Loading AI tools
Scottish television comedy sketch show From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scotch and Wry is a Scottish television comedy sketch show produced by BBC Scotland and starring Rikki Fulton and a revolving ensemble cast which over the years included Gregor Fisher, Tony Roper, Claire Nielson, Juliet Cadzow and John Bett.
Scotch and Wry | |
---|---|
Directed by | Gordon Menzies (1978–1989) Brian Jobson (1989–1990) Ron Bain (1990–1992) |
Starring | Rikki Fulton Gregor Fisher Tony Roper Claire Nielson Juliet Cadzow John Bett Barbara Dickson |
Theme music composer | Reg Tilsley |
Country of origin | Scotland |
Original language | Scots |
No. of episodes | 23 (2 series & 12 specials) |
Production | |
Executive producer | Gordon Menzies (1990–1992) |
Producers | Gordon Menzies (1978–1989) Philip Differ (1990–1991) Tony Roper (1992) |
Production locations | BBC Broadcasting House, Glasgow, Scotland, UK |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Production company | BBC Scotland |
Original release | |
Network | BBC One Scotland |
Release | 30 September 1978 – 31 December 1992 |
Initially running for two series from 1978 to 1979, the show went on to become a top-rating annual Hogmanay special for over a decade.[1] The series also gave early exposure to emerging Scottish actors such as Gerard Kelly and Miriam Margolyes. In later years, cast members from sister BBC Scotland comedy show Naked Video would also make sporadic appearances.
Scotch and Wry was developed from The Scotched Earth Show, a one-off special based on Scottish humorous writing, broadcast on New Year's Day 1977.[2] Fulton starred in the special, having made sporadic television appearances since his ill-fated Rikki series for STV, which ended mid-run in 1967.
Scotch and Wry first aired on BBC1 Scotland at 10.30pm on Saturday 30 September 1978. Its comedic focus was on predominantly Scots and in particular Glaswegian humour, although the series also included material from London-based writers, including rejected scripts for The Two Ronnies[2] The show's signature tune throughout its entire run was a library track, Sexy Sox, composed by Reg Tilsley.[3]
Overall, the viewer had to be familiar with both Scots and Glaswegian culture in order to understand many of the jokes. Much of the humour was constructed around distinctly Glaswegian themes; such as the city's suburbs, its football clubs, and even its famous sectarian divide was also played for laughs. The programmes (and some personalities) of rival ITV station STV (most notably Late Call) were frequently parodied on the show. In the later Hogmanay specials, a greater emphasis was placed on major news events that had happened during the previous year as their basis.
Another regular target in many sketches was Lanarkshire singer Sydney Devine, who later became one of the show's many guest stars, appearing in a parody of Phantom of the Opera. In the first years of the Hogmanay specials, singer Barbara Dickson performed musical interludes. It also became customary of Scotch and Wry to include a post-closing credits sketch, which was often a dig at The Hogmanay Show which followed immediately afterwards. The best remembered skit – from the 1985 special – involved Fulton interrupting a party to throw his television out of the window just before the show started.
For several years, Scotch and Wry also aired on BBC1 Northern Ireland but was given only one full networked airing by the BBC – the 1982 Hogmanay special aired outside Scotland on New Year's Day 1983.[4][5] The last new episode – produced by regular cast member Tony Roper – aired on Thursday 31 December 1992.
Comedy specials have continued to air each Hogmanay on BBC1 Scotland, including Chewin' the Fat, Still Game and Only an Excuse?. Fulton also revived his Reverend I.M. Jolly character for several Hogmanay spin-off specials during the 1990s – Tis' the Season to the Jolly (1993), A Man for All Seasons (1994), Jolly: A Life (1995) and It's A Jolly Life (1999), which marked the character's farewell appearance. A specially recorded compilation, introduced by Fulton, aired in 1996 to mark the 50th anniversary of his showbusiness career.
Key one-off parodies included Bonnie Prince Charlie, Robert the Bruce, The Beechgrove Garden, The Curries (a send up of The Corries) and Box 2001 1/2 (a parody of STV's community broadcasting slot Box 2000). Feature guest stars from the series of Hogmanay specials included Barry McGuigan, Jim Watt, Mark McManus, Gavin Hastings, and BBC Scotland sports pundits Dougie Donnelly and Archie Macpherson.
Several compilation programmes have been broadcast, including a Hogmanay special in 1996 – marking Fulton's 50-year anniversary in show business – and a six-part series, The Very Best of Scotch and Wry, aired in 2004 following the death of Rikki Fulton. The original series was also aired on UK Gold from 1994 to 1995.
Scotch and Wry first became available on VHS with four special compilations released by BBC Video during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s. The first was Scotch & Wry, which was released in 1986, and proved such a massive hit that a second compilation, Double Scotch & Wry, followed in 1987, proving almost as popular. Each video was 90 minutes in length and featured sketches right up to the 1985 and 1986 specials respectively. A third video, Triple Scotch & Wry, was released in 1990 and finally a fourth video, Scotch & Wry 4: Prince of Pochlers, in 1992. For copyright reasons, none of the DVD releases feature the Barbara Dickson musical interludes which formed part of the early Hogmanay specials, and musical soundtracks (such as the Dirty Dick's Delicatmessen skits – which originally featured Something's Cooking in the Kitchen by Dana) have been edited out.
All four compilations were subsequently re-released on DVD in 2006, and again as part of The Ultimate Rikki Fulton Collection DVD box set in 2007. However, a full release of the first two full series and all 12 subsequent Hogmanay specials remains unlikely.
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.