- 12/06/2025
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00:00Thank you very much.
00:30I think very few people saw the genuine Benny Hill
00:40because I think he had this facade that he dropped down to protect himself.
00:47The idea that's been fostered in the press that he was a lonely man.
00:52Lonely is entirely the wrong word.
00:54Loving your own company is not lonely.
00:56The money didn't mean anything to Benny at all.
01:00He used to have checks arrive through the post
01:02and he just used to leave them lying around the flat.
01:06He couldn't even be bothered to actually bank them many times.
01:09He used to say, well, as far as I'm concerned, it's just a piece of paper.
01:14He was leading a life, a selfish life, really,
01:17a kind of life that I think probably we'd all like to have secretly.
01:21But he lived it as he wanted to and with great success.
01:30Benny Hill was born in Southampton on January the 21st, 1924.
01:35The second child of Helen and Alfred Hill, he was christened Alfred Hawthorne.
01:40Benny was his mother's favourite but had an uneasy relationship with his father.
01:44He was very, very close to his mother.
01:47I'm not so sure about the father because he always adopted a slightly different feeling
01:52when you talked about the father.
01:54So you got off it very quickly.
01:55I think his dad was so much of a different generation.
02:00I mean, if there's ever been a generation gap,
02:03it was the one between Benny and his dad.
02:05Because his dad was really a sort of Victorian father
02:09who was always giving advice, I wouldn't do that, my son.
02:13Now my son, this, he'd say.
02:15And I never heard him talk about his dad laughing.
02:18The young Benny spent every Saturday afternoon at Southampton's Palace Theatre,
02:23where he began to foster the ambition of breaking into show business.
02:26He tells me he remembers sitting there in the theatre
02:29and there was the funny fat man came on
02:31and all the girls were around him
02:33and their audience laughed and they cheered and they clapped
02:36and everybody loved him.
02:38And Ben said, I sat there, Dan, and I said,
02:40that's who I want to be,
02:42the man who makes everybody laugh and is loved by everyone
02:45because he didn't get it from his family.
02:48And indeed, that's exactly what he did.
02:50In 1941, aged 17, Benny left Southampton for London
02:54and began to perform in theatres and nightclubs.
02:57One of his co-stars at the time was comedian Bob Monkhouse.
03:02You know, I think Benny was never comfortable with a live audience.
03:04I don't think he ever liked it.
03:06I don't think he liked the smell of them.
03:08Because even on those rare occasions I saw him do a warm-up for his own television show,
03:12he would still do the same jokes.
03:14He would still go out and say,
03:15oh, I come from a family, we used to ship bulls.
03:18We used to ship a lot of bulls.
03:20In fact, we were the biggest bullshippers in the country.
03:21And another thing I'd like to tell you about my family is this.
03:24I must say, you may think that's a load of bullocks,
03:26and we certainly was a rather large number of bullocks when you think about it.
03:29So he'd do the strange muttering business underneath
03:31so as not to let everything die and go silent.
03:42Having decided that live theatre was not for him,
03:45Benny turned his attention to the new medium of television,
03:48where he pioneered a style of comedy
03:49which paved the way for a whole new generation of comics.
03:52I think when he was 27 and starting off writing scripts for television,
03:57he, first of all, had the insight to know
04:00that television was going to be extremely popular,
04:02whereas a lot of people didn't.
04:03It was still variety, it was still musical.
04:05And he had this perception of television.
04:08He knew it was going to be the main thing in people's living rooms.
04:11He only had to look at a television camera,
04:26the glass melted and he was there in your living room.
04:28That magical power.
04:31Very few comedians have had it ever.
04:33A couple of pennies will soon put you right.
04:57I feel fine now.
04:59I think we were probably the first show
05:07that sent up other shows.
05:11Things like Film Night,
05:12where they'd look at the work of continental directors
05:14and, you know, you could get a lot of fun out of that
05:19if you weren't in the right one.
05:21Then one day, into my life,
05:24came Barbara.
05:26She was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen.
05:30She had the face and figure of a lovely young girl
05:32with the deep understanding eyes
05:34of a deeply sensuous, full-blown woman.
05:45He loved mime.
05:47He was very into mime
05:49and this is why he spent such a lot of time on the continent,
05:52where they've perfected that.
05:53You can see in Benny's work,
05:55particularly the early work,
05:56a tremendous amount of the kind of thing
06:00you'd see at the Folli-Bergère,
06:01the crazy horse.
06:03Little sight gags, little bits of business,
06:05things that no other British comedian
06:08would ever have attempted.
06:08We were all so censored.
06:33We couldn't use words like bloody or you'd get...
06:36And that was live TV and you'd just get fired
06:39if you used a coarse word.
06:42And so Benny went as far as he dared
06:45and somehow because of his naturalness of it,
06:48because it felt right,
06:50Benny was allowed to be saucy.
06:51He had a cheeky look.
06:53He always looked as if he was doing double ensemble
06:56because even when he wasn't.
07:00When you give me fever,
07:02when you hold me tight.
07:05Fever!
07:06In the morning,
07:08fever of due and night.
07:16Benny's show grew organically
07:18of his own sort of innate power.
07:21His was the mind behind it
07:23and he had the final...
07:25He was the final arbiter
07:26of whatever went into the show.
07:30Just undeniable, massive success of the show
07:33for so many years.
07:35It's just one of those things
07:36that has people either
07:37biting the carpet with frustration
07:39because they can't think why it was that good.
07:41Particularly other writers.
07:42Writers say, you know,
07:43if I wrote that stuff,
07:45I wouldn't be able to sell it.
07:46But Benny could do it.
07:48Benny had a magic touch.
07:51Really, he was a machine.
07:53An entertainment machine.
07:55He wanted to spend his days
07:57writing and performing
07:58and seeing other acts,
08:02listening to the radio,
08:03watching television.
08:05And he was happy doing that.
08:07He didn't really...
08:08have much...
08:10Well, he didn't have much of a life
08:12apart from that
08:13because when he went abroad,
08:14it was mainly to see what they were doing.
08:16And he'd go to every show in Paris
08:17and he'd go to shows in Madrid
08:19or wherever he was.
08:20Every night he'd go and see a show.
08:23He spoke French, Spanish and German.
08:26German and French absolutely fluently.
08:29And he was all totally self-talk.
08:31He went into a second-hand shop
08:33and he bought a 10-shilling set
08:34of 78 records
08:36and bought them home.
08:38And lo and behold,
08:39within a few months,
08:40he'd perfected his French
08:42and he spoke fluent French.
08:43I never knew anybody else in the world
08:45who did it from records,
08:46but he did.
08:47Before he became very successful
08:49in France and Spain,
08:50he would love to travel there.
08:52And he would just get on a bus in Spain
08:54and go all around the country
08:55and just write things
08:56on the back of a cigarette pack,
08:57watch people,
08:58sit at a bar,
08:59have a glass of wine,
09:00write something
09:01and come back with his show.
09:02You don't write with a pen,
09:03you write with your head first.
09:05And if I get an idea,
09:07I always jot it down on a bit of paper
09:08because I know that
09:10that will then be transferred
09:11to some books that I've got.
09:13And on one side of the page
09:14is V for visual
09:15and the other side is the spoken word.
09:19And when I do get the idea,
09:21I mull it around in my mind
09:23for an awfully long time.
09:26No, cut it out.
09:27I've got eight minutes to lose.
09:29Well, let's see what happens next.
09:31But he took his work
09:32extremely seriously.
09:33I do remember a sketch
09:35he gave me to do
09:36because having started on the show,
09:38I just, I think I had one line.
09:40Then I think I had one line of a song
09:42and I actually had to sort of
09:43work my way up
09:44as of course he would have done
09:46in his, in the 50s
09:47in these big shows,
09:48you'd have a one line
09:50and then by the end of the season
09:51if you were good,
09:52you'd have a solo.
09:53And that's exactly how it worked.
09:55So it was like a rep company.
09:57And if you weren't very good,
09:59you weren't asked back.
10:01And it was as simple as that.
10:03He was definitely a perfectionist.
10:05If something wasn't right,
10:06he would definitely make it clear
10:08that he wanted it fixed,
10:11whatever it happened to be.
10:12And he'd go very quiet.
10:14So we all knew when he wasn't happy
10:15because he'd go into himself.
10:17He wouldn't do a big,
10:19oh, you know, yelling and screaming.
10:21He'd actually go into himself
10:22and he'd sort of chew his nails
10:24and you could see
10:25and everyone would go,
10:26oh dear, Benny's not happy
10:27because he planned everything.
10:30It was his shows.
10:32But if anyone came into the studio
10:33he didn't know,
10:34he would have to stop.
10:36And as you know,
10:37the Studio One was a very, very big studio
10:39and sometimes the accountants
10:41come from downstairs at Thames
10:42or someone would wander in
10:44and he couldn't do it.
10:45He would actually have to stop
10:46and apologise
10:47and say,
10:48I'm terribly sorry, little heart.
10:49I don't know who you are,
10:51but would you mind leaving
10:52because I really cannot do this
10:54if you're sitting there watching me.
10:56And it's bizarre, isn't it,
10:57to think of a man
10:57with so much success worldwide
10:59that just simply couldn't perform
11:01if there was someone he didn't know.
11:04Welcome to Thames.
11:07Oh!
11:10He used to really,
11:12his hands used to be
11:13absolutely soaking wet,
11:14you know,
11:14and he used to perspire
11:16and he was very nervous.
11:17I mean, he didn't particularly like
11:19in later years
11:20doing live performances.
11:23That's why he never used to,
11:24he used to get loads of offers,
11:25of course,
11:25to go and do theatre
11:26and cabaret
11:27and people offered him
11:28thousands
11:29to do one-night stands
11:31in the hotels and things
11:32and he just said no.
11:33He wasn't interested.
11:34He was very good
11:35with the audience
11:36and he'd come on and do,
11:37in the studio,
11:38he'd come on and do
11:39his soliloquies
11:40and the opening
11:41and everything
11:41and that was all live
11:42in front of an audience
11:43and recorded live.
11:45But he was very nervous
11:46about doing it.
11:48Very, very nervous.
11:49And he used to go
11:50to his dressing room
11:51before the show
11:51and nobody really visited him.
11:54And after the show
11:55he'd quietly leave.
11:57He wouldn't,
11:58he wouldn't come out
11:59at that point,
11:59oh, let's have a drink
12:00and he just,
12:02he'd wanted to wind down
12:02on his own
12:03very quietly.
12:06Cut.
12:07What are they?
12:08Just in case.
12:08Lovely.
12:10Now, do you get,
12:11like everybody else,
12:11do you get recognised
12:12in queer places all the time?
12:14I get recognised
12:14in ordinary places as well.
12:16Yes, all over the place
12:17I get recognised.
12:19Sometimes, you know,
12:19it's very nice
12:20and sometimes
12:20it's not so pleasant,
12:21you know.
12:22I mean,
12:22the case of,
12:24perhaps you want to be quiet,
12:25you go into a restaurant
12:26for a nice quiet meal,
12:26you want to think something out,
12:27you might want to drop down
12:28some notes of scripture writing,
12:30you know.
12:30You want a nice quiet meal,
12:31you know.
12:32And somebody sees you
12:33and they're there,
12:33you know,
12:34and they say,
12:34how do you do?
12:35It is, isn't it?
12:35I thought it was, yes.
12:36I've got a brother
12:38who plays the piano,
12:38it's pretty good,
12:39you know,
12:39and they keep on
12:40and keep on
12:40and fire questions at you,
12:41you know.
12:41He hates being imposed on.
12:43That's what he really
12:44didn't like.
12:45If people got too close to him
12:47and wouldn't take no for an answer
12:50or just let him be himself.
12:52But I used to say to him,
12:53when it goes with the job,
12:54you shouldn't get so cross about it.
12:57But that's,
12:58he was a very,
12:59very private man.
13:02His home was hilarious.
13:03I mean,
13:04it was the funniest thing ever.
13:05Hello,
13:06they would never got inside the door
13:08nor they were okay
13:08because they wouldn't have known
13:10what to do
13:10when they got in there.
13:11I was always amazed
13:13because it's this very expensive
13:15part of chic,
13:17part of London.
13:19And the flat was,
13:23I mean,
13:24simple,
13:25really simple.
13:26I remember a sofa
13:27and I remember a table
13:29and a couple of chairs.
13:31I mean,
13:31I don't remember it very well,
13:32but I kept thinking to myself,
13:34my goodness,
13:34it's such a big,
13:35lovely flat
13:36and there's nothing in here.
13:38He had a taste in furniture.
13:41Nothing matched.
13:43But that was because
13:44he never went out
13:44and bought a whole thing.
13:47People used to give him,
13:48he used to open furniture shops
13:50and they'd give him a chair
13:51and he'd go somewhere else
13:53and they'd give him a sofa.
13:54not necessarily matching.
13:56He never had a home.
14:00Home was where he slept.
14:02Benny had three suits,
14:04one sports jacket
14:05and a dinner jacket
14:06and several odd pieces of furniture.
14:09He never had a home.
14:11That wasn't interesting to him.
14:12If he'd had a home,
14:13he'd have had a woman there,
14:14wouldn't he?
14:15Which he never did.
14:16Nobody ever lived with him.
14:17Benny Hill remained a loner
14:21throughout his life,
14:23never marrying
14:23and shying away
14:24from serious relationships.
14:27He was always,
14:28well,
14:29a bit of a girl chaser,
14:30you know,
14:31which is why
14:32my social life
14:33and his didn't,
14:34because I was married
14:35and I'd been married for years
14:36and Benny was still,
14:38you know,
14:38if he could find a girl
14:39to chat up,
14:40he would.
14:41But then again,
14:41he was shy.
14:43It was a curious,
14:45curious sort of combination.
14:49Very often,
14:50if there was a young lady
14:51on the show
14:52or that he just knew generally
14:54and maybe I knew of her,
14:56Benny would actually
14:57discreetly ask me
14:58if I knew anything
14:59about the lady,
15:01what she was like,
15:02whether she had a boyfriend
15:03or not,
15:04because he was simply
15:05too shy to go up
15:06and ask her himself.
15:07So in a way,
15:09if I could possibly
15:09vet a young lady for him,
15:11then I would do
15:12because he felt
15:13it was in his own interest
15:15that he was on safe ground.
15:18What he said,
15:19he told me his joy was
15:20to find girls,
15:25well,
15:25he said working class.
15:26I don't think you're allowed
15:26to use that phrase
15:27anymore today.
15:28But how do you replace it?
15:30He was talking about,
15:30he said factory girls
15:31or shop girls,
15:33girls who,
15:34I could take them
15:35to places they'd never seen.
15:37I could see their faces
15:38light up.
15:39I could take them
15:39to restaurants
15:40where they'd never been.
15:40I think the cocoa house
15:42in Regent Street
15:42was about as swell
15:43as it got,
15:44but nevertheless,
15:45he did feel
15:45he was a white knight
15:46on a charger
15:47and a bit of a hero.
15:50There's a lot
15:51in his shows
15:52that are written
15:52about him being
15:53the sad one
15:54and him being the one
15:55that never gets the girl
15:55or being the awkward one.
15:57And I think that's really
15:58how he saw himself
15:59in life.
15:59LAUGHTER
16:00He told me
16:28that he had proposed
16:29twice in his life
16:30and been turned down.
16:32And I think after that
16:35he got so used
16:36to his own ways,
16:37really.
16:39I can't imagine,
16:41I can't imagine
16:42Benny being married,
16:43funnily enough.
16:44I can't,
16:45I can't visualise it at all.
16:47He literally asked me
16:57to marry him,
16:59which was
17:00rather a surprise,
17:05but you see,
17:06I didn't take him seriously
17:07because the way he asked me
17:09was covered
17:12with a,
17:13um,
17:15words or sentences
17:17that,
17:18that made it seem,
17:20you thought,
17:21well,
17:21is he,
17:22oh,
17:22he's,
17:23he's kind of
17:23doing a funny thing
17:25or
17:26maybe he's not
17:27doing a funny thing.
17:28Coming from the family
17:29he came from,
17:30I don't think Benny
17:31had ever got married
17:32and I think he'd have been
17:33an awful husband
17:34in not,
17:34because he wasn't
17:35a nice man,
17:36but because,
17:36because he was
17:37a very generous man,
17:38but he,
17:39I don't think he could
17:39bear anybody
17:40in his house
17:41all the time
17:41when he was writing,
17:43when he wanted
17:43to watch TV,
17:44when he wanted
17:44to eat,
17:45when he wanted
17:45to do whatever.
17:46And I,
17:47I don't think this,
17:49the,
17:49the fact that he nearly
17:50got married
17:50meant anything at all.
18:03The Benny Hill Show
18:04was going from
18:05strength to strength,
18:06but not everybody
18:07approved.
18:09The family
18:09weren't proud of him.
18:11They were not proud
18:12of his success.
18:13They didn't like
18:14Benny being
18:15the star on the telly
18:17or being that
18:18naughty Benny Hill
18:19or that man
18:19who made people laugh.
18:20None of them
18:21liked what he did
18:22and,
18:23and it really hurt
18:24because he,
18:25he told me once,
18:26I remember him,
18:26he said,
18:27they were never proud
18:28of me.
18:29They didn't care
18:29what I did.
18:30And,
18:30in fact,
18:30he thought sometimes
18:31maybe they were
18:32embarrassed by him.
18:34How sad,
18:34you know,
18:35and now he's the most,
18:35one of the most famous
18:36men in the world.
18:44In the late 1970s,
18:45the Benny Hill Show
18:46began to enjoy
18:47enormous success
18:48in America.
18:49When I first found out
18:50the show was successful,
18:51I was absolutely delighted.
18:53I was thrilled
18:53because America
18:55was like the mecca
18:56of show business to me.
18:57I was brought up
18:58as a little child
18:59Saturday afternoon
19:00in the cinema,
19:01Wednesday night
19:02with mum and dad
19:02if I was lucky
19:03and sit in their
19:04six-pen of the dark.
19:05It was,
19:06it was a big deal to me.
19:07So places like Hollywood
19:08and New York,
19:09well, you know,
19:10were sort of places
19:11you only dream about.
19:34Then he never realised
19:35what a vast audience
19:37he was going to tap into.
19:38You see,
19:40there wasn't a single comedian
19:41in America
19:42giving them what they wanted.
19:45Sight gags
19:45right across the board,
19:47whatever your nationality,
19:48whatever your language,
19:49sight gags work,
19:50visual gags,
19:50visual humour,
19:51funny costumes,
19:52exaggerated sexual ideas,
19:55naughtiness.
20:02The lovely surprise
20:04of being so,
20:05so well adored in America
20:07and not just liked.
20:09I mean,
20:09the number one show over there.
20:10That's never happened
20:11in this country before.
20:13And so people are jealous of it
20:14and, well,
20:14why hasn't so-and-so done it
20:16and why haven't,
20:17you know,
20:18they done it
20:18and tough,
20:19they haven't,
20:20he did.
20:21The spaghetti restaurant
20:23has a set meal
20:23at four pounds
20:24and this includes
20:25the VAT
20:25but not the TIP.
20:39The police in New York
20:40told us
20:41that when they went off duty
20:42at night
20:43and they had to swap,
20:44they all used to do
20:45hello viewers
20:46and do that
20:47while they swapped
20:47their duties.
20:49And it became
20:50the thing with Benny
20:52and everybody wanted to see,
20:53everybody used to do
20:54the funny salude.
20:56Oh, sorry,
20:57I thought it was
20:57a money clip.
20:58So sticky there.
21:00Too lean.
21:02I think sometimes
21:03he found it
21:03a little bit frightening
21:04when he was on his own
21:05in a crowd.
21:06He went to a boxing match,
21:07I think,
21:07in Paris
21:07and, um,
21:08and he was a little bit
21:10worried about that
21:11because someone suddenly went,
21:13ah, look,
21:14do we have been healing?
21:15Suddenly the whole place
21:16turned around
21:16and that's about the only time
21:18I think he felt a little bit afraid
21:19which I can imagine,
21:20I suppose,
21:21trying to imagine
21:21what that must be like.
21:22It's a bit,
21:23whoops,
21:24I've come here on my own
21:24and I've got to escape now.
21:26But he never complained about that,
21:30never talked about it.
21:31You just only knew
21:32how famous he was
21:34when you were out
21:35with him somewhere.
21:36Then you suddenly realise
21:37everyone going mad
21:38in the street.
21:40But he wasn't
21:42an outgoing person,
21:43he was quiet.
21:44And when in the bar
21:46at Thames TV
21:47or somewhere
21:48he'd meet the other comics,
21:49he'd come up sharp.
21:50Suddenly he'd become
21:51a slightly different person
21:52and one-liners
21:53would flash around,
21:54you know,
21:54proving he could do it.
21:56But then, of course,
21:56all English comedians
21:58were in awe
22:00of the incredible
22:02worldwide success
22:04that Benny had.
22:04HE SINGS
22:05HE SINGS
22:07HE SINGS
22:08HE SINGS
22:09HE SINGS
22:10HE SINGS
22:11HE SINGS
22:12HE SINGS
22:13HE SINGS
22:14HE SINGS
22:15HE SINGS
22:16HE SINGS
22:17HE SINGS
22:18HE SINGS
22:19HE SINGS
22:20He became much broader
22:21and as soon as
22:23Thames were enjoying
22:24the kind of success
22:25they were distributing
22:26his programmes,
22:27as they did for 20 years plus,
22:29and he was reaching
22:30other countries,
22:31particularly the Americas,
22:33he began to broaden
22:34even more
22:34and make the stuff
22:35even more accessible.
22:36HE SINGS
22:38HE SINGS
22:39HE SINGS
22:40HE SINGS
22:41HE SINGS
22:42HE SINGS
22:43HE SINGS
22:44HE SINGS
22:45HE SINGS
22:46HE SINGS
22:47HE SINGS
22:48HE SINGS
22:49HE SINGS
22:50HE SINGS
22:51HE SINGS
22:51HE SINGS
22:54HE SINGS
22:54HE SINGS
22:55when he was growing up, as far as he ever did grow up,
23:00poor old Ben, but when he was growing up,
23:05pin-up magazines, that was the height of eroticism,
23:08was a girl showing her stockings,
23:10or showing the top of her stockings, you know.
23:12If she showed half an inch above the stock,
23:14that was considered very sort of daring.
23:17And I think Benny got a bit of a fixation on that, you know.
23:20He probably wasn't on his own,
23:21because the audience seemed to like it as well.
23:25In the 1980s, the Benny Hill Show began to attract
23:28a lot of criticism in the UK for being sexist,
23:31and out of step with a new wave of political correctness in comedy.
23:38Come forward.
23:44Tighten the bend, tighten the bend.
23:52That was very good to me.
23:54Very good.
23:55Didn't really bother me.
23:56I didn't... I didn't...
23:57I just thought it was just brilliant,
23:58and I was in such a successful show.
23:59I didn't care.
24:00And I loved him so much.
24:01Didn't bother me at all.
24:02But it seemed to bother him terribly.
24:04Terribly.
24:05And he didn't like it.
24:07Baby, let him fly.
24:08Lookin' like it.
24:09Baby, let him fly.
24:10Lookin' like it.
24:11You showed him all your talents,
24:14and nobody sees you.
24:16Can't let him fly.
24:18Say that no one wants to fly.
24:22Benny was always very frustrated on people's reactions
24:30and their thoughts on the show
24:31and unfortunately, if the public want to think of the Benny Hill show
24:36as a bevy of lovely ladies parading themselves with no clothes on
24:40fine, that's what they want to think
24:42but what the public didn't want to appreciate
24:44was that over the years, the show's format had actually changed
24:48Everybody on the floor
24:50On the floor, face down
24:53Face down and you won't get hurt
24:56Miss Jones, face down, it's a bank raid, not the office party
25:00I think it was a little unfair
25:09because Benny originally, when he was doing all the run-arounds
25:12and all those little saucy sketches
25:14it was all very postcard humour, wasn't it?
25:16What we all consider postcard
25:18your dumplings are boiling over, darling
25:19all that sort of thing
25:20and that was, I mean, I used to find all that carry-on humour quite funny
25:24at that time
25:26and then there was a shift in sort of public opinion, wasn't there?
25:29Hot gossip came out, which changed the dancing scene
25:33Benny's girls at that time
25:35tried to sort of emulate that kind of thing
25:39which perhaps wasn't the right thing to do
25:41who knows, now looking back
25:43and it all became a bit tacky, I think
25:45Very good
25:51Not in there
25:51Not in there
25:51Well, somewhat motoria
26:05Well, that's what it's turned there
26:10It's Actually, that's what the cruiser
26:10because we made a big picture of it
26:12IBC went to Paris
26:12and it was weird
26:13Well, I didn't tell you
26:14They hit me
26:15A Nice
26:15S The completion date
26:16by Stephen
26:17towards the end he did get lazy and he tended to rehash not only did he rehash but Thames
26:30television rehashed and rehashed and rehashed so that when it said the Benny Hill half-hour
26:37and I'd switch it on and I'd it would be something I'd seen twice already there was the best of
26:43Benny Hill and the cream of Benny Hill and Benny Hill strikes again and they were the same bits and
26:49pieces re-put together and put out so if his career folded Thames TV were perhaps as much to blame for
26:58it as anybody the criticism didn't stop at Benny's shows Benny himself was under attack from certain
27:05sections of the press for not living the kind of life expected of a multi-millionaire he had a
27:11plastic devil on the mantelpiece then he used to put the checks behind it Richard Stone his agent
27:17would send through the checks and he put the checks behind the desert devil and when it looks as if the
27:21devil was going to fall and shatter on the fireplace he'd go send the checks in he never even read them
27:26didn't look at them in those days you had to endorse the back of them time and time again the bank would
27:31come back and say would you sign the back of these Mr Hill because we can't cash them oh it's too much
27:35I said well they send me pieces of paper with figures on it he said if I could open a door and
27:50look in a room and see a million pounds I know I had it well that makes sense to you or not I don't
27:56know but that's how he was about money he was not mean he was extremely generous I think he was careful
28:01with money he grew up without money and um and made a lot of it and I think he was careful
28:08he didn't spend it on himself and I think he just thought there's no reason to spend a whole lot on
28:14other people as well but I wouldn't say he was mean no that wasn't the impression I got
28:21the press were always trying to get get stories out of Ben and what they were looking for was
28:43something that wasn't there they were all saying you know who you're going out with in a minute why
28:48didn't you get married do you do this do you do that are you gay anything you like you know
28:52and the fact was it wasn't there Benny was one of the most ordinary guys you'd ever meet in your life
29:00his clothes were ordinary he would talk about the football he'd go up the road and do his shopping
29:05and people didn't want to accept that there was nothing more to it than that he wasn't a fashionable
29:11person at all he'd just wear I mean I was I would die I would think oh my lord what's he doing coming
29:19out in that but that's what he was like you know he wasn't materialistic he didn't he didn't crave for
29:27fashion wear or wonderful furniture or fancy cars he just lived his life as he wanted to that was him
29:34next week's script what a lot of rubbish rubbish he used to describe himself as I'm not I'm a normal
29:43ordinary bloke really I just ordinary bloke but he wasn't an ordinary bloke a he was a man for whom
29:50solitude was it was a genuine joy and b he was an obsessive and usually obsessive eccentric because
30:01nobody actually chooses I think to be alone that much or to be unconnected with any other human being
30:07at a deep emotional level to that degree he was the only person I know I've ever known only human
30:13who was totally self-contained he needed nobody nothing until he wanted them and then fine but he
30:20wasn't a user of people he was it was never an affront when he called you and said you want to come to
30:26lunch or you want to come to dinner he he needed people when he needed of him but he was quite happy
30:32completely happy with his own company night after night after night in that flat just working in 1989
30:40Benny Hill's relationship with Thames Television for whom he'd worked for over 20 years came to an
30:46abrupt end I've really got quite a surprise I went in at 10 o'clock I think I came out at about two minutes
30:52past 10 having been told thank you and for several you know reasons business is business and I don't
31:02mind you know them saying we've had enough or we can't afford it or or whatever but I would have
31:08liked a little bit of a small pat on the back because I'd been there for 22 years he was just
31:14absolutely distraught I think he took himself away for a holiday just to get away out of the country
31:19because he couldn't bear to be over here he couldn't bear to answer phone calls because
31:25basically he didn't know what to say to anybody when this happened it was such a blow I was worried
31:31about him because he just bought this flat next door to the studio so it was actually right on his
31:37doorstep and there's nothing worse or more cruel than having to walk past the same building every day
31:42which is what he had to do I was worried about his health I was worried about him getting very upset
31:50about it and blood pressure and you know it's the same of anyone 60 something being made redundant but
31:57I think the way it was done was so appallingly bad and he went in on in on his own without an agent or
32:03without the director he was just summoned in like a little boy thank you very much but that's it
32:08unbelievable he never recovered from it so doubt about that there was something missing from him
32:16his normal relaxed twinkle had gone it had to be put on he was never quite the same jolly creature he
32:23was always a bit looking over his shoulder and without a doubt it helped to destroy it he didn't
32:30drink when I first came he didn't he said it clouded the mind but towards the end of his life he'd get
32:36through a bottle and a half of wine a day and and that was the food he ate I suppose he didn't care
32:44he said I've had a good life you know I'm not that worried he used to say I don't mind flying
32:50anywhere he said I you know if it crashes what the hell he said I've had a good life he'd done
32:55everything he wanted to do there wasn't anything much left to do but eat he was eating an awful lot
33:01at that particular time because I think he viewed food as a comfort when he was upset or lonely he
33:07would eat that was a solace and I I was shocked when I saw how much weight he had put on but I
33:15didn't think it was going to be leading up to something so drastic in February 1992 Benny spent time in
33:25hospital after a series of heart attacks I think he knew there was something seriously wrong with him
33:30although he never said I met his doctor who I believe has passed away now at the funeral and he
33:36said he knew I I believe that he is he was so intelligent he was such an astute man I don't think he could
33:45not have known Benny Hill died alone in his flat on April the 21st 1992 age 68 there was some lots of
33:58close friends there it was lovely and it was in Southampton where his parents lived and where he
34:04loved to go and I remember being behind him in the car and of course it was a big thing in Southampton
34:11that day because everyone knew it was his funeral and there were some children there were only about
34:1510 or 11 and they were standing by and as he went by they went like that I thought it was so sweet
34:23he was ambitious to keep up a standard that's what it was with Benny standards he wanted to keep keep the
34:34the fire to the height right to the end and he tried to do that Benny was probably the most isolated
34:45comedian but not the loneliest not the saddest a man supremely at home with himself and loving what
34:53he did he had a wonderful life everything he did came true and worked
34:58three mums in Scotland reckon they've got what it takes not just so they're singing but their moves
35:12too but can they impress the judges they're giving it a go at 650 when the x factor continues and coming
35:19up after the news we've got more funniest ever you've been framed I kid you not
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