Terry Jones passed away two years ago on January 21 from a rare form of dementia. Take a look back at his brilliant life, career — and his 1970s connection to a public TV station in Dallas, Texas called KERA.
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Gary Waldhorn, the actor best known for his role of Councillor David Horton in the Dawn French comedy, Vicar of Dibley, has died at the age of 78. Waldhorn’s son Josh confirmed to BBC News that his father died on Monday, saying in a statement: “Classically trained, it was the theatre where he truly flourished and he leaves a legacy […]
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It seems that watching television on New Year’s Eve in Germany is right up there with the tradition of watching the Queen’s Christmas Day message in the UK. Dinner for One is a particularly crucial part of Germany’s festive programming, where it has been broadcast on Das Erste, a public television channel, since 1972. Around half the population still tunes in on New Year’s Eve to watch it with some Germans even recreating the meal served in the skit.
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It was 42 years ago this month where the literary world learned the answer to life, the universe and everything. While the face of radio comedy changed forever back in March of 1978, it was October of 1979 that Douglas Adams unleashed Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, as a book, on the world. While, as a society, we tend to celebrate anniversaries like 40th or 50th such as high school reunions commonplace, I prefer a 42nd anniversary of H2G2 for obvious reasons. Until next time, so long and thanks for all the fish.
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Regular readers of Tellyspotting are, no doubt, keenly aware of just how much I do not care for American remakes of British comedies or mysteries. The American broadcast streets are littered with failed remakes of the likes of The IT Crowd, Fawlty Towers, Red Dwarf, Coupling, Spaced, Absolutely Fabulous, Men Behaving Badly, Life on Mars, Skins, The In-Betweeners, […]
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Sadly, these R.I.P. posts are coming way too frequent and way too fast for my liking these days. This one is another name you may not be familiar with but will definitely know his work. Tony Selby, perhaps best remembered for his starring role as Corporal Percy Marsh in Esmonde & Larbey’s national service comedy Get […]
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Ballard Berkeley, who played the bumbling Major Gowen that seemed to always be locked in an endless quest for the afternoon paper in Fawlty Towers, would have been 117 on Friday. The English actor, who appeared on stage and screen, passed away in 1988. Prior to his professional career, Berkeley served as a Special Constable with the […]
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In an attempt to shed their title of being voted ‘the least funniest country in the world‘ following a 2011 international survey conducted by Badoo.com, Germany has begun filming on a German language version of the British sitcom, Miranda. Currently with the working title of Ruby, the series will star German actress Anna Böger in the […]
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Created and written by John Sullivan and launched on 8 September 1981, Only Fools and Horses has the distinction of being the most popular British situation comedy of all-time. Seven series and 64 episodes later, OFAH called it a day after three successive Christmas specials airing from 2001-2003. Now, according to the British Comedy Guide, Lovely Jubbly: A Celebration […]
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Described as ‘an affectionate salute to the kind of comedy program that just isn’t made any more’, Raising Laughter: How the Sitcom Kept Britain Smiling in the 1970s couldn’t come at a better time given the last 18 months of on-again/off-again/on-again pandemic lockdown. Robert Sellers’ in-depth look at the creation of British TV sitcoms between 1970 and 1979 with be […]
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