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''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", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
show which was broadcast on
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 an ...
from 1979 to 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 network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
, it features satirical sketches on then-current news stories and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy sketches, re-edited videos, and spoof television formats. The programme features
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 ...
,
Pamela Stephenson Pamela Helen Stephenson, Lady Connolly (born 4 December 1949) is a New Zealand-born psychologist, writer, and performer who is now a resident in both the United Kingdom and the United States. She is best known for her work as an actress and co ...
,
Mel Smith Melvyn Kenneth Smith (3 December 1952 – 19 July 2013) was an English comedian, actor and director. Smith worked on the sketch comedy shows ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' and ''Alas Smith and Jones'' with his comedy partner, Griff Rhys Jones. S ...
, and
Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for h ...
, as well as
Chris Langham Christopher Langham (born 14 April 1949) is an English writer, actor, and comedian. He is known for playing the cabinet minister Hugh Abbot in the BBC sitcom '' The Thick of It'', and as presenter Roy Mallard in '' People Like Us'', first on B ...
in the first series.


Format

The format was a deliberate departure from the
stream-of-consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in ''First Li ...
meta-comedy pioneered by ''
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 ...
'', 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 British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC One from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robins ...
'' and ''
Alas Smith and Jones ''Alas Smith and Jones'' is a British comedy sketch television series starring comedy duo and namesake 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 ''Smi ...
''. 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. Then-Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
complained when, by adroit image editing, the programme implied she had crashed a car. Effects used in pop videos, provided by the
Quantel Paintbox The Quantel Paintbox was a dedicated computer graphics workstation for composition of broadcast television video and graphics. Produced by the British production equipment manufacturer Quantel (which, via a series of mergers, is now part of Grass Va ...
, 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-programme 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 actuality programmes ''à la'' ''
The Frost Report ''The Frost Report'' is a satirical television show hosted by David Frost. It introduced John Cleese, Ronnie Barker, and Ronnie Corbett to television, and launched the careers of other writers and performers. It premiered on BBC1 on 10 March ...
'' with
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 ...
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 series’ name derived from its schedule, as it originally aired on
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 an ...
at the same time as the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on
BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
.


Aborted first series

Aside from Atkinson, the original cast comprised
Christopher Godwin Christopher Godwin (born 5 August 1943) is a British actor who has been active since the late 1960s. TV and recording career He made his TV debut at the age of 25, when he took on the role of PC Grange in an episode of '' Softly, Softly''. He ...
,
John Gorman John Gorman may refer to: * John Gorman (director) (1884–1936), American movie director *John Gorman (entertainer) (born 1936), English vocalist and musician *John Gorman (politician) (1923–2014), Northern Ireland politician *John Gorman (footb ...
,
Chris Langham Christopher Langham (born 14 April 1949) is an English writer, actor, and comedian. He is known for playing the cabinet minister Hugh Abbot in the BBC sitcom '' The Thick of It'', and as presenter Roy Mallard in '' People Like Us'', first on B ...
,
Willoughby Goddard Willoughby Wittenham Rees Goddard (4 July 1926 – 11 April 2008) was an English actor whose trademark rotund figure was well known on television and in films for more than 40 years. Biography Goddard was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire. He pl ...
, and
Jonathan Hyde Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King (born 21 May 1948), known professionally as Jonathan "Nash" Hyde, is an Australian-English actor. Hyde is perhaps best known for roles as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the 1994 comedy film '' Richie Rich'', Sa ...
, and the first episode of a planned series was scheduled for 2 April 1979; this also featured
Chris Emmett Christopher Roderick Emmett (born 13 December 1938 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire) is a British actor and comedian best known for his work in the late 1970s on the BBC Radio 4 comedies ''The Burkiss Way'' and '' Alison and Maud''. He was a regular o ...
(impersonating
Denis Healey Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey, (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970; he ...
),
Robert Llewelyn Robert Llewellyn (born 10 March 1956) is a British actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He plays the mechanoid Kryten in the sci-fi television sitcom '' Red Dwarf'' and formerly presented the engineering gameshow ''Scrapheap Challenge''. ...
(impersonating
Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...
) and Hertz Rental (narrating general elections in Greenland). 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, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television ...
'',
John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
was to have introduced the first episode in a sketch referring to a technicians' strike (then in progress) that hindered the production of the series, explaining (in character as
Basil Fawlty Basil Fawlty is the main character of the 1970s British sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'', played by John Cleese. The proprietor of the hotel Fawlty Towers, he is a cynical and misanthropic snob, desperate to belong to a higher social class. His attemp ...
) 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 ''Rhoda'' is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns starring Valerie Harper that originally aired on CBS for five seasons from September 9, 1974, to December 9, 1978. It was the first spin-off of ''The Mary Tyle ...
''.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 ''
Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television ...
'' 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 and writer. He made his name on British television and found his greatest fame for his portrayal of the comical Sp ...
, 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 ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ov ...
'', 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 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 ...
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’d ever seen). The first series was criticised for being "a poor mix of stand up, and a mild portion of sketches" and newspaper reviews referring 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 poked fun at 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. For the second series, Langham was replaced by
Griff Rhys-Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for h ...
, 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 The Rose d'Or ('Golden Rose') is an international awards festival in entertainment broadcasting and programming. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) first acquired the Rose d’Or in 1961, when it was created by Swiss Television in the lakes ...
at the
Montreux Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...
and a BAFTA 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 of ''
Blackadder ''Blackadder'' is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC One from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robins ...
'' in 1983, and Smith and Jones became a double act in ''
Alas Smith and Jones ''Alas Smith and Jones'' is a British comedy sketch television series starring comedy duo and namesake 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 ''Smi ...
''. An American adaptation, ''
Not Necessarily the News ''Not Necessarily the News'' (shortened as ''NNTN'') is an American satirical sketch comedy series that first aired on HBO in September 1982 as a comedy special, and then ran as a series from 1983 to 1990. For most of the run, the series featured ...
'' ran for seven years, from 1983 to 1990 on the
Home Box Office Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
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 agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
had once again announced a delay in the launch of its
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially 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. Its official program na ...
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 original '' Nine O'Clock News'', followed by an announcement of the time in 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 comical implausibles 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, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
is president."


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 April 1971 to December 1987. The usual format included sketches, solo sections, seria ...
'', as well as attempting to replicate the
satire boom The satire boom was the output of a generation of British satirical writers, journalists and performers at the beginning of the 1960s. The satire boom is often regarded as having begun with the first performance of '' Beyond the Fringe'' on 22 Aug ...
of the early 1960s that launched the careers of
John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
,
Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...
,
Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...
,
Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian best known as a member of The Goodies. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cambridge and became president ...
and others. This also happened at a time that the magazine '' National Lampoon'', ''
The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre op ...
'' troupes and ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' 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 actually refused to speak to his former cast-mates for a number of 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 2 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 an ...
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 Smith.


Crew

The main writers included
Colin Bostock-Smith Colin Bostock-Smith (born 1942)"I was born in 1942, so I was exactly the right age for rock and roll when it all happened./ref> is a British television and radio comedy writer. Early career Until the age of 30, he was a journalist, noting in a re ...
,
Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...
,
Peter Brewis Peter Brewis is a composer and instrumentalist who has been active in several spheres of music from ballet and modern dance to music theatre and rock music. Although he was classically trained, studying under the famous French music educator Na ...
,
Richard Curtis Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...
, and
Clive Anderson Clive Stuart Anderson (born 10 December 1952) is an English television and radio presenter, comedy writer, and former barrister. Winner of a British Comedy Award in 1991, Anderson began experimenting with comedy and writing comedic scripts durin ...
. However, the producers accepted scripts for sketches from a wide range of writers (including a then-undergraduate
Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
), 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 na ...
(subsequently composer of the theme music for ''
Blackadder ''Blackadder'' is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC One from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robins ...
'', ''
Red Dwarf ''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. T ...
'', and ''
The Vicar of Dibley ''The Vicar of Dibley'' is a British sitcom which originally ran on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 1 January 2007. It is set in a fictional small Oxfordshire village called Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1992 changes ...
'') 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 (1979)

# Unaired Pilot Episode (scheduled to air - 2 April 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 # Episode 5 – 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 # Episode 7 – 8 December 1980 # Episode 8 – 15 December 1980


Series 4 (1982)

# Episode 1 – 1 February 1982 # Episode 2 – 8 February 1982 # Hi 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) # 25 Years 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 Eight 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 Nine O'Clock News'' (7, 14 & 28 September 1983; Material from Series 4) # ''Not The Nine O'Clock News'' (October – 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 2:55am on
Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
.


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 A spoken word album is a recording of spoken material, a predecessor of the contemporary audiobook genre. Rather than featuring music or songs, the content of spoken word albums include political speeches, dramatic readings of historical documents ...
. ''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 #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. ...
...
double-length
cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...
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 Clips' (EMI 5015), is variously ascribed to
Pamela Stephenson Pamela Helen Stephenson, Lady Connolly (born 4 December 1949) is a New Zealand-born psychologist, writer, and performer who is now a resident in both the United Kingdom and the United States. She is best known for her work as an actress and co ...
and NtNON. It was in fact written by Roger and
Nigel Planer Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953) is a British actor, comedian, musician, novelist and playwright. He played Neil in the BBC comedy '' The Young Ones'' and Ralph Filthy in ''Filthy Rich & Catflap''. He has appeared in many West End mu ...
, 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 recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
of
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 ''*k ...
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 Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...
, 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 daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' newspaper, ''Not the 1984 Times'', which – although widely assumed to be – was not actually connected to the series.


See also

* ''
Not Necessarily the News ''Not Necessarily the News'' (shortened as ''NNTN'') is an American satirical sketch comedy series that first aired on HBO in September 1982 as a comedy special, and then ran as a series from 1983 to 1990. For most of the run, the series featured ...
'' *
Drop the Dead Donkey ''Drop the Dead Donkey'' is a British television sitcom that was first shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 1998. It is set in the offices of "GlobeLink News", a fictional TV news company. Recorded close to transmission, i ...


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 English-language television shows British satirical television series British black comedy television shows News parodies