Every so often, I post one of those “Send me anonymous messages!” things to Twitter, and let people do their worst. I usually receive a mix of responses, including plenty of questions I wish I could answer but can’t. Yes, here is my exact opinion about certain bits of television I don’t like, and here is my inevitable sacking a day later. And no, I ain’t telling you all the juicy details about obits.
But I do also get some great questions which I can actually answer. My favourite this time round was the following:
“What’s the best bit of TV trivia you know, but haven’t been able to include in an article (yet)?”
To which my answer was: two days before Red Dwarf‘s “Waiting for God” was recorded, Studio A at New Broadcasting House in Manchester was used for a Board of Governors lunch. “Waiting for God” was recorded on the 10th/11th October 1987; the Board of Governors lunch was the 8th October. Which is, I’m sure you’ll agree, the most exciting paragraph I have ever written.
Still, had I waited a few days, I might have given a different answer.
Like many people at the moment, I’ve been giving The Fast Show yet another watch through, on the basis that it’s newly-uploaded to iPlayer. Despite the fact I already own the DVD. Any excuse. This has led to me poking around various behind-the-scenes bits of the show; some of the results of which were published this month on Dirty Feed, while some are yet to come. I might even write that comparison of the two different versions of You Ain’t Seen These, Right?, which I’ve been threatening to do for nearly two decades now. But I digress.
In Series 3 Episode 6, there’s a running gag about Unlucky Alf being terrorised by his home electrics. As part of this, we get to see him electrocuted by his own keyhole, because those sketches always added a much-needed dose of earthy realism to proceedings:
Now, that skeleton superimposed over him? Surely that’s just some kind of rough sketch or something, isn’t it? That’s what I thought, anyway. Until I happened to notice this, lurking deep inside the show’s paperwork:
“Unlucky Alf: Electricity 2” sketch
1x still used –
Still Title: “Full frontal view of complete human skeleton”
Copyright: Science Photo Library/Martin Dohrn
Ref. No: P100/020MD004G.
And hilariously enough, a Google search for “Science Photo Library Martin Dohrn” brings up a collection of his images. And sure enough, one of them is labelled P100/0020, which is close enough to the reference number above that it must be the same image.
Which means that Unlucky Alf’s skeleton uses the below photograph as its basis – hugely warped and meddled with, but the same basic picture:
Amusingly enough, the description specifically reads that “this is a real skeleton, not a model”. Which adds a slight touch of unpleasantness to an already slightly queasy sketch. And that’s the best piece of TV trivia that I know.
What? That doesn’t satisfy you? Oh, fair enough. In which case, I direct you to the University of East Anglia, and specifically their Charlie Higson Archive, full of a wide variety of papers from the man himself. We only get a short precis of what’s in each box, of course, but even that has numerous things to quicken the pulse.
For now, I’ll just point you towards CH/16, “Computer Discs”:
“This series has 2 boxes that contain computer discs with a variety of materials created by Higson, including draft scripts for Jekyll and Hyde, Doctor Who (not made), and Marple.”
That would not be the short story The Beast of Babylon. That would be an entire script for a television episode of Doctor Who written by Higson, never produced, which I don’t believe has been mentioned anywhere else.
Go on, Big Finish, there’s a fun little project for you.
A version of this post was first published in the April issue of my monthly newsletter. Please consider signing up for it, if you haven’t already.