Comic Asides

1 9 8 9 (UK)
6 x 30 minute episodes
1 9 9 4 (UK)
4 x 30 minute episodes
1 9 9 5 (UK)
4 x 30 minute episodes

This occasional umbrella title from BBC 2 presented pilots for potential comedy shows.

The first broadcast was on 12 May 1989, and the initial offering was ‘KYTV’– billed as Britain’s newest and most prestigious satellite broadcasting network. Presenters included Helen Atkinson Wood, Angus Deayton, Geoffrey Perkins, Philip Pope and Michael Fenton Stevens.

Deayton and Perkins wrote the show.

‘Tygo Road’ (19/5/89) starred Kevin McNally, Deborah Norton, Steven O’Donnell, Vas Blackwood and Gordon Gostelow.

Rising proudly above the decay of the inner-city and dominating the desolate landscape between the Town Hall and Wat Tyler Infants School stood the last bastion against the seemingly unstoppable march of Thatcherism – Tygo Road Community Centre.

A full series was produced in 1990.

‘Dowie’ (26/5/89) was written by and starred composer and writer John Dowie, who took a look at the subject of death. Guests included Jim Sweeney, Max Wall and Anna Wing.

Trevor Eve starred as rock legend Dave Stone in ‘The Stone Age’ (2/6/89). Dave was super rich, super successful and super bored.

Written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, the episodes co-starred Carmen Du Sautoy, Jonathan Coy, Roger Lloyd Pack and Bob Goody, with Clive Anderson appearing as himself.

‘I, Lovett’ (9/6/89) was written by and starred deadpan comedian Norman Lovett (Holly from Red Dwarf) as an aspiring inventor who lived in a world of surrealism with his talking dog, Dirk (voiced by Geoffrey Hughes).

Magnus Magnusson made a special guest appearance when Norman appeared on Mastermind (his specialist subject was “Extremely easy questions that ever existed since the beginning of time”).

The pilot ultimately spawned a six-episode series in 1993.

‘Mornin’ Sarge’ (16/6/89) demonstrated that police work wasn’t all masonic lodges, call girls and international cocaine smuggling.

Paul Brooke starred as Sarge with Robin Driscoll, Tony Haase, Pete McCarthy, Rebecca Stevens, Gerald Flood and Suzette Llewellyn.

The January 1994 series began with ‘The High Life’ (9/1/94) starring Alan Cumming and Forbes Mason as flight attendants Sebastian and Steve, who worked for cut-price Scottish airline Air Scotia.

The episode was subsequently developed into a whole series.

In ‘Woodcock’ (16/1/94), young Elvis Woodcock (Phelim McDermott) was delighted to have been press-ganged(despite his wooden leg) to a seven-year voyage to America – until he met the scurvy crew, including the Captain (Prunella Scales), Cyril (Michael Angelis), Edna (Imelda Staunton) and the evil First Mate, Slyme (Jonathan Hyde).

Birmingham comedian Frank Skinner played the ship’s parrot.

‘The Last Word’ (23/1/94) starred Mark McGann as high-flying but hated journalist Michael Dimmock, whose abrasive interviewing style cost Andy (Michael N Harbour), the editor of the Custodian newspaper, one lawsuit too many. Andy took away Dimmock’s regular column and made him the new Obituaries Editor.

Undeterred, Dimmock set out to give his new column a bit of pizzazz – and much to the annoyance of his new staff, Gill (Hazel Ellerby) and Paul (Phillip Fox), it soon became required reading among the chattering classes.

The last in the 1994 series, ‘The Honeymoon’s Over’ (30/1/94), was written by Harry Enfield’s sidekick Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson. It chronicled the relationship of Helen (Angela Clarke) and her new husband, Phil (Alex Lowe), as they came down to earth after a disastrous honeymoon.

Georgina Hale and Paul Whitehouse co-starred as Norma and Billy, with Vic Reeves (Jim Moir) making a cameo appearance as a drunken bum.

The 1995 series of Comic Asides began with ‘Pulp Video’ (18/8/95), produced by the creators of Naked Video and featuring a new group of comics that took a zany look at the modern world.

Among the contributors were Scottish stand-ups Fred MacAulay and Parrot and Andrew Fairlie (already known as Gash Nesbitt in Rab C Nesbitt) and Radio 1‘s Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley.

‘N7’ (25/8/95) starred James Larkins as Nick, a “creative and depressed” writer who sought solace amongst his talking geraniums after his girlfriend left him and his flat burned down.

Written by Nick Revell, the episode also starred John Straiton, Louise Beattie, David Westhead, Cliff Parisi, and Phil Daniels (as the voice of the geraniums).

‘Mac’ (1/9/95) featured rabid Scottish nationalist Mac (Jack Doherty), who found himself on the dole queue again due to his extreme anti-English opinions.

His brother Findlay (Gordon Kennedy) owned a Scottish souvenir shop and Mac was driven to despair when Findlay seemed set to hire an Englishman to run the family business.