Tracey Ullman is a British-American actress, comedian, singer, dancer, writer, producer, and director. Critics have lauded her ability to shift seamlessly in and out of character and accents, with many dubbing her the "female Peter Sellers". Her earliest mainstream appearances were on British television sketch comedy shows A Kick Up the Eighties and Three of a Kind. After a brief singing career, she appeared as Candice Valentine in Girls on Top with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.
Bottom is a British sitcom created by Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson that ran for three series on BBC2 from 1991 to 1995. It focuses on Richard "Richie" Richard (Mayall) and Edward Elizabeth "Eddie" Hitler (Edmondson), two unemployed, crude, and perverted flatmates living in Hammersmith, London, who aspire to better themselves. Bottom became known for its chaotic, nihilistic humour and violent slapstick comedy. In 2004, Bottom was ranked 45th in a BBC poll for Britain's Best Sitcom.
Jennifer Jane Saunders is an English actress, comedian, singer, and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with her best friend and comedy partner, Dawn French. With French, she co-wrote and starred in their eponymous sketch show, French and Saunders, for which they jointly received a BAFTA Fellowship in 2009. Saunders later received acclaim in the 1990s for writing and playing her character Edina Monsoon in her sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
The Young Ones is a British sitcom written by Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Lise Mayer, starring Adrian Edmondson, Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexei Sayle, and broadcast on BBC Two for two series, first shown in 1982 and 1984. The show focused on the lives of four dissimilar students and their landlord's family on different plots that often included anarchic, offbeat, surreal humour. The show often included slapstick gags, visual humour and surreal jokes sometimes acted out by puppets, with each episode also featuring a notable selection of guest stars and musical numbers from various performers.
The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents..., which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene. The core members are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane, Alexei Sayle and others.
Richard Michael Mayall, known professionally as Rik Mayall, was an English comedian, actor and writer. He formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University, and was a pioneer of alternative comedy in the 1980s.
Kevin Paul Jackson, credited as Paul Jackson; sometimes as K. Paul Jackson, is an English television director, producer and executive, known for his production roles within the BBC, ITV, and previously, Carlton and Granada. His most famous television work includes The Two Ronnies and The Young Ones, and as the original producer for the sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf. In 2006, Jackson was named Director of Comedy and Entertainment at ITV.
Naked Video is a BBC Scotland sketch show that was aired on BBC2 from 12 May 1986 to 18 November 1991. The show was created by Colin Gilbert who had previously created A Kick Up the Eighties and Naked Radio. The series originally starred Ron Bain, Gregor Fisher, Andy Gray, Elaine C. Smith, Tony Roper, Helen Lederer and Jonathan Watson, but they were later joined by Kate Donnelly and Louise Beattie. The series' producer was Colin Gilbert and its script editor was Philip Differ.
"GLC: The Carnage Continues" is an episode of the British television comedy series The Comic Strip Presents... broadcast on BBC2 in 1990. It parodied a Hollywood telling of the 1980s takeover of the Greater London Council by Ken Livingstone and the subsequent disbanding of that body by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, re-imagining the story as a Charles Bronson / Sylvester Stallone-style action movie. It is a spiritual successor to The Strike, which involved the creation of a Hollywood version of the 1984 miners' strike.
Kevin Turvey was a British television comedy character, created by actor and comedian Rik Mayall, who featured in the BBC sketch show A Kick Up the Eighties in 1981.
Saturday Live is a British television comedy and music show, made by LWT and initially broadcast on Channel 4 from 1985 to 1988, with a brief revival on ITV in 1996. A few one-off editions have also been screened sporadically, including a contribution to the BBC's 1993 Comic Relief telethon. It was based on the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live but otherwise had no direct connection to the show.
Alfresco is a British sketch comedy television series starring Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Siobhan Redmond and Emma Thompson, produced by Granada Television and broadcast by ITV from 1 May 1983 to 2 June 1984. Running for two series, it totalled 13 episodes and was named Alfresco because, unusually for a comedy sketch show of the time, it was shot on location rather than in a studio.
Three of a Kind is a British comedy sketch show starring comedians Lenny Henry, Tracey Ullman and David Copperfield. Three series were made by the BBC between 1981 and 1983.
Wood and Walters is a British television comedy sketch show starring Julie Walters and Victoria Wood for Granada Television and written entirely by Wood. The show was short-lived, with one pilot in 1981 and a series of seven shows in 1982.
Geoffrey Harold Posner is a British television producer and director. Posner has directed and produced some of Britain's most successful comedy shows since the early 1980s.
Anthony Robert McMillan, known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series. He was appointed an OBE in the 2006 New Year Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama. In 1990, Coltrane received the Evening Standard British Film Award – Peter Sellers Award for Comedy. In 2011, he was honoured for his "outstanding contribution" to film at the British Academy Scotland Awards.
There's Nothing to Worry About! is a British television series that ran on ITV Granada in 1982. The sketch comedy show was the first screen collaboration between the comedy duo Fry and Laurie. Other cast members include Emma Thompson, Ben Elton, Paul Shearer and Siobhan Redmond.
Colin Gilbert, born 1954, is a Glasgow-born television producer and former senior creative director of The Comedy Unit.
Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee was a 1984 BBC 2 sketch show starring Robbie Coltrane, John Sessions, Ron Bain and Louise Gold. The programme, which was an experiment with a new format following the success of A Kick Up the Eighties, ran for a single series of six episodes.
Tracey Ullman is a British-American actress who has had an extensive career in television, film, and theatre. She has worked in both comedy and drama. Her sketch comedy television programmes have won her numerous awards in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She began her stage career in the mid-1970s starring in various West End musicals and dramas. Her first television appearance came in 1980 playing Lisa Mackenzie in the British drama series Mackenzie. In 1981, the BBC cast her in two ensemble comedy sketch shows; A Kick Up the Eighties, and Three of a Kind. In 1983, Ullman launched a brief but successful pop singing career, garnering several chart hits and making several appearances on Top of the Pops. In 1985, she was cast in the ITV sitcom Girls on Top alongside Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, and Ruby Wax.
