recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
The BBC, Leprechauns and Soldiers

## Production

**Episode:** 3

**Date:** February 18, 1971

**Producer:** Peter Whitmore

**Director:**

**Writer:** Dave Allen, Austin Steele and Peter Vincent

## Cast

* Dave Allen
* Ronnie Brody
* Jacqueline Clarke
* Ian Burford
* Michael Sharvell-Martin
* Chris Serle

## Quotes

* **Jacqueline Clarke** - "Just like a man, your word means nothing!" (as one of the sketch characters disgusted at her lover collapsing at her feet)
* **Dave Allen** - "As an Irishman, I've been asked many times if leprechauns exist, and do I believe in them, and for the book, they don't exist, but I do believe in them."

## Trivia

* "Elementary, my dear Watson..."
 Sherlock Holmes never said this in any of his books. The closest version of it appears in "The Crooked Man" published first in 1893 and included in "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" published in 1894 where Holmes says a brief "Elementary" after observations from his friend and colleague, Dr. Watson.
* Dave Allen and Michael Sharvell-Martin playing Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson would be recurring sketch characters through the series.
* Toulouse Lautrec would be a brief recurring character for Dave through the first season.

## Sequence

* **Last Episode:** The Magician
* **Next Episode:** Seeing Is Believing
The Streaker's Ball

## Bio

The **Streaker's Ball** is a closing number performed by the **Milk Marketing Board** singing group on March 23, 1977. It is performed on a stage set up like a town square with a bandstand area. Benny Hill is the lead singer and band leader of the group accompanied by Henry McGee on tuba blowing up Lorraine Doyle's skirt, Dilys Watling on triangle, Jackie Wright on trombone and Eddie Buchanan on clarinet. The other band members include Lorraine Doyle on flute, Penny Rigden(?) on flute, Suzy Mandel on clarinet (who loses her skirt on Benny's baton), Spencer Shires on cymbals, Rita Webb on piccolo, Pete Morgan on trumpet and Claire Lutter on cornet. They all put down their instruments to join Benny on the chorus and getting together to march off stage in single file with Benny using his cap to conceal Suzy's missing skirt.

## Lyrics

Now the whole darn town sure opened up its eyes...

The night they held the Streakers Ball,

There was every shape and every size...

At the Streakers Ball

As the first girl came running in a lovely bit of stuff,

Well, Charlie had a stroke, and so did Mr. Duff.

I wanted one as well, but I wasn't quick enough,

At the Streakers Ball.

Oh, Fancy Dress tonight, and it sure was fun.

At the Streakers Ball

Cousin Annie walked in backwards as a hot-crossed bun

At the Streakers Ball

Though he's got a wooden leg, my poor old Uncle Dick

Poured treacle on his bald head, half an inch thick.

He said, "I'm going as a toffee apple on a stick,

"To the Streakers Ball."

Auntie Jean went as Godiva, and the horse cost fifty quid

At the Streakers Ball

But the horse got more dances than Auntie Jeannie did

At the Streakers Ball

"Who's the man with the mask on?" the mayor asked Mrs. Gray,

She said, "He's not my husband, I'm very sad to say."

And Elsie said, "He doesn't come from this town anyway,"

At the Streakers Ball.

They had a streakers wedding, at least that's what I'm told

At the Streakers Ball

And the bridegroom couldn't find a place to put his button hole

At the Streakers Ball

A bridesmaid was heard to mutter, "Oh, what utter bliss,

"A slap-up streakers wedding is a thing I'd never miss.

"And you can always tell who the best man is,"

At the Streakers Ball...
November 25, 1961

## Production

**Episode:** 17

**Date:** November 25, 1961

**Time:** 45 minutes

**Musical Director:** Harry Rabinowitz

**Producer:** David Croft

**Director:**

**Writer:** Benny Hill and Dave Freeman

## Episode

* Guests include:
	+ Lionel Blair
	+ Joyce Blair
	+ Cyril Ornadel and his Orchestra

## Cast

* Benny Hill
* Ivor Emmanuel
* Jennifer Browne
* Janie Marden
* Stanley Meadows
* Peter Vernon
* Sally Smith
* Tony Sympson
* June Whitfield

## Sequence

* **Last Episode:** November 4, 1961
* **Next Episode:** December 16, 1961
Pamela Cundell

**Pamela Isabel Cundell** was an English character actress, best known for her role as Mrs. Fox in the long-running British television come "Dad's Army." Born on January 15, 1920 into a show business family, Cundell was the daughter of Howard Cundell, a builder and producer of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and Elsie Short-Cundell an opera singer. She was also a descendant of Henry Condell, one of the managers of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the playing company of William Shakespeare, who helped put together the first folio of Shakespeare's works after his death. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, later gaining experience in rep and summer shows as a stand-up comic. She worked with many of the great comics of her time, including Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill and Bill Fraser, who became her husband in 1981. Twice divorced, she and Bill stayed together until his death in 1987.

First appearing on TV in 1957, Cundell starred in several popular television shows, including "The Bill," "On the Buses," "Are You Being Served?," "Casualty," "Z-Cars" and "Big Deal."
She also starred on one of the last shows for "The Benny Hill Show" on the BBC, later returning on February 23, 1972 in a Wild West quickie and the "Little Things Mean a Lot" sketch on March 22, 1972 for Thames Television. Keeping busy with theatre work and pantomime, she appeared in several feature films, such as "The Awakening of Emily," "She Loves Me and "The Wicked Lady." Her most notable credit was as Mrs. Fox on the television series "Dad's Army." She also starred on "The Borrowers" and "EastEnders." Other movies she starred in include "A Fantastic Fear of Everything," "Twenty Four Seven" and "Blackball."

Cundell passed away at the age of 95 on February 14, 2015. Since her death, actors Frank Williams and Ian Lavender are the last surviving major "Dad's Army" cast members. Her grandson is actor Daniel Fraser.

## Episode(s)

(BBC)

* November 20, 1968

(Thames TV)

* Benny's All-Star Finale
* Down Memory Lane
The Golden Shoot

## Bio

The **Golden Shoot** is a British television game show whose contestants fire an arrow at a target for cash; it also allows viewers watching from home to compete for prizes. It is hosted by Bob Monkhouse (Benny Hill) and plagued by on-set bloopers. Their on-set phone ends up linking Bob to a recording giving the time and a stuttering guest from home (Nicholas Parsons) takes out a studio light and wins all electrical appliances he can't use because his home uses natural gas. Ann, the female assistant, Valerie Stanton mixes up the guest's names, bringing out one guest (Michael Sharvell Martin) as the other female assistant (Valerie St. John) brings out the other one (Nicholas Parsons). A microphone cord gets caught in Bob's legs as the first guest fires at a target, instead hitting the rear of a cartoon character getting into a bathtub. The second guest then tries shooting, accidentally hitting Ann before she can get out of the way. Other bloopers involve a photo mix-up that offends a phone-in contestant and a knife-throwing stunt with an imprecise target.

## Trivia

* This sketch is based on "The Golden Shot" which ran on ITV from 1967 to 1975 hosed by comedian and TV personality Bob Monkhouse.
* The clip features guests named Mrs. Stoney (replaced by the stutterer) and Mr. Yogel from Bristol (twice).
* The off-camera assistant is named Barney. Nicholas Parsons is the announcer.

## Episode(s)

* Is This Your Life?
* Tex Cymbal: Golden Boy

## Gallery

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Pearl and Plain Shopping Center

## Bio

The **Pearl & Plain Shopping Centre** is a British retail company whose commericial specializes in sporting goods, particularly tennis, football, swimming and cycling under the Jock Trapp brand. It also includes the **Fred Wick Academy of Terpsichorean Art and Dancing** (Benny Hill and Lorna Nathan) with lessons in ballroom dancing, modern tap and ballet, **Fung's Cafe** and **Coppem and Catchem Used Cars** (Benny Hill and Henry McGee with Monika Ringwald).

## Trivia

* The cast in the sporting goods segment are Benny Hill as Ginger Thompkins, Henry McGee, Jackie Wright, Edgar Buchanan and possibly Ellie Reece-Knight in a blonde wig.
* The lady who Henry McGee approaches who can't dance is probably Jenny Westbrook in a blonde wig.

## Gallery

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The Dresser

## Production

**Episode:** 18

**Date:** September 24, 1963

**Time:** 25:00

**Musical Director:** Ron Grainer

**Vocals:** None

**Choreography:** None

**Producer:** John Street

**Director:** Tony Abbott

**Writer:** Dave Freeman

## Episode

An egg-stamper named Ernie (Benny Hill) gets involved in theatrics.

## Cast

* Benny Hill
* Hugh Paddick
* Anthony Sharp
* George Woodbridge
* Joan Newell
* Len Lowe
* Joe Gibbons
* Ann Gilchrist

## Sequence

* **Last Episode:** The Troublemaker
* **Next Episode:** The Taxidermist
Julie Kirk

**Julie Kirk** is an English actress, dancer and choreographer who starred on "The Benny Hill Show" in 1980 and 1981.

Not much is known about her early life, but she was born around 1960, having joined the show at the age of nineteen through an open audition looking for dancers with "a good sense of humor." Although she knew who Benny was, she later confessed it was years later that she realized she had been a part of something remarkable.

One of the original Hill's Angels]], she first appeared as a brunette in her first episode, late appearing as a blonde in her final two episodes, performed in the "Day At The Beach" routine on February 6, 1980 and "Runaway" on January 7, 1981 as well as appeared as a sketch character in a few sketches, such as Charlene's Angels in 1980. After leaving the show in 1982, she starred in the movies, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" among with other former Angels like Claire Smalley and "What's Up Superdoc!" In March 2017, she was one of approximately seventy dancers, who performed at the London Palladium for the celebration of the 100th birthday of Dame Vera Lynn.

Inexplicably, Julie has been erroneously credited several times in several "Benny Hill" sources as "Julie Kerridge." In e-mail correspondence with Erik Larsen, the creator and manager of Sue Upton's website, she has stated, "[...] as to my surname, this has come up many times. I am, and have always professionally been, Julie Kirk." The origin of this misattribution has yet to be explained, but in the case of Lisa Jackman/Lisa Maxwell, it might be another instance of another dancer borrowing from her resume.

On November 23, 2021, Julie appeared on ITV's *Good Morning Britain.* In a fierce debate with actress Debbie Arnold (who had turned down an offer to appear on *The Benny Hill Show*), she stoutly defended Benny, his show, and the decision by TV channel "That's TV Gold" to put it back on the air during the holiday season after claims that the show would be censored because of perceived sexist views on his humor and material.

Today, she lives in Llangollen, Wales with her husband, actor Dyfed Thomas, and their two children. In May 2020, she started offering virtual dance classes via Zoom from her home.

## Episode(s)

* Women's Lib Television
* Butch Cafferty and the Fundance Kid
* WonderGran Meets Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hyde
* A Tribute to the Lower Tidmarsh Volunteer Fire Brigade

## Gallery

* "She's a bit of a disaster."
* Benny and Julie in The Scarlet Pimple
* Abigail Higgins, Louise English, Julie Kirk
* Claire Smalley, Julie, Louise English
* Julie Kirk today
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Teresa Lucas

**Teresa Lucas** is an English actress, dancer and performer best known as a member of the Love Machine dance troupe and as a choreographer with Libby Roberts of the early 80s dance troupe Lipstick.

Lucas was born to an show business family. Her father, Fred Lucas, was a singer and her mother, Yvonne Lucas, was a tiller Girls dancer in the Royal Command Performance. Her father reportedly worked in the early years of Benny Hill's career. She studied dance and drama at the Arts Education School and eventually founded Love Machine with fellow dancers Libby Roberts, Claire Lutter and Jane Colthorpe.

Performing in dance halls and cabarets and doing work in live shows and commercials, the members eventually contacted Benny Hill to check out one of their shows in 1976, and he booked them to appear on his show, performing the songs "Think of the Boys," "The Flash" and "Dancing in the Nude" with Eddie Buchanan. The exposure on the show resulted in getting them international exposure and appearances on other TV shows, such as "Little and Large", "International Pop Proms" and various light entertainment TV shows in Europe.

After "The Benny Hill Show," Lucas and Roberts created the five-girl dance group Lipstick, who did a number of TV shows in the UK. She also began working as a free lance dancer working for various choreographers for live shows and TV entertainment and commercials.

She is currently married; her husband works within the airline industry.

## Episode(s)

* Villain of the Year
* Sale of the Half-Century
* The World Of Sport

## Gallery

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The Deputy

## Bio

**The Deputy** is a Late 19th Century lawman from El Paso. His real name is Dan, but his last name is unrevealed. His look and attire suggests he is somehow related to Benny the Kid and The Halitosis Kid.

The Deputy is hired as a replacement to the town sheriff (Jackie Wright) who is wounded during skirmishes by Fiery Fred (Henry McGee), Chief Running Bare (Bill Weston) and Dirty Dave (Bob Todd), three local outlaws terrorizing the town. He befuddles them with a series of Bugs Bunny-like tricks, eluding getting roped and shit with arrows with fake legs and dummies, and sheer dumb luck. The town loves him; the local bartender (Jon Jon Keefe) gives him free drinks. He falls for the local school marm (Lee Gibson) as Dave tries strangling him with a rattlesnake and Bare tries dropping boulder on him. Fred tries blowing him up but only succeeds in blowing himself up. The outlaws end up taking the worst of their attacks, and Dave even falls in draw with the Deputy.

The outlaws soon join forces to kidnap the school marm and lead the Deputy into an ambush, but his strength wiles and fighting skills (along with the long stick the school marm is tied to) allow him to defeat them. He drags them back to town by a rope to put them in jail and gets kissed and hugged by the ladies in town. When the school marm catches up to him getting kissed and hugged, she chases *him* out of town.

## Trivia

* The Deputy was played by Benny Hill.
* Dirty Dave is later reinvented as Thunderclap in the Halitosis Kid sketch.
* The name Sheriff Burke appears on one of the Wanted posters.
* BLOOPER: Dirty Dave's poster reads "sherrifs" instead of "sheriffs."
* The side view of the saloon's second floor reveals there's not enough room for a second floor.
* Jon Jon Keefe, Jim Tyson, Trudi Van Doorn, Cheryl Gilham, Laraine Humphrys, Chai-Lee and Andee Cromarty appear as townsfolk and bar patrons, and although Sue Bond was in this episode, she doesn't appear in this sketch.
* The shot with Dirty Dave pirouetting in extreme slow motion before collapsing is a parody of a scene in director Sam Peckinpah's 1969 Western "The Wild Bunch" where violent action scenes often appeared in slow motion.
* William Brown of "Benny's Place" calls this one of "the most brilliant sketches Benny had done up to that time."

## Gallery

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Roy Scammell

**Roy Scammell** is a British stunt actor known for his work in the movies "The Dirty Dozen," "A Clockwork Orange," "Flash Gordon" and several films in the James Bond series. Born Royston Edwin Scammell on July 18, 1932 in Kingsbury, England, he was one of the two stuntmen including Malcolm Weaver who appear on Benny Hill's shoulders in the "Scuttle's Keep Fit Brigade" on February 23, 1972. His other credits include "The Onedin Line," "A Clockwork Orange" and "Alien," standing in for actor Bolaji Badejo as the creature is ejected from the shuttle at the end of the film. His other TV work includes "Doctor Who," "Paul Temple" and "Villains."
Nikki Critcher

**Nicola "Nikki" Critcher** is an English actress, model and dancer who starred as one of the Hill's Angels on "The Benny Hill Show." Born in London around 1963, she attended drama school but moved to Somerset with her parents when she was sixteen, later moving back to London where she worked as a model. Her work eventually parlayed her into an acting career, and she starred in the movies, "Inn of the Frightened People," "The Hello Goodbye Man," "Keep It in the Family," "Whose Baby?" and the 1981 TV miniseries version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" as well as a possible uncredited appearance on The Benny Hill Show, playing an unidentified Angel in the Dibbles Health Farm sketch on May 27, 1985. Several of her other appearances have since been credited to Tracy Evans.

Now married, she has two daughters, Carly and Jessica, and sells second-hand clothes in the village shop she owns in Somerset.

## Episode(s)

* The Monte Carbolic Show - uncredited
* Carmen - uncredited

## Gallery

* Nikki and Benny
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Tex Cymbal

## Bio

**Tex Cymbal** is a famous English entertainer described as "a legend in his own mind" and having a voice "like breaking wind (or a window)." He has a wild afro of red hair and tends to smoke cigarettes. His songs include "I Can't Leave Her Behind Alone," "What Is This Thing Called Love," "Gentle On My Mind" and "Lonely Boy."

Tex appears on the **Michael Parkinspace** (Benny Hill) TV series in a documentary about himself with an interview section and televised biography with interviews with friends, family and fans. His old grammar school teacher, **Freda Drunge** (Benny Hill), ducks spit wods in her class and confesses she thought Tex's songs were vulgar, even when he whistled them in class. **Arthur Primm** (Benny Hill), who owned the Denbigh Hall where Tex once performed, calls him a "juvenile delinquent."

In footage showing Tex recording "Gentle On My Mind," Tex rushes to dress, eat and drink during the instrumental portions of the song as well as seduce three backup singers (Libby Roberts, Moira Foot and Debbie Greenhill) while his back-up musicians (Eddie Buchanan, Jeannie Collings and Henry McGee) keep watching. The interviews continue with **Tex's Mother** (Benny Hill) and his **Brother,** (Benny Hill) who hates him so much he reveals Tex's name is Arnold Vevay, his heavy drinking, a baby with a girl named Angela and a lost bicycle pump. His mother shows off his first guitar won from a raffle before drinking from a bottle disguised as a lamp.

The interviews continue with one of **Tex's Female Fans** (Benny Hill) in the United States who is so excited to meet Tex that she urinates on herself. Tex also appears on the "The Old Grey Whistle Tester" program whose soft-spoken host (Benny Hill) interviews Tex's American tour manager **Hank King** (Benny Hill) as they review Tex's song "Lonely Boy," whose footage includes bizarre double imagery with Tex patting a singer (Libby Roberts) on her bosom. It also includes Tex in a pre-MTV video trying to romance a girl (Jeannie Collings) in a long white dress.

As the interview ends, Tex comments that success hasn't changed him. Although he's seen in an expensive car surround by fans, it pulls away to reveal him on the bicycle he rides home.

## Trivia

* Benny Hill plays eight characters in this sketch.
* Don Estelle was the male vocal singer in the wig and sunglasses.
* The name Michael Parkinspace is a pun on the name of British TV host Michael Parkinson.
* As the teenage girl, Benny makes topical references to Nixon, Watergate and Viet Nam.

## Gallery

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Paula Wilcox

**Mary Paula Wilcox** is an English film and television actress, best known for her role as Chrissy Plummer in the British comedy "Man About the House" and later as Hilary Potts in "Emmerdale."

Born December 13, 1949 in Manchester, England, Wilcox joined the National Youth Theater at 17. She appeared in "Coronation Street" in 1969 and was offered her first starring television role in "The Lovers" a Granada sitcom produced for the ITV network largely written by Jack Rosenthal and co-starring Richard Beckinsale. She appeared in "Lonely Boy," a sketch on an episode of "The Benny Hill Show" on February 23, 1972.

Wilcox was married to actor Derek Seaton from 1970 to his death in 1979. She later married Nelson Skip Riddle, the son of the bandleader, Nelson Riddle, known for creating several recognizable television tunes.

In 1973, Wilcox starred in "Man About the House" for Thames Television, which ran for three years and inspired the highly popular "Three's Company" TV series in the United States. After starring in the feature film version of the show, she starred as the single mother in "Miss Jones and Son." She also starred in the TV shows "Fiddlers Three," "Blue Heaven," "The Queen's Nose" and small roles in the films, "The Higher Mortals" in 1993 and the Woody Allen movie, "Scoop" in 2006.

On October 27, 2006, Wilcox appeared in "The Green Green Grass," a spin-off of "Only Fools and Horses," as well as second character in the same franchise. In 2007, she joined the cast of "Emmerdale" as Hilary Potts, mother of the vicar's wife, Laurel Thomas.

In 2008, Wilcox portrayed actress Bette Davis in the play, "Whatever Happened to the Cotton Dress Girl?". In 2010, she played the mother of a gay son in "Canary," another theatrical play. She also took the leading role as a Liverpudlian private eye in "Following from the Front," a BBC radio play in November 2010. She has also starred in the TV shows "The Footballers' Wives," "Holby City," "Down to Earth" and "The Smoking Room."
Stacey Ann Logan

**Stacey Ann Logan** is an American actress, possibly best known for the movies "Unseen," "Missing Pieces" and "Nail Polish."

Not much is known about her life and career. Her TV appearances include roles in "Spin City," "Law & Order" and "Benny Hill's World Tour: New York" where she played a nurse, a female motorist and a lady Benny Hill tries to pick up in the street.

In 1999, she performed in the musical, "Crazy for You," at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey with Bruce Adler, Jeb Brown, Jane Connell, Sandy Edgerton, Larry Linville and Jim Walton. In 2000, she played Ms. Dover, the singing teacher, in the MTV commercial for "2ge+her."
Jane Conaway

**Jane Conaway** is an English actress and dancer who starred as one of the Hill's Angels on "The Benny Hill Show."

Not much is known about her career, but it is believed she started out as a dancer, later appearing as a dancer and actress on "The Benny Hill Show," appearing as an Asian entertainer in the Chinese Circus routine and the "Hill's Angels on Deck" routine on January 5,1983, which ended with her losing her towel as Benny Hill tossed her a package. She also starred in the "Wild, Wild West" sketch on March 16, 1983.

Now an author, she now goes by the name Pamela Rhatigan and works as a clairsentient health practitioner and published author. She practices using healing energies in massage, exercise and yoga and runs meditation groups, yoga and Yogalates classes. She also practices Reiki, NLP, Reflexology and various Massages, including Natural Facelift, pregnancy massage and baby massage.

## Episode(s)

* Super-Teech
* Holiday

## Gallery

* Conaway playing a Japanese performer
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Scuttle-Vision

## Production

**Episode:** 47

**Date:** January 16, 1984

**Time:** 51:39

**Musical Director:** Ronnie Aldrich

**Vocals:** The Ladybirds

**Choreography:** Libby Roberts

**Producer:** Dennis Kirkland

**Director:** Dennis Kirkland

**Writer:** Benny Hill

## Episode

* Quickies - 3
* Monologue: Home for the Summer
* Scuttle-Vision
* The Drunk
* Stupid Cupid
* Club Bizarre
* Fingers McNee
* Quickies - 2
* The Beach

## Highlights

* Stupid Cupid
* Cafe Bizarre
* Fingers McNee

## Cast

* Benny Hill
* Henry McGee
* Bob Todd
* Jack Wright
* Sue Upton
* Jenny Lee-Wright
* Jon Jon Keefe
* Ken Sedd
* Jenny Lee-Wright
* Debi Gaye
* Erica Lynley
* Jade Westbrook
* Abigail Higgins (uncredited)
* David Prowse (uncredited)
* Len Keyes (uncredited)
* Andrew Francis (uncredited)
* Bogdan Kominowski (uncredited)
* Lesley Woods - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Tracy Smith - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Lisa Mulidore - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Noreen Bothan - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Lindsay Neil - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Francesca Lacey - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Fiona Sloman - Hill's Angel (uncredited)

## Quotes

* **Fred Scuttle** - "Columbojack. It's a cross between *Columbo* and *Kojak*."
**Henry McGee** - "Does he wear dirty rain coats or suck lollipops?"
**Fred Scuttle** - "He sucks dirty rain coats."

* **Henry McGee** - "He's not a saint!"
**Fred Scuttle** - "Are you going to tell him?"

* **Fred Scuttle** - "He's invented the ultimate weapon. He says it destroys people without destroying the house. Fred says we've got that in England. It's called a mortgage."

* **Wall Graffiti** - "Why do bees hum? - They don't know the words."

* **Wall Graffiti** - "What's the difference between a nice girl and garbage? - Garbage gets taken out once a week - Not around here it doesn't."

* **Wall Signage** - "Customers are respectfully requested not to ask for credit... As a smack in the mouth might offend."

## Trivia

* This episode appears on the "Golden Laughs" VHS.
* The Angels in the Home for the Summer opener are Noreen Bothan (yellow t-shirt), Debi Gaye (blue t-shirt), Lisa Mulidore (pink t-shirt), Lesley Woods (white blouse/orange skirt), Tracy Smith (orange dress?), Francesca Lacey (brunette blue dress?) and Fiona Sloman (blue plaid dress?)
* The "Bending Telescope" in Home for the Summer is repeated from Casanova from March 23, 1977.
* The television quickie is a repeat of a gag Benny did in The Statue.
* Dave Prowse (Darth Vader from "Star Wars") makes a cameo as a body-builder in the "Stupid Cupid" sketch. By this point in his career, he had already finished filming "Return of the Jedi."

## Sequence

* **Last Episode:** Holiday
* **Next Episode:** The Hot Shoe Show
R. Dibble: Handyman

## Production

**Episode:** 52

**Date:** March 12, 1986

**Time:** 50:40

**Musical Director:** Ronnie Aldrich

**Vocals:** The Ladybirds

**Choreography:** Libby Roberts

**Producer:** Dennis Kirkland

**Director:** Dennis Kirkland

**Writer:** Benny Hill

## Episode

* Quickie: The Tattoo Artist
* Opener: The Love Ship
* Quickie: The Fortune Teller
* The Bucket
* Testament TV
* Hill's Angels: Chez When
* Benny Hill: Sexist?
* R. Dibble: Handy Man

## Highlights

* The Bucket - A journey of a pail from bucket to a art project
* Chez When featuring the Hill's Angels
* R. Dibble - A story of a blind handy man

## Cast

* Benny Hill
* Henry McGee
* Bob Todd
* Anna Dawson
* Jon Jon Keefe
* Sue Upton
* Louise English
* Len Keyes
* Sydney Arnold
* Mike Mulloy (uncredited)
* Sue Upton - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Emma Bryant - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Samantha Spencer-Lane - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Katie Randall - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Alison Thomas - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Tracy Smith - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Lorraine Doyle - Hill's Angel (uncredited)
* Fiona Baker - Hill's Angels (uncredited)
* Claire Fairgood - Hill's Angels (uncredited)
* Faye Mertens - Hill's Angels (uncredited)

## Quotes

* **Wall Graffiti** - "What crawls and goes ding-dong? A wounded Avon lady."

* **Wall Graffiti** - "What do you get when you cross baked beans with onions? Tear gas."

* **Fortune Teller**  - "You twit! You've been wearing those silly pigskin gloves again!"

* **Producer #3** - "He's doing the Battle of Little Big Horn as a low budget TV program with 800 extras."
**Marty** - "How is he going to make it pay?"
**B.J** - "He said he's using real bullets."

* **Marty**  - "You think TV commercials should be more like real life?"
**B.J.**  - "No, Marty, I think real life should be more like the commercials!"

* **B.J.** - "Are you sure you don't want a Bloody Mary? It will put lead in your pencil."
**Producer #4** - "I don't have anyone to write too."

* **B.J.**  - "Set your bread on the water, and it will come back a hundred-fold."
**Secretary**  - "But who wants a hundred loaves of wet bread!"

* **B.J.**  - "You've got the brains of an idiot!"
**Secretary**  - "Want them back?"

* **Wall Graffiti** - "A woman has to do a job twice as well as a man to be thought of half as good. Fortunately, this is not difficult."

* **Wall Graffiti** - "Where's Hadrian's Wall? Outside his house."

* **Wall Graffiti** - "How do you stop boys from looking through your bedroom keyhole? Leave the door open."

## Trivia

* This was the first episode with the distinction of being the first to have the end credits laid out on a one-line crawl, which would be used in the rest of the series.
* Clips from this episode appear in the "Benny Hill's Crazy World" VHS.

## Sequence

* **Last Episode:** Carmen
* **Next Episode:** The Herd
Sammy and Milton

## Bio

**Sammy and Milton** are two British Jewish gentlemen who are friends constantly running into each other on the streets of their city (likely Little Dimpton). Not much is known about them. Milton seems to be always asking for money from Sammy, who being very frugal has verious methods in how to avoiding giving it to him. Among these tricks are pretending to lose him over the phone and feigning deafness. Once when their conversation became too overwhelming, the phone operator (Anna Dawson) broke in to let Sammy know she could hear Milton just fine. At that point, Sammy tells her to loan him the $50.

## Trivia

* Sammy and Milton were played by Benny Hill and Bob Todd.
* In the 1988 sketch, Milton wants $50. In 1989, he wants $5, briefly trying to change it to $10.

## Episode(s)

* Club Chicago-Go
* Pepy's Diary

## Gallery

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Otto Stuk

## Bio

**Otto Stuk** is a famous German tennis player. He appears in a commercial for Barmolive with his son and daughter (John Trayhorn and Mia Martin). In an out-take of the commercial, the product causes his glove to stay stuck to his face.

## Trivia

* Otto was played by Benny Hill.
* This character appears only as one of the December 22, 1971 ending quickies.

## Gallery

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That's Life

## Bio

**That's Life** was an English TV tabloid forum that discussed current events of (possibly) local interest in Dimpton-On-Sea. It featured Esther Rantzen (Benny Hill), Eddie Buchanan and Henry McGee as pundits who describe the extra-marital affairs of a guy named Jack keeping up with Jill, a local woman who wasn't his wife. Eddie and Henry add on to the story by revealing Jack had an accident leading to an injury. They discuss jobs he could take to cover the expenses. Poet Cyril Fletcher (Benny Hill) adds on with his poem about the couple.

## Trivia

* This sketch was one of three based on the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill" along with Kojak and At The Crossroads.
* "Vinegar to make you smart" recurs in The B-Team.

## Gallery

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The Before Man

## Production

**Episode:** 5

**Date:** March 18, 1962

**Time:** 25:00

**Musical Director:** Ron Grainer

**Vocals:** None

**Choreography:** None

**Producer:** Duncan Wood

**Director:** Tony Abbott

**Writer:** Benny Hill and Dave Freeman

## Episode

Merwyn Cruddy (Benny Hill) is the sad lonely actor stuck playing the "before" man in before-and-after commercials. After he is miscast as the "after" man, he goes on to greater success as a race car drive, airline pilot and Canadian mountie.

## Sequence

* **Last Episode:** The Changeling
* **Next Episode:** Aunt Mirabelle
The Fire Brigade Song

## Bio

The **The Fire Brigade Song** is a song performed on March 24, 1976 by the Lower Tidmarsh Fire Brigade represented by Benny Hill, Jackie Wright, Eddie Buchanan, Bob Todd, Henry McGee, Jenny Lee-Wright, Brenda Arnau and one unknown accompanied by Ted Taylor on piano. The performance is accompanies by Eddie singing [[The Ballad of Robin Hood alongside a sketch about Robin Hood with Benny Hill as the titular character.
The Movie Shakers

## Bio

**The Movie Shakers** is a TV talk show hosted by actress Andree Melly for interviewing established British stars, such as Merwyn Cruddy. Conceited and somewhat effeminate, Mervyn is interviewed by Andree for the National Film Council. She mentions his role in "Inherit The Wind" where he plays a doctor who cares for a family in which he kissed an unaware actress and about his alter nose, "fixed" by an angry husband who caught him with his wife. Quite a lothario, Merwyn confesses to claiming he ran out of gas to be alone with actresses. Considering the English better lovers than the French, he is reminded by Andree of his role in "Breakfast In Bed," but he is taken aback briefly when he is asked if the role was hard. He starred in the movie with Zsa Zsa Gabor as her husband. He also mentions his starring role in "Little Women" with Julie Edge and Raquel Welch, calling them "four of his favorites." Andree also surprises him with footage from his movie "The Lovers," a romance seen through the hands of two lovers named John and Marcia through their courtship, proposal, marriage and tragic ending, and his nude photos in "Pet of the Month," where he claims he was covered in flesh-colored make-up. He also reveals he wore gold make-up in another role. Andree and Merwyn then view his performance in Home Is The Hero, a role he says he couldn't play in real life because of his religion as a devout coward. Following the clip, fans rush the stage to give flowers, but they run by Merwyn to give them to Andree.

## Trivia

* The Movie Shakers is a parody of "The Movie Makers," a recurring series of interviews with major filmmakers and actors at the National Film Theatre that aired on the BBC between 1969 and 1976.
* "The Lovers" sketch is a video parody of Stan Freberg's 1951 record "John and Marsha," albeit with additional material by Hill (the part with George). It appears in the 1979 U.S. syndicated package but was left out of the 1987 revamp.
* Like Andree Melly, actress Eira Heath is another guest star who starred as a host in a talk show format, namely After Dinner with Charlotte Fudge.
* Andree Melly also played the hostess of The Grass is Greener where she interviewed quite a different Merwyn Cruddy.
* The voices in "The Lovers" seem to be Benny Hill (John), Jenny Lee-Wright (Marcia) and Henry McGee (George).
* John in "The Losers" can't get one shoe off to join his wife in bed; this gag re-occurs in the Maurice Dribble sketch.
* Jackie Wright shows up to hand Andree flowers on stage.

## Gallery

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Saucy Boy

## Bio

The **Saucy Boy** is a little boy who uses a sling shot to create mischief. His real name is unrevealed, but one morning while eating breakfast, he cuts up his mother's underwear for the elastic and makes a slingshot he uses to shoot his toast as it comes out of the toaster. He soon travels around his neighborhood causing destruction around him. He brings down an empty hotel, he goes to the race track and makes a car crash and he pings an Olympic skier causing him to take a tumble. He eventually wanders into an adult club near the amusement park and sees Mahala, an exotic dancer with a "daring balloon dance," and decides to destroy the balloon concealing her body, but after popping it, he accidentally reveals she is a blow-up woman herself. The angry male audience now suddenly notices him sitting in the back of the club and chases him from the club even as he escapes to the amusement park and eludes them in a go-cart.

## Trivia

* Saucy Boy was played by Benny Hill; Mahala was played by dancer Corrine Russell. She also turns up in the chase filmed at Thorpe Park.
* Benny plays the youth with an over-sized chair to give the impression he is a kid, much as he did in the Gaston LeClerc sketches.
* Bob Todd, Ken Sedd, Henry McGee, Jon Jon Keefe, Jackie Wright and several of the Hill's Angels dressed as men play the unruly striptease crowd.
* The wooden stairs and railing seen during the chase reappear in National Smile Week.
* The closing credits include Sue Upton and a laughing Corinne Russell going down a slide after the men.
* This sketch appears in the HBO Collection "Home Video Drive-In" VHS. However, the end chase is edited out to follow the sketch, "Big Poppa" from the March 25, 1981 episode.

## Gallery

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Rita Webb

**Rita Webb** was an English comedy actress best known for her appearances on "The Benny Hill Show." She was born Olive Rita Thompson on February 25, 1904 in Willesden, England, the eldest child of Henry Augustus Webb and Rose Jeannette Keysor. She had a younger brother, Henry Richard Webb, who was also an actor, and two elder identical twin half-brothers named Leslie and Gordon Durlacher, from her mother's first marriage. She was the niece of Leonard Keysor, the first Jewish serviceman to win the Victoria Cross in the First World War.

At under five feet tall with a booming voice and dyed flame-red hair, she was often cast as an actress as a loud abrasive mother-in-law or Cockney-type character. She started acting in the 1940s at the Unity Theatre, later working for BBC productions by 1949. She was used as a comic foil for comedians like Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes, Her brother, Henry Webb, and her half-brother, George Webb, were also actors. She was particularly close to George until his death. She was married to Lionel Stanley "Thommie" Thompson until their separation after which she lived with banjo player Al Jeffery, who she called "Jeffie." He nick-named her "Podge."

Through the 1960s, Webb starred in a number of television appearances with Billy Cotton and alongside Arthur Haynes. Her many television credits include several appearances in Spike Milligan's "Q" series, "Dixon of Dock Green," "Till Death Us Do Part," "Sykes," "Up Pompeii!" with Frankie Howerd and "Steptoe and Son." She also appeared in supporting roles in many films including "To Sir, with Love," "The Magic Christian" Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy," "Confessions of a Pop Performer," "Come Play with Me" and "Revenge of the Pink Panther." Subsequently, she turned down a chance to appear on the TV series, "This Is Your Life," but she appeared several times on "The Benny Hill Show." In 1968, she appeared in a cameo role as a wrestling referee in the Dave Clark television production "Hold On, It's the Dave Clark Five."

Sadly, Webb passed away on August 30, 1981 at the age of 77 in Westminster. Her funeral was held at St Paul's Church, Covent Garden, the Actors' Church, after which she was cremated and her ashes scattered in the Garden of Remembrance. She was survived by Jeffie, her brother, Henry, and Henry's three children, whom she had regarded as her own.

## Episode(s)

* Is This Your Life
* Tommy Tupper in Tupper-Time
* Top of the Tops
* News At Ten
* The Bionic Baby
* Villain of the Year
* A Packed Program
* Butch Cafferty and the Fundance Kid

## Gallery

* Rita with Dilys Watling and Eddie Buchanan
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The Egg Marketing Board Tango

## Bio

**The Egg Marketing Board Tango** was an opening number performed by Benny Hill on March 24, 1971. It was performed on stage with The Ladybirds doing the background chorus.

## Lyrics

It's the Egg Marketing Board Tango...

In other words, the dance of love.

Now, you go down to the pally, and you're eager for a dance,

You see a lovely stranger, and your eyes meet quite by chance.

She's warm, and she's desirable with a figure meant to be hug,

So you stand eight feet apart and do the thrug.

But in the tango, you gets the chance to hold her oh so near,

And you gaze into her lovely eyes of blue.

And while you're dancing, you whisper sweet nothings in her ear,

And she says, "Sweet nothing doing," back to you.

Now, ou give her ear a nibble, you give her cheek a peck,

You've got her in a grip of steel, you're breathing down her neck.

And then she says those magic words that thrill you through and through,

"You've been eating pickled onions, haven't you? Oh poo!"

Once I met a girl called Kitty who was pretty as could be,

She lived up in the city and she asked me around to tea.

But pretty, witty Kitty, she tried to pull my leg,

So I hit her, what a pity, with a soft-boiled egg.

The wireless played a tango and I held her in my arms,

As we swayed and we glided around the room.

And when her dad come in we carried on, alas I didn't know,

He was deaf and he couldn't hear the tune.

He punched me in the earhole and he hit me with a vase,

He chased me down the garden and he kicked me on the grass.

So now I swear I'm finished as true as stars above...

With the tango, the dance of love.
Please Pass Farther Down The Bus

## Bio

**Please Pass Farther Down The Bus** is an excerpt from the eponymous fictional book by the fictional author Angus McSpreading. it was read by Reverend John McFudpucker, the host of "Sit Up & Listen," played by Benny Hill on March 16, 1983.

According to Rev. McFudpucker, McSpreading died in 1923 and was known for several sayings like "One good turn gets most of the petro" and "Do into others and then run." He was also known for designing the covers of his books.
Lyrics of the poem about the jailed Army soldier and a pudding his mother had brought him was previously read by Benny as St. John Bossom in the "Uplift with Humphrey Bumphrey" sketch of February 24, 1971. His reaction to the layout of the front cover of the book at sketch's end was edited out of the syndicated version of the hour-long series as aired in the 1990's on Comedy Central.

## Lyrics

What is the United Nations asked a mere lad

It's where helping nations turn in times of trouble said Davey's dad

If one nation all alone decides it can't do anything, son

It's when the United Nations meets and decides that nothing can be done.

But I see politics on TV every night

Some say this, some say that, and they can't all be right.

Some say this is so, others say the opposite applies

How's a wee lad to know which one is telling lies

His dad says there is only one sure way, one beyond proving

Watch their faces you see

The one who's telling lies

It's the one whose lips are moving.

Never put off until tomorrow what you could do today

If you don't do it today, it might lead to sorrow

But if you do it today and like it,

You can do it again tomorrow

He who laughs when things go wrong

Has just thought of someone he can blame it on.

The soldier sat in the Army jail

His mother had brought him a pudding

"You can't leave that in here." said the seargeant

Even though it was a good 'un

Then he saw the look in the mother's eyes

And knew that she was feeling hurt

He did the thing he knew he had to do

He helped the soldier to desert

Well, the soldier got ahold of the pudding

And he ran with it back to his cell

"Put your pudding with treacle." He heard the seargeant yell.

If you want treacle on your pudding,

Put it out without delay

So the soldier put out his pudding

And the seargeant, he took it away
Andrew Francis

Not much is known about **Andrew Francis**. He has had a long career as an actor on television, appearing in an uncredited role in the film, "Yesterday's Hero" and making appearances in the TV shows, "Smith & Jones" and The Benny Hill Show, where he played a native in "The Hot Shoe Show" routine and a street tough accosted by the Hill's Angels in the "Boys Are Back In Town" number and possibly as a cafe patron in Cafe Le L'Opera. He went on to have a starring role in the TV series "Gems," later appearing in smaller roles in "Blood Rights," "Grange Hill," "Chef!," "Heartburn Hotel" and the "Messiah" mini-series.

Francis eventually went on to star in the film, "Manor of Redemption" and the TV shows, "The Courtroom" and "Doctors." No much more is known about him.

## Episode(s)

* The Hot Shoe Show
* Scuttle-Vision (uncredited)
* The Herd (unconfirmed)

## Gallery

* Len Keyes, Andrew Francis and an unidentified AngelGo to Chez When
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The Good, The Bawdy, The Benny

## Production

**Episode:** 63

**Date:** 2000 (Direct-To-DVD)

**Time:** 1:05:00

**Producer:** Laura Palmer

**Director:**

**Writer:** Benny Hill and Dave Freeman

## Cast

* Benny Hill
* Jeremy Hawk
* Roger Avon
* Susan Clark
* Gloria Paul
* June Whitfield
* Patricia Hayes
* Hugh Paddick
* Eileen Nicholas
* Sandy Duke
* Pam Beckman
* Patsy Ann Noble

## Trivia

* This DVD was released direct to DVD in 2000 with material from the 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968 Episodes that Benny made at the BBC.
* In the closing credits, a typo credits Patsy Ann Noble (later Trisha Noble) as "Pasty Ann Noble."

## Sequence

* **Last Episode:** [[
* **Next Episode:**
Penny Irving

**Penny Irving** is a British actress and former Page 3 Girl best known for the TV series "Are you Being Served" and the movies "House of Whipcord" and "The Comeback."

Not much has been revealed about her life. She was born in 1955 in Hitchin in Hertfordshire County, England and became an actress, getting turned down for the lead role in a Roger Vadim movie. According to the DVD notes for "The Benny Hill Show" DVDs, she first met Benny Hill in 1974 in the veteran games at Dimpton-On-Sea. He cast her as one of several extras in the Woodstick sketch of October 25, 1972, but she is possibly best known as the longest-lasting of Mr. Grace's secretaries, Miss Bakewell, on "Are You Being Served?" She later went on to star in the films "Carry On, Dick" with Laraine Humphrys and Nosher Powell, "Percy's Progress," "House Of Whipcord" and as a singer in "The Comeback." Her other TV appearances include "The Professionals" and "Hi-De-Hi."

She has since retired from the entertainment industry and is now living in London, England.
Police: Friend or Foe?

## Production

**Episode:** 22

**Date:** May 8, 1965

**Time:** 45 minutes

**Musical Director:** Burt Rhodes

**Producer:** Kenneth Carter

**Director:**

**Writer:** Benny Hill

## Episode

* Guests include:
	+ Julie Rogers
	+ The Countrymen
	+ Ivor Mairants

## Cast

* Benny Hill
* Patricia Hayes
* Jeremy Hawk
* Gloria Paul
* Peter Vernon
* Roger Avon
* Peter Bayliss
* Lindsay Scott-Patton
* Susan Clark

## Sequence

* **Last Episode:** April 24, 1965
* **Next Episode:** May 22, 1965
The Portable TV

## Bio

**Portable TV Set** is a comedy-musical monologue sung by Benny Hill as a disenchanted husband commiserating about his wife's (Jenny Lee-Wright) devotion and interest to a TV set which she carries around everywhere. Through the song, scenes are sprinkled through the bit with parodies of various TV shows:

* Ironsides (Benny Hill) talks about his devotion to his wife (Pat Ashton) as she wanders off with his colleague {Jimmy Thompson). He gets left behind by his assistant (Bob Todd) and left to roll into a ravine
* Orson Welles (Benny) talks about cooking a turkey
* A TV pastor (Benny) sends a message to his viewers and gets caught with a "wicked" photo
* The Lady Birds (Bob Todd, Benny and Jimmy Thompson) sing a song (The actresses doing their voices are unrevealed.)