Comics UK

Shoot! Wasn't really thinking there! Was still in recorded audio interview mode.Or are they not up for grabs either?Or maybe we should just stick to written interviews.Or maybe we should time travel to the end of the Century and see if any copyright has finally become public domain

"a range of celebrity fans"-words to strike dread into any viewer.

Footage of Bob Monkhouse would be fine though-a true fan

brisey

brisey wrote:"a range of celebrity fans"-words to strike dread into any viewer.

What struck dread into me was the phrase "allows the audience literally to step inside the comics" which shows how standards of literacy have dropped at the BBC.

If the documentaries fail to allow me to "literally" step inside the comics I will ask for a refund on my licence fee.

But if we as viewers are magically sucked inside out tv sets to "literally" rub shoulders with the likes of Grimly Feendish and Adam Eterno it will undoubtedly be the most major technical advancement of the 21st Century. I look forward to it immensely.



Lew

brisey wrote:"a range of celebrity fans"-words to strike dread into any viewer.

Footage of Bob Monkhouse would be fine though-a true fan

brisey

Absolutely! I don't want to hear Jenny Eclair's views on Beryl the Peril,
and my love of comics isn't so fragile that it needs a swathe of D-list celebs to admit that they once had a fleeting encounter with the Beano, Dandy, Buster or whatever in order to make me feel less self conscious about the 'errant silliness' of comic collecting.
Mind you one shot of some guy who dresses up as Dennis the Menace at the weekends and I'm off!

Kashgar wrote:

brisey wrote:"a range of celebrity fans"-words to strike dread into any viewer.

Footage of Bob Monkhouse would be fine though-a true fan

brisey

Absolutely! I don't want to hear Jenny Eclair's views on Beryl the Peril,
and my love of comics isn't so fragile that it needs a swathe of D-list celebs to admit that they once had a fleeting encounter with the Beano, Dandy, Buster or whatever in order to make me feel less self conscious about the 'errant silliness' of comic collecting.
Mind you one shot of some guy who dresses up as Dennis the Menace at the weekends and I'm off!

Having spoken to some of the comics creators who were fortunate enough to be interviewed for the programme I understand they were assured that the series will not be the usual "celebrity rent-a-gobs" type of thing.

I once heard from one of those "talking heads" how that process works by the way. "Celebrities" are invited to air their views and are given a list of clips that the tv company has already had copyright clearance on. (No point of Jodie Marsh saying "ooh I remember that 1965 documentary on Winston Churchill" if C4 can't get permission to use it, for example.)

Anyway, if the choices the celeb chooses from the list are already taken, they'll then have to make another choice, which can lead to them blathering on about clips they've never seen (unless the producers show them the clip first, so they can then pretend "oh yeah, my favourite bit was..." - even though it was last seen on tv ten years before they were born). Still, never mind the facts as long as those hungry for fame keep in the public eye eh?

Anyway, back to this documentary. I don't mind if genuine celebrity comic collectors appear - there are plenty of them after all, (Jonathan Ross, Lenny Henry, erm...). I just hope they know enough about the history of the medium not to judge it all on the narrow viewpoint of "comics aren't like they were when I was a lad". (What is?)

What I'm mostly hoping is that the BBC don't peddle the nonsense that British comics are "dead in the water" like the so-called "ultimate" book of British Comics claimed. A myth like that does the industry no favours at all and only serves to discourage investment in the medium.

Lew

Jenny Eclair-fair shout-Guru Kashgar.-it does roll of the tongue quite nicely

The bloke out of Dead Ringers ,who can't give a quote without an impersonation is the one that irks me.

Thankfully the days of Timmy Mallet and Su Pollard have past

brisey

I think the fact that it's a BBC4 documentary rather then BBC3 sounds promising- they tend to give their documentaries a more serious, studied approach.

brisey wrote:Footage of Bob Monkhouse would be fine though-a true fan

Well, if he can talk about prostate cancer from beyond the grave, why not? (Seriously, does anyone else find those "I died ..." ads flesh-creeping?)

i find them strangely unoriginal.

anybody remember back in the autumn of 1985:

"hi, i'm yul brynner, and i'm dead..."

I have just received this from the BBC chap, Andy Hall, about the airing of the three-part COMICS BRITANNIA series on BBC4.

September 10, 17th & 24th
BBC Four 3x 60 mins

Programme One: The Fun Factory

COMICS BRITANNIA explores the world of the children?s humour comic and the revolution which began with the first publication of the Dandy in 1937.
The series explains why colourful, cheap publications like the Dandy, and then the Beano enchanted a generation living through the effects of the Depression, WW2 and post-war Austerity.

Programme Two: Boys & Girls

Following the Second World War boys and girls adventure comics emerged to capture the imaginations of the growing baby boomer generation.

Comics Britannia tells the extraordinary story of the bohemian vicar who founded the most ground-breaking comic to emerge in the immediate post- war era ? The Eagle, complete with its very own super hero, Dan Dare.

Programme Three: X-Rated : Anarchy in the UK
[NB 10pm tx]

COMICS BRITANNIA X ?RATED reveals how during the Seventies and Eighties a generation grew up reading a new kind of comic. Directed at older, adult readers, these comics had strips with darker, more satirical and sexual material. There was a new sophistication in the writing and artwork which began to see comic books evolve into a new phenomenon ? the graphic novel.

From the bedroom of brothers Chris and Simon Donald in Newcastle came the outrageous Viz which by the Eighties was selling a million copies nationwide and was responsible for inventing the Fat Slags, Roger Mellie, Johnny Fartpants and Sid the Sexist.

And I'm on me hols for two of those! Just have to hope I set the recorder correctly.

Al

Don't wish to sound like a party pooper,but if Ep 2 is JUST about the Eagle and glosses over all the Fleetway/DC Thomson titles including the girls story papers,then I will be bitterly disappointed.Alas,it sounds like Ep 3 will not interest me in the slightest.But then again,who knows.Hope there's something there for everybody.Discerning tastes an' all that

I agree with Capt Storm-I hope this is just the broadest of summaries.

Otherwise if they concentrate on Dandy,Eagle and Viz-(which do have General Public appeal ie they have heard of them) it will be an oppotunity lost.

However as it is part of their ----- Britannia thread,I have high hopes.The Folk Britannia was excellent without a superfluous interview.Same with Soul Britannia

brisey