Who's Who Of
The Benny Hill Show

Page 19
(Stephenson - Two's Company)

A Special Thanks must go to contributing editor William Brown for submitting these photos and information on each of these actors / actresses. Many of them were regulars and some were actually guest stars. I have added links to the Internet Movie Database where I could find them. Hope you can find many of those stars you've been wondering about and maybe a few you hadn't thought of. If you don't find what you are looking for, fear not. This section will continue to expand. Thanks again to William Brown, who wrote all of the information. I have also taken this section and put all of the entries in alphabetical order. If you are looking for someone specific, simply place your cursor on the links on the right hand side of the page. A caption will pop up letting you know which names that link will take you to. Enjoy!

I'm not 100% sure of, but it could be...

Earl Stephenson

IMDB Entry

And I can't be certain, but this could possibly be Earl Stephenson (as seen in the 12/27/73 Scuttle Chunnel sketch). I could only gauge this by two factors: (A) his being credited on two shows, this and the 12/5/73 edition, and (B) the fact that he only appeared in sketches filmed in what looked like a pit (he was also in the Federales de Los Pueblos runoff). If it turns out I'm mistaken (I suppose someone from the U.K. would comment), feel free to transmit the corrections.

Samantha Stevens

IMDB Entry

From the "Midnight in Soho" sketch of the March 12, 1975 edition (top), here's Samantha Stevens. Founder of the "Sam's Set" dance troupe, and also appearing on Jan. 8, 1975, she returned to the show for one episode (Dec. 26, 1978) as choreographer. And another pic of dancer/choreographer Samantha Stevens, from the Jan. 8, 1975 "Newer Faces", (bottom) sketch.

José Stewart

IMDB Entry

Two pics of pianist Jose (a.k.a. Josie) Stewart, from the Nov. 24, 1971 "Cruising on the S.S. Rumpo" sketch, (top) where she played Madame Karsova, and from the March 22, 1972 "Adjudicating Panel" sketch, (bottom). From what I've glossed, she was a cabaret pianist. Also played keyboards in the "Poor Prunella" number that followed the "Scuttlevision" sketch. On top of the variant spellings of her name (Jose Stewart on Nov. 24, 1971, Josie Stewart on March 22, 1972), the film The Best of Benny Hill (which included the "Adjudicating Panel" sketch) had her name spelled as "Josie Stuart."

Ted Taylor (d.1992)

IMDB Entry

Music associate/pianist Ted Taylor (d. 1992), seen here during "The Herd" sketch of March 31, 1986. He served in that capacity for the first Thames TBHS series, then returned to the show effective with the March 29, 1973 edition and remained to the very end. His other on-screen appearances (accompanying on the piano, natch') included "The Dalton Abbott Railway Porter Choir" sketch from the said 1973 show and "Lower Tidmarsh Volunteer Fire Brigade Glee Singers" from March 24, 1976. Also mugged shamelessly to the camera during the April 16, 1980 "Name That Tune" parody. Died a few months before Mr. Hill.

Alison Thomas

Two shots of Hill's Angel Alison Thomas from the "Wondergran Meets Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hide" sketch from Jan. 7, 1981 which was her only credited TBHS appearance. She also was on the next show (Feb. 11, 1981, as the girl on the stretcher with Jackie Wright in the "Lower Tidmarsh Volunteer Fire Brigade" remake), as well as in 1985 (most notably, as the uniformed police officer in the opening "Costa Coco" musical number of May 27) and 1986. In addition, she was in the dance troupe Zoo in 1982, and was probably a dancer at one point on the long-running BBC music program Top of the Pops Bottom: Another shot of Alison Thomas, this one from the April 8, 1985 "Dance and Shake Your Tambourine" number.

Jo Thomas

IMDB Entry

Hill's Angel Jo Thomas as seen in the Feb. 10, 1982 "firing squad" quickie. Jo (short for Joanna) is a model today. You can see her at www.modelplan.co.uk. Just click 'classics women' and look for her in A-Z under 'J' for Joanna (clicking the first one as there are two 'Joannas').

Jimmy Thompson (1924-2005)

IMDB Entry

Jimmy Thompson, as seen here in "The Hitch-Hiker" sketch of March 11, 1970. He was also in the "Rogue Nudist" sketch on the same show, as well as playing the key character parts on the Dec. 27, 1972 broadcast. You can read an obituary for Thompson at The Stage Online

Sara Throssell

Sara Throssell, one of the 1989 Hill's Angels. From the "Seven Foolish Virgins" segment, April 5, 1989.

Percy Thrower (1913-1988)

IMDB Entry

Legendary gardening expert Percy Thrower (1913-1988), playing straight man to Mr. Hill as Amos Thripp on the Feb. 23, 1972 show. He'd previously appeared on one of Mr. Hill's BBC shows in late 1961. Mr. Thrower hosted a gardening show on the BBC but was fired in 1976 after doing a gardening ad which was shown on rival ITV (similar to when the U.S. public TV show This Old House fired original host Bob Vila after he started doing ads for Sears.)

Helen Tozer

This is a shot of Helen Tozer, from the "Dance and Shake Your Tambourine" number of April 8, 1985. She had also been credited in TV Times (UK) listings for the Jan. 2, 1985 show, but though she appeared there as well, she was not in the actual closing credits. Prior to her Angels stint, Ms. Tozer had been in another Libby Roberts-choreographed dance troupe, Lipstick.

John Trayhorn (1955-2008)

IMDB Entry

Diminutive (4' 11") John Trayhorn, from his only appearance on Dec. 22, 1971 (on which he was credited as John Trayhorne), seen here as the son of Benny's German tennis player Otto Stuk. He was also in the runoff where he ogled the female police officers. A blog has been put together for John Trayhorn on blogspot.com so you can learn more about this actor. Special thanks to Tom Walsh (also known as "Tredder" in the ezBoard)for passing on this link.

Two's Company

As from the Oct. 28, 1970 show, here is Two's Company performing The Fantasticks' most famous tune, "Try To Remember." The duo consisted of Gerry Kendall (top) and his wife Valerie (bottom). They were booked onto TBHS after appearing on the talent show Opportunity Knocks (which Benny parodied on the very next show). They and Los Zafiros backed Benny on his closing "Jose's Cantina" number on said edition.