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Graham McCann
Graham McCann

Graham McCann

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Graham McCann features - page 5

Dave Allen At Large. Dave Allen. Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: And may your Dave go with you: The documentaries of Dave Allen

Sunday 23rd January 2022

Anglo-Irish comedian Dave Allen is best remembered for his various ratings-winning sketch and stand-up series, but a number of fascinating, exploratory documentaries such as In Search Of The Great English Eccentric, are also worthy of modern reverence.

Andy Stewart Features

Comedy Chronicles: Gang aft agley - The day TV broke Hogmanay

Thursday 30th December 2021

Graham McCann looks at Hogmanay television broadcasts over the years, including Live Into 85 - a show "so stupendously awful" that it killed that deeply dubious broadcasting tradition stone dead.

Steptoe And Son. Image shows from L to R: Harold Steptoe (Harry H. Corbett), Albert Steptoe (Wilfrid Brambell). Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: 'Tis the season for a sitcom - Comedy is the real gift that keeps on giving

Thursday 23rd December 2021

Christmas television schedules have long been adorned with festive sitcom offerings; and for very good reason, as Graham McCann explores.

HRH Prince William and HRH Princess Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, at the 2021 Royal Variety Performance. Copyright: ITV Studios Features

Comedy Chronicles: We ARE amused(ish) - What the Royal family finds funny

Thursday 16th December 2021

With decades patronising the esteemed fundraising efforts of the Royal Variety Performance, just what do the Royal family themselves genuinely find funny?

Image shows from L to R: Frank Muir, Denis Norden Features

Comedy Chronicles: Kings of comedy - When Muir & Norden bossed the BBC

Sunday 21st November 2021

Heard the one about the comedy writers who became some of the most powerful comedy executives in the country? The remarkable tale of Frank Muir and Denis Norden's time at the top of the TV tree is one that all broadcasters could learn from today.

Both Ends Meet. Dora Page (Dora Bryan). Copyright: ITV Features

Comedy Chronicles: Recalling Dora - The comedy triumphs of Dora Bryan

Sunday 31st October 2021

Graham McCann examines the legacy of the late, great Dora Bryan.

Frankie And Bruce. Image shows from L to R: Bruce Forsyth, Frankie Howerd. Copyright: ABC Television Features

Comedy Chronicles: This town ain't big enough for the both of us - Comedy rivalries

Sunday 17th October 2021

Graham McCann examines the feuds between four of the nation's favourite funnymen.

Gerard Hoffnung Features

Comedy Chronicles: The tales of Hoffnung - The unscripted genius of Gerard Hoffnung

Sunday 3rd October 2021

Graham McCann examines the legacy of forgotten comic genius Gerard Hoffnung.

The Undiscovered Tony Hancock. Tony Hancock. Copyright: Getty Images Features

Comedy Chronicles: Tony don't fall backwards - Hancock at the Royal Festival Hall

Sunday 19th September 2021

Tony Hancock was one of the most successful comedians of his generation, but a combination of personal problems and increasingly erratic professional decisions turned his 1966 'comeback' at the Royal Festival Hall into an unfortunate night to forget...

Image shows from L to R: Dave Allen, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore Features

Comedy Chronicles: Just very naughty boys - Dave Allen, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore Down Under

Sunday 5th September 2021

Censorship can seem to be ever-growing in modern times: new "woke" sensibilities clashing with long-established political correctness, and both in turn with classical liberalism - but it is nothing new, as Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Dave Allen found out 50 years ago this month on Australian television.

Peter Cook. Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: I can't talk now, 'cos he's here - The true story of Peter Cook's Where Do I Sit?

Sunday 22nd August 2021

In an age that sees television celebrated when chaotic and rough-around-the-edges, we look back to 1971 and Peter Cook's chat show, Where Do I Sit? - deemed such a disaster it was cancelled after just three episodes.

Ever Decreasing Circles. Image shows from L to R: Howard Hughes (Stanley Lebor), Martin Bryce (Richard Briers). Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: It Just Is Cricket - British comedy's sport of choice

Sunday 8th August 2021

The cross-over between sport and comedy is more often than not one destined to failure; but one game more than any other seems to lend itself very well. Dust down your whites and dive into the realm where cricket and comedy mix.

Image shows from L to R: Bruce Forsyth, Jimmy Tarbuck, Ronnie Corbett Features

Comedy Chronicles: Lost Balls - When British comedy went golf mad

Sunday 25th July 2021

Graham McCann says: "There used to be few things more frightening for television viewers than the sight of a comedian in a Pringle sweater. It meant that he was almost certainly about to talk about golf..."

Chic Murray Features

Comedy Chronicles: Très Chic - The unique comic genius of Chic Murray

Sunday 11th July 2021

A profile of "the funniest man on Earth", Scottish comedian Chic Murray. Graham McCann says "That he isn't better known these days is nothing short of shameful."

Come Back Mrs. Noah. Mrs Gertrude Noah (Mollie Sugden). Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Stranger Things - When sitcoms strain to be different

Sunday 27th June 2021

Difference is good. Experimentation is to be lauded. But in a handful of cases, television sitcoms have made difference itself their raison d'être, rather than a factor in their storytelling.

Four Comedy Stooges Features

Comedy Chronicles: That's Me In The Corner - Four Comedy Stooges

Sunday 13th June 2021

You don't really see them these days: those odd, idiosyncratic, seldom-speaking comic characters whose entire raison d'être is to be the recurring butt of a well-known comedian's jokes. Go back forty years or more, however, and they were a common sight. Graham McCann looks at the careers of Jackie Wright, Johnny Vyvyan, Arthur Tolcher and Johnny Hutch.

Frankie Howerd Features

Comedy Chronicles: The life and times of Frankie Howerd's toupée

Sunday 30th May 2021

What a strange job it was, being Frankie Howerd's wig. It had to rest there on top of his head, doing its best to seem subtle and discreet, whilst its owner regularly blew its cover by scratching it, flipping it and skewing it...

Flanders & Swann Features

Comedy Chronicles: The remarkable legacy of Flanders & Swann

Sunday 16th May 2021

Which bona fide comedy double act has had the biggest and broadest influence on British popular culture? Graham McCann puts forward the case for musical duo Flanders & Swann.

Cheese & Onion Features

Comedy Chronicles: Falling out of flavour - The curious career of Cheese & Onion

Sunday 2nd May 2021

Morecambe & Wise. The Two Ronnies. Little & Large. Mike & Bernie Winters. But what ever happened to Cheese & Onion?

The Ghost Of Peter Sellers. Image shows from L to R: Peter Sellers, Peter Medak, Spike Milligan Features

Comedy Chronicles: Close but no cigarette - When Milligan & Sellers met Benson & Hedges

Sunday 18th April 2021

103 years after his birth, Comedy Chronicles recounts the remarkable tale of Spike Milligan's involvement with Peter Sellers and an advertisement for cigarettes.

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