Comedy

The ‘Comedy Connections’ series on BBC1 has been assiduously mapping out the genealogy of British comedy over the past few years (the latest series is currently running on Friday nights); but now there’s a useful companion piece to fill in some of the missing socio-geographical context. ‘Comedy Map Of Britain’ journeys around the British Isles, charting the places and people that have inspired some of the BBC’s best known comedies. It’s fertile territory, and the six-part series unearths some memorable trivia and insights. And all this without once visiting the capital (London may get its own special at a later date).

‘The series was inspired by those bits in biographical documentaries when a band or a writer goes back to the place where they grew up and suddenly it opens doors in their mind, revealing a part of their personality they haven’t revealed before, and also throwing light on their work,’ says series producer Matt O’Casey. ‘We thought maybe we could attempt the same sort of journey, but with comedians.’
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The first episode travels down the M4 to Bristol and Bath, visiting the scene of Graham Norton and Stephen Merchant’s first gigs, the location for the Trotters’ council flat in ‘Only Fools And Horses’, Bill Bailey’s music teachers, and the place where Nick Park came up with the idea of ‘Creature Comforts’ (Bristol Zoo). Inevitably, some scenes strike a chord more than others, but a particular highlight is an interview with Chris Morris’ old boss at BBC Radio Bristol, who’s asked about one of Morris’ formative pranks: pumping the news booth full of helium while the newsreaders were live on air. He’s still lost for words – and the incident happened nearly 20 years ago.

Morris, needless to say, doesn’t come along to relive the good old days, but plenty of other comedians do during the series, and really enter into the spirit of it, according to O’Casey. ‘We take Peter Richardson back to Devon, where he filmed most of “The Comic Strip”; Prunella Scales visits the Torquay hotel that inspired “Fawlty Towers”; David Nobbs recreates Reggie Perrin’s naked suicide dash on a Dorset beach, which was a spur-of-the-moment decision on his part.’ he says. ‘It was a case of pinpointing the piece of work they’d done that meant the most to them; then they provided the steer and often took us on to loads of other places – giving us a level of insight you can’t get from Google alone.’

What was the locals’ reaction to their reacquaintance with people who have put their environs on the comedy map? Very mixed, according to O’Casey. ‘In Hadfield [where “The League Of Gentlemen” is set], the butcher sells special sausages, and the real Babs lent us the cab for filming which is used in the show ,’ he explains. ‘But in Portlow, Cornwall [location for short-lived Dawn French vehicle “Wild West”] we had people coming up to writer Simon Nye saying how much they hated the show. He took it on the chin.’

Comedy Map of Britain, Saturday 27 January, 10.10pm, BBC2