Benny Hill: The Lost Years
The Good, The Bawd & The Benny

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1. Opening Sequence
2. Opportunity Calls
3. Scuttle Air
4. Divorce, European Style
5. The Strolling Ones
6. Brandyball
7. Phantom Phone Call
8. Safari Lecture
9. Police - Friend Or Foe?
10. Laddyboys
11. Garden Of Love
12. End Credits

As with so many of Benny's best parodies, Benny plays all of the characters in this send-up. He is the obsequious host, Hughie Carleton Green, who talks to talent scouts who have brought in entertainers to appear on the show. First is Egbert Nogswith who sings "In The Papers". Next, it's the ventriloquism act of "Cheddar Cave & Gorgeous". Benny of course recites the alphabet and drinks a beer at the same time. Patricia Hayes brings out the beverage, (brought out by Nicole Shelby in the remake). They also sing "Me and My Shadow".

Then it's "Fred and The Debutantes" with Benny as a strong man and two girls dancing in tutus and black fishnets. Benny sings and attempts to do several balancing acts to display agility and skill. Naturally, the act is a disaster. (This sketch was remade in his Thames series as "Opportunity's Knocking", (also in B&W)." - A few notes: (1) This was also likely from Nov. 6, 1965. (2) The name "Hughie Carleton Green" was an amalgam of Hughie Green, the actual host of "Opportunity Knocks" which was parodied both here and later in the first of the B&W Thames shows (as you'd noted), and Hugh Carleton Greene who was the BBC's director general at the time. (3) The two girls in the Fred & the Debutantes number were Mandy & Vera, a dance duo. - William Brown). This sketch was remade in his Thames series as "Opportunity's Knocking", (also in B&W).

Next, Jeremy Hawk steps out to interview Fred Scuttle in Scuttle Air. This time Mr. Scuttle is the managing director of his own airline. (Judging from the film quality, this was probably from April 24, 1965. A variation of this was later redone in one of the B&W Thames episodes, with Nicholas Parsons as the interviewer. - William Brown). Divorce, European Style is a sort of documentary with Benny as the host, explaining that England will now have the easiest divorce laws in Europe. Taking a look at the rest of Europe, Benny plays several characters who explain their own marriages and their attitudes towards their spouses. (Actually called "Knockers World," a parody of "Whicker's World" whose host, Alan Whicker, was impersonated by Benny here. Originally from April 20, 1968. (Ironically, this was 24 years to the day before Benny was found dead in his flat.) I actually prefer this one to the "Monty Python" parody with multiple Whickers. - William Brown).

In The Strolling Ones Benny is a rock star who sings "Rose" and looks like Mick Jagger. Benny is also the drummer, the guitar player, the rest of the band, a man in the audience and a screaming girl. (From one of his 1965 shows; I'm not sure of the air date origin at this point. - William Brown). Brandyball is another fun send-up of spy films with Benny as a vain and conceited secret agent on a train meeting a female contact. (From May 8, 1965. The girl with whom Benny sits at a table at the start is Susan Clark - yes, THE Susan Clark who later costarred in the American sitcom "Webster"; Roger Avon is the waiter, and Gloria Paul appears at the end. - William Brown).

After a brief introduction by June Whitfield, we see one of the highlights of this collection, Phantom Phone Call with Benny as Cyril, an effeminate young man getting sexually suggestive phone calls from a woman. Benny has to figure out who is making the calls and this is one of the most original and inventive sketches that I've ever seen Benny do. (From April 20, 1968. Hugh Paddick also appeared in this sketch. The three girls who terrorise Benny in his own home are as follows: the darkhaired gal was Eileen Nicholas, the light blonde with the debauched look was Sandy Duke, and the other girl (probably a redhead) - the one who gets closest to Benny - was Pam Beckman, who I am convinced (and I would slow-mo frame each DVD to make sure) was also the nurse in the Nov. 19, 1969 "Lower Tidmarsh Hospital Service" sketch who'd wrapped a blood pressure cuff around an old man's neck rather than his arm. I studied headshots of Ms. Beckman from both the Spring 1959 and Spring 1960 editions of "The Spotlight" and found they all correspond. One factor in I.D.'ing her in all cases was her ears.

This brings us back to Square One as to the question of who was the girl in the Shakespeare blooper from Oct. 28, 1970 (who "forgot [her] bloody lines") - that girl's ears were a bit smaller than Ms. Beckman's; that, and the hair color. - William Brown). Patricia Hayes then introduces Armand and Michaela Menace as the hosts of a nature program in Safari Lecture with Benny and Jeremy Hawk showing photos of their African Journey. Jeremy Hawk does the setups and Benny provides the punch lines. (The actual airdate was Nov. 6, 1965 not April 24, as the film quality seemed to indicate. The names of the characters Mr. Hill and Jeremy Hawk played, "Armand and Michaela Menace," were plays on the actual explorers Armand and Michaela Denis. - William Brown). Police - Friend Or Foe? starts with on-the-street comments from several citizens, all played by Benny commenting on the police's role. Then there is an interview of Chief Inspector Fred Scuttle by Jeremy Hawk. (This is likely from the May 8, 1965 telecast. Later remade as "Crime Does Not Pay" on one of the B&W Thames editions; Nicholas Parsons was the one who interviewed "Defective Inspector" Scuttle therein, with a graph chart as from the "Audience Research" sketch in "Bennies from Heaven." - William Brown).

In Laddyboys we get a look at the life of a pop star which starts with an interview with his family, the mother, father and brother all played by Benny himself, of course. Benny then appears as Tex Cymbal and sings "My Garden Of Love" with Patsy Ann Noble (Trisha Noble). The concept of this sketch was later expanded into the "Tex Cymbal: Golden Boy" sketch. The "Garden Of Love" song was also remade with Nicole Shelby. (This sketch originated from Jan. 8, 1966. - William Brown). Benny then says goodnight and the program closes with a still shot from the Laddyboys sketch in End Credits. (Which had the typo "Pasty Ann Noble." Though this was three decades after the fact, I suppose it's no wonder she became Trisha Noble. - William Brown).

Screen Captures

The Following images were provided by Warner Online Marketing. Unfortunately, these images are not taken from the "Lost Years" DVD, but from other programs that Benny did over the years with the BBC. For a larger version of each image, click on the thumbnails below and each image will open in a new window. Thanks to William Brown for the info on each image!

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© April 06, 2002.