1 9 5 9 – 1 9 6 9 (UK)
30 x 45 minute episodes
5 x 60 minute episodes
8 x specials
One of the brightest new stars to emerge at the beginning of the sixties was buck-toothed Liverpudlian comic, Ken Dodd – the man who put the suburb of Knotty Ash on the world map – who starred in these 45-minute variety shows broadcast live from Blackpool.
Dodd made his debut at the age of eight as a ventriloquist at an orphanage, and The Ken Dodd Show established him as one of Britain’s top comedians and as a singer of slushy sentimental songs.
His distinctive teeth, the result of a schoolboy cycling accident, were insured for over £10,000 and the insurance company laid down several conditions;
He must not eat seaside rock, he must not ride a motorbike, he must not play rugby and he must brush his teeth at least three times a day. It is not clear how they used to check this final point.
He has played Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and is one of the biggest box-office stars in the history of the theatre.
A comic genius whose humour has made him Britain’s best-loved comedian.
His fertile imagination has given birth to his famous Diddymen; Dicky Mint, Mick the Marmalizer, Evan, Hamish McDiddy and Nigel Ponsonby Smallpiece – who all worked in the Jam Butty Mines, Broken Biscuit Repair Works and Moggie Ranch, all in Knotty Ash.
A comic genius whose humour has made him Britain’s best-loved comedian.
