Comedy Connections - Season 2

Season 2

Episodes

The Goodies
The inside story of 1970s hit show The Goodies, from the beginnings at the Cambridge Footlights to national stardom.

Birds of a Feather

Father Ted

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The behind the scenes story of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin reveals how unlikely a comedy success Reggie really was. In writer David Nobbs's original book, The Death of Reginald Perrin, the central character's midlife crisis saw him to a mental hospital - hardly the stuff of comedy. And when the writer was told to take the jokes out of the first draft of the script to make the show funnier it was clear Reggie Perrin was going to be unusual on television too.
Despite not getting his first choice of Ronnie Barker to play the lead, writer David Nobbs created a hero for a generation and changed British comedy by proving that sitcom could be successful with a serial storyline.
The show has connections to The Two Ronnies, Steptoe and Son, Fawlty Towers, The Good Life and Fairly Secret Army.

Keeping Up Appearances
Mapping the careers of the people who made Keeping Up Appearances sees them come together from shows as diverse as That Was the Week We Watched, The Dick Emery Show, Last of the Summer Wine, Victoria Wood-As Seen on TV and Ever Decreasing Circles.
Interviews with the cast and crew reveal how writer Roy Clarke created a world that revolved around Hyacinth Bucket, where the inspiration for her surname came from, and exactly why the show ended when practically everyone wanted it to keep on going. Hyacinth is now sold around the world and finds that , perhaps surprisingly, she's big in Botswana.

The Young Ones
The Young Ones thrust a new sort of comedy into the television mainstream in the early 1980s. At first glance The Young Ones seemed to tear up all the rules of sitcom, but despite its enormous energy and anarchic invention it was a more conventional programme than it might have appeared. But alongside Channel 4's The Comic Strip Presents...
The Young Ones transported a new generation of comedy writers and performers out of the clubs and into the nation's living rooms. And in a few short years the one time young pretenders had become the new comedy establishment. Their number one single for Comic Relief apart, the legacy of The Young Ones includes Saturday Live, Filthy, Rich and Catflap and Bottom.

Hi-de-Hi

Red Dwarf
Series charting the history of some of the best British comedy shows looks at the inside story of intergalactic sitcom Red Dwarf, written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. Interviewees include the two writers, stars Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Robert Llewellyn, Norman Lovett and Chloe Annett, and there's a look at how their careers have involved programmes such as Spitting Image, Saturday Live, Carrott's Lib, Happy Families and Robot Wars.
Recently Updated Shows

MasterChef Australia
MasterChef Australia is an Australian competitive cooking game show consisting of a group of hopeful contestants that cook and present food to judges in order to win the title of MasterChef Australia.

American Pickers
This isn't your grandmother's antiquing. The American Pickers are on a mission to recycle America, even if it means diving into countless piles of grimy junk or getting chased off a gun-wielding homeowner's land. Hitting back roads from coast to coast, the Pickers earn a living by restoring forgotten relics to their former glory, transforming one person's trash into another's treasure. The show follows the team as they scour the country for hidden gems in junkyards, basements, garages and barns, meeting quirky characters and hearing their amazing stories. If you think the antique business is all about upscale boutiques and buttoned-up dealers, this show may change your mind – and teach you a thing or two about American history along the way.

Lucky
A young woman who left behind the life of crime she was raised in years ago must now embrace her darker, criminal side one final time in a desperate attempt to escape her past.

Stick
Pryce Cahill is an over-the-hill, ex-pro golfer whose career was derailed prematurely 20 years ago. After the collapse of his marriage and getting fired from his job at an Indiana sporting goods store, Pryce hedges his bets, and future, entirely on a troubled 17-year-old golf phenom named Santi. Stick is a heartfelt, feel-good comedy about a found family and their relationships set within the world of golf as it's never been shown before.

Will Trent
In Will Trent Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations was abandoned at birth and endured a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta's overwhelmed foster care system. But now, determined to use his unique point of view to make sure no one is abandoned like he was, Trent has the highest clearance rate in the GBI.