- 12/06/2025
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00:00He was one of Britain's favourite funny men.
00:08Good evening.
00:10One of the giants, one of the giants of British television.
00:13You paint a very pretty picture eyes.
00:15I could use you on Jackanorian.
00:17Everything he did had class about it.
00:20A master of monologue.
00:22The Football Association announced today that any league player who changes his sex before half-time will be allowed to finish the match.
00:30Provided, of course, that there is alternative dressing room accommodation.
00:37He was an absolutely great comic actor.
00:42Good evening.
00:45Every kid in every school knew all the show.
00:47He was a clown and a wordsmith.
00:50Sometimes you get stuck on one letter, such as wobbly.
00:53And I said, well, I've got a tin of whoop, a whoocomber, two packets of wheeze and a wally flower.
00:57A great chameleon, really.
00:59As well as a great comedian.
01:01And a prolific comedy writer.
01:05You can't believe it's the same man in Porridge as the same man as Open All Hours.
01:11He is rooted in being a first-rate actor.
01:15These are the many faces of Ronnie Barker.
01:31Ronnie Barker became one of the best-loved comedy faces of the 1980s.
01:35He was sensational in variety shows as one half of the two Ronnies.
01:41Laurence Olivier is appearing in No No Nanette at the Trellis Theatre, Thomas.
01:46And Nanette is appearing in No No Sir Laurence Olivier at the Globe Theatre, Boston.
01:51And as a solo star in sitcoms like Porridge.
01:55You know, Fletcher, this is the part of the job that I hate.
02:00You know, locking men up, caging them in.
02:03Yeah, it is a pity too.
02:04Just when the good telly's starting and all.
02:06It's a shame, ain't it, ain't it?
02:07All we ever see is the news, ain't it, eh?
02:09News and nationwide.
02:10What's the good of bleeding nationwide when you're stuck in here, eh?
02:14He shone from an early age, but almost missed the stage for a career in banking.
02:19In private, it was an image he never really shook off.
02:23If you met him, you would never ever think he was anything to do with the theatre.
02:28You would think he is a very witty, very witty bank manager.
02:33But Barker on screen was an inspiration for a generation of British comedy.
02:39Ronnie Barker was a, was a superstar in all our lives.
02:42I mean, comedy, 70s comedy was, was hugely important.
02:46You know, every kid in every school knew all the shows.
02:49Ronnie's fame was international.
02:51The famous four candle sketch, wowing audiences all around the world.
02:56In every English speaking country in the world, they were huge.
03:00Saw tips. Saw tips.
03:03What do you want, oip, or something like that, what do you want?
03:15It was a work of genius, that sketch was.
03:19Ronnie Barker turned a desk job in theatre into a stage job at the Oxford Playhouse and instantly made his mark.
03:28Only gradually, I realised that whenever I had a little part, Ronnie would come up to me and give me what I realise now were wonderful notes.
03:39And I did always leap on them and say, oh, yes, that's a good, oh, I see what I'm doing now.
03:43But he was a brilliant actor.
03:45I mean, I can remember thinking how good he was in things, but in a, in this very quiet way.
03:53There was no bombast about him. No, you wouldn't have known he was an actor.
03:57Ronnie was good, but in the early 1950s, a career in television was a million miles away.
04:04We didn't speak about television. Television was a very down market thing that some people did for money.
04:12But I don't remember anybody speaking about television.
04:16Would you like to sit there, please?
04:20Television was still the vulgar cousin of stage, but Ronnie had his eye on glamour.
04:26His first film appearance was as a waiter being upstaged by Frankie Vaughan.
04:30Now, Henry. Very nice to see you here, Sir Bertram. What are you going to give us to eat, eh?
04:34Buenas tardi, senora. Senorita, eh?
04:36What is all this, eh? Why all this argumentation?
04:38Well, I'm very sorry, sir, but, well, for seven years now, Sir Bertram has been my special customer.
04:43And I will not have him taken away from me by this, this foreigner.
04:47Foreigner? Well, I'm British through and through. Hidden half.
04:50No, no, no.
04:52The movie Wonderful Things turned out to be nothing special.
04:56And Ronnie's cinema debut came to nothing.
05:00But in 1958, the wireless was the mass medium of the day.
05:04And it was here that Ronnie Barker began to get noticed in the comedy The Navy Lark.
05:09Betty Marsden told me about this very funny actor who was in a radio show, The Navy Lark.
05:22Oh, you want two halves?
05:23Do you mind, sailor? I've only got one pair of hands, you know.
05:26Yeah, I had noticed.
05:28They performed at the Playhouse cinema, which was taken over by the BBC.
05:33So I went along and I saw Ronnie Barker and was knocked out by him.
05:38I thought he was brilliant.
05:40This afternoon.
05:41Radio was the place where comedians were and star comedians had their shows.
05:48And when television gradually took over, they created their own stars.
05:54When radio star Jimmy Edwards moved to television, Ronnie Barker was part of the team.
05:59It's 1961.
06:01And already, somebody has noticed that Ronnie looks good behind a desk.
06:06And here is the news.
06:09The spores.
06:11There is no sign of any decrease in the widespread changing of gender.
06:15The clothing exchange centres, set up by the WBS, will now remain open until 10pm.
06:24Muir and Norton were the top comedy writers on radio.
06:30And they'd done this series with Jimmy Edwards, which they asked me to do.
06:36And in that series, we had Ronnie Barker.
06:41And as soon as Muir and Norton saw Ronnie Barker in one episode, they started rewriting the scripts to bring him in more, because he was obviously a major talent.
06:55Jimmy Edwards was very much a traditional comedy performer.
07:00But now, in the 1960s, the new kids wanted to make their own radical shows.
07:06Jimmy Gilbert was to produce the landmark review, The Frost Report.
07:10We had John Cleese, Ronnie Corbett, and I was looking for a third member of the cast.
07:20And, of course, I didn't have to look very far.
07:23I rang up Ronnie Barker and asked him if he would do it.
07:26But he was appearing in a play at Stratford East with Robert Atkins.
07:32But he asked if he could be released, and they let him go.
07:37So we got him. We nearly didn't get him.
07:40In which case, where would the two Ronnies have been?
07:43Because it was The Frost Report where Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett met, of course, and they were all marvellous together.
07:49Good evening.
07:50Now, tonight in the studio, we have the chairman of the League of Television Decency, Mr Whitefoot.
07:55Good evening.
07:56Good evening.
07:57Now, Mr Whitefoot...
08:00Mr Whitefoot, I understand that the purpose of your campaign is, in fact, to clean up television.
08:05Yes. We take exception most strongly to some of the double entend and suggestive dialogue in BBC plays, for example.
08:12Now, would you like to give us an example?
08:14Yes. Willingly.
08:15The other night, a character was heard to say, and I quote,
08:20Look here.
08:21Look here.
08:22Well, that sounds perfectly harmless to me.
08:24Well, it depends on which way you look at it, doesn't it?
08:27I mean...
08:28I mean, to me, look here suggests, look here through this keyhole.
08:32At this young female person divesting herself of her clothing.
08:35It was fresh, it was different, and it was topical as well, and was fairly cutting.
08:40There was some really, you know...
08:42And there was some very silly, sharp little silly bits.
08:46Now, waiter, could I have the baked jam roll, please?
08:49Not till you've finished your cabbage.
08:52The first report was live, and that was very frightening.
09:01But it actually, you know, there was a lot of adrenaline running around.
09:06I mean, but John Cleese was absolutely petrified.
09:09Oh, you go ahead, please.
09:11All right.
09:12I think I'll begin with a little Dubrovnik caviar, with just a twist of lemon.
09:17Then the lobster, without dressing, please, but covered with a mixture of mushrooms and onions,
09:22the way the chef knows I like it.
09:24Because the Ronnie's had so much experience, you know?
09:27And I had none, none at all.
09:29And I do remember looking into the mirror in the bathroom one day,
09:34where I'd gone to wash my hands just before the show,
09:37thinking I could not be more frightened
09:40if I was a matador going into a ring with a bull.
09:44After that, the Coupe Jacques and a small cup of Brazilian coffee,
09:47not the Cuban, and a glass of Coupoisier 21.
09:50Thank you, sir.
09:51And madam?
09:54I'll have a plain omelette.
09:58Sounds rather nice. Do you mind if I change?
10:02The terror is drying, you know.
10:05We had an audience, live audience, and it was going out live.
10:08And, you know, it was really scary.
10:15A lot of it was David sitting and looking into camera,
10:19and reading lots and lots of jokes off the teleprompter or the autocue.
10:23Of course, the traditional standard of cooking we used to associate with the British
10:28was that of a guest house at a certain unnamed seaside resort famous for its Blackpool Rock.
10:37With his experience of repertory theatre, Ronnie Barker brought acting skills to the increasingly dramatic sketches.
10:43Ronnie was in on an exciting revolution in television.
10:47The Frost Report brought together old-school and new-school comedy in a fast-moving sketch format.
10:55Enjoying your steak, are you?
10:57Yes, thank you very much.
10:59What he did was put together the intellectual mob, the university people, with more traditional performers.
11:08Chinese eat pussycats.
11:12Covered all over in melted chocolate. It's a well-known fact.
11:16I don't care and I'm not interested.
11:18And monkeys.
11:19So this is an amalgam of different backgrounds.
11:26And that was a clever thing to do.
11:28A sort of comedy fusion, almost.
11:34Gone off it, have you?
11:36Yes.
11:37Just going to eat the vegetables, are you?
11:39Yes.
11:41Vegetables have nervous systems too, you know.
11:44Scientists have recorded their screams of agony as they're torn out of the ground by their roots.
11:50Carrots shriek.
11:54Ronnie Barker, extraordinarily, sort of crossed.
11:58He could work with the university types and he could work with the lowbrow types, Ronnie Corbett, amongst others.
12:06So he was amazing at bridging those two sort of class distinctions, if you like.
12:18But he was essentially an actor. He wasn't a comedian.
12:20I look down on him because I am upper class.
12:31I look up to him because he is upper class.
12:35But I look down on him because he is lower class.
12:39I am middle class.
12:44I know my place.
12:45I look up to them both.
12:49But I don't look up to him as much as I look up to him.
12:55Because he has got innate breeding.
12:58I have got innate breeding, but I have not got any money.
13:02That famous sketch that illustrates class difference, with Cleese, Corbett and Barker together,
13:08it has become the lazy shorthand for all debates about class in the 60s.
13:12Every time you see a TV documentary that refers to the idea of class or a news night discussion, let's say, about class,
13:20there that image is projected up on the screen.
13:23And in a way, I mean, it's because it's brilliant.
13:26It's because it captures the idea of social mobility or, in fact, the lack of it in the 60s that people were talking about.
13:34Barker's in the middle, but actually Barker could have been anywhere in that line-up.
13:38Rather hard to imagine John Cleese playing the working-class guy at the end.
13:44Rather hard to imagine Ronnie Corbett perhaps embodying that kind of upper-class hauteur that Cleese does so effortlessly.
13:51Barker could have been anywhere in that.
13:53I shall now pronounce sentence.
13:55There were two series of the Frost Report on the BBC before the show moved to ITV as Frost on Sunday.
14:09John Cleese had already decided to leave the show.
14:12He would go on to create Monty Python after his first attempt at a dream team, including Ronnie Barker, failed.
14:23Silence in court.
14:25If there is any more noise, I shall have to ask the orchestra to leave.
14:31I can't remember quite why we went our different ways.
14:36I do know that at one stage I tried to put them all together.
14:41Graham Chapman and I wrote a movie for the Frost organization that was called Pig Lust and Company.
14:49And Ronnie Barker was Mr. Pig Lust.
14:53And I liked the script very, very much.
14:56And it had Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Marty, Tim, Graham and me in it.
15:02So it was very much an attempt to put the group together.
15:05But unfortunately, Frost sold it to Ned Sharon.
15:08I thought he brought Ned Sharon in as producer.
15:11And Ned, whom I didn't like very much as a person or professionally, I thought there was a coarseness to his taste.
15:18He would not use Charlie Crichton, who was, of course, the director of Fish Corn Wander.
15:23And so Graham and I walked away from the project and so did Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.
15:28And we just went off.
15:30I would love to have got us together.
15:32The Frost shows were hungry for scripts and attracted some of the best comedy talents of a generation.
15:39British Hormone Company here.
15:42Miss Tompkins speaking.
15:45We wrote hundreds of sketches.
15:49So many.
15:51The pressure is therefore huge.
15:54You can't sort of, you can't hang around.
15:57There are certain sort of rules or techniques.
16:01You know, you can't hang around without a laugh for too long.
16:04And the worst of the lot was you've got to have a punchline.
16:08You know, like if you're in the house.
16:11Which is it in the paper.
16:13It says here in the paper, in COVID-19 to a soon took place.
16:15Well, why can't we come straight up you didn't say you gave her a jolly good.
16:18Just give him a proff.
16:22I mean, why can't they say you gave her jolly good at once.
16:25Why can't they just say you gave her jolly good dinner and then he took her home.
16:28Ronnie also knew a good script when he saw it.
16:39I think that's one of the key things of a genius performer.
16:45Out of all the comedy people, almost in British comedy history,
16:50he's probably the one who's done the least crap.
16:53You know, he's, by and large, he's really, everything he did, had class about it.
17:03Many of the writers on the show would go on to be household names.
17:06Michael Palin, Graham Garden, Barry Cryer.
17:09There was another writer, though, who was as prolific and would have been as revered
17:13if he hadn't been a complete enigma.
17:16Some skits just started coming in that were really classy, very funny.
17:20Uh, and the writer was never there.
17:25Um, and it started, we started to ask him, you know, where is he?
17:30And they said, well, he just, you know, he sends them in, don't know who it is.
17:33The notorious episode of Gerald Wiley, and who we're told was a recluse.
17:41And he started submitting sketches.
17:43And we used to say, anything from Gerald Wiley this week?
17:46You know, and disappointed if there wasn't.
17:48And then, at the very end, nobody knew, we were all taking bets who it was,
17:53because you thought, this person is too good, he's too good at writing,
17:58he must be a writer or something.
18:00Uh, the first one they ever did, I think, was set in a doctor's waiting room
18:03and had a very big part for Ronnie Corbett and a small one for Ronnie Barker.
18:06And, uh, I was going to say they both liked the sketch, but, of course, they both did.
18:11Ronnie Corbett didn't know who Gerald Wiley was.
18:14And, um, then Wiley starts submitting.
18:18The funny thing was, Ronnie Barker would sometimes turn down the Gerald Wiley sketch.
18:22Say he's losing it.
18:23No, it's not up to his usual standard.
18:25And we got to the end of the series, and, um, David took us all out to a Chinese meal,
18:31a big table for, and they invited this man.
18:35It was like, I guess, with Christy, you know, we were all there.
18:37And we all turned, a lot of us turned up, and, uh, Frank, we all popped his head in,
18:42and it was our boss, and we thought, ah, it was you having a lot.
18:45No.
18:46And we thought it was Tom Stoppard, I was with that agent.
18:48So we're sitting there, agog, waiting for this bloke to arrive.
18:53And all of a sudden, up jumps, um, Ronnie Barker and says,
18:59well, I'm sorry to disappoint you all, but it's me.
19:01And I think most of us laughed at him, we thought, I'm a very good gag,
19:04and then kept looking round for Gerald Wiley.
19:06And he went and said, no, it is me.
19:08And I stood on, so the toast is, nobody loves a smarts-arse.
19:13And that was Wiley revealed.
19:15And then, of course, he'd lost his cover.
19:17I respected why he did it in the first place.
19:19He didn't want sketches accepted just because he'd written them.
19:23Uh, but then his cover was blown.
19:25Rather embarrassingly, Gerald Wiley began to take ideas from other writers
19:31and use them for himself.
19:33The famous, uh, sketch, um, with the spoonerisms in it,
19:37um, not originated by Ronnie Barker or Gerald Wiley,
19:42but added to sequels written to this sketch.
19:45Good evening.
19:46I am the president of the Loyal Society for the Relief of Sufferers
19:49from Piss Pronunciation.
19:51For people who cannot say their worms correctly,
19:53or who use the wrong worms entirely,
19:55so that other people cannot underhand the bird they are spraying.
19:59The piss pronunciation of worms is one of those,
20:02one of the most famous of those sketches
20:04where Barker talks directly to camera
20:06and gives you a kind of Ministry of Information lecture.
20:09The first one was not written by him,
20:11but all the subsequent others were.
20:13It's just that you open your mouse
20:15and the worms come turbling out in wakase
20:16that you dick-knock what you're thugging a bit.
20:19And I know that there was a little bit of tension
20:22because I think they felt sometimes,
20:25sometimes that Ronnie kind of rewrote ideas of theirs
20:28without they're really getting any credit.
20:30Um, and sometimes I think they felt that he changed the material.
20:34David Frost had taken the show to ITV
20:38and was keen to make the most of his stable of comedy thoroughbreds.
20:42Ronnie would be tried out in longer formats,
20:45including a film he both wrote and produced,
20:48Futtok's End.
20:49It was a slapstick movie of sound effects with no dialogue
20:52and was not his finest moment.
20:57There's only one criticism I would make of Ronnie,
21:00is that he had a little bit of the Benny Hill streak of humour.
21:06He could put in a bosom or a bottom joke
21:08when it just sort of slightly lowered the tone
21:11of the absolutely excellent work he was doing everywhere else.
21:14It was 1970, and Futtok's End was at one extreme
21:19of a very wide spectrum of acting roles for Ronnie.
21:22At the other end was an offer of Shakespeare.
21:26It's sad, he said.
21:27I'm not going to be able to do this.
21:28I've been offered this.
21:29I said, why can't you do it?
21:30He said, well, it's during the school holiday.
21:33I said, well, what's that got to do with it?
21:34He said, well, Joy and I and the kids,
21:36we always go to Littlehampton.
21:39I said, yes, but think, oh, God, I must organise this.
21:41I said, well, it's television.
21:42It's not doing a play every night
21:43where you can't get there.
21:45Of course you can.
21:45You can rehearse during the day
21:47and they'll give you the weekend off.
21:48He said, no, no, no, it's a school holiday.
21:51And I can't, I'd have given them au pairs to die for
21:55down in Littlehampton to look after them all.
21:58Ronnie did, in fact, play bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream
22:01with his old colleague Eileen Atkins.
22:07I suppose I might have thought whether,
22:10because he'd been doing these sketches on television,
22:15wonder whether he would have, when he played with you,
22:18you would still feel the engagement
22:22with what you were doing as well.
22:23But it was all there, absolutely.
22:26He is rooted in being a first-rate actor
22:30and nothing had shifted that.
22:33No, he was lovely.
22:35I've had a dream.
22:38Pass the wit of man to say what dream it was.
22:42Man's but an ass if he go back to explain this dream.
22:45While at ITV, Ronnie appeared in six plays,
22:51The Ronnie Barker Playhouse,
22:53and six dates with Barker,
22:54each intended to, but failing to find a sitcom
22:57for The Rising Star.
22:59The character of Lord Rustless did emerge
23:02and featured regularly in the sketch show
23:04Hark at Barker.
23:05He would go on to make regular appearances
23:07throughout Ronnie's career.
23:09Ah, there you are.
23:10Now, I suppose some of you must be wondering
23:13why I've said for you.
23:14Well, the point is,
23:16the television people thought
23:18that you might like to have a look round my seat.
23:24Ronnie was named ITV Personality of the Year in 1969.
23:29ITV must have known they had a star in Barker,
23:32but his destiny was about to be forged,
23:34not by his talent, but by his contract.
23:38There was a very poor decision made
23:41at London Weekend Television.
23:42There was a lot of politics at London Weekend.
23:45David Frost, an absolutely brilliant entrepreneur,
23:49apart from anything else,
23:50who helped to create London Weekend Television,
23:53had the two Ronnies under contract.
23:57And there was some politics that went on,
24:00and the management at London Weekend Television
24:02said they wouldn't continue with the two Ronnies
24:07by buying them through David Frost's company,
24:12which was a ridiculous decision.
24:14And so they left,
24:16and the BBC couldn't believe their luck,
24:18and they signed the two Ronnies.
24:20So ITV had the two Ronnies and lost them
24:23in the same way that the BBC had Stanley Baxter
24:25and lost him.
24:26The BBC launched the two Ronnies TV show in 1971.
24:35Their trademark opening address
24:37would welcome millions of families in Britain
24:38for the next 16 years.
24:43Good evening and welcome to the show.
24:45I must say it's very nice to be with you all, isn't it?
24:47It is, it is.
24:47And it's very nice to be with you.
24:48Thank you, Ron.
24:49Every two Ronnies show was closely formatted.
24:57Viewers expected to see the newsreaders,
24:59sketches and song parodies.
25:04Oh, I would love to eat anything I wanted.
25:09Bangers and beans
25:10And enormous lumps of fried bread
25:12Fed chop and chips
25:14And steak and kidney pies
25:16By a girl who likes cooking
25:17Who's big and good looking
25:18Who's dumplings
25:19And double the size
25:20All have a damn good time
25:24All beetles and greens
25:25They complement each other very well.
25:28There's the physical thing going on, of course.
25:31The big chubby man with the short man.
25:34I mean, you know, we've seen that term
25:36from time immemorial in comedy.
25:38But there's something about the way
25:40the rhythm of their performances together.
25:43There's a naturalness about it.
25:45In those sketches where they meet at a party,
25:48you can almost believe that those people are real,
25:51no matter how absurd their afflictions
25:53and their verbal tics are.
25:55Hello, I don't believe we've met Clive Winfrey.
25:58Hello, my name is...
25:59No, no, no, no, don't tell me, don't tell me.
26:01There's a little game I like to play at parties.
26:02Oh.
26:03Guessing people's names.
26:04Yes, I'm very good at it too, yes.
26:06I always guess their name by what they look like, you know.
26:08It might be partly because Ronnie Corbett accepted
26:11his secondary role in that partnership,
26:16that he wasn't trying to muscle in on the writing process as well,
26:19and was in a way happy to let Ronnie Barker
26:22be kind of the originator in that act.
26:25I'm so sure that you will not be able to guess my name.
26:29I'll tell you what, if you get it right,
26:30I will allow you to spend the night with my wife Daphne,
26:33the beautiful lady in the red.
26:35If you get it, you see?
26:36She's smiling, looking.
26:38How many guesses can I have?
26:40You can have as many as you like.
26:41Oh, all right, all right.
26:42Well, you look to me like a Pratt.
26:50Sidney Pratt.
26:52No, no, no, no, no.
26:53Perhaps you're more like a, I say, more like a Wally.
26:56Are you, let's see, Wally Partington Smythe?
26:59No.
27:00Monty Rothermere?
27:01No.
27:02Look, I'll give you a clue.
27:03My surname sounds like something that comes out at night.
27:06Comes out at night?
27:07Malcolm Dentures.
27:08But actually, I think what makes it work
27:14is that they just seem to like each other.
27:17There's a sort of ease about the way they work with each other
27:21when they're sitting out as the village idiots on the wall
27:24or the two old guys in the allotment.
27:27You know we live in the same sort of house?
27:30Yeah.
27:31Same road, same shape, same size rooms?
27:36Yeah.
27:36Well, you know when you papered your front room
27:39you told me you bought eight rolls of wallpaper.
27:44That's right, yeah.
27:45Well, I just papered her front room.
27:48Oh, yeah.
27:50I bought eight rolls of wallpaper.
27:53When I finished, I had two over.
27:57That's funny.
27:58So did I.
28:01Together, the two Ronnies perfectly complemented each other
28:04but they had a different approach to being on their own.
28:07I'm feeling a little bit drained at the moment myself
28:09because I spent the weekend potholing.
28:12Ronnie Corbett's armchair monologues
28:14seemed a natural portrayal of the man himself.
28:16There's a little doubt.
28:19I hope.
28:20I say, no, I say potholing, to be honest.
28:22Actually, I was in the back garden
28:24trying to pull up a worm
28:25and it got the better of me.
28:29But Ronnie Barker always appeared in character.
28:32What about that?
28:32I didn't help at all with that one.
28:40No, no, I got...
28:43I...
28:44No, that's the hat stamp.
28:45Oh, that's...
28:46H...
28:53No, you're reading all the furniture.
28:55See if you can...
29:02See if you can grab the end of this long poem.
29:04Yes.
29:05I've got it.
29:05Have you got it?
29:06Yes.
29:06Thank goodness for that.
29:07Thank goodness.
29:10I think Ronnie was never comfortable performing as himself.
29:18He always had to be in character.
29:20This was something he always made very clear,
29:21which was why he would always have just a little moustache
29:26if nothing else
29:27when he was playing those announcers at the desk.
29:30It always made him feel more comfortable.
29:33And yet, in conversation and as himself,
29:36he was just supremely funny
29:38in a very, very straight, very dry kind of way.
29:42Do you ever experience a general feeling of wobbliness?
29:44A, yes, or B, no?
29:46Yes, A.
29:47Yes, I do get wobbliness in the head.
29:51There are several possible causes of wobbliness.
29:55Please state number of legs.
29:57I got two when I last looked.
30:00Oh, sorry, wait a wrong button.
30:01Wait a minute.
30:02No.
30:02Oh, dear, wait a minute.
30:06You appear to have 12 legs.
30:09Are you A, the Nolan sisters?
30:14B, the parliamentary social democratic party?
30:18C, three teams of one-legged polo players?
30:20Or D, was this a mistake?
30:23Ronnie Barker was starring in The Two Ronnies
30:25and he wrote much of the material.
30:28Good evening.
30:29Here is the news.
30:30But the sheer volume of scripts
30:32demanded outside writers
30:33and attracted contributions from all over the world.
30:36I see.
30:37Think of yours.
30:37The news desk items famously came in from all quarters
30:43across the British Isles, maybe even the world, I don't know.
30:45But, I mean, they had this vast sort of pool of submitters,
30:54you know, some dentists from Aberdeen and, you know,
30:56I don't know who they were,
30:57as well as, you know, a kind of core of more professional writers
31:01who did it for a living.
31:01In the divorce court today,
31:03an 85-year-old farmer divorced his 17-year-old wife
31:06because he couldn't keep his hands off her.
31:08He's now sacked all his hands and bought a combine harvester.
31:12They would whittle it down to, I think, 100 lines a week,
31:16which they themselves would then rewrite anyway
31:19to give them a, you know, greater crispness.
31:22And these 100 would be submitted to each of the two Ronnies
31:26and from that 100 they would pick, I don't know, 12, 15 or something
31:32that, you know, they actually use on the show
31:34and every one had to get two ticks from each of them.
31:36That was the rule.
31:37With what anguish
31:40I await my beloved
31:43My poor frail body
31:46Is wasting away
31:50It was a kind of seemingly bottomless well of characterisation,
31:56particularly that Ronnie Barker managed to achieve,
31:58which was just marvellous to behold, really.
32:01In yon gloomy tower
32:04The cause of my pinings
32:07A present replining
32:09In her chamber
32:10Give her me
32:12When will she be free
32:15To be mine
32:18Good evening
32:25I'm from the Ministry of Sex Equality
32:28I'm here tonight
32:31to explain the situation
32:32man to man
32:33Or as we have to say now
32:35person to person
32:36My name is Mr. Stroke Mrs. Barker
32:39But I don't advise any of you to try it
32:42Stroking Mrs. Barker
32:44He's absolutely brilliant at those lectures to camera
32:49He can just turn on that pomposity
32:53That silliness
32:54But still make it sort of convincing
32:57I mean, he had such a good ear for these things
33:00His wordplay was so dexterous
33:03He knew how to kind of copy the rhythms of the sermon
33:07Or the public information film
33:09And twist them
33:10Till they became utterly preposterous
33:12The recent idea by the ministry
33:13To avoid confusion
33:14Is to call a man a doings
33:16And a woman a thingy
33:17This offends no one
33:19And makes conversation clearer
33:20Thus we instantly recognise the book
33:23Called Little Thingies
33:24Or the musical called My Fair Thingy
33:27Or the play by George Bernard Shaw
33:30Called Doings and Super Doings
33:31ITV had tried Ronnie Barker
33:36In sitcom showcases twice without success
33:38The BBC also realised
33:40They had an extraordinary talent
33:42In 1973
33:44They commissioned a series
33:45Of one-off comedy pilots
33:47Seven of one
33:48With the intention of finding
33:50That elusive sitcom blockbuster
33:53Ronnie must have been
33:54Pretty special
33:56In the
33:58On the sixth floor at the Beeb
33:59And in the eyes of the viewers
34:01By the time he did seven of one
34:03One man's meat
34:06Paired Barker with Prunella scales
34:07Making much of the man's rotund stature
34:10It was just about a man
34:15Who was on an enforced diet
34:16His wife emptied the fridge
34:18Took all his clothes away
34:19And he couldn't eat a thing
34:21She even
34:22Got the inside out of a boiled egg
34:25So when he thought he got a boiled egg
34:26It was empty
34:26And it was very funny
34:28And it was written by
34:29A man called Jack Gertz
34:32Who turned out to be Ronnie
34:33Oh, I'm awfully sorry
34:36I accidentally spilt them
34:37All over your nice trousers
34:38Look, why don't we take them off
34:39I'll dry them on the radio
34:40No!
34:41No!
34:41No!
34:41Sergeant!
34:42No!
34:42No!
34:42No!
34:42No!
34:43No!
34:43No!
34:43No!
34:43No!
34:44No!
34:44No!
34:44No!
34:45One man's meat failed to impress
34:46But two of the seven experiments would eventually make extended series
34:51Open all hours
34:53Introduced to young David Jason
34:55When first broadcast in 1973
34:58Hey, Granville
35:02Have you been courting again?
35:04Fat chance
35:05We don't close till nine
35:06Mrs Scully said it could have been you
35:08She saw coming out of there, Margaret
35:10You what?
35:11This place on Frith Street
35:12Let me finish
35:13Go and get them papers in
35:16I told you and told you not to go and see that Ken Russell film
35:19You've hardly got your spots cleared up from the last one
35:24Another pilot, Prisoner and Escort
35:32Led directly to a sitcom some people consider to be the pinnacle of Ronnie Barker's career
35:37Don't give me any of your facetious lip, Fletcher
35:41I know you were trying to work one last night
35:44On what do you base that supposition, Mr McCoy?
35:46On the evidence of our motor mechanics report on the van
35:50It appears that the petrol tank had more in it after our journey than before
35:59Only what was in the tank was certainly not five star
36:05Now, I'm going to be watching you, Fletcher
36:11I'm going to be watching you like a hawk
36:15Because nobody, nobody goes over the war
36:18And my presence
36:19Oh no, Mr McCoy, no
36:20No one would dare take the petrol out of you
36:23Small-time villain Norman Stanley Fletcher is convicted
36:34He takes his sentence one day at a time
36:36Winning minor victories against the system
36:38And in particular, the stern warder, Mr McCoy
36:42Played by Fulton McCoy
36:44Morning, Mr McCoy
36:48Thanks again, mate
36:49See ya
36:50Thanks
36:53What was all that about?
36:55Oh, that was just a bit of friendly advice, Mr McCoy, that's all
36:58Just a bit of friendly advice on matters of the art, just between him and me, you know
37:02Tell me, Fletcher, is it true that this is the office of Slade Prison's Miss Lonely Hearts?
37:07Is that why you're here, then? Problems of that nature, is it?
37:11I have no problems of that nature
37:12Oh, come off it, Mr McCoy
37:14All screws, beg your pardon
37:16All prison officers have problems in that area, don't they?
37:19I mean, matrimonially, you and me is very similar, you know
37:21Because while we're both stuck in here
37:23We can't be sure what our old ladies are up to, can we?
37:26I mean, it's no difference, is it?
37:26There is a major difference, Fletcher
37:29Your wives are criminals' wives
37:31They belong to the criminal classes with all their inherent traits of slovenliness and promiscuity
37:37Our wives are the wives of uniformed men
37:41Used to a life of service, duty, decency and moral fibre
37:45My house, my house reflects my wife
37:50Big is it?
37:50Sportless
37:51The one who just disappeared, you know
37:55Inside those people that he played
37:57Fletcher, I mean, what a wonderful creation, you know
38:01He did say to me once, he said, it's me, Sam, really
38:04It's me, really, you know, it's easy
38:07But, you know, it was a complete, full-blooded character
38:12And, er, that's what he was so brilliant at
38:16And I think there was a touch of genius
38:17Really
38:18Hello, Warren
38:21Will you do the honours?
38:23Well, read it out to you, you mean
38:24Yeah, all right, yeah
38:25Is it from the wife, is it?
38:26Yeah
38:27No, I've put a few many wear
38:28Oh, yeah, it's very distinctive, isn't it?
38:30Yeah, very distinctive
38:31I think this kills 99% of household germs
38:34I knew it was good
38:36I knew it was really good
38:37And the scripts were great
38:38But I didn't know it was going to be a huge hit
38:42As it turned out to be
38:43I mean, with books written about it
38:45And the top viewing figures
38:47One Sunday night
38:48In 1976 or 75 or something
38:52Of 22 million
38:54Oh, we'll get Saturday morning off at the laundry
38:56I miss you
38:57And think of us
38:58When you was at home
38:59And you used to take mine
39:01Well, I used to work
39:05Well, it's a bit personal in the next bit
39:09You know what I mean?
39:10I don't think I should really read it out
39:12You know, loud
39:13Not in front of me
39:14Well, you know, it's intimate
39:19What is it?
39:20What's she saying?
39:21No, you read it
39:21Oh, you can't read, can you?
39:24Half past 7, 8 o'clock whenever it was
39:25What a bit of an event
39:27We'll be there for that
39:28Did you see porridge last night?
39:29That episode of Porridge
39:31Where he and Richard Beckinsale
39:33Are confined in their cell
39:35Fantasising about a day out
39:37That they will never have
39:39Dreams is your escape, isn't there?
39:41There's no locked doors
39:41There's no barriers
39:42There's no frontiers
39:43Ah, dreams is freedom
39:46Is one of the most brilliant examples
39:49Of actorly control
39:51And writing, too
39:52That I think the 70s TV ever produced
39:55It's absolutely perfect
39:57And there's something about the way
39:59That Barker can conjure those fantasies
40:03The way that he narrates that day of pleasure
40:06Fantasising about being out in the countryside
40:08When they're within the prison walls
40:11I mean, it's just a masterclass in acting
40:14Well, kids like you
40:15They shouldn't be in prison, should they, eh?
40:17Not really
40:17I mean, it's the system, innit?
40:20You're not here to be reformed or rehabilitated, are you?
40:24You're just here for public revenge, aren't you?
40:27Now, with me, it's a different kettle of fish, innit?
40:28To me, it's a...
40:30Well, it's occupational hazard, innit?
40:32Being as how my occupation is breaking the law
40:34Still, my family's never gone short, you know?
40:40Yeah, I've got a wife and three kids, you know
40:42What about this?
40:43I'm tough
40:43Yeah
40:44Wife and three kids
40:46I'll show you their picture when it gets light
40:47Now, my youngest, he's, er
40:50He's just got into grammar school, you know
40:52Has he?
40:52Yeah
40:53Very expensive school, it is
40:55Nice, though
40:55But it costs a lot, you know
40:57Books, equipment, all that sort of thing
40:59But when my son there went on the first day
41:01He went there
41:02He didn't want for nothing
41:03Rugby boots, blazer, caps, scarf, a lot
41:06Now, he wouldn't have had them
41:08If his father had just been a struggling clerk, would he now, eh?
41:11No
41:11Reason he had them was because his father had just robbed a school outfit
41:14Any actor who'd never done comedy or TV
41:21Who'd perhaps played the Royal Shakespeare Company
41:24And the National Theatre
41:25Would look at those performances and say
41:28My God, that is acting of the highest, highest calibre
41:3397, take one
41:34The character of Fletcher had broken in to the hearts of the public
41:44And Porridge was a huge success
41:46With a cinema feature film spin-off
41:48Oh, dear
41:51Where's Elaine work?
41:53Tarpaulin factory
41:54Can't read it from me
41:56All right, I'll just give you the highlights
41:57Er, dearest bunny
41:59Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
42:01Blah, blah, blah, blah
42:03Blah, blah, blah, blah
42:04Blah, blah, blah, blah
42:05It's all trivia
42:05It's trivia
42:06It's nothing
42:06It's the weather
42:07Look, her mother's guitar
42:08She's re-tiled the love
42:10The canary's got emeroids
42:11Er, she met a welder at the Fiesta Club
42:14She's thinking of moving in with him
42:15I must be all fun
42:16I can't have that
42:16You haven't got the canary
42:20Come
42:21I'm going straight
42:25I am straight as an arrow
42:28And when Fletcher had served his time
42:31There was a sequel following his release
42:33I'm going straight
42:36I am
42:37But I'm just straight and arrow
42:40There's something behind, have you?
42:42Yeah
42:42Three and a half years of me life
42:45You'd better move on a bit sharper
42:46All right, all right
42:47Oi
42:58Oi
43:00Get me
43:01Porridge won a Royal Television Society Award
43:07For Outstanding Achievement
43:08Barker would win four BAFTAs over his career
43:11In 1975, accepting a Best Light Entertainment Performance Award
43:16He was moved by the sudden death of his Porridge co-star
43:20Ladies and gentlemen
43:22The tragic and untimely death of my good friend and colleague Richard Beckinsale three days ago
43:31Has robbed me of the joy of this award
43:33But the pride in winning it still remains
43:37Richard's contribution to going straight will always be remembered
43:40But this award is also for the two Ronnies
43:44And I would also like to pay tribute to my equally close friend and colleague
43:49Mr. Ronnie Corbett
43:50Thank you very much
43:51Later in life, Ronnie would receive a BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award
43:57But the two Ronnies received their biggest double act accolade
44:00With two OBEs in 1978
44:03Can you describe the ceremony?
44:05It was rather moving, wasn't it?
44:08Yes, I thought the bride's father was wonderful
44:10No, it was, it was lovely
44:11Nerve-wracking and sort of moving, really?
44:12Yes, very
44:13You got very nervous, we both had to go to the standard penny, didn't we?
44:16Yes, I had to use the Royal We twice
44:18Through the 70s, Ronnie acted in both Porridge and Open All Hours
44:23He later claimed Fletcher in Porridge was his favourite creation
44:27But he was worried about typecasting
44:29So he moved between the two series
44:31I'll kill that flaming mouse
44:44What gets me is if he can move like that
44:48Well, why hasn't he got a number on his jersey?
44:50He's faster than you are
44:53Well, I know that, don't I?
44:54But it's no good hanging around here
44:56We're waiting for a cheese-eating tortoise, is it?
44:58By the 1980s, television had moved on
45:03Traditional family light entertainment was being challenged by young, alternative comedians
45:10The tide did turn against this kind of humour
45:15I think we've forgotten now that rather awkward moment
45:19When the two Ronnies were doing shows at the same time as the alternative comedians coming through
45:26And there was a kind of battle between those people
45:30And Barker and Corbett did become sort of whipping boys for these comedians
45:36Not the 9 o'clock news saw the two Ronnies as an easy target
45:41It was a very legitimate pastiche and extremely affectionate and very well done
45:46But Ronnie Barker took a guinea
45:48He really didn't like it at all
45:50And I wrote a letter, I had this from John Lloyd
45:52Who had produced the sketch
45:54That he really, he ripped them
45:56I said it was excrement
45:57You know, he basically complained to the BBC
46:00So, you know, that wasn't Ronnie's finest hour
46:02But we're all very sensitive to criticism
46:06It's hard to see yourself as others see you
46:08And I'm sure, I think I did get the chance to ask him about it
46:12I think he realised later that it was legitimate and fun
46:16But probably he felt threatened
46:17I think everybody feels threatened in showbiz
46:19It's a bit of a paranoid career
46:21New Wave comedians had grown up watching family entertainment
46:25But now wanted their own comedy to be less like their dads
46:29The two generations collided at a BBC Christmas party
46:33It was a magical thing for me
46:35To go into this room, there's Russ Abbott over there
46:37And of course, you know, and suddenly
46:39My goodness, there's Ronnie Barker
46:41And I was with Stephen Fry
46:43And we sort of edged into his orbit
46:44Because we were both extremely starstruck
46:46Out of admiration, you know
46:49Just this is a man who is a comedy great
46:52Anyway, he sort of turned to us
46:54And looked rather imperial
46:56And he sort of pointed at Stephen and said
46:58He said, like you
46:59And he pointed at me and said, don't much like you
47:02Jolly nice party this, isn't it?
47:06That was it, that was irons
47:07Anyway, I wasn't, well, it wasn't so much I wasn't having it
47:09There was a sort of, everyone was a bit kind of
47:11Ooh, that was a bit much, wasn't it?
47:12Rather, rather nice wine
47:14And we began to talk
47:18And of course, I was completely besotted
47:21And managed to, and he was pleased that I knew his catalogue
47:24Pretty comprehensively
47:25Anyway, at the end of it, he kind of
47:26He sort of nodded and said, well, I like you better now
47:29It's the first thing, I just sort of kept an eye on that hand of yours
47:32And every time it came up, you know, to give me a sort of thing
47:35I ducked my head, we could have quite a reasonable conversation
47:39He wasn't pompous, but he, you know
47:42There was a touch of the Captain Manorings about him
47:44There really was
47:45And, you know, he could be prickly
47:47And he decided, here's a young punk
47:49And I'm going to tell him off
47:50And, in the end, we, you know
47:53He liked me better
47:54And eventually we became friends
47:55There had been 16 years of success
48:00In The Two Ronnies, Porridge and Open All Hours
48:03But in the 80s, Barker realised his magic touch was failing
48:07The sitcom Magnificent Evans about a Welsh photographer did badly
48:11It's not working out right at all, is?
48:14Is it a light?
48:15No, it's not the light
48:17Ronnie came to see me when I was controller of BBC One
48:20He asked to see me privately
48:22I thought, oh, there's a problem, you know
48:24He doesn't like the scripts
48:26Or he doesn't want to work with Ronnie
48:28Or I... I didn't know what to expect
48:30And he came in and shut the door
48:32He said, I haven't told anybody else this, he said
48:34But I'm going to retire, I've had enough
48:36He said, and I just want to plan the next year
48:39Er... I want to know what you want me to do
48:43This is what I'd like to do
48:44Can we just plan it now?
48:46Then I've got that banked in my mind
48:49And then that's it, finished
48:51He was running low on ideas
48:53And wrote Clarence, under the name Bob Ferris
48:56About a short-sighted removal man
48:58Recycling a character and a script
49:00From his time at ITV
49:02Some 16 years earlier
49:04He absolutely had his life balance and family came first, theatre came next, and I think that's why when he eventually retired...
49:19I don't honestly think it worried him
49:21The rest of us old troopers go on as long as we possibly can, but he'd done everything he wanted to do, that's what he said
49:34Stop!
49:36Those are goldfish!
49:37Oh, yes!
49:38Of course, that's another thing about you women, you're all soft, don't you, when it comes to animals, you're all soft, go on, flush them down the lab, go on...
49:52Most certainly will not flush them down the lab!
49:55Oh, here he comes now, now he's done after packing, he's turned up, hasn't he?
49:59You know, it's just a lot of Mr. Magoo jokes, recycled, and almost that form is dying, really, by the time that comes along
50:15The trunk and the suitcases are going with the master and mistress Sir Rangoon, they aren't to be touched
50:20Oh, right-o, I'll just move this standard lamp out of me way
50:23Oh, what are you doing, put me down!
50:28Who's this then?
50:29Somehow he began to crumble, I think, when he was robbed of really good writing, either his writing or somebody else's writing
50:39He couldn't quite lift that material
50:42That's Miss Angela, do please put her down!
50:45She's going through an unhappy time
50:47Oh dear, I'm sorry, no harm done, I was just guessing your weight, 9 stone 5
50:52I'm never wrong, you're just lifting wardrobes, you see
50:55And there's something faintly depressing, actually, about those late sitcom vehicles
51:01And the absence of laughs, and the broadness of the characters in them
51:05Oh, look at that, my old granny had a piece just like that, it's lovely, isn't it?
51:10You will be careful, won't you?
51:12Careful? I've got hands like a surgeon, me
51:15What's that?
51:16Oh, cut meself
51:17There's always a dip, you know, there's always a point when you've been around a long time
51:23Everybody loved you, and then they're kind of, not bored, but you're the big guy
51:27So nobody's going to give you plaudits
51:29And then comes the next phase, as did happen with Ronnie Barker
51:31Finally, when he gets the full old man glory stuff
51:36I don't know whether, I wish he hadn't retired
51:40And I think if he had decided to just reduce his workload and keep going
51:43I'm certain there would have been another great sitcom there
51:46By that stage, I think he'd already had a bit of a scare
51:50A few alarm bells about his weight
51:52Remember how he'd been told he'd got to lose weight
51:54And he was determined that wasn't going to happen to him
51:57And Tommy Cooper had gone around that time as well
51:59And that he wasn't just going to keep, you know, performing until he dropped
52:03So it was, you know, I applauded him for it at the time
52:07I thought that decision was, you know, very, very, very laudable
52:11Quite surprised, I have to say, when he then came back to do the Churchill's Butler
52:18Much later on
52:20Ronnie was tempted back with a small part in a feature film
52:24Alongside the great Albert Finney
52:26The Gathering Storm told the story of Winston Churchill's pre-war years
52:30Ronnie Barker played his long-suffering butler, Inches
52:33Mr. Churchill, sir
52:35Mr. Churchill
52:37Inches, you're drunk
52:38She's here, sir
52:40She's here
52:41What?
52:42Taxi's coming down the drive, sir
52:43What on earth are you talking about?
52:45Mrs. Churchill, sir
52:47She's here
52:48Yes, sir
52:49Ronnie had retired, I think, quite a few years
52:51You need to research exactly how many
52:53I think four or five at least, maybe more
52:55He was running his antique shop with Joy, his wife, in Gloucestershire
52:59And I went to meet him
53:01And he just
53:02He just
53:03We got on, I suppose
53:04And, listen
53:05Anyone
53:06To have the opportunity to work with, with Finney
53:09You know, you don't turn it down
53:11Inches out, I'm in the middle of a letter
53:13Telephone, sir
53:14Out!
53:15The man says it's important, sir
53:16Go back later
53:17Really important
53:18Who is it?
53:19Major Sankey, sir
53:20Who the hell is Major Sankey?
53:21One of your constituency workers
53:22I think you should talk to him
53:24What, now?
53:25Yes, Mr. Churchill, he's been ringing all morning
53:26All right, all right
53:28Inches, you are the most irritating club that ever walked the earth
53:30I was in the middle of a letter to my wife
53:32And now I've completely lost my train of thought
53:34Idiots!
53:35Have you no sensitivity whatsoever?
53:36There's no need to be insulting, sir
53:38I was merely passing on a message
53:40Shut up, Inches, how dare you?
53:42Tell the girl to put the call through up here
53:44She's gone to lunch, sir
53:45Well, then do it yourself
53:47I am not acquainted with the mechanism, sir
53:49Oh, oh, mighty bloody hell
53:52You're very rude to me, Inches
53:54You're very rude to me, sir
53:56Yes, but I'm a great man
54:00You're a stupid old bugger
54:01He stood out because not only could he just do the job
54:05It was effortless
54:06It's like, you know, the old thing of a tightrope walker
54:08That can walk along and they sort of do a trick fall
54:11Because it makes it look like it's more difficult
54:13Ronnie could just do anything he wanted to on that acting tightrope
54:17Mr Inches, I think a glass of champagne might be in order
54:20Well, with respect, sir
54:21I think we might save that for happier days
54:23It was a small part
54:24And a return to his serious acting roots
54:27Just a year later, the same team travelled to Italy
54:30To film My House in Umbria
54:32Another straight role for one of Britain's funniest actors
54:35Now in his twilight years
54:37What, sir?
54:38Well, Mrs Delahuntie, the situation, as it were
54:41My staying here
54:42Umbria was hard
54:43It was hard for all of us
54:44It was incredibly hot
54:45We were in the middle of Tuscany
54:48And it was, you know, the temperatures were unbelievably hot
54:52And you've got lights as well
54:53And they were wearing quite heavy clothes
54:56Because some of it was meant to be set in the winter, I think
54:59So I think everybody found it tough
55:02And I think Ronnie did as well
55:04But he never complained
55:05I was wondering whether it's not time for me to pack my bags
55:08Well, he said he wasn't going to do anything after the gathering storm
55:11And I slightly bullied him coming back
55:13I mean, who would?
55:14But I'm pleased I did
55:15And he was happy
55:16We had a lovely
55:17We found him a nice little villa
55:18You know, something
55:19Not grand
55:20He wasn't grand
55:21But we used to go round and barbecue in the evenings
55:23And he was always pleased to see me wearing his Panama hat
55:26And sitting under an umbrella
55:27And doing a bit of barbecuing with joy
55:29So I think he enjoyed the time out in Italy
55:33He's no fool
55:37He knows Francine will be jealous
55:40No, I doubt very much whether he'll ever come back
55:44On the other hand, he may very well come back next month
55:48I may be dead next month
55:51The moon may have crashed into the earth
55:54Who knows what dreadful things may come to pass
55:57But at the moment, I'm happy
56:01What else matters?
56:03Carpe diem
56:05I'm never really sure what that means
56:07Oh, seize the day
56:09Embrace the present
56:11Enjoy life while you've got the chance
56:16Ronnie Barker passed away just two years later
56:18A master of comedy
56:20At home on stage, television and big screen
56:27I read a book about him recently
56:29And Ronnie Corbett said that in 40 years
56:32They'd never had an argument
56:33And that was my experience with the guy
56:36He was a delight to work with
56:38Your game, m'lady?
56:41When they look at the 20th century
56:43In terms of what we laughed at
56:45And what brought us all together
56:46And what gave us a wonderful warm feeling
56:48Of being part of the same community
56:50Sharing a sense of humour
56:51Ronnie Barker will be without question
56:53A member of a small and elite group
56:56Listen, I have to keep my hands at room temperature
56:59In case I ever have to decant any of that sparkling
57:02Vintage full-bodied white
57:04Known locally as Nurse Gladys Emmanuel
57:06He certainly would rank alongside
57:11People like Spike Milligan and Eric Morecambe
57:15I'm the only bloke that keeps a tone display something
57:18I'm in those monologues with tongue-tripping lines and everything
57:22I didn't know anybody who was as good as he was
57:25Good evening
57:26Horro is the Nazaton
57:30At the primo minister's country house-o
57:34Charles
57:35He was in the best sense
57:38A comic actor
57:40But you can put the comedy
57:41You can put the comic in brackets
57:43He was a terrific actor
57:45Dreams is your escape, isn't there?
57:47There's no locked doors
57:48There's no barriers
57:49There's no frontiers
57:50Ah
57:51Dreams is freedom
57:52There aren't many people who slot into that kind of tradition
57:56Because he could do so much more than that too
57:59But I think that's essentially what he is
58:01He was a great actor
58:03He was very, very good at comedy
58:05And we've just been told
58:07The police are desperately seeking the man who steals the ends of news items
58:12The man is described as tall and grey-haired with a very big
58:15That's all we've got time for this evening
58:18So it's goodnight from me
58:19And it's goodnight from him
58:20Goodnight
58:21Goodnight
58:22Next, what the studio audience saw
58:30We go behind the scenes with the two Ronnies for their studio recordings
58:34Then he created the image of Henry VIII that we all recognise
58:37But who was Hans Holbein?
58:39A Culture Show special finds out at nine
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