''The All New Alexei Sayle Show'' was a comedy sketch show 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 ...

television for a total of twelve episodes, over two series in 1994 and 1995. The title sequence featured

Alexei Sayle Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th gr ...

as an innocent, newly arrived man in London singing cheerful lyrics and dancing around Trafalgar Square, in a spoof of American television shows such as the

Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Moo ...

. It was the successor to

Alexei Sayle's Stuff ''Alexei Sayle's Stuff'' is a British television comedy sketch show which ran on BBC2 for a total of 18 episodes over 3 series from 1988 to 1991. Cast Alexei Sayle's Stuff stars stand-up comedian Alexei Sayle, with a recurring cast including An ...

, and predecessor of

Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round ''Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round'' is a comedy sketch show which ran on BBC2 for a total of 6 episodes over one series in May and June 1998. Alexei Sayle's final series was almost identical in format to ''The All New Alexei Sayle Show'' except ...

. Sayle's co-star from Channel 4's ''The Gravy Train'', future dual Academy Award winner

Christoph Waltz Christoph Waltz (; born 4 October 1956) is an Austrian-German actor. Since 2009 he has been primarily active in the United States. His accolades include two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two British Academy Film Awards and two Sc ...

appeared in a sketch during its run.

Recurring characters

The show differed from

mainly in its introduction of recurring characters who include: * Alexei's ''

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

'', Bobby Chariot. Bobby is a

Scouse Scouse (; formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English) is an Accent (dialect), accent and dialect of English language, English associated with Liverpool and the surrounding county of Merseyside. The Scouse accent is highly dis ...

comic of the old school, who appears as a warm-up act during breaks when the show has supposedly 'broken down' for technical reasons. His catchphrase "How you diddling?" will invariably fail to ignite the audience, prompting the reply, ". . . Bloody sod you, then." He will then regale them with anecdotes about his wife having left him, his drink problem, and sleeping in his Jag. He is an archetypal 'traditional' comedian who combines the least

politically correct ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

sides of

Jimmy Tarbuck James Joseph Tarbuck (born 6 February 1940) is an English comedian, singer, actor, entertainer and game show host. He was a host of ''Sunday Night at the London Palladium'' in the mid-1960s, and hosted numerous game shows and quiz shows on ITV ...

Ken Dodd Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English comedian, singer and occasional actor. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer", and was primarily known for his live stand-up performances. A life ...

and

Stan Boardman Stanley Boardman (born 7 December 1937) is an English comedian. Early life and career Boardman was evacuated with his family to Wrexham during the Second World War, and after the family returned to their Merseyside home mistakenly thinking the ...

with a bit of Mr Sayle. He will often pick on the audience for cheap laughs, then turn on them when they remain unresponsive. Often, rather than being seen in front of the audience, he is pictured sitting among them, pouring his heart out to some poor uninterested, bored soul. Bobby also features in the subsequent show

. * Bobby's even more depressing and hopeless gag writer, played by

Stephen Lewis Stephen Henry Lewis (born November 11, 1937) is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s. During many of those years as leade ...

, still bashing out bad puns on a manual typewriter. * A caricature of John Smith, who was leader of the Labour Party at the time. * Performance artists Egbert and Bill (a lampoon of real-life artists

Gilbert and George Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943 in San Martin de Tor, Italy), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942 in Plymouth, United Kingdom), are two artists who work together as the collaborative art du ...

), perform together with

John Sparkes John Sparkes (born 6 January 1954) is a Welsh actor and comedian. He portrayed Barry Welsh, presenter of the HTV Wales series ''Barry Welsh Is Coming''. He has also had major roles in ''Naked Video'', '' Absolutely'', ''Fireman Sam'', ''Shaun ...

. * Nancy and Spike. Two radical lesbians who run a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

bicycle shop in Hackney called "

Menstrual cycle The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that make pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eggs a ...

s". Depending on viewpoint, these are either very un-PC or overly PC characters.

Running sketches

Both series of the show included running sketches. * ''Psycho Ward 11'' in Series 1 was a spoof Australian hospital soap featuring

Jean Marsh Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

and Peter O'Brien. *''Drunk in Time'' in Series 2 satirised the popular late 1960s cult sci-fi TV series ''

The Time Tunnel ''The Time Tunnel'' is an American color science fiction TV series written around a theme of time travel adventure starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction television series and ...

''. It featured

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, writer and musician. He portrayed the Twelfth Doctor, twelfth incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker in ' ...

as Sayle's fellow drunk time-traveling companion, and also

Jenny Agutter Jennifer Ann Agutter (born 20 December 1952) is a British actress. She began her career as a child actress in 1964, appearing in ''East of Sudan'', '' Star!'', and two adaptations of ''The Railway Children''—the BBC's 1968 television serial ...

and

Alfred Marks Alfred Edward Marks OBE (born Alfred Edward Touchinsky; 28 January 19211 July 1996) was a British actor and comedian. In his 60-year career, he played dramatic and comedy roles in numerous television programmes, stage shows and films. His self- ...

as the scientists back at the base.

Sources

*
Johnson RK, ''British TV Show Reviews''
1990s British television sketch shows 1994 British television series debuts 1995 British television series endings BBC television sketch shows English-language television shows {{BBC-tv-prog-stub