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Radio 2 Comedy Greats: Dick Emery: The Comedy of Errors?

Dick Emery: The Comedy of Errors?

29/09/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Radio 2 Comedy Greats, Dick Emery: The Comedy of Errors?

David Walliams presents a tribute to one of the long forgotten giants of British comedy.

David Walliams explores the career, comic legacy and private life of one of the forgotten giants of British comedy, Dick Emery.

For more than twenty years, Dick Emery dominated the TV schedules. The Dick Emery Show regularly pulled in audiences of 17 million, making him one of the giants of British character comedy, until his death in 1983.

His catchphrases were legendary - the most memorable being '"Ooh you are awful, but I like you" - and his influence can be seen in Little Britain, as well as the work of Catherine Tate, and Harry Enfield. Fan David Walliams investigates Dick Emery's legacy and asks why the comic has been largely forgotten.

Dick Emery's characters included grotesque female figures like Mandy the peroxide blonde and the man-eating Hetty. He also gave us the outrageously camp Clarence, Bovver Boy and the "toothy" vicar. Despite being larger than life stereotypes, the British public took them to their hearts, recognising characteristics not far removed from people they knew in everyday life.

But while Dick was hiding himself behind the wigs and costumes, he was disguising a bumpy personal life. This programme includes a rare interview with the comic's only daughter Eliza Emery - herself now a singer and entertainer - who recalls what it felt like to grow up with a famous father who was rarely around for her as a child. 

David also hears from producer/director Harold Snoad and Dick Emery Show writer David Nobbs about the uniqueness of his comedy creations. Co-stars and contemporaries who pop up over the hour include Helen Fraser, Jacki Piper, Robert Gillespie and Vicki Michelle, while TV mogul Michael Grade assesses Emery's contribution to the golden age of British television.

This documentary first broadcast on Radio 2 in September 2009.

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