BFI celebrates Queens of TV Comedy

The British Film Institute (BFI) is running a season in London this August which focuses on famous female comedians.

As part of the official London 2012 Olympics festival, Trailblazers: Queens of TV Comedy will take place towards the end of August at the BFI's Southbank venue and the Hackney Empire. This series of five events is being run to specifically "celebrate those pioneering golden girls of British TV Comedy."

As BFI season curator Dick Fiddy explains: "Nowadays funny women are a fixed part of the TV landscape but there was a time when very few toughed it out in a male dominated genre. The pinnacle of success was to be given your own show and 2012 is the perfect time to acknowledge those 'golden girls' that achieved that Olympian feat".

Music-hall star Olive Fox may be little remembered now. But on the 24th February 1937 she notched up a significant achievement, becoming the first female comedy artist to appear in her own starring slot on British television. Her five-minute presentation of musical humour has long since disappeared - made as it was in the early days of live TV before there was any mechanism to record programming - but nevertheless it was the first chapter in a vastly underwritten story of such pioneering talents.

It was nearly a decade later when Joyce Grenfell (pictured) made the next significant breakthrough, appearing in a number of shows between 1946 and 1953 before getting her own series in 1956 (Joyce Grenfell Requests the Pleasure) and although this early material likewise no longer exists, her long TV career meant that she graced the small screen across four decades. Material from the [y]1960s[/y] and 70s does survive and will be showcased in the BFI's season.

Beryl Reid, Diana Dors, Marti Caine and Victoria Wood are amongst the other acts the BFI will be focusing on.

The season is split between two venues: BFI Southbank will present events focusing on the careers of a variety of trailblazing female TV comedy stars with archive clips, while the Hackney Empire will host two nights of live stand-up from contemporary funny women supplemented by vintage footage from the archive. There's also an event based around all-female sketch show Smack The Pony.

Here's the full line-up:

14th August: Storytellers and Cabaret Stars (BFI) - A compilation of some of Joyce Grenfell's finest TV appearances, a woman whose sophisticated cabaret-style mix of monologues and songs never failed to delight audiences. Footage will be supplemented by examples from other talents in the field including Victoria Wood, Millicent Martin, Sheila Hancock and Sheila Steafel. Info

16th August: From the Halls (Hackney Empire) - Barbara Windsor introduces 'a bumper load of laughs' featuring precious archive footage of funny women who at one time trod the boards, interspersed with live performances from some of today's top female comedy performers. Those featured on film will include Hylda Baker and Beryl Reid (who both fronted their own TV shows), alongside such talents as Hattie Jacques and Dora Bryan. Info

21st August: Girls Acting Up (BFI) - A tribute to Diana Dors, dubbed 'Swindon's answer to Marilyn Monroe'. As those at the event will see, she had great comic timing, which was exploited by ITV in the 1950s. There'll also be footage of other acting stars too. Info

23rd August: Some Girls Do It Standing Up (Hackney Empire) - Another evening of live stand-up supplemented by vintage clips, featuring in particular Marti Caine, who graduated from the world of working men's clubs - via the TV talent show - to become one of the most successful of all the solo women to front her own show. Info

28th August: Smack the Pony - A screening of Channel 4's hit female-driven sketch show, followed by a Q&A with some of those involved. Fiona Allen, Sally Phillips, Doon Mackichan and Darren Boyd along with creator Victoria Pile should all be appearing. Info