''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

show that was broadcast on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

from 16 October 1979 to 8 March 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

, the show features satirical sketches on news stories and popular culture of the early 1980s, as well as parody songs, comedy sketches, re-edited videos, and spoof television formats. The programme features Rowan Atkinson, Pamela Stephenson, Mel Smith, and Griff Rhys Jones, as well as Chris Langham in the first series.

Format

The format was a deliberate departure from the stream-of-consciousness comedy pioneered by ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal humour, surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, w ...

'', returning to a more conventional sketch format. Sketches were mostly self-contained, lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes, and often had a degree of naturalism in performance. The series launched the careers of several high-profile actors and writers, and also led to other comedic series including ''

Blackadder ''Blackadder'' is a series of four Period piece, period British sitcoms - ''The Black Adder'', ''Blackadder II'', ''Blackadder the Third'' and ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' - plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC1 from 19 ...

'' and ''

Alas Smith and Jones ''Alas Smith and Jones'' is a British comedy sketch television series starring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones that originally ran for four series and two Christmas specials on BBC2 from 1984 to 1988, and later as ''Smith and Jones'' for six ...

''. The series benefited from video editing and recording techniques. The pace was enhanced by jump-cutting between library clips, usually of politicians, royalty, or celebrities. Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

complained when, by adroit image editing, the programme implied she had crashed a car. Effects used in pop videos, provided by the Quantel Paintbox, were often a highlight of the musical numbers.

History

Background

''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' was produced by John Lloyd. Lloyd pitched the idea to the heads of BBC Comedy and Light Entertainment and was given a six-episode series on condition that he collaborate with Sean Hardie, who had worked in current affairs at the BBC. Initially, Lloyd and Hardie were considering doing a lampoon of current affairs programmes ''à la'' '' The Frost Report'', with Rowan Atkinson portraying an old-fashioned host attacking liberal and/or modern trends. The programme was to be called ''Sacred Cows'', but the news programme was chosen because of its larger number of sources. The name of the series derived from its scheduling, as it originally aired on

at the same time as the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on

Aborted first series

Aside from Atkinson, the original cast comprised Christopher Godwin, John Gorman, Chris Langham, Willoughby Goddard, and Jonathan Hyde, and the first episode of a planned series was scheduled for 2 April 1979; this also featured Chris Emmett (impersonating Denis Healey), and Robert Llewelyn (impersonating

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

). As the programme was originally scheduled to air in the time slot occupied by ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a dysfunctional fictional ...

'',

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

was to have introduced the first episode in a sketch referring to a technicians' strike in progress at the time that hindered the production of the series, explaining (in character as Basil Fawlty) that there was no programme that week, so a "tatty revue" would be broadcast instead. However, the 1979 general election intervened, and the programme was pulled as being too political, being replaced with a repeat of the American sitcom '' Rhoda''.BBC Guide to Comedy
by

Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.

. Retrieved 17 March 2007. The sketch with Cleese was broadcast later that year when the final episode of ''

'' went out during the broadcast run of the first series of ''Not The Nine O'Clock News'', though the significance of the sketch was lost to some degree. This link is included on the Region 2 DVD boxset of ''Fawlty Towers''. Basil's waiter Manuel, played by

Andrew Sachs Andreas Siegfried Sachs (7 April 1930 – 23 November 2016), known professionally as Andrew Sachs, was a German-born British actor. He made his name on British television and found his greatest fame for his portrayal of the comical Spanish waite ...

, also appeared at the end of the unaired episode, trying to get a joke about the Ayatollah's contact lenses. Other sketches of the unaired pilot episode were also lifted or remade on episodes throughout the first series. Healey's and Hope's impressions were achieved by the use of "talking head" puppets, which in the mid-1980s would become a characteristic staple of '' Spitting Image'', produced by Lloyd in its early series.

In production

Lloyd and Hardie decided to re-cast the series, retaining Langham and Atkinson. They wanted to bring in a woman, but Victoria Wood turned the programme down. Lloyd met Pamela Stephenson at a party, and she agreed to join. Atkinson, Langham, and Stephenson were joined by Mel Smith, who was scheduled to work on the pilot, but declined after reading the script (he called the finished pilot in retrospect "the worst half hour of TV" that he had ever seen). The first series was criticised for being "a poor mix of stand up, and a mild portion of sketches" and newspaper reviews referred to it as "extremely offensive" and that it "should not be allowed on TV". Ratings were dismal as well: the first episode had fewer than a million viewers. However, the network controller reportedly liked the programme so much, that a second series of seven episodes was commissioned, also helped by budgetary cuts at BBC, which were repeatedly lampooned in the second series' premiere episode, entitled "The Outrageously Expensive Not the Nine O'Clock News". Such cuts also forced the show to drastically reduce the use of outside scenes (which were recorded on film) as well as minor players. The shock value prominent during the first season was also toned down in favour of a more "offbeat" tone. In February 1980, in between series 1 and series 2 of ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'', Mel Smith appeared as a news reader named " Reginald Bowes and Cat" in the '' Goodies'' episode "

Animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...

". His segment of the show was preceded by the caption "Not the News at Ten". For the second series, Langham was replaced by Griff Rhys-Jones, who had already been a regular player during the first series, aside from having directed the radio programme ''The Atkinson People''. The second series of ''Not the Nine O’Clock News'' won the Silver Rose at the Montreux Festival and a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Award for Best Light Entertainment Programme in 1982. The show's later series achieved improved ratings and became critically acclaimed. ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' became a stage production in Oxford and London in 1982, but the main performers decided to end the project while it was a success: Stephenson began a Hollywood film career, Atkinson recorded the

first series First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of ''

'' (also produced by John Lloyd) in 1983, and Smith and Jones became a double act in ''

''. An American adaptation, '' Not Necessarily the News'' ran for seven years, from 1983 to 1990 on the Home Box Office cable television channel.

Content

Satire was a key theme in the series' comedy. For example, one spoof news element might include a routine announcement that

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

had once again announced a delay in the launch of its

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

owing to technical difficulties, as the screen showed the shuttle on its launch pad with oxygen streaming off the tanks, overlaid with the sound of a car engine turning over but not starting. An opening graphic featured the same blue screen and white analogue clock ticking down to 9:00 p.m. as preceded the '' Nine O'Clock News'', followed by an announcement of the time in a similar voice and, in parody, the announcement that this was "definitely ''not'' the ''Nine O'Clock News''". Skits could include scenes such as a group of rural Americans at a barbecue singing several minutes of comically implausible songs like "I'm prepared to believe that Nixon wasn't a crook; I'm prepared to believe '' Love Storys a readable book..." and finally concluding, "I believe that the devil is ready to repent; – but I can't believe

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

is president." A well-known sketch from the second season (1980) features Mel Smith as Professor Timothy Fielding, who brought a

gorilla Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five su ...

named Gerald (played by Atkinson) to a TV studio for an interview. Fielding claims that he trained the ape to learn to speak. As the sketch progresses, it turns out that Gerald is amazingly articulate and obviously smarter than Fielding. This leads to a classic exchange, where Fielding claims: "''When I caught Gerald in '68 he was completely wild.''", whereupon Gerald interrupts: "''Wild? I was absolutely livid!"''.

Legacy

The programme is credited with bringing

alternative comedy Alternative comedy is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era. The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe ...

to British television: Lloyd once commented he wanted to do a "modern, working-class" comedy in contrast to other series of the time, such as ''

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 10 April 1971 to 25 December 1987. The usual format included sketches, solo se ...

'', as well as attempting to replicate the satire boom of the early 1960s that launched the careers of

, Dudley Moore,

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke Co ...

Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of The Goodies. Brooke-Taylor became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cambridge and beca ...

and others. This also happened at a time that the magazine '' National Lampoon'', '' The Second City'' troupes and ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' became showcases of alternative comedy in North America. In 2005, Atkinson, Smith, Stephenson, Langham, and producer Lloyd reunited to talk to Sue MacGregor about the series. Langham's departure was touched upon, with Lloyd seeming to take the blame, though Atkinson had campaigned for Langham to be kept in the cast (Langham refused to speak to his former cast mates for several years after he was fired, until appearing as a regular on ''Smith and Jones'' in the 1990s). ''The Reunion'' was broadcast on Radio 4 on 31 July 2005. A documentary featuring the cast reminiscing about the making of the programme was shown on BBC Two on 28 December 2009, before one of the 1995 compilation shows was aired (despite a "complete episode" being billed in television listings). The documentary was repeated on 3 August 2013, just over two weeks after the death of Mel Smith.

Crew

The main writers included Colin Bostock-Smith, Andy Hamilton, Peter Brewis,

Richard Curtis Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a British screenwriter, producer and director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known for romantic comedy-drama films, including ''Four Weddings and a Funeral' ...

, and

Clive Anderson Clive Stuart Anderson (born 10 December 1952) is an English television and radio presenter, comedian, writer and former barrister. Winner of a British Comedy Award in 1991, Anderson began experimenting with comedy and writing comedic scripts dur ...

. However, the producers accepted scripts for sketches from a wide range of writers (including a then-undergraduate

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

), and ensured the programme remained topical by recording sketches only days before broadcast.

Howard Goodall Howard Lindsay Goodall (; born 26 May 1958) is an English composer of musicals, choral music and music for television. He also presents music-based programmes for television and radio, for which he has won many awards. In May 2008, he was name ...

(subsequently composer of the theme music for ''

'', ''

Red Dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

'', and '' The Vicar of Dibley'') was musical director. Bill Wilson directed the first three series, while Geoff Posner handled the fourth.

Episodes

A total of 27 episodes of 25–30-minute duration were broadcast over four series. Series 1 had been due to start on 2 April 1979, but was postponed due to a

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

being called for 3 May, with the programme being deemed "too political".

Series 1 (1979)

# Kenny Everett in ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' – 16 October 1979 # Episode 2 – 23 October 1979 # Episode 3 – 30 October 1979 # Episode 4 – 6 November 1979 # ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' Christmas Party – 13 November 1979 # Episode 6 – 20 November 1979

Series 2 (1980)

# The Outrageously Expensive ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' – 31 March 1980 # Episode 2 – 7 April 1980 # Don't Get Your Vicars in a Twist – 14 April 1980 # International Darts – 21 April 1980 # Episode 5 – 28 April 1980 # Episode 6 – 5 May 1980 # Death Lasers of Kazaan – 12 May 1980

Series 3 (1980)

# ''Not the Nine O'Clock in the Morning News'' – 27 October 1980 # Election Special – 3 November 1980 # Miss World 1980 – 10 November 1980 # Nationwide – 17 November 1980 # Episode 5 – 24 November 1980 # Episode 6 – 1 December 1980 # The Royal Command Performance of ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' – 8 December 1980 # Episode 8 – 15 December 1980

Series 4 (1982)

# Episode 1 – 1 February 1982 # Episode 2 – 8 February 1982 # ''Ní Se Seo An Nuacht Ag A Naoi Chlog'' – 15 February 1982 # Episode 4 – 22 February 1982 # Made in Wales – 1 March 1982 # Shame – 8 March 1982

Specials

# Not the Least of ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' (28 December 1979; Christmas Special) # The Best Of ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' (9 September 1980) # 25 Years Of ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' (16 September 1980) # Not The Lot of ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' (23 September 1980; Material from Series 2) # Not The Nine O'Clock Christmas: ''Write Your Own'' (30 December 1980; Material from Series 3) # Not Another ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' (9 October 1981) # An Eighth Chance to See ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' (16 October 1981) # The Last of the Summer Repeats (23 October 1981; Material from Series 1, 2, and 3) # Not the World Cup (19 June 1982; Material from Series 4) # ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' (7, 14 & 28 September 1983; Material from Series 4) # ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' (27 October – 15 December 1995; 8 Compilations) The series has rarely been repeated; eight re-cut and condensed (to make it "faster and funnier than ever") "episodes" made for a video edition in 1995 are shown instead. This is primarily because the original episodes in their entirety lampooned events that were in the news at the time. The last repeat of the show was on Sunday 27 March 2016 at 22:55 on

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

Commercial releases

Video and DVD

Two highly edited VHS releases of the series, entitled ''The Gorilla Kinda Lingers'' and ''Nice Video, Shame about the Hedgehog'', were released in 1995. In August 2003, these videos were released on DVD under the title of ''The Best of Not the Nine O'Clock News: Volume One'', with ''The Best of Not the Nine O'Clock News: Volume Two'' following a year later. Both of these are available in one set, unavailable separately, in Region 1.

Records

Three vinyl albums were released at the time the series was screening, entitled ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'', ''Hedgehog Sandwich'', and ''The Memory Kinda Lingers''. These albums were very successful, with the first two both reaching the top ten of the UK albums chart, a rare feat for a spoken word album. ''Hedgehog Sandwich'' also peaked at number 89 in Australia. The original version of ''The Memory Kinda Lingers'' is a double LP. The second disc is titled ''Not in Front of the Audience'' and is a live recording of the cast's stage production. ''Hedgehog Sandwich'' and the first disc of ''The Memory Kinda Lingers'' were later combined on a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

double-length cassette and double-CD set. "The Ayatollah Song" b/w "Gob on You" (as featured in the TV show) and "I Like Trucking" b/w "Supa Dupa" were also released as singles. The 1980 single "Typing Pool" by 'Pam and the Paper CClips(EMI 5015), is variously ascribed to Pamela Stephenson and NtNON. It was written by Roger and Nigel Planer, who were among the show's many writers.Musical Taste listing and clip
Retrieved 17 December 2007.

Books and miscellaneous

Three books were released to tie in with the series: ''Not! The Nine O'Clock News'', a collection of classic material rewritten and restructured as a parody of the short-lived magazine '' Now!''; ''Not the Royal Wedding'' (the royal wedding in question being the

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and Diana); and ''Not the General Election'', a tie-in with the 1983 general election. The first was reprinted in 1995 as ''Not for Sale''. ''Not the Royal Wedding'' was promoted by a little-known radio spin-off, ''Not the Nuptials'', transmitted on BBC Radio 1. The same station had also previously produced a behind-the-scenes documentary on ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' as part of their magazine series ''Studio B15''. Two "page-a-day" tear-off calendars, edited by John Lloyd and containing several contributions from Douglas Adams, were released in the early 1980s (''Not 1982'' and ''Not 1983''). Also published around this time was a spoof Orwellian edition of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' newspaper, ''Not the 1984 Times'', which – although widely assumed to be – was not connected to the series.

References

External links

* * Comedy Guide * *
Complete episode guide sketch by sketch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Not The Nine O'clock News 1970s British television sketch shows 1980s British television sketch shows 1979 British television series debuts 1982 British television series endings BBC television sketch shows British English-language television shows 1970s British satirical television series 1980s British satirical television series British black comedy television shows British news parodies