Black Cinderella Two Goes East
Encyclopedia
Black Cinderella Two Goes East (sometimes referred to as Black Cinderella II Goes East) was a radio pantomime
broadcast on BBC Radio 2
on 25 December 1978. The programme is notable for being one of only a few radio programmes (co)-produced by Douglas Adams
while he was employed by the BBC as a radio producer. The hour-long programme was written by Clive Anderson
and Rory McGrath
and was co-produced by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd
.
The programme featured performances by:
Douglas Adams had to follow the show's writers to Cambridge in order to get them to work on the script, and had to pick up the finished script from a messenger on a train. Adams also recorded a reluctant John Cleese at home. Cleese had vowed never to work for BBC Radio again, following a dispute over a sketch in the series John Cleese's Sketchbook. Cleese's lines were then played from a tape recorder into the broadcast programme.
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
broadcast on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
on 25 December 1978. The programme is notable for being one of only a few radio programmes (co)-produced by Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
while he was employed by the BBC as a radio producer. The hour-long programme was written by Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
and Rory McGrath
Rory McGrath
Patrick Rory McGrath is an English comedian and writer. He is best known for roles in Who Dares Wins, Chelmsford 123, Three Men in a Boat and its successors. He was also a regular panellist on They Think It's All Over....
and was co-produced by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd
John Lloyd (writer)
John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd CBE is a British comedy writer and television producer. He is the great nephew of John Hardress Lloyd.-Early life and career:...
.
The programme featured performances by:
- Richard BakerRichard Baker (broadcaster)Richard Baker OBE is a British broadcaster best known as a newsreader for the BBC News from 1954 to 1982. He was a contemporary of Kenneth Kendall and Robert Dougall and was the first person to read the BBC Television News in 1954. At one time he lived in Barnet, North London...
, Narrator - Tim Brooke-TaylorTim Brooke-TaylorTimothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...
, Timothenia and the King - Rob BuckmanRob BuckmanRobert Alexander Amiel "Rob" Buckman was a British-Canadian doctor of medicine, comedian and author, and president of the Humanist Association of Canada...
, Prince Charming - John CleeseJohn CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
, Fairy Godperson - Peter CookPeter CookPeter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
, Prince Disgusting - Graeme GardenGraeme GardenDavid Graeme Garden OBE is a Scottish author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies.-Early life and beginnings in comedy:...
, Gardenia and Manny - David HatchDavid HatchSir David Hatch was involved in production and management at BBC Radio, where he held many executive positions, including Head of Light Entertainment , Controller of BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 and later Managing Director of BBC Radio.- Education :He attended St John's School, Leatherhead and...
, himself - Maggie Henderson, Cinderella
- Jo KendallJo KendallJo Kendall is a British actress.She played Desdemona in a production of Othello at the A.D.C. Theatre, Cambridge in 1962.In August 1963 she appeared in the West End in London, New Zealand and Broadway, in the Cambridge University revue Cambridge Circus directed by Humphrey Barclay, alongside Graham...
, Wicked Stepmother and Princess Sally - Richard MurdochRichard MurdochRichard Bernard Murdoch was a British comedic radio, film and television performer.Richard Bernard Murdoch attended Charterhouse School. He then appeared in Footlights whilst a student at Pembroke College, Cambridge...
, Baron Ofbeef - Bill OddieBill OddieWilliam "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
, himself, Town Crier and Talking Horse - John PardoeJohn PardoeJohn Wentworth Pardoe is a retired British businessman and Liberal Party politician.-Education:Educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he was active in the famous Footlights Society; one critic of their 1955 revue panned future comedian Jonathan Miller whilst predicting a bold comedic...
, Fairy-tale Liberal Prime Minister
Douglas Adams had to follow the show's writers to Cambridge in order to get them to work on the script, and had to pick up the finished script from a messenger on a train. Adams also recorded a reluctant John Cleese at home. Cleese had vowed never to work for BBC Radio again, following a dispute over a sketch in the series John Cleese's Sketchbook. Cleese's lines were then played from a tape recorder into the broadcast programme.