Complete & Unadulterated
The Hill's Angels Years - Set 4

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1. Benny's Ballad: Married Life
2. First Impressions
3. Digger Blue: Private Eye
4. Hotel Sordide
5. Fred Scuttle at Thames Television
6. The Cotton Mill Boys:
   The Orange Blossom Special
7. The Widow
8. The South Blank Show
9. Close: Sauna Chase (not in the menu)

First Impressions features Henry McGee as the interviewer of Benny and Jackie Wright on a talk show. They play two Irishmen, "The Carpenter Brothers", (Tennon and Mortice) and Henry tries to understand their thick Irish accents which leads to the usual misunderstandings. Watch for Jackie Wright flubbing his lines! Always lots of fun. Then it's the classic Digger Blue: Private Eye with Benny as the famous Australian Private Eye who must find the Missing Microfilm. Benny tails Donna Scarff all the way to a Girl's Hostel, with Henry McGee in drag. Jackie Wright and Denise Brownlow are his sidekicks in this adventure. By the way, that's Penny Chisholm in her stockings and garters. Plenty of great slapstick moments in this one.

Hotel Sordide is another sketch similar to "Victorian Scandals" in that Benny plays a bellhop providing room service to a fighting couple. Watch him give Henry's wife (Jillianne Foot) a bath or how Benny starts to throw himself at her! Charles Stapley and Eunice Black pop in as the spouses. Dee Dee Darlington is Benny's enraged girl and Lee Gibson gets food dumped on her by Benny. In Fred Scuttle at Thames Television Henry McGee gives Scuttle another classic interview. This time we find Scuttle as a longtime producer at Thames. Jackie Wright makes a brief appearance and there are some good gags in this one. Scuttle then introduces The Cotton Mill Boys: The Orange Blossom Special who are a group of country instrumentalists who play faster and more furiously than just about any other group of musicians I think I've seen! They use their instruments to reproduce the sounds one might here while travelling by train.

The Widow features Dee Dee Darlington as the rich, beautiful widow pursued by Benito, The Butcher, (Benny) and Henri, The Tailor (Henry McGee). Jackie Wright plays her butler, Gaston. They visit her house one day and this begins an intense and fierce fight for her hand. Another classic silent segment with Benny's trademark narration.

The South Blank Show features Benny as the nasally-challenged host Melvyn Dragg. It starts with Benny in drag as Mary O'Hairy playing the harp and singing Irish tunes; Benny as a comic who makes several racial jokes that have the audience upset, (look for Frank Coda and members of The Cotton Mill Boys who step out at the end), Benny as "The Deputy" who has a corpse to bury; Benny as W. C. Fields in a town meeting as The Mayor; Jillianne Foot interviews Benny as musician Marvin Lubtisch, who sings a great tune "Graffiti". (Ms. Foot's interview with Marvin Lubtisch was cut from Video Revue, which went from the W.C. Fields sketch straight to Melvyn Dragg's goodnight. As for the Fields sketch, it also features Henry, Jackie and Charles Stapley, with Lee Gibson and Jillianne Foot as temperance ladies. Listen to the reference to the 1925 vintage Napoleon brandy; this was an in-joke reference to the ostensible year of Benny's birth, which would later be determined to be 1924 - William Brown).

This sketch closes with another silent segment featuring several short gags and the most notable one at the end, with Benny going into a Sauna House. This then leads into the Close: Sauna Chase (not in the menu) and the end of this program. (The Sauna House bit at the end was cut from Video Revue, which cut off at the point where Jenny Westbrook handed Benny the bus stop sign and then went to the "Snuffo" close from March 24, 1976.; "The South Blank Show" was a takeoff on an arts program which debuted that same year (1978) called The South Bank Show; the name 'Melvyn Dragg' was a pun on the show's actual host, Melvyn Bragg. As for 'Mary O'Hairy,' that was a play on Irish harpist Mary O'Hara, and the comic Benny impersonated was the late Dave Allen. - William Brown).

1. A Host Of Your Favorite Stars
   Benny's Ballad: Coconut Milk (not in the menu)
2. Man vs. Machine with Fred Scuttle
3. Grand Wheelchair Rally
4. Telephone Exchange
5. Holiday Time
6. Felicity Buirski: The Clock
7. Benny Quickie: Fire!
8. More Benny Quickies
9. Benny's Ballad: Go 'Round Again
10. Friday Night Fever
11. Crime Doesn't Pay
12. Close: Police Chase (not in the menu)

Man vs. Machine begins with Henry McGee giving a brief interview to Fred Scuttle who has tutored John Vyvyan to be the next genius who can outwit a computer. Then it's another classic silent segment in Grand Wheelchair Rally and the nurses of the old folks home are helping the old-timers in a special racing event. Look for some female bobbies losing their skirts and showing their stocking before the race starts as well as Sue Upton pushing Benny's wheelchair and playing the old lady which would become a trademark character for her later in the series! She even wears a sexy bathing suit and presents Benny with the winning trophy! A great highlight in this episode.

Telephone Exchange is an imaginative sketch with Benny as a Telephone operator who has a unique way of connecting his customers to each other using a series of rubber hoses. Watch him get his mother a cup of tea, help a woman when her house is on fire or administer a sleeping pill! Holiday Time is another travel show hosted by Benny (heavily sunburned). First, we get a look at "Dimton On Sea". You'll spot Sue Upton listening to a sea shell and passing it to Sharon Fussey (uncredited), Benny losing a watch, a blonde getting weighed in an unusual way & Benny looking for a cheap meal. Watch Benny, Len Keyes and John Quayle, (wearing a mustache) ogle Sue Upton on the beach and try to look up her skirt. (Off the record note: Ms. Fussey and the future Erica Lynley were at the time members of the dance troupe Sam's Set whose choreographer, Samantha Stevens, previously appeared on the Jan. 8, 1975 and March 12, 1975 shows. There were two other members of Sam's Set who were also uncredited on this show: Caroline Sargeant and Sandra Hamilton. - William Brown). "Costa Patatas" features Henry McGee and the lovely Jenny Lee Wright at the Hotel Toulouse Waldorf interviewing Benny as their Spanish waiter. Roger Finch is the cook who spoils the meal and Johnny Vyvyan makes things even worse. A great sketch.

Felicity Buirski: The Clock is a romantic musical number. Ms. Buirski is a very beautiful woman who sings with a very fast vibrato. This segment is shot just like a music video and the setting is very intimate. Although the tune may seem dated, she sings with great conviction and believability and this is certainly a sexy number. (She still performs today, and has an official website: www.felicitybuirski.com - alas, it appears there is no info on her sole TBHS appearance here. -William Brown). Benny Quickie: Fire! features Benny as a commander giving the order to fire with disastrous results. Then there are More Benny Quickies which starts with Sue Upton (in a red wig) and Benny proposing sex to her over dinner; Benny bursting into a room and shooting someone; Benny's dinner date noticing a fly in her soup (unknown girl) with Roger Finch as the waiter; Jenny Lee Wright (also in a red wig) trying to find out what's bothering her husband (Benny); Benny talking to his "date" that his wife don't understand him; an ad for Benwich Building Society; and finally a vacuum cleaner commercial with Jenny Lee Wright. All brilliant quickies!

Next, it's Benny's Ballad: Go 'Round Again, an ingenious send-up of Bob Dylan. A Classic which features Benny singing a country-style tune with a dead-on impersonation of Dylan, excellent makeup and playing a bass guitar. Benny not only sounds like Dylan, but sings really fast. There is one line in there that he squeezes in so quickly in such a short time I'm not sure how he did it! Check out his strange backup band, including Roger Finch (on acoustic guitar) and a girl with a beard playing keyboards. I'm not sure who is playing the guitar and who the backup singers are. Don't miss this one!

Friday Night Fever is a send-up of Disco Movies that were so popular at the time. Benny is a middle-aged man who is married to a fat wife (Cyril Cross) and peaks across his fence (and out his bedroom window) at the sexy young girl next door. At night he pops on his white disco suit and a wig, goes to the discotheque and sees Sue Upton and they dance. He's the sensation of the club. A highlight in this program! Benny then steps out (with one girl on each arm) and says goodnight. In Crime Doesn't Pay Benny is a criminal who gets sent to jail after being caught digging up some stolen loot. After he gets out he looks for the loot with unexpected results! This leads into Close: Police Chase (not in the menu) with Benny being chased by Police to the end credits, closing this fine program.

1. Benny Quickie: Little Angel
2. Benny's Ballad: Benny's Place
3. Benny Quickie: Georgie Pest
4. The National Health
5. Leprechaun T.V.
6. Benny Quickie: Cosmetic Surgery
7. Benny's Monologue: No Place Like Rome
8. A Marriage Of Convenience
9. Naughty Bits! ("Hot Gossamer")
   Benny Quickie: Noise Abatement Society
   Annual Dinner (not in the menu)
10. A Poem: Faith, Hope & Charity
11. Benny Quickie: Dentists Annual Dinner
12. Geraldine: Casablanca
13. Benny Quickie: Flog it!
14. Wondergran Meets Dracula
15. Close: Wondergran Chase (not in the menu)

The National Health is a send-up of the health care system in England. Benny gets Private Health Care which is far superior to the miserable conditions that Johnny Vyvyan must endure under the National System. (Many of the gags in the scenes involving Mr. Vyvyan were remade from the "Lower Tidmarsh Hospital Service" sketch of Benny's first show for Thames of 11/19/69. - William Brown). Benny is the rich man who knocks on the door and two sexy nurses in black stockings and garters greet him! I believe one of them is Jayne-Marie. Sue Upton gets covered up by Johnny when Cyril Cross looks up her skirt and Ken Sedd gets his body hair removed by Benny in a really painful way! Benny gets the lap of luxury as the patient in Private Care and also plays Doctor to the National Care Patients. Watch for Benny's readout when the sexy nurses in the Private Health Care Hospital take his pulse! A classic. I hope I can get nurses like that when I get sick!

Leprechaun T.V. features Benny as the host of the opening night of The Leprechaun Independant Television Studios. He introduces the News which opens with a shot of a woman undressing in an apartment window and then Angela O'Rippon (Benny in drag) reads the news. (The name is an Irish-ization of Angela Rippon, a longtime British TV personality. - William Brown). We then get some Irish commercials including "Fair Deal Ben", (soap) "People Like Bolo", (breath mints) and Duffo cold medication. (Fair Deal Ben had been previously done in B&W on 12/23/70, and the cold medication ad is a remake of an ad parody which aired in B&W on 01/27/71. - William Brown).

"Programme Parade" features Benny as Terry Lene introducing "Opportunity Knockes" with Benny as the host and Jackie Wright singing an old Irish Tune. (The name "Lene" was a play on a fabric used for clothing in Britain. - William Brown). Then it's a sports program and another show with Jackie Wright as a stool pigeon who appears on TV and is trying to keep his identity a secret from gangsters. (The sports program had Benny as "Dickie O'Davies," the third impression of Dickie Davies (after the 02/18/76 "Word of Sport" and 01/26/77 "Sum Awards" sketches). The stool pigeon quickie was the only part of the "Leprechaun T.V." sketch to appear in HBO Home Video's Home Video Drive-In, formerly The Best of The Benny Hill Show, Vol. 4, which was previously on DVD in HBO Video's Golden Classics. On that compilation, this routine was called "The Informer Interview." - William Brown). Then it's another classic, "Masterbrane" with Benny as host Magnus O'Magnussen with Jackie Wright as the guest, Fred Needle and Sue Upton as Benny's assistant. I love the witty back and forth between Benny and Jackie and this sketch is one I remember fondly from my teens. Next, Henry McGee complains about his appearance to Benny in Benny Quickie: Cosmetic Surgery.

Benny's Monologue: No Place Like Rome features Benny in a Roman costume and talking about his time as a Britain taken prisoner and locked in a Roman cell, as well as the terrible conditions they endure. Benny always makes these monologues fun with that trademark smile and his dead-on comic timing. The next sketch is a silent one, A Marriage Of Convenience with Fay Hillier as the gold-digging woman who gets Benny down the aisle and finally gets his money. But that's not enough for her. She pushes him to drink, overeat and smoke heavily. Seems like she's trying to get rid of him. A great sketch. (This routine was called "Marrying for Money" in Home Video Drive-In. - William Brown).

Next, Henry McGee steps out (with Pauline Crawford and Francesca Whitburn) to introduce us to some of those Naughty Bits, which is one of those pivotal moments in the series after the Love Machine routines and leading straight to Hill's Angels. (I am remiss in failing to mention that Mr. McGee, on this occasion, was impersonating British radio disc jockey Kenny Everett, who hosted The Kenny Everett Video Show at the time for Thames. The real-life Everett mentioned "naughty bits" in introducing the dance numbers. - William Brown). This dance routine is also known as "Hot Gossamer" and features Louise English (white), Sarah Woollett (French Maid Costume), Pauline Crawford (pink), Francesca Whitburn (leopard skin), Abigail Higgins (black), Sue Upton (school girl) and Nola Haynes (gold). They dance along with Benny, Roger Finch, Jackie Wright and Henry McGee to a tune called "Supernature". The backdrop is a drawing of a city skyline and throughout this number the guys consistently look like fools with plenty of great gags. You'll also see the trademark scaffolding which pops up in other routines. The girls are all very sexy in their closeups and Benny and the guys are hilarious. A highlight in this program and in this collection! You can also check out my Hot Gossamer page for more details. This chapter also contains the Benny Quickie: Noise Abatement Society Annual Dinner (not in the menu).

("Hot Gossamer" was a pun (and ostensible takeoff) on the multiracial, mixed-gender "Hot Gossip" dance troupe who appeared on not only the Everett show in question, but also on his subsequent BBC program The Kenny Everett Television Show. There are some ironies in this whole sketch, but let me take my breath. First up, the Hot Gossip troupe had at least two people who'd been involved with TBHS in the past, namely choreographer Arlene Phillips, who had been the dance director for Love Machine; and ex-Love Machinist Jane Eve (Colthorpe), who joined Hot Gossip in the same year as Hill's "Hot Gossamer" first aired (and would be a Hot Gossip mainstay throughout most of the '80's). Second, was Sue's participation in the parody, as she'd been in the Love Machine prior to Jane's joining (and their - or her - first being booked onto TBHS. - William Brown)

Next up is a sketch which reminds me of when I first started watching the Benny Hill Show, A Poem: Faith, Hope & Charity which features Benny's ingenious use of word-play, that knowing smile and leading your imagination wayward. This time Benny reads a poem which was written on a very old typewriter that had the letter 'h' missing. I used to have this on cassette and memorized, so it's great to see memories like this now on DVD. A classic! Then its the Benny Quickie: Dentists Annual Dinner which features a special toast. (Home Video Drive-In called this one "Association of Dentists Annual Dinner." - William Brown). Then, Benny introduces the musical guest in Geraldine: Casablanca. Geraldine is a very attractive blonde who sings a song about the famous Humphrey Bogart movie of the same name. It's not a bad song, but the poor Bogie voice-over used throughout the song doesn't help much. Next is Benny Quickie: Flog it! with a sexy young Louise English telling Benny (her father) that there is a woman at the door asking for him. Patricia Hayes is Benny's wife and that appears to be Francesca Whitburn in the dominatrix outfit. I wonder if this one caused trouble with the censors!

Wondergran Meets Dracula is a classic for fans and features Sue Upton in the role of the senior citizen superhero! Benny is Dracula, of course and Wondergran's job is to stop him from biting young girl's necks. Look for Benny's wife who is the Bride of Frankenstein! Watch carefully for the brief nude shot of a girl at the college. There are plenty of young girls in this sketch but Dracula's attempts all end in disaster. Watch Fay Hillier strip down to her stockings and bra when Dracula is injured and John Vyvyan call for Wondergran on his walkie-talkie. They have a sword-fight, She chases Benny and finally uses a simple photo of a former star of the Benny Hill Show to ward him off! Finally, there is the usual chase to the credits in Close: Wondergran Chase (not in the menu) wrapping up this excellent program of The Benny Hill Show.

1. Musical Favorites
   Benny's Ballad: Maria (not in the menu)
2. Benny Commercial Quickies
3. Fred Scuttle at The International
   Television Festival
4. Carmen
5. O'Jack
6. In London Tonight
7. Pan's People: Love For Sale
8. Yield To The Dawn
9. Cheapo Films Presents
   The Police Raid In Waterloo Station
10. Benny Quickie: Doctor, Doctor
11. Benny's Monologue: Wild Jack McGraw
12. The Race
13. Close: The Race Chase (not in the menu)

When he finishes singing, Benny introduces Benny Commercial Quickies including: 1. A washing machine ad with Benny slapping an unknown girl on the rear 2. Sue Upton doing a commercial for facial cream. 3. Helen Horton doing a commercial for "Percy" laundry detergent. 4.Benny in drag doing a "Top & Bottom" shampoo commercial which is actually a send-up of the famous "Head & Shoulders" shampoo and 4., Benny is the fast-talking and out-of-breath announcer for the "Soar-Away-Sum" Tabloid Newspaper with plenty of sexy young beauties throughout, including; "Can you pick a beauty queen?" (Nola Haynes & Francesca Whitburn); "Why Are Women Scared of Mice?" (Abigail Higgins & an unknown); "British Clothes", (Sarah Woollett); "Kids in The Comprehensive Schools" (Sue Upton); "Britain's Economic Slump" (Francesca Whitburn); "Britain's Defense" (Abigail Higgins & Nola Haynes); "Capitol Punishment" (a 16-year old Louise English) and "Underdeveloped Countries" (Sue Upton & Francesca Whitburn). Then Benny goes into drag to do another facial cream commercial, as well as a "Cross Over Your Heart Bra" commercial. (1. and 3. are remakes of ad-parody/bloopers which first aired on 02/24/71; and the "Cross Over Your Heart Bra" commercial was remade from the 12/22/71 'German' "Kross Dein Hartz Bustenhalter." As for "Top & Bottom," it appears that that was a remake of the hairdresser blooper of 02/24/71. - William Brown).

Then its another classic interview of Fred Scuttle by Henry McGee in Fred Scuttle at The International Television Festival. There is also a beautiful young blond who pops out at the beginning. Then Benny and Henry discuss what program is being entered into the Television Festival and other TV programs. Scuttle then introduces Carmen which is a musical send-up of the famous opera by Georges Bizet. Several beauties can be spotted briefly at the beginning. Henry McGee is in the stocks with Benny and Helen Horton (as Carmen) bickering as a married couple. They lip synch to a french track and Louise and Jackie Wright also appear in this great send-up.

Benny then plays the famous TV detective Kojak in an Irish version of the famous TV series in O'Jack. Helen Horton's husband has been murdered and O'Jack must find the killer. Benny plays the fast-talking bald detective in this send-up, as well as his partner Stavros. Look for Henry McGee as Crocker, along with Jackie Wright as a suspect and Emma Bryant as the maid. Benny also plays a soccer hero at the end with several girls behind him. Plenty of great gags in this one, as well as a painting of a naked girl on the wall.

Henry McGee interviews Benny and Jackie Wright as two Irish visitors on a Talk Show called In London Tonight. More misunderstandings because Benny and Jackie are Irish. Benny has a really bad cold and Jackie's leather seat makes lots of odd noises, so there is plenty of foley work in this one. I wonder if this is where Jenny Lee Wright was influenced to later start working in the foley area? (Actually (and this is off the record), Ms. Lee-Wright had been working in the foley side of the business as early as the 1970's, as a hobby. She'd attributed her expertise in the field to her training as a dancer. It didn't become a fulltime occupation for her until the end of the 1980's. I doubt if this sketch had anything to do with it. - William Brown).

Benny, Henry McGee, Jackie Wright and Roger Finch then introduce Pan's People in Love For Sale, which includes several young beauties doing a series of dances with towels and finally taking a bath together at the end. They do remove their towels after teasing us and reveal they are wearing shells to cover their vital areas. Not as high intensity as other routines, this one creates a more intimate atmosphere than many of the other dance routines in the series. This is still not an official "Hill's Angels" routine. Louise English, Abigail Higgins, Pauline Crawford, Francesca Whitburn, Dee Dee Wilde and Sarah Woollett appear. For more details you can check out my Pan's People in Love For Sale page.

Next is a great spoof of soap operas in Yield To The Dawn, starting with several scenes from "last week's episode": Benny and Helen Horton as an old couple in bed and Helen asking Benny if he was ever unfaithful; Benny and an Emma Bryant on a date together, with her "slipping into something more comfortable"; Benny as an old country doctor stopping in for Helen Horton to check on her husband, Jackie Wright. Then it's an hilarious scene with Benny talking to Roger Finch about how "virtuous" his late wife was, with Roger asking how she died! Sue plays his new young girl with sexy long blond hair... a scream; then, benny is having breakfast with his wife, Helen Horton and she mentions to him how their maid (played by Abigail Higgins), is leaving them. Then Benny is on his deathbed asking Helen Horton not to let her new husband wear his clothes. All great bits, but the next one has got to be one of my all-time favorite scenes, "Lean On My Crutch" with Benny and Helen Horton as a married couple patterned off of Archie Bunker. Roger Finch and a Emma Bryant play Harry and Blanche. Helen Horton is Benny's longsuffering wife. He just sits and reads his adult magazines (look closely), and makes her answer the door. I love Benny's hat and his redneck dialect. Things really heat up when Abigail Higgins shows up to "borrow a cup of sugar". Just watch Helen Horton's reaction. Priceless! (The "something more comfortable" and "deathbed" bits were remakes of quickies that were amongst the "Look #7" sketch of 10/28/70. - William Brown).

Cheapo Films Presents The Police Raid In Waterloo Station with Benny and Anita Pavel as a couple seeking to steal some famous jewels. There are more jokes, camera mistakes and visual gags than one can shake a stick at in this one. It's really a highlight in this episode. (The latter was actually Anika Pavel, whose first name was misspelled in the end credits. Mrs. Ramsbottom, I believe, was played by Alison Bell, making her first credited TBHS appearance. It appears that this was (or was intended to be) for Thames TV what his 1964 "Secret Agent of Love" sketch (as on The Lost Years compilation) had been for the BBC: namely, a "how-not-to" for budding film crew members starting work at the company. - William Brown).

In Benny Quickie: Doctor, Doctor Roger Finch barges into Dr. Benny's office complaining that the Doctor said he only had a year to live. (And "Year to Live" was what this quickie was called in Home Video Drive-In. - William Brown). Then Benny puts on his western costume to do Benny's Monologue: Wild Jack McGraw. Pay close attention or you may miss some of Benny's subtle jokes. This episode rounds out with The Race, as Benny and a group of athletes are enjoying a sports marathon and even rewarding a trophy to Johnny Vyvyan. (The Race was called "Track and Field" in Home Video Drive-In. - William Brown). Watch Benny lose his shorts in the pole vault event or Sue Upton ripping her shorts! This leads into Close: The Race Chase (not in the menu) to the tune of Yakkety Sax, ending this classic program.

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