Peter Cook (I)

Comedy Chronicles: Up the polls! - Election campaigns and comedy

Sunday 30th June 2024

Comedy and politics regularly mix, but there has long been a significant hesitation amongst television broadcasters to poke fun during election campaign periods.

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.

Comedy Chronicles: The ITV Job - The day when the BBC almost lost British comedy

Sunday 26th June 2022

Graham McCann's column charts a fascinating 'what if' moment in British television comedy history: a fork in the road that had consequences of epic proportions in either direction.

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.

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.