he (Hill) was looking tired.

At its peak in 1977, 21 million viewers tuned in to Hill's show. In 1989 there were 9 million viewers. However, even the top comics of 1989 were not commanding audiences that Hill had while he was at his peak, following the launch of several new stations in the country during the 1980s.^[1]

The Benny Hill Show aired in one-hour portions (not corresponding to the original hour-long format), twice nightly on BBC America from October 2004 to April 2007, restoring much of the mature content not seen in previous American airings (as such, most airings had a rating of TV-MA). Half-hour edits also appeared on ITV.

As of February 2010, the show is being broadcast on Australia's 7TWO channel. The show has also been aired in India on UTV, dubbed in various Indian languages.

Antenna TV, aka AntTV, a network created for digital subchannels in the USA, started showing the show Friday and Saturday nights in three hour blocks on January 1, 2011.

In 2004, the Thames specials were released uncut (except for ad-break bumpers) on Region 1 DVD sets for the U.S., by A&E Home Video, entitled Benny Hill: Complete And Unadulterated. Each set package represents multiple years of the shows in order of the original airings, with Benny Hill Trivia Challenges, a booklet, and extras. In total, all 58 episodes of the Thames years of TBHS are showcased in the collection.

In 2005 the Thames specials began to appear uncut (including the original ad-break bumpers) on Region 2 DVD sets, each representing one year and entitled The Benny Hill Annual. To date, The Benny Hill Annuals 1969–1989 have been released on DVD by Network. The 1969-79 Annuals have also been bundled together into a boxed set. The 1980-89 Annuals have now also been bundled together into a boxed set. ^{[citation needed]}

Another boxset containing all the 1969-89 Annuals "double bundled up together" will be scheduled to follow in 2011.

• Hi There, broadcast on BBC1 (1951) - One episode was made.
• The Forces Show, broadcast on BBC1 (1953) - Seven episodes were made.
• Showcase, broadcast on BBC1 (1954) - Eight episodes were made.
• The Benny Hill Show, broadcast on BBC1 (1955, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1964–66, 1968) - 32 episodes were made.
• The Benny Hill Show, broadcast on ATV (1957–60, 1967) - Nine episodes were made.
• Benny Hill on The BBC, broadcast on BBC1 (1962–63) - a sitcom where Hill played a different role every week. Nineteen episodes were made.
• The Benny Hill Show, broadcast on Thames (1969–86, 1988–89) - 58 episodes were made.
• The Waiters (1969) - A 30-minute silent film.^[2]
• Eddie In August (1970) - A 25-minute silent film.^[3][4]
• Benny Hill Down Under - 1977 special broadcast on Channel 10.
• Benny Hill's World Tour: New York! - 1991 special broadcast on the USA Network.^[5][6]

Roughly half of the shows Hill did for the BBC exist. Parts of the surviving editions were released on Region 1 DVD by Warner Home Video in 2005 under the title Benny Hill: The Lost Years.

• Benny Hill page at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
• The Benny Hill Show page at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
• The Benny Hill Songbook Lyrics and transcripts
• Benny's Place featuring Louise English & Hill's Angels A tribute to Benny Hill
• The Benny Hill Show at IMDb
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