John Thomson to present Gold archive stand-up series
UKTV channel Gold has ordered an archive-focused series called Legends Of Stand-Up & Bernard Righton.
The six-part series will be presented by John Thomson in character as Bernard Righton, his politically-correct club comic character. The Fast Show star has been performing as the act, which is said to be inspired by Bernard Manning, on-and-off since the 1990s. Appearing as Righton in a show at the 1992 Edinburgh Fringe, Thomson - alongside Steve Coogan - won the Perrier Award.
In the new TV show, in amongst his own stand-up material, Righton will introduce archive footage of famous comedians. Victoria Wood, Frankie Howerd, Morecambe & Wise, Joan Rivers, Tommy Cooper and US comics Jim Carrey and Woody Allen are amongst those that will be featured in the series.
Legends Of Stand-Up & Bernard Righton is being produced by North One Television, the production company which has previously worked with Gold to produce documentaries such as Two Ronnies Spectacle. The producer's latest format for the network - The Interviews, a show which uses archive footage from chat shows to profile various comedy performers - started on the channel last night.
Talking about the new show, UKTV's Iain Coyle said: "This is the perfect format, the very best of classic stand-up, hosted by one of my favourite ever comedy creations. I've genuinely been crying laughing in the meetings for this show, I might have to be restrained when I watch it on the telly."
Legends Of Stand-Up & Bernard Righton will be shown on Gold later this year.
In the below video, from the BBC's 1995 series The Stand Up Show, Thomson performs as Bernard Righton: