Hale and Pace were an English comedy
double-act
A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases fo ...
that performed in clubs and on radio and television in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. The duo was made up of
Gareth Hale
Gareth Irvin Hale is an English comedian and actor, who is best known as one half of the comedy duo Hale and Pace, with his friend and comic partner Norman Pace.
Biography
Hale and his comedy partners were both former teachers, their come ...
and
Norman Pace
Norman John Pace (born 17 February 1953 in Dudley, Worcestershire) is an English actor and comedian, best known as one half of the comedy duo Hale and Pace with his friend and comic partner Gareth Hale. Both former teachers, they fronted seve ...
,
with the ''Hale and Pace'' television show running for ten years and 66 episodes, from 1988 to 1998.
Early career
Gareth Hale
Gareth Irvin Hale is an English comedian and actor, who is best known as one half of the comedy duo Hale and Pace, with his friend and comic partner Norman Pace.
Biography
Hale and his comedy partners were both former teachers, their come ...
(born 15 January 1953) and
Norman Pace
Norman John Pace (born 17 February 1953 in Dudley, Worcestershire) is an English actor and comedian, best known as one half of the comedy duo Hale and Pace with his friend and comic partner Gareth Hale. Both former teachers, they fronted seve ...
(born 17 February 1953) met at
Avery Hill
Avery Hill is an area of South East London mainly within Royal Borough of Greenwich, and with some parts in the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Eltham and north west of Sidcup. It is believed that the area is named after an aviary ...
teacher-training college in
Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of Elt ...
, South-East London.
After five years in education, they moved to entertainment in the late 1970s. They performed mostly in the Tramshed in Woolwich, London for seven years.
This developed into sketch-writing, with a show entitled ''
Don't Stop Now - It's Fundation''. Before appearing on TV, they did a series of radio shows for Radio 4 based on their show at the Tramshed. Their early TV breaks came on ''The Entertainers'' (1984) and ''Pushing Up Daisies'' (1984), and they went on to appear in the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
sketch show ''Coming Next'' (1985) and ''Saturday Gang'' (1986). They also appeared in ''
The Young Ones'' three times, in the episodes "
Flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
", "
Nasty" and "
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
".
London Weekend Television show
After a one-off special for
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...
at Christmas 1986, they were given a full series in 1988. The first series won the Silver Rose of Montreux, as well as the Press prize.
Their
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
series ran for a decade, with most of the programmes going out around 10 pm on a Sunday. The show is a mixture of sketches and stand-up. The series was also notable for its amount of musical numbers with every episode featuring at least one original song performed by Hale and/or Pace.
Their most famous comic creations are the stone-faced bouncers The Two Rons (not to be confused with
The Two Ronnies
''The Two Ronnies'' is a British television comedy sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. It was created by Bill Cotton and aired on BBC1 from April 1971 to December 1987. The usual format included sketches, solo sections, seria ...
), who are also known as The Management and for using the phrase 'I do, Ron, Ron' in their stilted conversations in a reference to the song "
Da Doo Ron Ron
"Da Doo Ron Ron" is a song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector. It first became a popular top five hit single for the American girl group The Crystals in 1963. American teen idol Shaun Cassidy covered the song in 1977 and his ...
" by
The Crystals
The Crystals are an American vocal group that originated in New York City. Considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era in the first half of the 1960s, their 1961–1964 chart hits – including " There's No Other (Like My Baby)", ...
.
The Two Rons' studio sketches either take place on some dimly-lit stairs next to the bouncers' venue or above Hale and Pace, where they have been keeping an eye on proceedings. In later series, The Two Rons are filmed on-location with ''Ron & Ron's Gardening Tips'' having the duo dispense thuggish wisdom about plants and flowers.
Hale and Pace are also famous for their ever-smiling and colourfully-dressed children's TV presenters Billy (Hale) and Johnny (Pace), and rockers Jed and Dave. Billy and Johnny started off in a number of sketches spoofing the kind of television programming which helps pre-schoolers learn, with
Ainsley Harriott
Ainsley Denzil Dubriel Harriott (born 28 February 1957) is an English chef and television presenter. He is known for his BBC cooking game shows '' Can't Cook, Won't Cook'' and '' Ready Steady Cook''.
Early life
Harriott was born in Paddin ...
appearing in a number of the sketches as their co-presenter Willy.
Most sketches includes both Hale and Pace, though the black and white sketches featuring 1960s
Beat Generation-era poet Groovy Wordbender are performed by Gareth Hale, whilst series one has a running gag featuring Norman Pace and a cow.
A number of their TV sketches caused controversy, especially the one in which they pretended to have
microwaved a cat.
A number of writers worked on the series over the ten series, with a high number of writing duos contributing ideas for sketches including Carson & Tomlinson (script advisors Sean Carson and David Tomlinson), Nice & Smith and Hale & Pace themselves.
In March 2022, the series was acquired by
That's TV
That's TV is a national television network in the United Kingdom, broadcasting via Sky, Freesat and Freeview. That's TV started off as the owner of a number of Local television in the United Kingdom, local television licences in several conur ...
for its comedy line-up which also included repeats of ''The Mrs Merton Show'' and ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...
''.
Series list
Spin-offs
Hale & Pace's characters "The Two Rons – also known as The Management" also had a spin-off series of their own called ''The Management'' which included a number of their regular cast in permanent positions and ran for a total of 6 episodes.
This series was also released on video but strangely only 4 out of the 6 episodes. They also made several specials, such as the 1996 Showcase ''Hale & Pace Down Under'' from Australia and ''April Fools' Day''.
Guest stars
In early series, Hale and Pace would feature little known performers such as
Ainsley Harriott
Ainsley Denzil Dubriel Harriott (born 28 February 1957) is an English chef and television presenter. He is known for his BBC cooking game shows '' Can't Cook, Won't Cook'' and '' Ready Steady Cook''.
Early life
Harriott was born in Paddin ...
,
Annette Badland
Annette Badland (born 26 August 1950) is an English actress known for a wide range of roles on television, radio, stage, and film. She is best known for her roles as Margaret Blaine in the BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who'', Mrs. Glen ...
and
Caroline Quentin
Caroline Quentin (born Caroline Jones; 11 July 1960) is an English actress, broadcaster and television presenter. Quentin became known for her television appearances: portraying Dorothy in ''Men Behaving Badly'' (1992–1998), Maddie Magellan in ...
, who would become successful in their own right later in the 1990s, but would not have any famous for the time stars in the series. Once Hale and Pace became more well known, more widely known stars appeared in their shows, with the snooker players
Steve Davis
Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...
and
Jimmy White
James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...
playing
foil
Foil may refer to:
Materials
* Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine
* Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal
* Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food
* Tin foil, metal foil ...
to the two cabbies in one episode.
DVD box sets
All 10 series are now released on DVD, available in region 4 from Australia (No special features or extras, simple DVD transfer)
Series 1 & 2Alternative?Series 3 & 4Alternative?
Series 5 & 6
Series 7 & 8
Series 9 & 10
The show is rated M in Australia and R16 in New Zealand for its sexual references.
The complete first series doubled with the 1986 Christmas Special was released in a 2 disc DVD set in the UK on 12 March 2012 by Network. It was classified "12" by the BBFC.
"The Stonk"
In 1991 Hale & Pace were part of a charity supergroup, who released a
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
in aid of
Comic Relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
Definition
Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
.
Credited to Hale & Pace and the Stonkers,
the record, called "The Stonk", was based on a fictitious
dance craze
''Dance Craze'' is a 1981 American documentary film about the British 2 Tone music genre.
The film was directed by Joe Massot, who originally wanted to do a film only about the band Madness, whom he met during their first US tour. Massot lat ...
and was co-written by the two comedians along with Joe Griffiths. The single was
produced by
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
guitarist
Brian May
Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...
, who was also featured on the track and had his name printed on the front cover.
Other musicians performing on the single, besides Brian May playing
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
and
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, were
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and new wave,[David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...]
and
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank Iommi () (born 19 February 1948) is a British musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader and primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. I ...
on guitar, with
Neil Murray on
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
.
Cozy Powell
Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, ...
,
Roger Taylor Roger Taylor may refer to:
*Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) (born 1949), drummer for Queen
*Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (born 1960), drummer for Duran Duran
*Roger Taylor (author), author of epic fantasy Hawklan series
*Roger Taylor (college pr ...
and
Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcoms '' Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and ''Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and the film series ''Johnny English'' (2003–201 ...
– appearing as his
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
Mr. Bean
''Mr. Bean'' is a British sitcom created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, produced by Tiger Aspect and starring Atkinson as the title character. The sitcom consists of 15 episodes that were co-written by Atkinson alongside Curtis and R ...
– performed on
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
.
Joe Griffiths and
Mike Moran contributed on keyboard.
Comedians
Steve Punt
Stephen Mark Punt (born 15 September 1962)[Mr Stephen Mark Punt](_blank)
company-director-c ...
,
Hugh Dennis
Peter Hugh Dennis (born 13 February 1962) is an English comedian, presenter, actor, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist who has appeared in the comedy double act Punt and Dennis with partner Steve Punt. He played Dr Piers Crispin in the ...
,
Rob Newman and
David Baddiel
David Lionel Baddiel (; born 28 May 1964) is an English comedian, presenter, screenwriter, and author. He is known for his work alongside Rob Newman in ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' and his comedy partnership with Frank Skinner. He has al ...
appear in the video.
A
UK number-one single for one week in March 1991, it was the UK's 22nd-best-selling single of the year. "The Stonk" was released as a joint-single with a track written and performed by the comedian
Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director.
Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over se ...
. Entitled "The Smile Song", the song was credited on the front of the single cover and listed as track 2 on the seven-inch and CD single (rather than B-side). However, the UK singles chart compilers (now the Official Charts Company) did not credit her with having number one hit, in a situation similar to the fate of
Big Audio Dynamite II's "
Rush
Rush(es) may refer to:
Places
United States
* Rush, Colorado
* Rush, Kentucky
* Rush, New York
* Rush City, Minnesota
* Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois
* Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream
* Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...
", the AA-side of preceding number one, "
Should I Stay or Should I Go
"Should I Stay or Should I Go" is a song by English punk rock band the Clash, from their album ''Combat Rock'', written in 1981 and featuring Mick Jones on lead vocals. It was released in 1982 as a double A-sided single alongside " Straight to ...
" by
The Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...
.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Other appearances
As well as their 1991 single "The Stonk", the duo also appeared as their characters "The Two Rons" in a firework safety campaign run around
Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain, involving bonfires and fireworks displays. Its history begins with the ev ...
, in trailers that were run for several years in the late 1980s/early 1990s, in slots often directly after
Children's BBC
BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC (short for Chil ...
, but also occasionally during ITV commercial breaks.
Hale and Pace continued their charity work with a 1992 stint as spokespersons for the National Egg Awareness Campaign. They moved across to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in 1997 and starred in the three-part series, ''Jobs for the Boys'', a non-comedic show in which they took on a variety of employment challenges. One of these challenges was to write the UK entry for the
. They were advised/mentored by
.
The duo also appeared, briefly, as shop-keepers Harvey and Len, in Part One of the 1989 ''
''. This gave them the distinction of appearing in what turned out to be the last ever story in the show's original 1963–89 run.
Their dramatisation of the ''
'' detectives for ITV in 1994 did not lead to success, and the BBC later attempted the serialisations with more success, with
in the title roles.
In 1998, Hale and Pace could be seen in a BBC One programme called ''Oddbods'', with the shows written by the duo in association with
Richard Parker. Two episodes were aired.
A hybrid variety/comedy/quiz/people-show ''h&p@bbc'' was launched in 1999 under the watch of the BBC's Head of Entertainment Paul Jackson who had worked with the duo prior to his appointment. ''h&p@bbc'' was a 40-minute show, a mix of comedy, celebrity quizzes and audience participation. It was initially scheduled for Wednesday nights after the ''Nine o'Clock News''. The ''h&p@bbc'' show was criticised by ''
as being a throwback to low-budget quiz shows of the 1980s, and he considered the show's games to be a "derivative mish-mash".
Hale and Pace appeared working in a shoe shop in episode two of ''
'' (2001). They appeared in the Christmas Special of the
, broadcast in December 2007. They appeared in several episodes of the 2018 season of ''
'', playing a pair of financial fraud investigation officers.
once described the duo by saying "Gareth Hale is the unfunny one with the moustache and Norman Pace is the unfunny one without the moustache".