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Graham McCann
Graham McCann

Graham McCann

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Graham McCann features - page 6

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.

Beryl Vertue Features

Comedy Chronicles: Beryl Vertue - The woman who changed her world

Sunday 4th April 2021

Accidentally falling into a job with the likes of Sykes, Milligan, Galton, Simpson and Howerd, Beryl Vertue quickly became a one-woman powerhouse, transforming the British television industry with changes that remain to this day.

Bob Hope. Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Sounds Familiar - The secret history of US comedy on UK radio

Sunday 21st March 2021

Having addressed Billy Connolly's knack for adaptation, Comedy Chronicles takes a look at another form of joke "theft": appropriation, and the secret story of US comedy on British radio.

Billy Connolly Features

Comedy Chronicles: The Big Spin - Billy Connolly and the art of adaptation

Sunday 7th March 2021

Joke theft is generally perceived to be one of the worst acts any comic can commit. But there is a difference in execution between imitation and adaptation, and a certain Scotsman is a master of the latter.

Margaret Thatcher Features

Comedy Chronicles: Margaret Thatcher - sitcom star

Sunday 21st February 2021

The politics of the 1980s fuelled the alternative comedy scene, making stars for decades to come. But have you heard the one about the Prime Minister saving a sitcom great from an unjustly early demise?

Le Petomane. Joseph Pujol (Leonard Rossiter) Features

Comedy Chronicles: Classical gas - Galton & Simpson's Le Pétomane

Sunday 7th February 2021

This edition of Comedy Chronicles turns to one of Galton & Simpson's least-well-known works: a short comic film biopic of a famed French farter.

Potter. Redvers Potter (Arthur Lowe). Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Ill-advised revivals - The sitcom's living dead

Sunday 24th January 2021

Over the decades, television sitcoms have been revived, remade, and reimagined. Some work; but many fall far short of the much-loved originals.

An early BBC microphone. Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Opportunity Knocked - Auditions, comedians and the BBC

Sunday 10th January 2021

The need to audition is a common obstacle in many a performer's career; but for comics hoping to secure BBC airtime from the 1940s onwards, they could be particularly demanding - and with little chance of success.

Dinner For One. Image shows from L to R: James (Freddie Frinton), Miss Sophie (May Warden) Features

Comedy Chronicles: Freddie Frinton's Dinner For One

Sunday 27th December 2020

A once much-loved British comedy sketch has acclaimed cult status on the continent whilst fading into obscurity in its home nation. This is the story of Freddie Frinton and Dinner For One.

The Morecambe & Wise Show. Image shows from L to R: Eric Morecambe, Ernie Wise, Andre Previn. Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: The Prelude of Mr Preview: How André Previn won over Morecambe & Wise

Sunday 13th December 2020

We've all seen André Previn on the 1971 Morecambe & Wise Christmas special countless times. The recorded Grieg sketch, however, is but the tip of the iceberg.

Al Read. Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Are you talking to me? How Al Read held up a mirror to Britain

Sunday 29th November 2020

Comedy was 'alternative' decades before 'alternative comedy' was even dreamt of: (re-)introducing Salford sensation, Al Read.

Groucho. Groucho Marx. Copyright: Associated-Rediffusion Television Features

Comedy Chronicles: Hello, I must be going: Groucho Marx on British TV

Sunday 15th November 2020

Groucho Marx was a superstar of American comedy who could do no wrong, but when he made a British TV series in the mid-1960s, very little went right.

Cardboard Cavalier. Sidcup Buttermeadow (Sid Field) Features

Comedy Chronicles: Desperately seeking Sid

Sunday 1st November 2020

Sid Field is perhaps the single greatest and most influential comic the western world has ever produced - but there's a very good chance you've never heard of him until now.

Eddie Braben Features

Comedy Chronicles: Happy birthday, Eddie Braben

Sunday 18th October 2020

Graham McCann pays tribute to Eddie Braben, an exceptionally prolific and talented comedy writer best remembered for The Morecambe & Wise Show.

Bless Me, Father. Father Charles Clement Duddleswell (Arthur Lowe). Copyright: London Weekend Television Features

Comedy Chronicles: Aye aye, Cap'n - Arthur Lowe at sea

Sunday 4th October 2020

The off-screen sitcom legend Arthur Lowe could be no less self-important than his on-screen characters, but in real life he also sought to sail the ocean blue...

Mary Whitehouse Features

Comedy Chronicles: Can't touch this - Comedy and cancel culture

Sunday 20th September 2020

With growing concerns over censorship, intolerance and cultural revisionism, Graham McCann looks at comedy's historical urge to break free.

The Other One. Image shows from L to R: Brian Bryant (Michael Gambon), Ralph Tanner (Richard Briers). Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: The Other One - Could've done, should've done

Sunday 6th September 2020

Despite starring both Richard Briers and Michael Gambon, one late 1970s sitcom - from the writers of The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles - failed to make any public impression whatsoever. This was the other The Other One.

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

Comedy Chronicles: Strained Relationships - Wilfrid Brambell & Harry H Corbett

Sunday 23rd August 2020

Father and son, Albert and Harold Steptoe rarely stopped bickering on screen; and the off-screen relationship between stars Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett could be rather tempestuous at times, too...

Nearest And Dearest. Image shows from L to R: Nellie Pledge (Hylda Baker), Eli Pledge (Jimmy Jewel). Copyright: Granada Television Features

Comedy Chronicles: Strained Relationships - Hylda Baker & Jimmy Jewel

Sunday 9th August 2020

As the Strained Relationships series continues, Graham McCann recounts the tale of another sitcom duo: comedians Hylda Baker and Jimmy Jewel.

Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?. Image shows from L to R: Terry Collier (James Bolam), Bob Ferris (Rodney Bewes). Copyright: BBC Features

Comedy Chronicles: Strained Relationships - Bewes & Bolam

Sunday 26th July 2020

In the first of a new series looking at the truth behind notoriously strained relationships between comedy stars, Graham McCann sets the record straight on the infamous falling out between Likely Lads icons Rodney Bewes and James Bolam.

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