Les Dawson
A celebration of the comedian’s career that includes tales about shaggy dogs, vintage sketches, and his partnerships with famous people like Roy Barraclough, Shirley Bassey, and John Cleese.
Through previously unseen footage and clips, we reveal a very different side to the late comedian Les Dawson's public persona and discover the real Les away from the spotlight.
Les Dawson made the mother-in-law joke his stock-in-trade, but this master of stand-up comedy would play his audience with a rich array of comic talents. His deadpan "northern" delivery, a rubber-like miserable face (which he himself described as resembling "a sack of spanners"), his fishwife impersonations, comic monologues and a unique talent for just-off-key piano playing would leave them screaming for more. His sour, downturned grin, his cheeky flash of the eyes and an audience in uncontrollable hysterics are among the memories gleaned here as Les comperes Blankety Blank and Opportunity Knocks and displays his full range of comic talents in The Les Dawson Show.
British production of Argentinan Roberto Cossa's play, set in Argentina in 1982. Nona is an elderly woman who is causing a drain on the resources of her entire family, with her constant craving for food and demands, which everybody indulges, in spite of falling into prostitution and bankruptcy. Her two grandsons hit on the idea of marrying her off to an elderly man who runs a tobacconists and sweet kiosk, however, the latter believes that Chico is trying to hitch him up with the beautiful young Marta.
The Grand Knockout Tournament (colloquially also known as It's a Royal Knockout) was a one-off charity event which was shown on British television on 19 June 1987. It followed the format of It's a Knockout (the British version of Jeux Sans Frontieres), a slapstick TV gameshow which was broadcast in the UK until 1982. The event was staged on the lakeside lawn of the Alton Towers stately home-cum-theme park. However, the event used its own specially created immersing set, meaning that the location was not very recognisable in the TV broadcast.
Blankety Blank is a British comedy game show based on the 1977–9 Australian game show Blankety Blanks. The British version ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC One, hosted first by Terry Wogan and later by Les Dawson. Regular members of the celebrity panel on this version included Kenny Everett, Lorraine Chase, Gareth Hunt, Gary Davies, and Cheryl Baker. A revival fronted by Lily Savage was produced by the BBC from 26 December 1997 to 28 December 1999, followed by ITV from 7 January 2001 to 10 August 2002. This version was produced by Grundy, then Thames.
A comedy set in the 1920s with Les Dawson (as his own grandfather) and family running a flea-pit cinema.
A seasonal offering from one of Britain’s most missed comics first seen in 1974 featuring sketches, songs, music and dancing.
Les Dawson invites some familiar friends to join him in this one off special in which he performs sketches and musical numbers. Watch out for a rare clip of Les actually playing the piano properly.
Sez Les was a British comedy sketch show that starred Les Dawson. It was produced by Yorkshire Television and aired on ITV from 1969 to 1976. The show also starred Roy Barraclough from series Four - who would go on to become Dawson's most recognisable sidekick. The two most notably appeared together in drag as characters Cissie and Ada. John Cleese, who quit the Monty Python team, also appeared, from 1974, in two complete series. Other cast members included Norman Chappell, Brian Glover, Brian Murphy and Kathy Staff. Music was provided by Syd Lawrence and his orchestra.
