The All New Alexei Sayle Show
Encyclopedia
The All New Alexei Sayle Show was a comedy sketch show broadcast on BBC2
television for a total of twelve episodes, over two series in 1994 and 1995. The title sequence featured Alexei Sayle
as an innocent, newly arrived man in London singing cheerful lyrics and dancing around Trafalgar Square in an obvious parody of The Mary Tyler Moore Show
.
It was the successor to Alexei Sayle's Stuff
, and predecessor of Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round
.
mainly in its introduction of recurring characters who included:
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
television for a total of twelve episodes, over two series in 1994 and 1995. The title sequence featured Alexei Sayle
Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...
as an innocent, newly arrived man in London singing cheerful lyrics and dancing around Trafalgar Square in an obvious parody of The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
.
It was the successor to Alexei Sayle's Stuff
Alexei Sayle's Stuff
Alexei Sayle's Stuff is a comedy sketch show which ran on BBC2 for a total of 18 episodes over 3 series from 1988 to 1991.-Cast:Alexei Sayle's Stuff stars stand-up comedian Alexei Sayle, with a recurring cast including Angus Deayton, Mark Williams, Arabella Weir, Tony Millan, Jan Ravens, Owen...
, and predecessor of Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round
Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round
Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round was a comedy sketch show which ran on BBC2 for a total of 6 episodes over one series in 1998.Alexei Sayle's final series was almost identical in format to The All New Alexei Sayle Show...
.
Recurring characters
The show differed from Alexei Sayle's StuffAlexei Sayle's Stuff
Alexei Sayle's Stuff is a comedy sketch show which ran on BBC2 for a total of 18 episodes over 3 series from 1988 to 1991.-Cast:Alexei Sayle's Stuff stars stand-up comedian Alexei Sayle, with a recurring cast including Angus Deayton, Mark Williams, Arabella Weir, Tony Millan, Jan Ravens, Owen...
mainly in its introduction of recurring characters who included:
- Alexei's alter egoAlter egoAn alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
, Bobby Chariot. Bobby was a ScouseScouseScouse is an accent and dialect of English found primarily in the Metropolitan county of Merseyside, and closely associated with the city of Liverpool and the adjoining urban areas such as the boroughs of south Sefton, Knowsley and the Wirral...
warm-up comic who appeared during breaks when the show had supposedly 'broken down' for technical reasons. His catchphrase "How you diddling?" would invariably fail to ignite the audience, prompting the reply, ". . . Bloody sod you, then." He would then regale them with anecdotes about his wife having left him, his drink problem, and sleeping in his Jaguar car. He was an archetypal 'old school' comedian who combined the least politically correctPolitical correctnessPolitical correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
sides of Les DawsonLes DawsonLeslie "Les" Dawson was a popular English comedian remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife.-Life and career:...
, Ken DoddKen DoddKenneth Arthur Dodd OBE is a British comedian and singer songwriter, famous for his frizzy hair or “fluff dom” and buck teeth or “denchers”, his favourite cleaner, the feather duster and his greeting "How tickled I am!", as well as his send-off “Lots and Lots of Happiness!”...
and Stan BoardmanStan BoardmanStan Boardman is an English comedian.- Early life :Boardman was evacuated with his family to Wrexham during World War II, and after the family returned to their Merseyside home mistakenly thinking the area had escaped the German bombs, his elder brother Tommy was killed in a bombing raid.He had...
with a bit of Mr Sayle. He would often pick on the audience for cheap laughs, then turn on them when they remained unresponsive. Often, rather than being seen in front of the audience, he was pictured sitting among them, pouring his heart out to some poor uninterested, bored soul. Bobby also featured in the later show Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-RoundAlexei Sayle's Merry-Go-RoundAlexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round was a comedy sketch show which ran on BBC2 for a total of 6 episodes over one series in 1998.Alexei Sayle's final series was almost identical in format to The All New Alexei Sayle Show...
. - Bobby's even more depressing and hopeless gag writer, played by Stephen LewisStephen Lewis (actor)Stephen Lewis is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Inspector Cyril "Blakey" Blake in the LWT Sitcom On the Buses, Clem "Smiler" Hemmingway in the longest running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine and Harry Lambert in BBC Television's Oh, Doctor Beeching!.-Career:Lewis began his...
, still bashing out bad puns on a manual typewriter long after the advent of the word processor. - a caricature of John SmithJohn Smith (UK politician)John Smith was a British Labour Party politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his sudden death from a heart attack in May 1994...
, who was leader of the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
at the time. - performance artists Egbert and Bill (a lampoon of real-life artists Gilbert and GeorgeGilbert and GeorgeGilbert & George are two artists who work together as a collaborative duo. Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore have become famous for their distinctive, highly formal appearance and manner and their brightly coloured graphic-style photo-based artworks.-Early life:Gilbert Proesch was...
), performed together with John SparkesJohn SparkesJohn Sparkes is a Welsh comedian born in Swansea and is more commonly known on Welsh television as Barry Welsh, in the award-winning series Barry Welsh is Coming....
. - Nancy and Spike. Depending on viewpoint, these were either the very un-PCPolitical correctnessPolitical correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
or the overly PC owners of a Hackney cycle shop called "Menstrual cycleMenstrual cycleThe menstrual cycle is the scientific term for the physiological changes that can occur in fertile women for the purpose of sexual reproduction. This article focuses on the human menstrual cycle....
s".
Running sketches
Both series of the show included running sketches.- Psycho Ward 11 in Series 1 was a spoof Australian hospital soap featuring Jean MarshJean MarshJean Lyndsey Torren Marsh is an English actress, occasional screenwriter, and co-creator of the television series Upstairs, Downstairs and The House of Eliott....
and Peter O'Brien. - Drunk In Time in Series 2 satirised the 1960s cult sci-fi TV series The Time TunnelThe Time TunnelThe Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, his third science fiction television series. The show's main theme was Time Travel Adventure. The Time Tunnel was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran...
. It featured Peter CapaldiPeter CapaldiPeter Dougan Capaldi is an Academy Award and BAFTA award winning Scottish actor and film director. In 1995, his short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film...
as Sayle's fellow drunk time-traveling companion, and Jenny AgutterJenny AgutterJennifer Ann "Jenny" Agutter is an English film and television actress. She began her career as a child actress in the mid 1960s, starring in the BBC television series The Railway Children and the film adaptation of the same book, before moving on to adult roles and relocating to Hollywood.She...
and Alfred MarksAlfred MarksAlfred Edward Marks OBE was a comic actor and comedian.-Biography:Marks was born as Ruchel Kutchinsky in Holborn, London. He left Bell Lane School at 14 and started in entertainment at the Windmill Theatre. He then served in the RAF as a Flight Sergeant in the Middle East where he arranged...
as the scientists back at the base.