''It's a Square World'' is a British comedy television series starring

Michael Bentine Michael Bentine (born Michael James Bentin; 26 January 1922General Register Office for England and Wales – Birth Register for the March Quarter of 1922, Watford Registration District, Reference 3a 1478, listed as "Michael J. Bentin", mother's ...

and produced by the

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 ...

. It ran from 1960 until 1964, each episode being of 30 minutes duration. The series gained Bentine 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 in 1962 for Light Entertainment, while a compilation show, screened by the BBC in 1963, won that year's Press Prize at the Rose d'Or Festival in Montreux. The shows were devised and written by Bentine and

John Law John Law may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Law (artist) (born 1958), American artist * John Law (comics), comic-book character created by Will Eisner * John Law (film director), Hong Kong film director * John Law (musician) (born 1961) ...

. Some sketches were released on an LP.

Concept

Using scale models, Bentine sank the

Woolwich Ferry The Woolwich Ferry is a free vehicle and pedestrian ferry across the River Thames in East London, connecting Woolwich on the south bank with North Woolwich on the north. It is licensed and financed by London River Services, the maritime arm ...

, sent a Chinese junk to attack the House of Commons (a sketch that was temporarily banned by the BBC as it was considered too political coming up to election time), and planted a forty-foot whale trying to enter the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

. This stunt required 25 men standing inside the whale to move it along, which caused traffic delays. He also sent the

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC), formerly known as BBC Television Centre, is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, which was the headquarters of BBC Television from 1960 to 2013, when BBC Television moved to Broadcasting H ...

into orbit with rockets in the basement. Best loved by many were his miniature plays on tiny sets without characters. Bentine stood over the sets and narrated as special effects and noises portrayed the movements and adventures of an imaginary tiny cast in what could be a western town one week and a haunted house the next. This feature was revived in the later series '' Michael Bentine's Potty Time''. The programme also collected fictitious news reports from the eight corners of the world (hence its name), read by Michael Bentine as a newsman or commentator and had many madcap sketches. In one sketch Bentine and other explorers trek through forests to find the source of the River Thames. Having reached an end point, all they find is a leaking tap. Disappointed, they start to backtrack and Bentine before leaving turns off the tap which results in the River Thames disappearing and boats ending up sunk into the mud. (This idea was also revived for ''Potty Time'' as the source of the Amazon.) Another show included a short sketch where a detonator plunger was pushed down and a factory chimney fell in the wrong direction, demolishing a terraced house. The plunger was then pulled back up, and the house was restored as the chimney rose back into its original position (that is, the film was reversed). Another sketch described an expedition to find mysterious beasts known only by components such as wheels and cogs. This turns into a parody of '' The Lost World'' where the explorers encounter monstrous cranes and excavators rampaging through a jungle, using sped-up film footage of real machinery. The sketch ends with the explorers producing a captured specimen, a full-size

excavator Excavators are heavy equipment (construction), heavy construction equipment primarily consisting of a backhoe, boom, dipper (or stick), Bucket (machine part), bucket, and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The modern excavator's ...

, in the studio. The logistics of placing this in front of a studio audience taxed the production crew to the limit. The show anticipated ''

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 ...

'' in its concepts and sketches, including Bentine's newsreader device for continuity and officialdom was mocked via a Ministry of Holes instead of a

Ministry of Silly Walks "The Ministry of Silly Walks" is a sketch from the Monty Python comedy troupe's television show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', series 2, episode 1, which is entitled "Face the Press". The episode first aired on 15 September 1970. A shortened ...

. In cartoon sequences, the characters interacted with real people. These inserts were produced by Biographic Cartoon Films Ltd. The actors were seen in many different disguises and

Dick Emery Richard Gilbert Emery (19 February 19152 January 1983) was an English comedian and comic actor. His broadcasting career began on radio in the 1950s, and his self-titled television series ran from 1963 to 1981. Life and career Richard Gilbert Emer ...

began to develop some of his characters in the series, like the old codger, and developed his funny voices.

Episodes

The series was revived for one colour episode in 1977 for BBC 1 called ''Michael Bentine's Square World''. In total, 57 black and white episodes (including the pilot) were produced by the BBC. Of this total, 11 episodes are thought to no longer exist.

Cast

The cast included: *

Ronnie Barker Ronald William George Barker (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as ''Porridge (1974 TV series), Porridge'', ''The Two Ronnies'', ...

Clive Dunn Clive Robert Bertram Dunn (born Robert Bertram Dunn; 9 January 19206 November 2012) was an English actor. Although he was only 48 and one of the youngest cast members, he was cast in a role many years his senior, as the elderly Lance Corporal ...

Frank Thornton Frank Thornton Ball (15 January 192116 March 2013), professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was best known for playing Captain Peacock in the TV sitcom ''Are You Being Served?'' and its sequel '' Grace & Favour'' (''A ...

Deryck Guyler Deryck Bower Guyler (29 April 1914 – 7 October 1999) was an English actor, best remembered for appearances in sitcoms such as ''Please Sir!'' and ''Sykes (TV series), Sykes''. Early life Guyler was born in Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula, C ...

John Bluthal John Bluthal (born Isaac Bluthal; 12 August 1929 – 15 November 2018) was a Polish-born Australian actor and comedian, noted for his six-decade career internationally in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. He started his care ...

Bob Todd Brian Todd (15 December 1922 – 21 October 1992), known professionally as Bob Todd, was an English comedy actor, mostly known for appearing as a straight man in the sketch shows of Benny Hill and Spike Milligan. For many years, he lived in ...

* Benny Lee *

Andria Lawrence Andria Lawrence (born Maureen Smith; 20 June 1936) is an English actress, best known for her roles in ''On the Buses'', and in ''Coronation Street'' as Janet Stockwell. Career Andria Lawrence is best remembered for her appearances in both the ...

Louis Mansi John Louis Mansi (born John Patrick Adams; 8 November 1926 – 6 August 2010) was a British television and film actor whose career spanned the years from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. Born in London to an Italian father and an Irish moth ...

* Leon Thau *

Freddie Earlle Freddie Earlle (24 May 1924–7 July 2017) was a Glaswegian actor, known for his comedic appearances on television. His memorable roles are being a regular in series 6 of '' It's a Square World'', playing Francois Tournignon in the 1972 BBC adap ...

* Joe Gibbons * Len Lowe * Janette Rowsell * Anthea Wyndham

Other versions

An LP was released by Parlophone in 1962 (produced by George Martin) of sketches including "Football Results", in which the newsreader gets increasingly excited as he appears to be about to win a fortune on the

football pools In the United Kingdom, the football pools, often referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of association football matches taking place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, and may enc ...

. There was a follow-up series in 1966 for ATV called ''All Square'' which tried to repeat the former series' success. For this series, Bentine was located in the capital city, Filthnik, in the fictitious country of Ozonia. In the 8 October 1966 episode, Bentine tries to turn Ozonia into a Mecca for tourists. This episode also featured the

Jack Parnell John Russell Parnell (6 August 1923 – 8 August 2010) was an English musician and musical director. Biography Parnell was born into a theatrical family in London, England. His uncle was the theatrical impresario Val Parnell. During h ...

Orchestra.

References

External links

*{{imdb title, id=0145614, title=It's a Square World
''It's a Square World'' at BFI Screenonline
BBC television comedy 1960s British television sketch shows 1961 British television series debuts 1964 British television series endings