The problem with writing this site is that I seem to go off on endless tangents, rather than writing what I’m supposed to be writing about.
Oh well, here we go again. On the 14th November 1997, a brand new series of The Fast Show started airing on BBC2. That first episode featured the debut of a new Paul Whitehouse character Archie, the pub bore. This first sketch is fairly normal; they get progressively odder.
Now, hidden away on the final disc of The Ultimate Fast Show Collection DVD, is a behind-the-scenes feature on Series 3 by yer man Rhys Thomas. And as part of this feature, we see a little snatch of this sketch being recorded:
At the end of that clip, you can see them setting up for the Chess sketch in Episode 6, which looks like it was recorded directly after.1 But the bit I want to concentrate on is the following bit of amusingness:
PAUL WHITEHOUSE: Coogan’s in tonight. What do you reckon we go round and do him?
MARK WILLIAMS: And then who’s left over? Then we go and do Shooting Stars!
PAUL WHITEHOUSE: Come on Lamarr, come on. You greaseball throwback…
Coogan was indeed in that night; but Whitehouse doesn’t mean he’s in the Fast Show audience. These two Archie sketches were shot on the 5th September 1997… the same night as an audience recording for I’m Alan Partridge. Specifically, Series 1 Episode 3, “Watership Alan”. Yeah, the one with Chris Morris. This episode was broadcast on the 17th November 1997, just three days after Series 3 of The Fast Show debuted.
As for Shooting Stars? The very first episode of Series 3 was recorded this night too, and broadcast on the 26th November 1997 This is the episode featuring Mariella Frostrup, Antony Worrall Thompson, Leo Sayer, and Tania Bryer. I find the latter particularly amusing, as back at the start of 1997, she had appeared in the “Science” episode of Brass Eye, warning us of the dangers of mutant clouds. I wonder if she was tempted to pop round to TC1 and lamp Morris one.
Regardless: The Fast Show, I’m Alan Partridge and Shooting Stars, recording at TV Centre in the same evening. And all broadcast in the same month too.
If I may permit myself a note of melancholy that I don’t usually indulge in here on Dirty Feed: I think we’ve lost something, guys.
There appears to be an invisible edit 24 seconds in; the chessboard magically appears on the table. ↩
8 comments
Jonny Haw on 16 April 2023 @ 10am
We have absolutely lost something wonderful.
It just makes me question why the hell I didn’t spend the whole of the 90s applying for tickets and travelling down to TV Centre at every opportunity, rather then sitting in my bedroom writing imaginary TV schedules!!
David Boothroyd on 16 April 2023 @ 10am
Is it also worth saying that Friday 5 September 1997 was also the day the Queen made a live broadcast about the death of Diana (which had happened the previous Sunday)? It’s a helpful correction to anyone who thinks that week between the death and the funeral (which was the following morning) saw an entire country consumed by grief.
Steve Williams on 16 April 2023 @ 1pm
As I have told everyone on Twitter several times, I was in the Partridge audience that night. I do remember having to phone up the day before to check it was still going ahead, because I recall the following evening’s Shooting Stars recording was cancelled.
At the end of the recording we were thanked for coming “in a week nobody felt like laughing”.
John J. Hoare on 16 April 2023 @ 2pm
The Diana stuff is really interesting, and definitely relevant. As I’ve said before, I have no insight about it; despite being 16 and already a TV nerd of sorts, I didn’t spend the day watching the television coverage, let alone anything else. I have bizarrely few memories of it all.
I was probably sleeping!
Alex Brown on 16 April 2023 @ 5pm
Would Chris Morris have been there though? I thought all the Radio Norwich scenes were on location at Unique’s production studios.
John J. Hoare on 16 April 2023 @ 5pm
Chris Morris was definitely there; that particular scene was shot in front of the audience. If Steve’s still about, I’ll let him tell that story…
Steve Williams on 16 April 2023 @ 6pm
THE CHRIS MORRIS STORY
Morris was indeed there, but the scene itself was filmed “round the back” – not that it made masses of difference because all the sets had four walls. After they did it, Coogan-as-Partridge and Morris came round the front and Coogan said, “This is Chris Morris, a very mysterious man. You’re not going to say anything, are you?”, and Morris said “Not really, no”, and sloped off
That evening they also recorded a scene that really made me laugh but was never used and has never been on the DVDs or anything, presumably for music rights reasons. Alan put on a Mike Oldfield CD and then had an argument with Dave Clifton that went on so long the track ended and he’d forgotten to put on the next one, so he stabbed wildly at the buttons and said “So, er, here’s another of Mike Oldfield’s songs we all love so much… Blue Peter!?!”. It was the funniest delivery of the words “Blue Peter” I have ever heard.
Martin on 16 April 2023 @ 10pm
I was working in TV Centre in 2009 when Nick Griffin (remember him?) was a guest on Question Time, attracting a fairly sizable protest outside, and occasionally inside.
But it was an otherwise fairly busy evening – also being recorded were Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, and Harry Hill’s TV Burp. Which is quite the combination of names even before you add the politicians into the mix.
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