Happy 70th, Penelope! And, we open the mailbag
You Look Marvelous
Today is Penelope Keith’s 70th birthday. Billy Crystal’s character, Fernando Lamas, couldn’t have said it better. You look marvelous. With a long public television history 
dating back to the days of Good Neighbors and To the Manor Born right through to her recent efforts serving as host for both The Funny Ladies of British Comedy and More Funny Ladies of British Comedy, Penelope continues to be very active in her efforts to keep regional theatre in the UK alive and has also appeared in recent years in West End London. If that isn’t enough, in 2002, Penelope was named the High Sheriff of Surrey, a position which dates back to 1066. Penelope currently serves as a Deputy Lieutenant in Surrey. Penelope was also awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1990 and promoted to a Commander (CBE) in the 2007 New Year Honors for charitable services.
Tellyspotting mailbag
Couple of questions and some great ideas have come in recently that we need to get to in the monthly mailbag. Remember, the first Friday of each month we’ll answer all your questions so please send your ideas, thoughts and questions to tellyspotting@kera.org and we’ll do our best.
- Tom had some suggestions about a couple of series, The Darling Buds of May, which starred David Jason and Catherine Zeta Jones in one of her first television roles and Still Game, Scotland’s most successful comedy export about the live of a couple of “elder” individuals always looking for adventure (sounds like Last of the Summer Wine). Haven’t seen either of them, but will take a trip to Premiere Video and see what we may be able to do with both for possible broadcast. Thanks, Tom.
- Geoff had a great idea based on our recent efforts to showcase a couple of early series that made the successful leap from British television to American television. He wonders about the possibility of acquiring the likes of Steptoe and Son, Till Death Do Us Part or The Liver Birds. To be honest, Geoff, not sure if the U.S. broadcast rights are even available for any of these series, but will definitely check them out.
Tellyspotting continues to grow in numbers daily, thanks in large part to everyone out there that is accessing the site, commenting, forwarding or recommending, etc. If you know someone that is a British television fan, please send them the link as we would love to keep the trend going as being the site to go to for “all things British”. As we just past the six month mark, I just wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you to everyone for the support and interest in not only the site, but in British comedy, in general. Remember, if you have a question, suggestion or idea, shoot an e-mail to tellyspotting@kera.org and we’ll get to it next mailbag.
