Andrew Gilhooley's Blog

One of the cultural phenomena I remember clearly from my youth is that of “must-see television”. There were some shows that felt like compulsory viewing, and would be discussed and quoted endlessly at school the next day. To miss an episode truly was to miss out, as video cassette recorders were uncommon and expensive in those days, and so your chances of seeing the episode after the fact were almost nil. You were truly out of the loop until the next episode. One must-see show that I clearly remember from those days was Not The Nine O’Clock News.

Not The Nine O’Clock News debuted in 1979. It was a weekly sketch comedy show that ran on BBC2 at 9:00 pm, directly opposite BBC1’s Nine O’Clock News, and often used current events in the news as the topics for its sketches. The show combined satire, topical and political humour, visual gags, surreal / silly humour and musical parody in a way that was fresh and innovative for its time. Some of the sketches, particularly in the first series, featured edgy, even sick humour and were considered quite controversial and/or shocking when they were originally broadcast.

The main cast of the first series of Not The Nine O’Clock News consisted of Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson and Chris Langham, along with a number of supporting players. Unfortunately, the first series was not particularly well-received by critics and viewing figures were low. BBC management, however, liked the show and approved the filming of a second series. Langham was dropped from the cast and replaced by Griff Rhys-Jones, a regular supporting actor from the first series, and some of the controversial material was toned down in favour of more surreal, offbeat comedy.

With the second series’ broadcast in early 1980, the show took off in popularity. A third series aired in late 1980 and a fourth in 1982. Not The Nine O’Clock News gained increased viewership and critical acclaim, and in 1982 the show won both a BAFTA award and the Silver Rose at the Montreux Festival. It also spawned a 1982 stage production as well as several books and records.

I remember each week’s episode of Not The Nine O’Clock News as being something I really looked forward to, and found a lot of the sketches hilarious, although some of them probably went over my head at the time. I thought the cast were all brilliant, and of course thought Pamela Stephenson looked gorgeous with her spiked and crimped blonde hair! As I mentioned earlier, the previous night’s episode was something that would be discussed in great detail at school the next day, rehashing all of our favourite jokes and bits, and relishing the racier or edgier moments.

While a few “best of” compilations have been released on VHS and DVD, a complete release of the show has so far not occurred, nor has it been re-run on television. The fact that some of the sketches were so very topical to their time probably means that many of the references would be lost today. Likewise, as with other comedy shows that are 40+ years old, some of the material might not be deemed acceptable by a modern audience.

Many of the sketches do still stand up well, however, notably the musical numbers (Stephenson’s dead-on impersonation of Kate Bush is one standout). Likewise, items that took aim at society’s quirks are still relevant today, such as “Stout Life”, which looked at people’s attitudes towards homosexuality through the lens of a TV panel discussion of weight, or the religious furore caused by Monty Python’s Life of Brian reframed as a debate on whether a film about the life of Christ is in fact mocking Monty Python. Possibly the most well-remembered sketch of all is “Gerald the Gorilla”, where a scientist is interviewed about a gorilla that he brought back from the jungle, and who turns out to be a much more eloquent interviewee than the scientist himself!

All episodes of Not The Nine O’Clock News, including its unaired pilot (featuring a completely different cast apart from Atkinson) are currently available on YouTube and other online video-sharing sites.

The cast decided to call it quits after the fourth series in 1982, wishing to finish while the series was a success. Rowan Atkinson went on to film The Black Adder in 1983, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys-Jones continued working together in Alas Smith and Jones, and Pamela Stephenson continued to do TV and movie roles before changing direction and enjoying a successful career as a psychotherapist, author and presenter.

Not The Nine O’Clock News is considered one of the first shows to bring alternative comedy to a mainstream audience, and paved the way for the alternative comedy boom of the 1980s. By the time Not The Nine O’Clock News was in its final series, shows like The Comic Strip Presents…, O.T.T. and The Young Ones were starting to air. A rewatch of Not The Nine O’Clock News provides an interesting opportunity to revisit one of British television comedy’s major inflection points.