Classic sitcom documentary coming to DVD
- A documentary going behind the scenes on sitcoms including Steptoe And Son is to be released on DVD
- The 1970 programme, made for Dutch television, has never been seen before in the UK
- It features the likes of Ronnie Barker, Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, Frank Muir, Harry H. Corbett and Deryck Guyler
Comedy Makers, a television documentary from 1970 about British sitcoms is to be released on DVD in June.
Made for Dutch television, it has never been seen before in the UK and - notably - features on-set footage and behind-the-scenes interviews with the writers and stars of programmes including Steptoe And Son, Hark At Barker, and Please Sir!.
Released by Kaleidoscope, the organisation dedicated to finding and preserving archive television programmes, the 40-minute DVD will be accompanied by a new 400-page book detailing Britain's greatest TV sitcoms, and including further information on many unbroadcast pilots.
Produced mostly in English for the country's NCRV channel, Comedy Makers was made with the co-operation of both London Weekend Television and the BBC, and first aired in the Netherlands on 31st August 1970.
The basis of the documentary was the hugely popular Dutch adaptation of Steptoe And Son, Stiefbeen en zoon, which ran between 1964 and 1971, and the then-booming British TV landscape proliferated by situation comedies.
Interviewees include writers Frank Muir, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, writer and star Ronnie Barker, and actor Deryck Guyler.
Others featured range from Sir David Jason to Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell.
The set will be released on 5th June 2022 and is available to order now through Kaleidoscope's TV Brain website.
The Greatest UK Television Sitcoms / Comedy Makers
A DVD/book set examining the television sitcom.
The book, The Greatest UK Television Sitcoms, is a comprehensive listing of episodes to the very best, most popular and most influential British television sitcoms, running to almost 700 pages.
The DVD, meanwhile, comprises of Comedy Makers, a 40-minute 1970 documentary from Dutch television looking at the industry of comedy in Britain - particularly TV sitcom - that includes looks behind the scenes of both BBC and LWT comedies.
With a range of interviewees, the titles examined in depth are Steptoe And Son, Please Sir! and Hark At Barker, to name but three.
First published: Sunday 5th June 2022
- Publisher: Kaleidoscope
- Pages: 676
- Catalogue: KPCM
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