The Story Of Variety With Michael Grade

This might look like yet another excuse to wallow in light entertainment's golden era and be reminded once again of Eric & Ernie, Frankie Howerd et al. But while a dire clip of Max Miller may make you wonder quite how golden this era actually was, this is largely wonderful stuff, rich with anecdotes told by veteran showbiz raconteurs. Variety didn't just involve comedy, but jugglers, musicians, hoofers, and acts who spent their entire careers doing just one turn. Among those recalling the high jinks and dismal lodgings of those bygone days are Ken Dodd, Val Doonican, Roy Hudd and Mike Winters.

Enter a lost world of entertainment with this celebration of the postwar heyday of variety. Michael Grade is our qualified guide - he joined the family theatrical agency in 1966 - and delivers a warm and funny show, full of good anecdotes. That's because he lets veteran entertainers and agents do much of the talking - Val Doonican, Doreen Wise (widow of Ernie), Bruce Forsyth, Ken Dodd, Roy Hudd, Barry Cryer and Janet Brown among them. Although largely filmed at the London Palladium, many of their recollections concern the third-rate halls or "number threes" - Attercliffe Palace in Sheffield and Bilston Theatre Royal keep cropping up. Unforgettable, but for all the wrong reasons, as are tales of theatrical digs. In contrast, a parade of clips features comics, ventriloquists, dancers, jugglers and animal acts - from Max Miller to Memory Man, and Kardoma the flag act to Koringa the lady snake charmer. Nostalgia, social history... however you label it, there's nothing po-faced about this supremely entertaining show.

The Story Of Variety Review: Gone But Not Forgotten

Back in an age before TV ruled the world, the theatre was the place to be. Even better, you wouldn't have to get your drama from Eastenders because you'd be sat in the front row worrying about whether the man on stage with a cart wheel on his head was going to deposit it into your lap. Never before have so many people wanted the man on the stage to get it right.

At the end of the Second World War, almost every town in Britain still had a variety theatre, where comedians, musicians, singers, dancers and novelty acts would perform each week. Now they are almost all gone. In this two-part documentary, which concludes next week, former ITV chairman Grade (a sometime variety agent) examines the demise of this very British form of entertainment.