Super Sonic

## Bio

**Super Sonic** is a British music program that featured and debuted prominent musical artists of the Seventies. The format features a series of acts and entertainments directed from back stage by a director (Benny Hill) yelling instructions to his staff and cameramen. (Of which there are only three.)

The first entertainer up is Lynsey Paul (Jack Wright), who sings "Gentle With Me," the sweetness innocence of her voice belied by the extreme age of her face. However, her performance is waylaid by the power of a breeze machine that blows everything along with her blonde wig off-stage.

Next up is Roy Wood (Benny) singing "Rose," but as the camera pans around his band, several of them are found with freakish mutations, such as keyboard player (Jane Eve) with large hairy hands, a violinist (Jackie Wright) in boxing gloves and a pianist (Eddie Buchanan) with feet for hands. Wood tries to play the saxaphone, but he keeps missing the loose mouth piece, and on the high note, his microphone explodes burning off his beard and long hair.

Off-stage, Dennis Roussous (Eddie Buchanan) announces Roy Orbison to sing from his album, running the words "music album" into "musical bum" together, causing wincing and giggling from the staff. Meanwhile, on-stage, Roy Orbison (Benny) sings "You're The One" unaware of the difficulty of the production. The breeze machine makes it look like he's in a snow storm, and instead of confetti, spaghetti gets dumped on him. Back stage, a cup of coffee get spilled on the script girl (Libby Roberts).

The final act features Eddie Buchanan and Tex Cymball singing I'll Never Know, but the theatrics once again go over the top. The balloons are constantly squeaking, one back-up singer (Susie Baker) sees her dress gets blown off her body by the wind machine, Tex notices his guitarist (Jackie Wright) has double-high heels on his shoes, the camera pans too far under another back-up singer's (Libby) skirt and the smoke machine drives everyone off-stage coughing and gagging. When the director (Benny) comes out to thank everyone, he finds the stage abandoned and deserted.

## Trivia

* "Supersonic" was a British television music show, which featured pop music artists of the day, one of the many attempts by ITV to equal the success of the BBC's Top of the Pops. Launched in 1975, the 25-minute show was produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network and ran just two years.
* In the opening montage, the sketch is called "Supersonic." However, on Libby's T-shirt, it's "Super Sonic."
* Benny's director persona was based on director Mike Mansfield, the director of the "Supersonic" program. The assistant director was played by Paul Eddington and the script girl is Libby Roberts. Two unknown extras also briefly appear, and Eddie Buchanan briefly appears as the Greek singer and songwriter, Dennis Roussous. Teresa Lucas also appears.
	+ Eddie had previous played Dennis in the March 24, 1976 opener.
* Lynsey de Paul was a English singer and songwriter who had several chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s. Starting with the song, "Sugar Me,", she was the first British female artist to achieve #1 hit song in Belgium, Spain and The Netherlands.
* Roy Wood was an English musician, singer and songwriter through the 1960s and 1970s. He was a member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard, and as a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of the bands.
* Teresa Lucas and Susie Baker play Roy Wood's backup singers. His band includes Jane Eve (keyboard), Jackie Wright (violin), Teresa Lucas (guitar), Paul Eddington (trombone), an unidentified cast member (drums) and Eddie Buchanan (piano).
* Roy Orbison was an American singer-songwriter and musician whose career spanned over four decades, noted for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as operatic, earning him the honorific nicknames "The Caruso of Rock" and "The Big O."
	+ Benny also played Orbison as "Roy Orpington" in Top of the Tops on January 27, 1971.
* Benny's third performance in the sketch isn't named, but the orange hair suggests he's playing Tex Cymball from the March 26, 1975 episode.
* At the time of this episode, Benny was 52-years-old, the same age that Orbison was when he died. Both of them passed from heart trouble.

## Gallery

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