COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United Kingdom
GENRE: Comedy Sketch Show
CHANNEL: BBC1
Produced by: BBC
Years: 1971-87
NUMBER OF SERIES: 12
EPISODES: 93
CREATED BY: Bill Cotton
THEME MUSIC: Ronnie Hazlehurst
DIRECTED BY: Robert Knights
STARRING: Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Corbett
Plus special guests
And In A Packed Programme Tonight...
In a packed post tonight we look at a comedy sketch show that began fifty years ago with two British comedy legends who both have the same first name. Mr. Barker uses it from Monday to Friday while Mr. Corbett takes over at the weekend!
OK, OK, we're not Mr. Ronnie Barker or Mr. Ronnie Corbett so you can't expect us to be hysterically funny. You can't compete with legends - especially not two who have written and starred in one of the most iconic comedy sketch shows on British television. If you were a child of the seventies and eighties, there's a good chance that The Two Ronnies was compulsive viewing in your house. When the show first aired on 10th April 1971, who knew that it would take off the way that it did? Or that fifty years later The Two Ronnies would still be such a comic institution? From the moment each episode opened with the bespectacled pair talking about 'a packed programme tonight' and ending with a 'goodnight from him,' they had audiences up and down the country howling! Barker and Corbett bid a permanant goodnight to the show in December 1987, and well - TV was a little less brighter and a lot less funnier.
The Two Ronnies, when first broadcast in 1971, was given the prime-time slot of 8pm on a Saturday night (when telly was fab!) and it soon went on to become one of the most successful, long running British light entertainment programmes. At its peak, The Two Ronnies pulled in audiences of just under nineteen million viewers per episode. There were Christmas specials (yep, when Christmas telly was fab!) shows reworked for the Australian audience where the show was regularly screened, and after the series ended in 1987, there were the occasional compilation episodes hosted by Barker and Corbett and these continued until Barker's death in 2005.
As The Two Ronnies celebrates fifty years since it first aired, we take a look at what went into making the show such a spectacular and why Barker and Corbett were such a class act.
When Ronnie Met Ronnie
In 1963, a diminutive actor - between acting jobs - was working at the bar of the Buckstone Club in London where he met a larger than life, more established radio and West End actor. Nobody knew that this was the beginning of an enduring - and endearing - comedy double act that would rival Laurel and Hardy or Morecambe and Wise. But as well as their comedy partnership, Barker and Corbett were also very good friends. And when Barker decided to retire from showbiz and call time on The Two Ronnies, the only person who was aware of his plans (other than Mrs. Barker of course) was Ronnie Corbett. After Ronnie Barker passed away in 2005, Corbett said that in all the years they'd been friends, there had never been a cross word between them - even though they both worked in a very high pressured industry. How's that for friendship!
But despite the success of the show, Barker and Corbett didn't work exclusively as a double act. Aside from The Two Ronnies they did star in a number of car adverts together from the late seventies, but in their celebrated and extensive careers, both stars were also known for their individual projects and for roles in shows such as Porridge; Open all Hours, and Clarence (Barker) and Now Look Here; Sorry! as well as hosting Small Talk (Corbett, where in the latter the children sometimes referred to him as Mr. Cornet!)
The Beginning of Something Great...
After meeting at the Buckstone Club, the pair met up again at an audition for David Frost's new show The Frost Report. But the two Ronnies big break came unexpectedly, when totally unprepared and unscripted, the unflappable pair had to fill in at the 1970 British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards with an improvised piece during a whopping eleven minute technical hitch. As if this wasn't enough of a testament to their true talent and wit, it was all the more amazing because Ronnie Barker was always known for being shy and uncomfortable in the spotlight unless he was portraying a character.
But somehow Barker, along with Corbett, gave a performance that secured their destiny as one of Britain's best-loved comedy duos. In the audience that night controller of BBC1, Sir Paul Fox, and Head of Light Entertainment, Bill Cotton - who had worked on a number of shows including Monty Python, The Generation Game, and Parkinson, and is also a relative of presenter Fearne Cotton - were impressed by the pair and decided to snap them up. And before Barker and Corbett knew it, they were given their own show by the Beeb!
The Writers
As well as Barker and Corbett, there were many well-known writers involved in the writing process for The Two Ronnies, including writers John Cleese, Eric Idle, John Sullivan, Barry Cryer, Michael Palin, and Spike Milligan among others. So if anyone is wondering why some of The Two Ronnies' sketches often had something of a Monty Python vibe to them - now you know!
Oh and there was also a Gerald Wiley who wrote for some fantastic sketches too...
Who is Gerald Wiley?
The BBC began getting material from a writer called Gerald Wiley for sketches. No one knew who he was, and he never turned up for any meetings. The mysterious Gerald Wiley turned out to be Ronnie Barker under a pseudonym who didn't want to push his ideas on to others. Self-effacing as ever!
Opening and Closing Themes
The distinctive and now wonderfully retro opening and closing themes were composed by another Ronnie - British composer and conductor Ronnie Hazlehurst, who worked on many theme tunes for TV shows in the seventies and eighties including Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em; The Liver Birds; Butterflies and The Generation Game among many, many others. It appeared that the theme music for the opening and closing credits were two completely different compositions but in actual fact they were two parts of a longer piece of music.
The theme that was used for the show's serial Charlie Farley and Piggy Malone was called The Detectives and was the work of composer Alan Tew. Fans of seventies telly would also know that the same track was the theme for the TV series The Hanged Man.
The Format
The Two Ronnies was more than just your average sketch show as it took on the appearance of a mini variety show. The show's format was comprised of sketches, solo sections, serial stories, musical finales and sometimes musical performances from other artists. But it always began and ended with the 'newsdesk' feature...
News desk
The Two Ronnies always began with Corbett and Barker parodying newsreaders, reading spoof news bulletins. As a child watching the show, you always knew when each episode had reached the end because the pair would be back at their desks reading 'the news'. It was evident during the news desk section of the show, that the two Ronnies would always be trying to stifle their laughter as they read each item. Whether this was them in character or because they were genuinely trying not to laugh, we don't know. But if it was the latter, who could blame them? And The Two Ronnies always ended on the same note with the same catchphrase:
Corbett: That's all we've got time for, so it's "Goodnight" from me. Barker: And it's "Goodnight" from him. Both: Goodnight!
Sketches
Well written, well acted, and well directed - that's how you could describe the sketches in The Two Ronnies. Maybe that's why they were so well received! The show consisted mainly of a series of comic sketches, many of them where Barker and Corbett appeared in together. The sketches often involved complex word-play, the ridicule of eccentrics, officials and establishment figures. Some of the jokes and dialogue could be quite bawdy, veering on downright raunchy - but they still weren't quite Benny Hill or Kenny Everett!
Much of the material for The Two Ronnies had a slight surreal Monty Python feel about it which isn't a surprise considering who was writing a lot of the scripts and sketches. And of course the double act, routine and skits drew obvious comparisons with Morecambe and Wise.
Musical finales
Just before the final newsdesk feature of the episode, there would be a grand musical finale where Barker, Corbett and other singers and musicians would sing a melody of songs to suit the comic situation they were portraying.
Check out the second part of the post And It's Good Night From Him: 50 Years of The Two Ronnies.
Photos: YouTube
Word Cloud: Angel Noire
It was always the highlight of the week. I'm not sure that The Two Ronnies' humour would go down well with viewers today. Actually, I know it won't! But whenever I watch old clips, it never fails to make me laugh. Some people just have a natural born talent.
We were always partial to a bit of two Ronnie's in our house. I think most people who grew up round about that time would say the same. We also loved the Christmas specials.