British Comedy Guide
British Comedy Guide
Graham McCann
Graham McCann

Graham McCann

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Graham McCann features - page 2

Jack Hylton Presents Features

Comedy Chronicles: Taking It To The Hilt - Jack Hylton and British Comedy

Sunday 11th February 2024

Jack Hylton must rate as one of, if not the, most extraordinary and influential impresarios in the history of British entertainment.

Harry Green Features

Comedy Chronicles: The Trouble With Harry - The premature exit of Harry Green

Sunday 28th January 2024

Comedy Chronicles looks at the career of actor Harry Green and how his death during a live television play threw the production into chaos.

Kenneth Williams Features

Comedy Chronicles: A touch of the Gogols: When Kenneth Williams read Russian literature

Sunday 14th January 2024

It might have been somewhat surprising at the time, but now, looking back at it, it seems quite an apt connection: a diarist drawn to a diary. The diarist in question was Kenneth Williams, and the diary was Nikolai Gogol's Diary of a Madman.

Image shows left to right: Fred MacAulay, Carol Smillie Features

Comedy Chronicles: Hogmanay Hell: The BBC's New Year Live 98

Sunday 31st December 2023

Graham McCann looks back at New Year Live on BBC One in 1998. Hosted by Fred MacAulay and Carol Smillie, a programme that ended up a "terrible, hopeless, depressing mess".

Image shows left to right: Kenneth Kendall, Michael Crawford Features

Comedy Chronicles: Merry Christmas, VT: How festive television used to amuse itself

Sunday 24th December 2023

This festive edition of Comedy Chronicles looks back at a strange tale of some strange tapes. It is about the television festivities from the latter part of the last century that were never meant to be televised, and were only meant to be seen by those behind the scenes.

Alma McKay Features

Comedy Chronicles: Digs, dives and landladies: Comic travellers' tales

Sunday 17th December 2023

Insalubrious boarding houses and idiosyncratic landladies were particularly popular topics for comic tale-telling throughout most of the twentieth century. Comedy Chronicles looks back at some of the well-known theatrical lodgings, including what became of poor Arthur the parrot.

Stainless Stephen Features

Comedy Chronicles: The comic that time forgot: The lives and deaths of Stainless Stephen

Sunday 3rd December 2023

One of the first British comedians to appear regularly on radio, Stainless Stephen was one of the busiest, best-loved and cleverest comedians in the country.

You're Only Young Twice. Cissie Lupin (Pat Coombs). Copyright: Yorkshire Television Features

Comedy Chronicles: Oooh, I say!: The kind but clever comedy of Pat Coombs

Sunday 19th November 2023

Pat Coombs was, for more than half a century, one of British comedy's most effective and admired supporting performers. This article traces her career.

Josephine Tewson Features

Comedy Chronicles: Choosing Tewson - A star of the second row

Sunday 5th November 2023

Josephine Tewson is perhaps best remembered as Hyacinth Bucket's flustered next-door neighbour Elizabeth, but her comic talent - and breadth of contributions - go far wider and far deeper.

Gonks Go Beat. Great Galaxian (Jerry Desmonde) Features

Comedy Chronicles - Giving it to you straight: The discreet art of Jerry Desmonde

Sunday 22nd October 2023

If a definition of a straight man is ever required, the entry should simply read: 'See Jerry Desmonde'. Comedy Chronicles recounts the career of the man once dubbed 'the prince of feeds', who worked with comics such as Sid Field and Norman Wisdom.

Image shows left to right: Dick Hills, Sid Green Features

Comedy Chronicles - Those other two fellers: Dick Hills & Sid Green

Sunday 8th October 2023

Comedy writers Dick Hills and Sid Green left Morecambe & Wise behind, only to find that the duo they had really left behind was themselves.

Mike Yarwood. Copyright: Thames Features

Comedy Chronicles: And this was him - The life, art and anxieties of Mike Yarwood

Sunday 24th September 2023

"There were three basic stages in Yarwood's career. The first was as a turn; the second was as a star; the third was as a problem." Graham McCann looks back at the work of impressionist Mike Yarwood.

June Whitfield Features

Comedy Chronicles: No ifs, no buts - and no ...ands: The star quality of June Whitfield

Sunday 10th September 2023

Despite remaining in the memory as one of British comedy's greatest comedy actors, as a woman June Whitfield was overlooked for the kind of superstar/starring chances of her male peers. Here we pay tribute to her brilliant talents.

Derek Nimmo Features

Comedy Chronicles: An Englishman abroad - The hidden life of Derek Nimmo

Sunday 27th August 2023

Derek Nimmo was, for a long time, one of Britain's favourite character actors on television and radio - but then he just seemed to start to disappear. This is the story of what he was really up to during those wilderness years.

Tons Of Trouble. Mr Pastry (Richard Hearne) Features

Comedy Chronicles: When Cary met Pastry - Cary Grant's friendship with Richard Hearne

Sunday 13th August 2023

The story of the perhaps unlikely-seeming friendship between Hollywood icon Cary Grant and English slapstick comic Richard Hearne, better known as the aged Mr Pastry.

Inn For Trouble. Dolly (Esma Cannon) Features

Comedy Chronicles: The little Cannon that could - The clever cameos of Esma Cannon

Sunday 30th July 2023

A name you may not know, but if you've watched any amount of British comedy from the 1950s or 60s, a face you certainly will: this is a look at the life and career of the utterly marvellous Esma Cannon.

Peter Cook Features

Comedy Chronicles: Pete and Club: Peter Cook's Establishment

Sunday 16th July 2023

The remarkable and little-told full story of the rise and fall of Peter Cook's famed satirical nightclub, The Establishment.

Richard Wattis Features

Comedy Chronicles: Well, really! - The crafty art of Richard Wattis

Sunday 2nd July 2023

Comedy Chronicles shines a light on one of British comedy's most reliable faces, prolific supporting actor Richard Wattis, known for a plethora of roles in officialdom.

Bee Gees - Cucumber Castle cover Features

Comedy Chronicles: It seemed a good idea at the time #4 - The Bee Gees' Cucumber Castle

Sunday 18th June 2023

A look at the strange and exotic cultural creature that is Cucumber Castle, a one-off TV comedy special starring The Bee Gees. The story of its ill-fated creation involves commercial opportunism, professional naivety, musical differences, sibling tensions, a number of sudden misfortunes and a great deal of chaos and confusion.

Hugh Carleton Greene. Credit: National Portrait Gallery Features

Comedy Chronicles: The heart of the matter - The real battle of Hugh Carleton Greene

Sunday 4th June 2023

The BBC's story is long and varied, but its revolutionary free-thinking approach to television broadcasting in the 1960s is a story that is more often than not only half-told: enter Director-General Sir Hugh Carleton Greene.

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