Moore or Tony Curtis were sheer hokum, completely unbelievable, but that was part of the appeal and you watched them anyway. That’s something that’s unique to TV, you don’t go to the theatre to see a bad
play.’
W; “u
Pressed to come up with personal highlights, Muir is evasive but does admit to I an enormous regard for Whicker’s interview I style, pointing out that the great man’s secret was to listen to his subject, a skill which enabled him to make fascinating _ television out of a half-hour chat with a i relatively inarticulate Yorkshireman. Muir. I also speaks fondly of Esmond and Larbey’s early Please Sir scripts. ‘Beautifully constructed’ he recalls, although the memory may be tinted by the fact that, in his role of Head of Light Entertainment for London Weekend Television, he was responsible for commissioning them at the time. But then in TV Heaven he knows there are no commissioning editors, no bureaucrats, no Mary Whitehouse, no John Birt, and Terry Wogan is condemned to bang in vain on the pearly gates for all eternity. Fit that celestial dish today.
TVHeaven begins on Channel 4 on Saturday 8 February at 8pm, with highlights from
At ast The 1
948 Show: .lohn Cteese, Ma
rty Feloman, Graham Chaom
an andTim 3m“
Tom Lappin programmes one night in TV Heaven.
camp hokirm drama of the classic sort: The Avengers
I 967. See TVlistings page 60.
(Think you can do better? Send your TV Heaven schedules into us, and we’ll give a prize for the besrsuggesgion, )
6.00pm
The News
Heavenly news is presented by a well over~the-eight Reggie Bosanquet and Angela Rippon in a huge 70$ wing-collar blouse, occasionally interrupted by militant lesbians abseiling into the studio. Regular updates on the Victor the Giraffe story.
6.15pm
The Virginian
Spend days trying to remember the classic theme tune. Doug McLure is Trampas in the Western serial that early evenings were made for.
7.00pm
Dad’s Army
Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler? A savagely funny satire of little Englanders with exemplary comic acting, from Arthur Lowe’s superbly pompous Catain Mainwaring to my own favourite, John Laurie’s Fraser. ‘We’re all dooooomed’.
7.30pm Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?
‘Ooooh, what happened to you, whatever happened to me, what became of the people we used to be?’ Another classically naff theme tune to Clement and
MNING/LATE TV
La Frenais’s sitcom, starring James Bolam and Rodney Bewes as the mismatched Tyneside mates. TV Heaven will show a continuous loop of the episode where the lads take emergency measures to avoid finding out the result of a football match.
8.00pm Boys From The Blackstuff
Bleasdale’s landmark drama serial that gave the world
‘gissa job’ as a catchphrase. ‘Yosser’s Story’ is possibly the most heartwrenching piece of drama ever shown on TV, with Bernard Hill picking up most of the TV awards at the time for his portrayal of Yosser.
10.00pm Fawlty Towers The one with the rat. ’Nuff said.
10.30pm
1986 World Cup
France v Brazil
Platini v Socrates, with John Motson in the commentary box. The finest game ofsoccer to grace the small-screen since black-and-white and Brylcreem went out of fashion. Zico comes on as sub and misses a penalty. A tragedy, but the French flair shines through.
12.30am
All through the night TV Heaven shows classic episodes from the great US sitcoms: Cheers, Soap, Taxi, The Odd Couple, The Golden Girls you name it. And in TVHeaven there’s always more lager in the fridge, and pizza delivery takes five minutes.
The List 31 January— 13 February 1992 9