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A Small Problem
''A Small Problem'' is a British sitcom originally broadcast on BBC2 in 1987. Intended as a satire on prejudice, and starring Christopher Ryan who had previously played Mike in '' The Young Ones'', the show was set in a Britain with a form of apartheid based on people's height. Anyone below 5 ft tall was forced to live in tower-block ghettos south of the River Thames. However, many viewers appeared not to understand the satirical aspect of the show, and the BBC was flooded with complaints. It was written by comedy writers Tony Millan and Mike Walling. The theme tune was written by Mo Foster and Mike Walling. See also * Heightism Height discrimination (also known as heightism) is prejudice or discrimination against individuals based on height. In principle, it refers to the discriminatory treatment against individuals whose height is not within the normal acceptable range ... External links * {{BBC-tv-prog-stub 1987 British television series debuts 1987 British television ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Sitcom
A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming. A handful are made almost exclusively on location (for example, '' Last of the Summer Wine'') and shown to a studio audience prior to final post-production. A subset of British comedy consciously avoids traditional situation comedy themes, storylines, and home settings to focus on more unusual topics or narrative methods. ''Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and '' Yes Minister'' (1980–1988, 2013) moved what is often a domestic or workplace genre into the corridors of power. A later development was the mockumentary genre exemplified by series such as ''The Office'' (2001–2003). Early years ;''Pinwright's Progress'' Written by Rodney Hobson, '' Pinwright's Progress'' (1946–1947) was the world's first regular half-hour televised sitcom. Broadcast live by the BBC from Alexandra Palace, it wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio channels, it is funded by the television licence, and is therefore free of commercial advertising. It is a comparatively well-funded public-service network, regularly attaining a much higher audience share than most public-service networks worldwide. Originally styled BBC2, it was the third British television station to be launched (starting on 21 April 1964), and from 1 July 1967, Europe's first television channel to broadcast regularly in colour. It was envisaged as a home for less mainstream and more ambitious programming, and while this tendency has continued to date, most special-interest programmes of a kind previously broadcast on BBC Two, for example the BBC Proms, no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or exposing the perceived flaws of individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society. A feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm —"in satire, irony is militant", according to literary critic Northrop Frye— but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of (or at least accept as natural) the very things the satirist wishes to question. Satire is found in many a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Ryan
Christopher Ryan (born Christopher Papazoglou; 25 January 1950) is a British actor best known for his roles as Mike TheCoolPerson in the BBC comedy series '' The Young Ones'', Dave Hedgehog in the BBC comedy series ''Bottom'', Tony Driscoll in the BBC comedy series ''Only Fools and Horses'', and as Edina Monsoon's ex-husband Marshall Turtle in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous''. He has also appeared as the McKendrick twins in ''One Foot in the Grave'', and played Sontaran General Staal in '' Doctor Who'' in 2008. Early life Ryan was born Christopher Papazoglou in Bayswater, London to an English mother and a Greek father. He trained at East 15 Acting School from 1968 to 1971, then began his professional acting career with Glasgow Citizens' Theatre. Career ''The Young Ones'' Ryan was the only '' Young Ones'' cast member who was not already well known in British comedy circles, the other principal parts being taken by The Comic Strip members Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Young Ones (TV Series)
''The Young Ones'' is a British sitcom written by Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Lise Mayer, starring Adrian Edmondson, Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexei Sayle, and broadcast on BBC Two for two series, first shown in 1982 and 1984. The show focused on the lives of four dissimilar students and their landlord's family on different plots that often included anarchic, offbeat, surreal humour. The show often included slapstick gags, visual humour and surreal jokes sometimes acted out by puppets, with each episode also featuring a notable selection of guest stars and musical numbers from various performers. ''The Young Ones'' helped bring alternative comedy to British television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers. The show became a notable icon of 1980s British popular culture, and it received its own game and a home-media release while becoming the first non-music-related programme to appear on MTV in the United States in 1985. The show wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on ''baasskap'' (boss-hood or boss-ship), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Indians and Coloureds, then black Africans. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day. Broadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into ''petty apartheid'', which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and ''grand apartheid'', which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race. The first apartheid law was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Millan
Anthony Millan, known professionally as Tony Millan, is a British character actor and television comedy scriptwriter. Millan appeared in numerous roles, predominantly in sitcoms and drama series on British television throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Early life Millan was born in Edmonton, London, England in 1946. He was educated in London and trained there as an actor. Career Millan has had a career in British television spanning several decades. Personal life Millan married Marilyn J Honig in 1971 in London. The marriage produced three children. Selected filmography *'' The Girls of Slender Means'' (3 episodes, 1975) as Ernest Claymore *'' Holding On'' (1977) as officer in trench *''Citizen Smith'' (1977–1980) as Tucker *'' Mixed Blessings'' (1980) as Giovanni *'' Holding the Fort'' (1980) as Daniel *''L for Lester'' (3 episodes, 1982) as Sid *'' Lame Ducks'' (series 1 and 2, 1984–1985) as Maurice *''Roll Over Beethoven'' (1985) as waiter *''The Lenny Henry Show'' (2 episode ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Walling
Mike Walling (8 July 1950 – 2 July 2020) was an English comic actor and screenwriter. Career Walling began his career as an English teacher at Holland Park School in London. In the mid-1970s, while still a teacher, he won a British TV talent contest, New Faces, with a comedy double act called "Mr Carline & Mr Walling." He immediately left teaching and embarked on launching his new career in comedy. When the comedy duo ended their partnership, Walling moved into situation comedy, appearing in several series—"Just Liz", "Bootle Saddles" and then the highly successful "Brush Strokes". He began starting to get more work as a screenwriter when he teamed up with Tony Millan. The two of them wrote screenplays for a number of different shows, as well as their own series. In the early 1980s Walling teamed up with session bass player Mo Foster for various comedy music projects, with Walling writing the lyrics and Foster writing the music and producing the resulting songs. One of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mo Foster
Mo Foster (born Michael Ralph Foster, 22 December 1944) is an English multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, solo artist, author, and public speaker. Through a career spanning over half a century, Foster has toured, recorded, and performed with dozens of artists, including Jeff Beck, Gil Evans, Phil Collins, Ringo Starr, Joan Armatrading, Gerry Rafferty, Brian May, Scott Walker, Frida of ABBA, Cliff Richard, George Martin, Van Morrison, Dr John, Hank Marvin, Heaven 17 and the London Symphony Orchestra. He has released several albums under his own name, authored a humorous book on the history of British rock guitar, written numerous articles for music publications, continued to compose production music, and established himself as a public speaker. Foster is an assessor for JAMES, an industry organisation that gives accreditation to music colleges throughout the UK. In 2014, Foster was a recipient of a BASCA Gold Badge Award to honour his lifelong contribution to the Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heightism
Height discrimination (also known as heightism) is prejudice or discrimination against individuals based on height. In principle, it refers to the discriminatory treatment against individuals whose height is not within the normal acceptable range of height in a population. Various studies have shown it to be a cause of bullying, commonly manifested as unconscious microaggressions. Research indicates that the human brain uses height as one factor to measure social status and fitness. Studies have observed that infants as young as 10 months old unconsciously associate height with leadership potential, power, strength and intelligence. Both the cognitive and the unconscious heuristic association between height and the mentioned traits has also been found to be stronger when assessing men than women. Lexicology The term ''heightism'' was coined by sociologist Saul Feldman in a paper titled "The presentation of shortness in everyday life—height and heightism in American society: To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1987 British Television Series Debuts
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing everyone except a little girl; The King's Cross fire kills 31 people after a fire under an escalator flashes-over; The MV Doña Paz sinks after colliding with an oil tanker, drowning almost 4,400 passengers and crew; Typhoon Nina strikes the Philippines; LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055 crashes outside of Warsaw, taking the lives of all aboard; The USS Stark is struck by Iraqi Exocet missiles in the Persian Gulf; U.S. President Ronald Reagan gives a famous speech, demanding that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev tears down the Berlin Wall., 300x300px, thumb rect 0 0 200 200 Zeebrugge disaster rect 200 0 400 200 Northwest Airlines Flight 255 rect 400 0 600 200 King's Cross fire rect 0 200 300 400 Tear down this wall! rect 300 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1987 British Television Series Endings
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing everyone except a little girl; The King's Cross fire kills 31 people after a fire under an escalator flashes-over; The MV Doña Paz sinks after colliding with an oil tanker, drowning almost 4,400 passengers and crew; Typhoon Nina strikes the Philippines; LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055 crashes outside of Warsaw, taking the lives of all aboard; The USS Stark is struck by Iraqi Exocet missiles in the Persian Gulf; U.S. President Ronald Reagan gives a famous speech, demanding that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev tears down the Berlin Wall., 300x300px, thumb rect 0 0 200 200 Zeebrugge disaster rect 200 0 400 200 Northwest Airlines Flight 255 rect 400 0 600 200 King's Cross fire rect 0 200 300 400 Tear down this wall! rect 300 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
