The Comedians (1971 TV series)

The Comedians
Genre	Comedy
Directed by	Walter Butler Dave Warwick
Starring	Russ Abbot Lennie Bennett Stan Boardman Jim Bowen Frank Carson Johnnie Casson Les Dennis Jimmy Jones Bernard Manning Tom O'Connor Mike Reid George Roper Paul Shane Roy Walker Don Adams Duggie Brown Colin Crompton Vince Earl Stu Francis Ken Goodwin Jackie Hamilton Bobby Knutt Paul Melba Mick Miller Charlie Williams Lee Wilson
Composer	Derek Hilton
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	11
No. of episodes	81 [1]
Production
Producers	Ian Hamilton Johnnie Hamp
Production locations	Granada Studios, Manchester
Editors	D .L. Hayes Ron Swayne
Running time	30 minutes (including adverts)
Production company	Granada Television
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	12 June 1971 (1971-06-12) – 28 December 1993 (1993-12-28)

The Comedians is a British television show of the 1970s, later reprised in the mid-1980s, and early 1990s (1972-1993) ^[2] produced by Johnnie Hamp of Granada Television. ^[3] The show gave TV exposure to nightclub and working men's club comedians of the era, including Russ Abbot, Jim Bowen and Bernard Manning, many of whom went on to enjoy mainstream success in the 1980s. Filmed before a live audience in Manchester, comics each performed 20-minute sets, which were then edited together into half-hour shows featuring up to thirteen stand-up comics, and lasted a total of 81 episodes. ^[1]

Working men's clubs were numerous in Britain, especially in the North of England and have been a useful training ground for artists, especially comedians. ^[1] Most of these clubs are affiliated to the CIU (Working Men's Club and Institute Union) founded in 1862 by the Rev. Henry Solly. There are also political clubs, as well as Servicemen's Clubs affiliated to the Royal British Legion. ^[1]

The Comedians began as an experiment for Granada TV on Saturday 12th June 1971 at 7pm on ITV1, ^[4] and the last was a Christmas Special (60 mins) The Comedians Christmas Cracker shown on 28 December 1993, Tuesday at 10.45pm. ^[1]

Cast

Comedians appearing on the show included Russ Abbot (initially as Russ Roberts, later as Russ Abbott), Lennie Bennett, Stan Boardman, Jim Bowen, Jimmy Bright, Duggie Brown, Mike Burton, Dave Butler, Brian Carroll, Frank Carson, Johnnie Casson, Eddie Colinton, Mike Coyne, Colin Crompton, Bob Curtiss, Pauline Daniels, Charlie Daze, Les Dennis, Vince Earl, Steve Faye, Ray Fell, Eddie Flanagan, Stu Francis, Mike Goddard (known as Mike Goodwin in the early years of the show), Ken Goodwin, Jackie Hamilton, Jerry Harris, Jimmy Jones, Mike Kelly, George King, Bobby Knutt, Bernard Manning, Jimmy Marshall, Mike McCabe, Paul Melba, Mick Miller, Pat Mooney, Hal Nolan, Tom O'Connor, Tom Pepper, Bryn Phillips, Al Robbins, Don Reid, Mike Reid, George Roper, Harry Scott, Paul Shane, Pat Tansey, Sammy Thomas, Johnny Wager, Roy Walker, Jos White, Charlie Williams, Lee Wilson and Lenny Windsor. ^{[5] [6] [1] [2] [3]}

Also featured on the series were Shep's Banjo Boys, a seven-piece band comprising (for the first five series) Charlie Bentley (tenor banjo), John Drury (sousaphone), Andy Holdorf (trombone), John Orchard (piano), John Rollings (drums), Graham Shepherd (banjo) and Howard Shepherd (lead banjo). In 1973, the line-up was Mike Dexter (banjo), Tony "Tosh" Kennedy (sousaphone), Ged Martin (drums), Tony Pritchard (trombone), Graham Shepherd (banjo) and Howard "Shep" Shepherd (lead banjo). ^[6]

DVD releases

The first seven series including a DVD set (containing the first seven series broadcast 1971–74) have been released on DVD by Network.

Transmissions

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	12 June 1971 [1]	24 July 1971 [1]	7 [1]
2	18 September 1971 [1]	30 October 1971 [1]	7 [1]
3	18 February 1972 [1]	1 April 1972 [1]	7 [1]
4	14 July 1972 [1]	2 September 1972 [1]	7 [1]
5	17 November 1972 [1]	29 December 1972 [1]	7 [1]
6	7 April 1973 [1]	2 June 1973 [1]	8 [1]
7	26 January 1974 [1]	16 March 1974 [1]	7 [1]
8	22 July 1979 [1]	5 August 1979 [1]	13 [1]
	23 November 1979 [1]	15 February 1980 [1]
9	2 June 1984 [1]	16 June 1984 [1]	3 [1]
10	1 June 1985 [1]	13 July 1985 [1]	7 [1]
11	9 July 1992 [1]	23 July 1992 [1]	5 [1]

Specials

Date	Entitle
24 December 1971 [1]	The Comedians' Christmas Party [1]
22 December 1973 [1]	Christmas Comedians' Music Hall [1]
28 December 1993 [1]	The Comedians' Christmas Cracker [1]

References

1. "BBC Comedy Guide - Little And Large". Archived from the original on 13 December 2004. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
2. "The Comedians". classictelly.com. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
3. "The Comedians - Cast & Crew". comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
4. "The Comedians - Overview". comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
5. Gillespie, James. "Return of the Comedians". Daily Express . Retrieved 8 February 2016.
6. Chris Perry (10 November 2014). The Kaleidoscope British Christmas Television Guide 1937–2013. Lulu.com. pp. 150–. ISBN   978-1-900203-60-9.

External links

• The Comedians at IMDb
• Classic Telly: Tributes to The Comedians