Though many claim that until "It'll Be Alright on the Night" premiered, bloopers and mess-ups in TV, films and adverts were "hidden" from the general public, we had gotten close to seeing what went on behind the scenes from Benny Hill's occasional "things that go wrong" segments on his Thames specials. Unfortunately, one effect that "It'll Be Alright..." had was to render Mr. Hill's contrived "outtake" quickies passé almost immediately. From the debut of "It'll Be Alright..." in 1977, Benny only did such scripted "boo-boos" for two more years before finally dispensing with that segment altogether after 1979 - which coincided with the start of a new direction for the Hill show that, to this day, remains highly controversial. Oh, yes, and then there's the matter of "It'll Be Alright..." spawning such American equivalents as "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes."
3 Reviews
"Who's that walking across my sky?"
ShadeGrenade22 February 2008
Warning: Spoilers
A regular feature on 'The Benny Hill show' for years were 'spoof outtakes' - moments of television when things would, for whatever reason, go wrong. A door refusing to open, an actor fumbling his lines, a bit of scenery collapsing, that sort of thing. These 'quickies' were very funny and hugely popular.
Then, in 1977, London Weekend Television broadcast 'It'll Be Alright On The Night' which was more of the same. Only with a difference. The outtakes were real!
Taken from the archives of motion pictures, news broadcasts and television productions, 'Night' was a glorious celebration of disaster, boasting clips that would become classics. The girl singer whose mermaid costume slips in the middle of her number, exposing her naked breasts. 'John-Boy Walton' exclaiming excitedly: "They're gonna hang him by his balls!" ( I wonder what the original line was? ). 'Grandma Walton' spilling soup over the cast. A trailer for 'Bouquet Of Barbed Wire' ( a notorious drama about incest, starring Frank Finlay ) being overlaid by one for 'The Muppet Show' ( how hard it was to tell the difference! ). A trailer for 'Within These Walls' ( a British drama set in a women's prison ) interrupted by a commercial featuring singing, dancing puppets called 'The Yogurt Kids'. A Irishman gives an interview to a reporter, but talks so fast no-one understands a word he says! An actor filming a scene in a fake WW2 plane is thrown when someone walks in front of the backdrop supposed to represent the sky ( hence the quote above ). An American reporter talks to camera, unaware that behind him a man is exposing himself on air!
Denis Norden introduced the programme in his usual urbane manner ( though I could never work out why he had an empty clip board on his person! ).
The show proved a big ratings success for I.T.V. and further shows were assured. Amongst the best of the later outtakes: 'Professionals' Martin Shaw falling out of the back of a moving van! Peter Sellers giggling when someone farts in a crowded lift in 'Revenge Of The Pink Panther'. A lengthy local news item in which a man revisits the area where he planted some trees a decade earlier, and fails to recall the exact spot, then breaks his spade! My favourite though was the young American girl who, when asked for her opinion of Christmas, replied: "I think they should have it every year!". As Richard Littlejohn would say, you could not make it up!
Then, in 1977, London Weekend Television broadcast 'It'll Be Alright On The Night' which was more of the same. Only with a difference. The outtakes were real!
Taken from the archives of motion pictures, news broadcasts and television productions, 'Night' was a glorious celebration of disaster, boasting clips that would become classics. The girl singer whose mermaid costume slips in the middle of her number, exposing her naked breasts. 'John-Boy Walton' exclaiming excitedly: "They're gonna hang him by his balls!" ( I wonder what the original line was? ). 'Grandma Walton' spilling soup over the cast. A trailer for 'Bouquet Of Barbed Wire' ( a notorious drama about incest, starring Frank Finlay ) being overlaid by one for 'The Muppet Show' ( how hard it was to tell the difference! ). A trailer for 'Within These Walls' ( a British drama set in a women's prison ) interrupted by a commercial featuring singing, dancing puppets called 'The Yogurt Kids'. A Irishman gives an interview to a reporter, but talks so fast no-one understands a word he says! An actor filming a scene in a fake WW2 plane is thrown when someone walks in front of the backdrop supposed to represent the sky ( hence the quote above ). An American reporter talks to camera, unaware that behind him a man is exposing himself on air!
Denis Norden introduced the programme in his usual urbane manner ( though I could never work out why he had an empty clip board on his person! ).
The show proved a big ratings success for I.T.V. and further shows were assured. Amongst the best of the later outtakes: 'Professionals' Martin Shaw falling out of the back of a moving van! Peter Sellers giggling when someone farts in a crowded lift in 'Revenge Of The Pink Panther'. A lengthy local news item in which a man revisits the area where he planted some trees a decade earlier, and fails to recall the exact spot, then breaks his spade! My favourite though was the young American girl who, when asked for her opinion of Christmas, replied: "I think they should have it every year!". As Richard Littlejohn would say, you could not make it up!
Should Have Stayed A One Off
Theo Robertson13 August 2004
IT`LL BE ALRIGHT ON THE NIGHT was heavily hyped in the weeks leading up to its broadcast by ITV in 1977 . This was common in Britain at the time because we only had three channels in those days : BBC 1 , BBC 2 and ITV and no one ever watched BBC 2 so ITV and BBC 1 were at war in order to get ratings
The show itself is a collection of out takes from movies and TV shows presented by the painfully unfunny Denis Norden , the type of character who thinks he`s funny when in fact he`s not . Example ? " With a title like It`ll be alright on the night you may think this has something to do with a wedding ... " I can`t think how he described a cock -up . But anyway the clips themselves were outrageous since some of them contained nudity like a singer/dancer struggling in vain to stop her swimsuit from slipping down to reveal her breasts , and the clip from an American news report that has a man cheekily stripping off in the background and waving ( Behave yourself ) with his hand towards the camera . This risque show was the main topic of conversation at school on the Monday morning due to the nudity , but being an innocent soul my favourite clip was the broadcaster announcing a trailer for 70s female prison drama WITHIN THESE WALLS which cut to a bunch of puppets singing and dancing which had me laughing out loud.
Unfortunately ITV decided to kill the golden goose by making more editions of IT`LL BE ALRIGHT ON THE NIGHT every couple of years where the supply of genuinely funny clips soon became exausted . Worse than that by the mid 1990s both ITV and BBC schedules started producing a ridiculous amount of out take shows like TV NIGHTMARES , LAUGHTER FILE and AUNTIES BLOOMERS where a very small percentage of clips are either funny or original and has you wishing the first IT`LL BE ALRIGHT ON THE NIGHT had stayed as a one off
The show itself is a collection of out takes from movies and TV shows presented by the painfully unfunny Denis Norden , the type of character who thinks he`s funny when in fact he`s not . Example ? " With a title like It`ll be alright on the night you may think this has something to do with a wedding ... " I can`t think how he described a cock -up . But anyway the clips themselves were outrageous since some of them contained nudity like a singer/dancer struggling in vain to stop her swimsuit from slipping down to reveal her breasts , and the clip from an American news report that has a man cheekily stripping off in the background and waving ( Behave yourself ) with his hand towards the camera . This risque show was the main topic of conversation at school on the Monday morning due to the nudity , but being an innocent soul my favourite clip was the broadcaster announcing a trailer for 70s female prison drama WITHIN THESE WALLS which cut to a bunch of puppets singing and dancing which had me laughing out loud.
Unfortunately ITV decided to kill the golden goose by making more editions of IT`LL BE ALRIGHT ON THE NIGHT every couple of years where the supply of genuinely funny clips soon became exausted . Worse than that by the mid 1990s both ITV and BBC schedules started producing a ridiculous amount of out take shows like TV NIGHTMARES , LAUGHTER FILE and AUNTIES BLOOMERS where a very small percentage of clips are either funny or original and has you wishing the first IT`LL BE ALRIGHT ON THE NIGHT had stayed as a one off
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