Comedy Chronicles

Graham McCann looks back at some of British comedy's most interesting but overlooked stories.

Neil Innes

Sunday 17th November 2024

A profile of Neil Innes, the comedy writer and musician who so many times managed to dip our hearts, as well as our brains, in joy.

Up and away: The big fall of Duggie Small

Sunday 3rd November 2024

The sobering, warning story of comedian Duggie Small. He won TV talent show New Faces in 1986 but things did not go smoothly for him.

Image shows left to right: Derek Nimmo, Bill Maynard

Stage fight: When comics fall out in plain sight

Sunday 20th October 2024

A look at squabbles between stars that took place in the full glare of the spotlight. When Bill Maynard was paired with Derek Nimmo it turned out to be a particularly notable recipe for resentment, rage and revenge.

A Hackney diamond: The much-misunderstood Ray Martine

Sunday 6th October 2024

A record-straightening reappraisal of comedian Ray Martine, usually either forgotten or lazily maligned, his career heights and boundary-pushing bite are long overlooked.

You'll all be doing it tomorrow: The strange ways of Roy Jay

Sunday 22nd September 2024

'Slither!'. 'Spook!'. Graham McCann recounts the slow rise and rapid fall of Roy Jay, the comic with a strange zig-zaggy walk. Graham McCann recounts the slow rise and rapid fall of Roy Jay, the comic with a strange zig-zaggy walk.

Tell me darling - am I going too far?: The protean powers of Betty Marsden

Sunday 8th September 2024

The overlooked and untold subject in this article is the chameleonesque comedian and actor Betty Marsden, best remembered for roles in Round The Horne and Carry On Camping.

The many achievements of Eric Barker

Sunday 25th August 2024

A profile of Eric Barker. He is best-remembered these days for his roles in countless British film comedies from the middle of the 20th-century, including several of the Carry Ons. That, however, is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Peter Sellers: A State Of Comic Ecstasy. Peter Sellers

When Peter Sellers broke up with the BBC

Sunday 11th August 2024

Graham McCann recounts the bitter feud between Peter Sellers and BBC executive Tom Sloan.

Image shows left to right: Benny Hill, Dennis Kirkland

Benny Hill and Dennis Kirkland

Sunday 28th July 2024

Benny Hill is noted as one of British television's great comic minds, but, entwined with producer Dennis Kirkland his fall from grace at the end of the 1980s is more complex than is often described.

The increasingly big balls of Martin Lewis

Sunday 14th July 2024

There has never been anyone quite like show business operator Martin Lewis. This profile particularly focuses on his work helping to create and grow Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball comedy fundraising shows.

Comedy Chronicles

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