| Not the Nine O'Clock News | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover. Left to right: Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson, Rowan Atkinson, and Griff Rhys Jones. | |
| Created by | John Lloyd |
| Directed by |
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| Starring |
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| Composer | Howard Goodall |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 27 |
| Production | |
| Producers |
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| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC2 |
| Release | 16 October 1979 (1979-10-16) – 8 March 1982 (1982-03-08) |
| Related | |
| Alas Smith and Jones | |
Not the Nine O'Clock News is a British televisionsketch comedy show that was broadcast onBBC2 from 16 October 1979 to 8 March 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to theNine O'Clock News onBBC1, the show features satirical sketches on news stories and popular culture of the early 1980s, as well as parody songs, comedy sketches, re-edited videos, and spoof television formats. The programme featuresRowan Atkinson,Pamela Stephenson,Mel Smith, andGriff Rhys Jones, as well asChris Langham in the first series.
The format was a deliberate departure from thestream-of-consciousness comedy pioneered byMonty Python's Flying Circus, returning to a more conventional sketch format. Sketches were mostly self-contained, lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes, and often had a degree of naturalism in performance. The series launched the careers of several high-profile actors and writers, and also led to other comedic series includingBlackadder andAlas Smith and Jones.
The series benefited from video editing and recording techniques. The pace was enhanced by jump-cutting between library clips, usually of politicians, royalty, or celebrities. Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher complained when, by adroit image editing, the programme implied she had crashed a car. Effects used in pop videos, provided by theQuantel Paintbox, were often a highlight of the musical numbers.
Not the Nine O'Clock News wasproduced byJohn Lloyd. Lloyd pitched the idea to the heads of BBC Comedy and Light Entertainment and was given a six-episode series on condition that he collaborate with Sean Hardie, who had worked incurrent affairs at the BBC.
Initially, Lloyd and Hardie were considering doing a lampoon of current affairs programmesà laThe Frost Report, withRowan Atkinson portraying an old-fashioned host attacking liberal and/or modern trends. The programme was to be calledSacred Cows, but the news programme was chosen because of its larger number of sources. The name of the series derived from its scheduling, as it originally aired onBBC2 at the same time as theNine O'Clock News onBBC1.
Aside from Atkinson, the original cast comprisedChristopher Godwin,John Gorman,Chris Langham,Willoughby Goddard, andJonathan Hyde, and the first episode of a planned series was scheduled for 2 April 1979; this also featuredChris Emmett (impersonatingDenis Healey), andRobert Llewelyn (impersonatingBob Hope).
As the programme was originally scheduled to air in the time slot occupied byFawlty Towers,John Cleese was to have introduced the first episode in a sketch referring to a technicians' strike in progress at the time that hindered the production of the series, explaining (in character asBasil Fawlty) that there was no programme that week, so a "tatty revue" would be broadcast instead. However, the1979 general election intervened, and the programme was pulled as being too political, being replaced with a repeat of the American sitcomRhoda.[1]
The sketch with Cleese was broadcast later that year when the final episode ofFawlty Towers went out during the broadcast run of the first series ofNot The Nine O'Clock News, though the significance of the sketch was lost to some degree. This link is included on theRegion 2 DVD boxset ofFawlty Towers. Basil's waiter Manuel, played byAndrew Sachs, also appeared at the end of the unaired episode, trying to comprehend a joke about theAyatollah's contact lenses.
Other sketches of the unaired pilot episode were also lifted or remade on episodes throughout the first series. Healey's and Hope's impressions were achieved by the use of "talking head" puppets, which in the mid-1980s would become a characteristic staple ofSpitting Image, produced by Lloyd in its early series.
Lloyd and Hardie decided to re-cast the series, retaining Langham and Atkinson. They wanted to bring in a woman, butVictoria Wood turned the programme down. Lloyd met Pamela Stephenson at a party, and she agreed to join. Atkinson, Langham, and Stephenson were joined by Mel Smith,[1] who was scheduled to work on the pilot, but declined after reading the script (he called the finished pilot in retrospect "the worst half hour of TV" that he had ever seen). The first series was criticised for being "a poor mix of stand up, and a mild portion of sketches" and newspaper reviews referred to it as "extremely offensive" and that it "should not be allowed on TV". Ratings were dismal as well: the first episode had fewer than a million viewers.
However, thenetwork controller reportedly liked the programme so much that a second series of seven episodes was commissioned, also helped by budgetary cuts at BBC, which were repeatedly lampooned in the second series' premiere episode, entitled "The Outrageously Expensive Not the Nine O'Clock News". Such cuts also forced the show to drastically reduce the use of outside scenes (which were recorded on film) as well as minor players. The shock value prominent during the first season was also toned down in favour of a more "offbeat" tone.
In February 1980, in between series 1 and series 2 ofNot the Nine O'Clock News, Mel Smith appeared as a news reader named "Reginald Bowes and Cat" in theGoodies episode "Animals". His segment of the show was preceded by the caption "Not the News at Ten".
For the second series, Langham was replaced byGriff Rhys-Jones, who had already been a regular player during the first series, aside from having directed the radio programmeThe Atkinson People.[2] The second series ofNot the Nine O’Clock News won theSilver Rose at theMontreux Festival and aBAFTA Award for Best Light Entertainment Programme in 1982.[3] The show's later series achieved improved ratings and became critically acclaimed.
Not the Nine O'Clock News became a stage production in Oxford and London in 1982, but the main performers decided to end the project while it was a success: Stephenson began a Hollywood film career, Atkinson recorded thefirst series ofBlackadder (also produced by John Lloyd) in 1983, and Smith and Jones became a double act inAlas Smith and Jones. An American adaptation,Not Necessarily the News ran for seven years, from 1983 to 1990 on theHome Box Office cable television channel.[1]
Satire was a key theme in the series' comedy. For example, one spoof news element might include a routine announcement thatNASA had once again announced a delay in the launch of itsSpace Shuttle owing to technical difficulties, as the screen showed the shuttle on its launch pad with oxygen streaming off the tanks, overlaid with the sound of a car engine turning over but not starting. An opening graphic featured the same blue screen and white analogue clock ticking down to 9:00 p.m. as preceded theNine O'Clock News, followed by an announcement of the time in a similar voice and, in parody, the announcement that this was "definitelynot theNine O'Clock News". Skits could include scenes such as a group of rural Americans at a barbecue singing several minutes of comically implausible songs like "I'm prepared to believe that Nixon wasn't a crook; I'm prepared to believeLove Story's a readable book..." and finally concluding, "I believe that the devil is ready to repent; – but I can't believeRonald Reagan is president."[4]
A well-known sketch from the second season (1980) features Mel Smith as Professor Timothy Fielding, who brought agorilla named Gerald (played by Atkinson) to a TV studio for an interview. Fielding claims that he trained the ape to learn to speak. As the sketch progresses, it turns out that Gerald is amazingly articulate and obviously smarter than Fielding. This leads to a classic exchange, where Fielding claims: "When I caught Gerald in '68 he was completely wild.", whereupon Gerald interrupts: "Wild? I was absolutely livid!".[5][6][7][8]
The programme is credited with bringingalternative comedy to British television: Lloyd once commented he wanted to do a "modern, working-class" comedy in contrast to other series of the time, such asThe Two Ronnies, as well as attempting to replicate thesatire boom of the early 1960s that launched the careers ofJohn Cleese,Dudley Moore,Eric Idle,Tim Brooke-Taylor and others. This also happened at a time that the magazineNational Lampoon,The Second City troupes andSaturday Night Live became showcases of alternative comedy in North America.
In 2005, Atkinson, Smith, Stephenson, Langham, and producer Lloyd reunited to talk to Sue MacGregor about the series. Langham's departure was touched upon, with Lloyd seeming to take the blame, though Atkinson had campaigned for Langham to be kept in the cast (Langham refused to speak to his former cast mates for several years after he was fired, until appearing as a regular onSmith and Jones in the 1990s).The Reunion was broadcast onRadio 4 on 31 July 2005.[9]
A documentary featuring the cast reminiscing about the making of the programme was shown on BBC Two on 28 December 2009,[10] before one of the 1995 compilation shows was aired (despite a "complete episode" being billed in television listings). The documentary was repeated on 3 August 2013, just over two weeks after the death of Mel Smith.
In 2025 Griff Rhys Jones gave his opinion that the series was not respected enough by the BBC, and risks being forgotten as a ground-breaking comedy show, as it is never repeated. Jones claimed that the BBC don't repeat it because they don't want to pay him and the writers.[11]
The main writers includedColin Bostock-Smith,Andy Hamilton,Peter Brewis,Richard Curtis, andClive Anderson.[12] However, the producers accepted scripts for sketches from a wide range of writers (including a then-undergraduateStephen Fry),[13] and ensured the programme remained topical by recording sketches only days before broadcast.Howard Goodall (subsequently composer of the theme music forBlackadder,Red Dwarf, andThe Vicar of Dibley) was musical director.
A total of 27 episodes of 25–30-minute duration were broadcast over four series.
Series 1 had been due to start on 2 April 1979, but was postponed due to ageneral election being called for 3 May, with the programme being deemed "too political".
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 6 | 16 October 1979 (1979-10-16) | 20 November 1979 (1979-11-20) | |
| 2 | 7 | 31 March 1980 (1980-03-31) | 12 May 1980 (1980-05-12) | |
| 3 | 8 | 27 October 1980 (1980-10-27) | 15 December 1980 (1980-12-15) | |
| 4 | 6 | 1 February 1982 (1982-02-01) | 8 March 1982 (1982-03-08) | |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Kenny Everett inNot the Nine O'Clock News" | 16 October 1979 (1979-10-16) |
| 2 | 2 | "Episode 2" | 23 October 1979 (1979-10-23) |
| 3 | 3 | "Episode 3" | 30 October 1979 (1979-10-30) |
| 4 | 4 | "Episode 4" | 6 November 1979 (1979-11-06) |
| 5 | 5 | "Not the Nine O'Clock News Christmas Party" | 13 November 1979 (1979-11-13) |
| 6 | 6 | "Episode 6" | 20 November 1979 (1979-11-20) |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | "The Outrageously ExpensiveNot the Nine O'Clock News" | 31 March 1980 (1980-03-31) |
| 8 | 2 | "Episode 2" | 7 April 1980 (1980-04-07) |
| 9 | 3 | "Don't Get Your Vicars in a Twist" | 14 April 1980 (1980-04-14) |
| 10 | 4 | "International Darts" | 21 April 1980 (1980-04-21) |
| 11 | 5 | "Episode 5" | 28 April 1980 (1980-04-28) |
| 12 | 6 | "Episode 6" | 5 May 1980 (1980-05-05) |
| 13 | 7 | "Death Lasers of Kazaan" | 12 May 1980 (1980-05-12) |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "Not the Nine O'Clock in the Morning News" | 27 October 1980 (1980-10-27) |
| 15 | 2 | "Election Special" | 3 November 1980 (1980-11-03) |
| 16 | 3 | "Miss World 1980" | 10 November 1980 (1980-11-10) |
| 17 | 4 | "Nationwide" | 17 November 1980 (1980-11-17) |
| 18 | 5 | "Episode 5" | 24 November 1980 (1980-11-24) |
| 19 | 6 | "Episode 6" | 1 December 1980 (1980-12-01) |
| 20 | 7 | "The Royal Command Performance ofNot the Nine O'Clock News" | 8 December 1980 (1980-12-08) |
| 21 | 8 | "Episode 8" | 15 December 1980 (1980-12-15) |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 1 | "Episode 1" | 1 February 1982 (1982-02-01) |
| 23 | 2 | "Episode 2" | 8 February 1982 (1982-02-08) |
| 24 | 3 | "Ní Se Seo An Nuacht Ag A Naoi Chlog" | 15 February 1982 (1982-02-15) |
| 25 | 4 | "Episode 4" | 22 February 1982 (1982-02-22) |
| 26 | 5 | "Made in Wales" | 1 March 1982 (1982-03-01) |
| 27 | 6 | "Shame" | 8 March 1982 (1982-03-08) |
Since 1995, the eight re-cut and condensed (to make it "faster and funnier than ever"[14]) "episodes" assembled that year have been used for repeats in place of the original broadcast episodes. This is primarily because the original episodes in their entirety lampooned events that were in the news at the time. These eight compilations are also used for the show's VHS and DVD releases since 1995.
Two VHS releases of the series, entitledThe Gorilla Kinda Lingers andNice Video, Shame about the Hedgehog, appeared in 1995. Between them, they include the eight "best of" compilation episodes that were assembled and broadcast that year.
In August 2003,The Gorilla Kinda Lingers was released on DVD asThe Best of Not the Nine O'Clock News: Volume One, whileNice Video, Shame about the Hedgehog followed on DVD in August 2004 asThe Best of Not the Nine O'Clock News: Volume Two. In North America, the two volumes are available as one DVD,The Best of Not the Nine O'Clock News, issued in March 2006.
Three vinyl albums were released at the time the series was screening, entitledNot the Nine O'Clock News,Hedgehog Sandwich, andThe Memory Kinda Lingers. These albums were very successful, with the first two both reaching the top ten of the UK albums chart, a rare feat for aspoken word album.Hedgehog Sandwich also peaked at number 89 in Australia.[15]
The original version ofThe Memory Kinda Lingers is a double LP. The second disc is titledNot in Front of the Audience and is a live recording of the cast's stage production.Hedgehog Sandwich and the first disc ofThe Memory Kinda Lingers were later combined on aBBC double-lengthcassette and double-CD set.
"The Ayatollah Song"b/w "Gob on You" (as featured in the TV show) and "I Like Trucking"b/w "Supa Dupa" were also released as singles.
The 1980 single "Typing Pool" by 'Pam and the Paper Clips' (EMI 5015), is variously ascribed toPamela Stephenson and NtNON. It was written by Roger andNigel Planer, who were among the show's many writers.[16]
Three books were released to tie in with the series:Not! The Nine O'Clock News, a collection of classic material rewritten and restructured as a parody of the short-lived magazineNow!;Not the Royal Wedding (the royal wedding in question being themarriage ofCharles andDiana); andNot the General Election, a tie-in with the1983 general election. The first was reprinted in 1995 asNot for Sale.Not the Royal Wedding was promoted by a little-known radio spin-off,Not the Nuptials, transmitted on BBC Radio 1.[17] The same station had also previously produced a behind-the-scenes documentary onNot the Nine O'Clock News as part of their magazine seriesStudio B15.[17]
Two "page-a-day" tear-off calendars, edited byJohn Lloyd and containing several contributions fromDouglas Adams, were released in the early 1980s (Not 1982 andNot 1983). Also published around this time was a spoof Orwellian edition ofThe Times newspaper,Not the 1984 Times, which – although widely assumed to be – was not connected to the series.[citation needed]
