British Comedy Guide

Dickie Henderson celebrated with centenary book & DVD

Monday 31st October 2022, 5:18pm

Dickie Henderson
  • Long-overlooked comedian Dickie Henderson is to be celebrated some 100 years since his birth
  • An early star of television from the 1950s onwards, he featured in a string of popular comedy series
  • Born on 30th October 1922, a new book and DVD set will be released in December

Early television comedy star Dickie Henderson OBE is to be celebrated with a new DVD and book set to mark his centenary.

Born on 30th October 1922 and died in 1985 at the age of only 62, the comedian was a huge star of early television, throughout the 60s and long into the 1970s.

Marking yesterday's 100 years since his birth, archive television organisation Kaleidoscope, which is best known for its work orchestrating hunts for 'missing believed wiped' programming, has announced the release, which will be out in time for Christmas.

Titled Dickie Henderson: A Lifetime In Broadcasting and expected to retail at £25, pre-orders will open via Kaleidoscope's website, TV Brain, early in November.

The set will comprise of a book with comprehensive listings and credits for the comic's television and radio work, as well as a new, exclusive biographical and career-retrospective feature from noted comedy historian and biographer Graham McCann (Dad's Army, Morecambe & Wise, Frankie Howerd), and a DVD including a selection of surviving programmes from his work with ITV broadcaster Associated-Redifussion Television.

The son of musical hall comedian Dick Henderson, Dickie established himself as a popular comic on stage after the Second World War and forged a successful television career from the early 1950s.

Shortly after the 1955 launch of ITV, he began a long-running and very popular association with the broadcasting network, which saw him host the iconic variety series Sunday Night At The London Palladium, appear in eight Royal Variety Shows, enjoy a run of self-titled comedy series of his own, ranging from sketch to sitcom and stand-up, and forge a popular on-screen partnership with Bob Monkhouse.

The DVD's contents will include episodes of hit sitcom The Dickie Henderson Show, chiefly written by the prolific and influential Jimmy Grafton (producer, writer and agent, responsible for uniting The Goons), and actor and writer Jeremy Lloyd - now best known for his later association with David Croft and creating international sitcom hits such as 'Allo 'Allo! and Are You Being Served?.

Debuting in 1960 and concluding its final, ninth series in 1968, the domestic-set comedy totalled 116 episodes, although fewer than 20 are now known to exist. A photo gallery featuring stills from Dickie's television career will also feature, with other contents to be confirmed.

Dickie Henderson On Radio And Television

Dickie Henderson On Radio And Television

A new book and 75-minute DVD collection examining and celebrating the all-too-short life and career of star entertainer, comedian and early TV favourite Dickie Henderson, a ratings-winning ITV star through the 1950s, 60s and 70s before his premature death in 1985 at the age of only 62.

Includes two episodes of the domestic sitcom The Dickie Henderson Show by Jimmy Grafton and Jeremy Lloyd, and an unbroadcast sketch/chat show pilot, I Wish I'd Said That, written by Barry Cryer and co-starring Kenneth Williams.

First published: Saturday 5th August 2023

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