Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee

 Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee, 1984

The alternative comedy scene took flight in the 1980’s with successes such as The Young Ones and The Mary Whitehouse experience a huge hit with audiences.

Despite it’s strong cast, sketch show A Kick Up The Eighties had failed to catch on with viewers and lasted just two series.  Not to be beaten into submission BBC Scotland produced this short lived spin off: Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee.   Following straight on from it’s predecessor it also had a strong cast.  However it managed just one series of six episodes.

Producer Colin Gilbert recalled how A kick Up The Eighties came to an end “because cast members like Rik Mayall and Tracy Ullman were becoming big stars elsewhere and wouldn’t be returning. However, the new Controller of BBC2 Graeme McDonald let us keep the budget and just said we had to make a similar sort of show. I was very keen to keep working with Robbie, so Laugh??? was conceived as a sort of vehicle for him”.

Summary

The cast perform in a series of short sketches.

Clips

 

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Cast

Robbie Coltrane
John Sessions
Ron Bain
Louise Gold

Details

Channel: BBC2
Developed By: BBC Scotland
Written By:
Chris Morrison
Archie O’Niell
Ian Pattison
Robbie Coltrane
Produced By: Colin Gilbert
Original Transmission Dates: 29th October – 3rd December 1984