1 9 7 9 – 1 9 8 0 (UK)
19 x 30 minute episodes
Les Dawson starred in three series’ of this BBC comedy show. Regular guests included Roy Barraclough, Gordon Peters and Vicki Michelle.
The show took the form of a spoof investigative show which opened each week with Les talking in mock-serious tones about “them” – the army of meddling bureaucrats, from civil servants to bus inspectors: “You can’t tell the Government to go to hell”, he said, “They’re making it for us!”.
His monologues were delivered from a futuristic control centre where beautiful girls and handsome men flitted about tending computers while Les griped about his awful home life, usually revolving around his wife and his domineering mother-in-law.
Each episode focused on a particular topic of the times, such as transport, crime (where his targets included bank robbers, murderers and the producers of Celebrity Squares!), education, entertainment and the media, with sketches meant to illustrate the decline of Britain.
Episodes
Housing | Transport | Money | Leisure | Law | The Family | Crime | Health | The Media | Education | The Environment | Entertainment | Politics | Culture | Holidays | Communication | Love and Marriage | The Future | Christmas |