Press clippings

Open All Hours stage play to open

A new stage adaptation of BBC sitcom Open All Hours is to be performed in September.

British Comedy Guide, 4th July 2023

Still Open All Hours Series 7 cancelled by BBC One

A seventh series of Still Open All Hours has been cancelled, after coronavirus delayed its production.

British Comedy Guide, 16th February 2023

Last missing Navy Lark episode recovered

The last completely missing episode of long-running radio sitcom The Navy Lark has been recovered. However, other editions still only survive in inferior and cut forms.

British Comedy Guide, 18th January 2023

Leslie Phillips dies aged 98

Comic actor and screen icon Leslie Phillips has died at the age of 98.

British Comedy Guide, 8th November 2022

Auction house sells ventriloquist's dummy from Ronnie Barker Sekonda advert

A ventriloquist's dummy which starred alongside comedian Ronnie Barker in a 1970s TV advert is to be sold at auction. Barker, who starred in The Two Ronnies, Porridge and Open All Hours, appeared in an advertising campaign for Sekonda Watches in which he was filmed alongside a blonde-haired dummy in a glitzy gold dress.

ITV, 12th May 2022

Classic sitcom documentary coming to DVD

A 1970 Dutch TV documentary about British sitcoms is to be released on DVD. The programme goes behind-the-scenes on comedies including Steptoe And Son, Hark At Barker and Please Sir!.

British Comedy Guide, 28th April 2022

Sole surviving Ronnie Barker sitcom episode to be released

The single surviving episode of a 1972 Ronnie Barker sitcom is to be released on DVD. His Lordship Entertains was the third incarnation of one of his favourite characters, Lord Rustless, but now only the first of seven programmes exists, and has been restored to colour from a black-and-white film print.

British Comedy Guide, 4th April 2022

My Comedy Hero: Alex Lowe on Ronnie Barker and Kevin Bridges

As actor, character comic and stand-up Alex Lowe steps into the unsteady shoes of clairvoyant Clinton Baptiste and takes his paranormal shtick across the UK, he picks two very different types of funny folk as his comedy idols.

Brian Donaldson, The List, 11th November 2021

The re-evaluation game: Porridge - A Night In

The whole thing is shot through with melancholy in a manner which we rarely see in sitcoms these days, and while I can't say it's a series that I'm any more passionate about given its questionable elements, having rewatched this episode it's certainly given me more respect for it.

Alex Finch, Comedy To Watch, 7th July 2021

Two Ronnies make modern lefty comics look like toddlers

Fifty years after their incomparable TV show began, Christopher Stevens celebrates the genius of The Two Ronnies... and argues they make today's Left-wing 'comedians' look like foul-mouthed toddlers.

Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 14th April 2021