British Comedy Guide
The Comedy Years. Image shows from L to R: Louise Gold, Steve Nallon. Copyright: Shiver Productions
The Comedy Years

The Comedy Years

  • TV documentary
  • ITV3
  • 2019
  • 4 episodes (1 series)

Documentary series looking at how TV comedy shows portrayed society in 1979, 1984, 1998 and 2003. Features Shaparak Khorsandi, Jon Culshaw, Debra Stephenson, Dom Joly, Ann Widdecombe and more.

F
X
R
W
E

Episode menu

Series 1, Episode 2 - 1984

The Comedy Years. Image shows from L to R: Joanna Van Gyseghem, Neil Stacy. Copyright: Shiver Productions
Spitting Image and The Young Ones will feature in this 1984-focused episode against the backdrop of the miners strike. More mainstream comedies like Duty Free and Russ Abbot's Madhouse are also covered.

Further details

The Comedy Years: 1984 features interviews with stars of comedy past and present - revealing the comedy moments that inspired them - including the likes of Omid Djalili, Janet Street Porter, Brian Conley, Barry Cryer, Clive Anderson, Shappi Khorsandi and Cannon & Ball.

This episode looks back at comedy from 1984. It was the year of the miners' strike; a conflict that saw Britain embroiled in a bitter industrial dispute as Margaret Thatcher took on union leader Arthur Scargill.

Meanwhile our political figures were on the receiving end of the rudest, most irreverent comedy series we'd ever seen on mainstream television with the creation of Spitting Image.

It was the year when alternative comedy burst into the mainstream, with cult hits like The Young Ones and Alas Smith And Jones now battling it out in the TV schedules with more mainstream shows like Russ Abbott's Saturday Madhouse.

It was also the year the nation mourned the passing of two comedy greats - Eric Morecambe and Tommy Cooper.

Broadcast details

Date
Saturday 20th April 2019
Time
9:20pm
Channel
ITV3
Length
60 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast
Shaparak Khorsandi (as Shappi Khorsandi) Self
Jon Culshaw Self
Debra Stephenson Self
Dom Joly Self
Ann Widdecombe Self
Sherrie Hewson Self
Janet Street-Porter Self
Tracy-Ann Oberman Self
John O'Farrell Self
Andrew Collins Self
Anil Gupta Self
Alastair Campbell Self
Barry Cryer Self
Hugh Bonneville Narrator
Guest cast
Omid Djalili Self
Clive Anderson Self
Tommy Cannon Self
Bobby Ball Self
Leslie Ash Self
Brian Conley Self
Louise Gold Self
Steve Nallon Self
Roy Hattersley Self
Nick Owen Self
Ninia Benjamin Self
Eric Chappell Self
Joanna Van Gyseghem Self
Neil Stacy Self
Production team
Kerry Allison Director
Gavin Barclay Director
Stuart Ramsay Series Producer
Kerry Allison Producer
Gavin Barclay Producer
Mark Scantlebury Executive Producer
Mark Robinson Executive Producer
Jude Bibby Post Producer
Mike Eccles Editor
Daniel Ward Editor
Dave Woodyer Editor

Share this page