"Not the Nine O'Clock News" (1979) TV series 1979-1982

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Directors:

Geoff Posner
Bob Spiers

Writers:

Douglas Adams (writer)
Clive Anderson (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Release Date:

16 October 1979 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

British sketch comedy starring the likes of Rowan Atkinson and Mel Smith.

Plot Keywords:

British | Sketch Comedy | Time For Title | Number In Title

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Rowan Atkinson

...

Various Roles (27 episodes, 1979-1982)

Runtime:

25 min (27 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | UK:12

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

The pilot episode was due to replace the last episode of "Fawlty Towers" (1975) in the schedules ("Basil the Rat", which was postponed due to a BBC strike). John Cleese filmed a short skit to open the pilot, explaining why he hadn't produced a show that week. Although the pilot was then canceled, the sketch was used during the first full series of Not the Nine O'Clock News, the week after "Basil the Rat" was finally broadcast.

Quotes:

Panellist: I beg your pardon wang!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Story of Light Entertainment: The Comics (#1.4)" (2006)

A brilliant series which holds up very well

Although the BBC has released a skint, two volume box set of Not The 9 o'clock News in the UK, (which anyone with a region free DVD player or a DVD computer programme like AnyDVD can order and play perfectly well all over the world) The ENTIRE series, all 27 episodes MUST be offered on DVD. Some of the greatest comedy writers working in the UK today cut their teeth on that series. Every hip and cool mid-forties/early fifties U.K. expat I've met followed that series religiously. The whole and now tired use of "Not the..." in media shows in an attempt to promote the shows as iconoclastic, funny and relevant, generally means the opposite. But the show that started it all need not worry. Before the Daily Show, Letterman, and on the heels of Saturday Night Live's first 5 years of broadcast, Not The 9 o'Clock News put together a collage of comedy each week, fast and smart and topical. Does the topical humour date it? Yes. But does it cripple the show or take the funny out completely? Not at all. Only 10 percent of the content per episode is dated to the point of losing the funny. Not nearly enough to allow those episodes to languish in the Beeb's archives and only allow us a small sample.