Charlie Chaplin

Seven comedy icons with a seedy reputation

It seems that every day a new showbusiness career lies in tatters as the world finally catches up to the men who abuse their power to harass and grope women. But for decades bad behaviour has gone unpunished... here are seven comedians beloved in their day - and some even now - despite widespread reports of pretty salacious behaviour that surely would not be tolerated today.

My Comedy Hero: Shappi Khorsandi on Charlie Chaplin

Stand-up, author and president of the British Humanist Association picks the silent movie legend as her comic icon.

Review: Slapstick Festival, Colston Hall

Sometimes the best thing to do in the face of adversity is to laugh at it. With the inauguration of a dangerous right-wing clown just the previous day, Saturday evening's programming for this year's Slapstick Festival was the perfect antidote. Or, as Ian Lavender (Dad's Army's Pike) described it before the screening of Charlie Chaplin's classic 1940 satire on tyranny, The Great Dictator: "Next up, our tribute to Donald Trump..."

Charlie Chaplin museum opens in former Swiss home

A new museum dedicated to the life and work of Charlie Chaplin is opening in his former home in Switzerland.

Charlie Chaplin: the UK's most successful screenwriter?

Charlie Chaplin was one of the most successful and enduring screenwriters that Britain ever produced, yet this side of his artistry is often overlooked. Gavin Collinson of BBC Writersroom caught up with Bryony Dixon, Curator of Silent Film at the British Film Institute's National Archive to find out more about this aspect of Chaplin's work. As one of the UK's leading experts on silent cinema and author of '100 Silent Films', who better to ask about one of the movie's most iconic stars?

Frank Skinner and Suzy Klein present the first in this three-part canter through the history of British entertainment in the time before television. Tonight, they begin with the music-hall tradition, stopping off at Marie Lloyd, Champagne Charlie and comedian Dan Leno - widely believed to be the act copied by silent screen upstarts such as Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel. Skinner and Klein also form their own act to try their hand at old-school showbiz.

Frank Skinner on Britain's first stand-up, Dan Leno

Frank Skinner claims Dan Leno is the father of British comedy inspiring Peter Sellers and Charlie Chaplin: but who was he? Neil Armstrong finds out.

What did we do before TV? For a start, people like me wouldn't have had a job and people in tracksuits wouldn't have had easy access to DNA tests. So, was everything terrible before television?

Certainly not, says this new series. Presented by Frank Skinner, and Suzy Klein, it goes back in time to ask how the masses found their entertainment without TV.

The rich had their theatres, opera houses and musical concerts, but where did the noisy rabble go for their kicks? Their chief source of entertainment was the music hall which offered a pastiche of elegance, with its velvet curtains, brocade and lights, but the acts on stage were hardly refined: they were often loud and bawdy and the audiences adored them.

The most famous star from that era was Marie Lloyd, the singer, but we're also told of Dan Leno, one of the first stand-up comedians, a man who counted Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel amongst his fans.

Skinner and Klein seem to have a great time in this series, dressing up as these famous performers and trying out their routines, the content of which might seem a bit silly or tame now, but that's because TV has jaded us. Imagine how it seemed when you were just out of the factory after a 14 hour shift, having spent the day amongst clanking machinery trying to whip at your hair and nab your knuckles.

Charlie Chaplin nominated for face of new £20 note

Since Bank of England governor Mark Carney announced the first-ever open call for banknote-design nominations in its 320-year history last May, the bank has received thousands of ideas for Adam Smith's successor as the new face of the £20 note. Among the nominees are actor Charlie Chaplin, film director Alfred Hitchcock, landscape painter JMW Turner, children's book author Beatrix Potter, and fashion designers Laura Ashley and Alexander McQueen.

Review: Reduced Shakespeare Company

Telling the history of comedy in about 90 minutes sounds like a laugh a minute. But actually, the Reduced Shakespeare Company promises even more jokes than that as they explore such diverse topics aw the Ancient Greeks, Charlie Chaplin and 'Allo 'Allo!