Clues to the Tour

I seem to be getting a lot of visits here from people looking for information about the forthcoming I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue tour.

The official line from producer Jon Naismith is

Meanwhile we are planning tour dates for I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue’s first stage show in 35 years. Jeremy Hardy will be the guest, and we’ll be visiting Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Northampton, Oxford, Brighton, Reading, Ipswich and Tunbridge Wells in late August, September and early October.

Expect full datails in early May.

If all goes well we’ll do more dates in 2008, visiting other parts of the country.

However, some of us eagle-eyed fans have spotted tickets on sale already for Leeds Grand Theatre on August 31st, the Assembly Hall Theatre Tunbridge Wells on September 17th, Birmingham Hippodrome on September 19th and New Theatre Oxford for Wednesday 26 September.

Obviously we’re still waiting for an official announcement …

[01/05/07 - edited to add]

Another date has appeared – October 5th at Reading Hexagon

The Main Issue

Mark Thomas has written about the SOCPA protest in his blog for the New Statesman. In it he says

A multitude of banners pricked the air, demanding everything from an end to the war in Iraq to the immediate release of all Goodies episodes on DVD. Then after some cheers and shouts the protestors split up to head to their next demonstration.

I think I’ve obviously highlighted an issue close to a lot of people’s hearts!

Of course if they’re that passionate about it, maybe they’d like to sign the petition …

Unbelievably Funny

I’ve been busily going to radio comedy recordings again – honestly I really think I’m becoming addicted! (Is it possible to have too much laughter?)

Last Thursday evening I made the trek to the Drill Hall for The Now Show. I’ve loved listening to this show for years, so I was very pleased and excited to get the chance to go and see it. Punt and Dennis were always my favourite half of The Mary Whitehouse Experience, and it was great to see them live, just as funny as ever. Mitch Benn, fellow Doctor Who fan and OGer, was outstanding as always. It was great to see the whole team there, live, in front of me, but the thing that really shocked me was Jon Holmes. I know they always joke on the radio about how small he is, and he is really tiny, but I never realised he was quite so gorgeous in real life!!

Monday night and I was back at the Shaw Theatre for the third recording of The Unbelievable Truth(having been at the first one a few weeks ago). I know that this is a new show and still probably had to find it’s feet, but I was amazed how much better the shows seemed to be this time. Perhaps it was the quality of the panelists – Sandi Toksvig, Dara O’Briain, Jo Caulfield and Graeme Garden (I seem to be stalking poor Graeme – I’m not, honestly! I just have good taste in comedy). I won’t say much about the show, as I don’t want to give anything away before the broadcast, but I laughed lots – and I managed to spot a couple of truths that the panel didn’t! There was a very funny moment, which may not make the edit, where Jo Caulfield got very confused as to whether she was supposed to be spotting truths or lies and a good few hysterical minutes were spent trying to sort out which was which. One thing I will say is that someone needs to get Jon Naismith and new ‘new’ joke – I’ve heard his current ‘new’ joke at least four times now, and it wasn’t that funny the first time!!

The series began broadcasting last Monday (while we were waiting to go in to the recording) on Radio4 at 6.30pm, with reapeats on Sundays at 12pm, or Listen Again.

A Serious, Organised Protest

Yesterday I took part in a ‘mass lone’ demonstration against the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. This was the bill brought in order to remove long term protester Brian Haw from Parliament Square, but because it wasn’t made retrospective he is the only person now allowed to legally demonstrate there without the need for official permission. The SOCPA requires demonstrators to apply for permission to hold any sort of demonstration or protest within a zone around Parliament and Whitehall. Not only does this waste valuable police time by causing them to process unnecessary paperwork, but it’s also a huge infringement on our civil liberties and freedom of speech.

I’ve been aware of the lunacy of this act of Parliament since its introduction two years ago, but it was highlighted by Mark Thomas on a Radio 4 programme broadcast a couple of weeks ago. In it he explained his campaign against SOCPA and how he discovered that if various people wanted to demonstrate at the same time, but for different reasons (safety in numbers!) then they would each have to apply for individual permission. So began the ‘mass lone’ demonstrations held once a month in Parliament Square. The programme went on to detail Mark’s discovery that if he wanted to demonstrate for different reasons in different locations within the SOCPA zone that he would have to apply for permission for each location, which inspired his record breaking 21 protests in one day. It was this that we were all emulating yesterday.

Last week the police at Charing Cross received over 2000 requests for permission to demonstrate, including the 20 different protests and locations which I was applying for. With my permission granted I headed for Parliament Square, which was to be the collective first location of all the protesters. From there I set out with Clair on our planned route which took in many interesting, and some difficult to find, locations on Whitehall, Hungerford and Westminster Bridge and around various government department buildings. My protests, and I think those of most people taking part ranged from the serious (G8 promises on poverty, stopping people trafficking) to the less serious (bring back the skylon) to the downright silly (are there Slitheen in the cabinet, equal rights for daleks). I even managed to crowbar in requests for repeats and DVD releases for The Goodies! The point of the protests was not necessarily to make important points or political statements at each location, but to highlight the lunacy of SOCPA.

It was interesting the variety of reactions which our protests got. More obscure things got very confused looks from passers by. The best reactions I got were from people on Westminster Bridge where I was demonstrating for “Equal Rights for Daleks“. Many people seemed amused by this and one person even stopped to ask why. My final demonstration, back with all the other protesters in Parliament Square, was calling for all episodes of The Goodies to be released on DVD. This was probably only seen by other protesters, but from the very positive reactions I got this is a very popular cause! (The only person who questioned it was Mark Thomas himself, who I think I persuaded to my way of thinking!)

It was a fun, if tiring day. As it was very sunny and we were in a popular area of London there were large numbers of tourists around, many of whom asked if they could take pictures of us as we stood with our placards. It’s good that our messages will be seen around the world, but I wonder if they understood why we were there?

Wild Thing!

Monday night was my final show of the Goodies tour, and the penultimate show of the tour itself.

We had front row seats (again) but were sitting the opposite side to all the other shows. Consequently we were able to see into the wings before the show started and noticed a cheeky little face peeping round the curtains! The stage was quite high, which meant I did start to get a crick in my neck from looking up all the time, but I don’t mind. It was worth it.

The theatre was sold out and it was so good to see the show with a packed audience who were really responsive and joined in with all our clapping and cheering. Tim and Graeme seemed on top form and really seemed to be enjoying the show more than usual. There were some gloriously funny moments, including Tim getting the giggles while he was trying to tell his story about Germaine Greer (and the more he laughed, the more we did, which I think made it worse), Graeme appearing from behind the curtain where Bill’s paper supposedly fell out of the screen, the bulb falling off the horn on the radio mic stand and Tim commenting about being upstaged.

I love this show so much (can you tell?), I think I’ve enjoyed it more each time I’ve seen it, partly because it’s fun to watch out for all the different things and how the audience react (which is fun with any live show), but I think the real joy is the anticipation – waiting for the punchline, even when you know what it is, builds the tension and seems to make it so much more funny.

After the show it was round to the stage door and as usual we waited for the crowds to go first. While we were waiting we realised that we were standing next to Lisa (the GROK president), so it was great to put a face to a name. While we were chatting we suddenly noticed Tim running past us! I think one of the kids who was asking for autographs had got a bit overawed and so had run away and Tim was running after him!! (Graeme just sauntered over in a very casual way!)

Then it was our turn. We chatted for a while to Tim, asking him about the ‘Hello Cheeky’ album cover which Clair had had signed in Birmingham. Also, because Kate had ‘crumpet’ written on her t-shirt he explained how they’d not been allowed to use the word ‘crumpet’ during that joke in Cambridge Circus because it was censored by the Lord Chamberlain’s office! Tim then went and had his photo taken with some other people, so we asked Graeme to sign things. Graeme said something about me being a ‘lady in red’ (I was wearing a red dress) and looked at my dress and went “oh, yes” as I hadn’t thought about that! I asked for a photo with him (which I look really strange on, but Graeme looks fab. I must learn not to pull funny faces when I’m having my picture taken) and a hug – going for the works!!

I then asked Tim to sign my programme. He’d put his pen away, and so I borrowed Clair’s, and Tim asked me if I could help him by taking the end off for him. I did, while Tim was making some comment about how he could have said pull the end off (he’s so naughty!). Then I had a photo where I was still giggling too much, but it’s a good picture. I also asked for a hug, which was lovely, although afterwards Tim said something about goose (it was written on the pub behind me)!!

Then all too soon it was time to go. So we all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways home.

Here in my car

Doctor Who – Gridlock

(blah, blah SPOILERS blah)

This was a good fun episode, but then I love the kind of telly where all the action takes place in a confined space (The Goodies episode The End, or Hancock’s The Lift). It gives so much more opportunity to learn about the characters, rather than getting lost in the action.

The Doctor extended his one trip offer to Martha and took her to the future - to New Earth, where he had taken Rose last year. Most of the population were stuck on the motorway, in the world’s biggest traffic jam (I’ll never complain again. Nothing could be like the years seen here!). And the Doctor and Martha get trapped, in separate cars, in the jam too. It was great to see how Martha reacted to the problems and dangers without the Doctor, using her intellect where Rose would have used her emotions.

The Face of Boe made a welcome return and finally gave up his secret – the Doctor is not alone – before dying. Does this mean that the Doctor is not the last of the Time Lords, and that some survived? We’ll have to wait and see …

Is This The Real Life?

Life on Mars finished on Tuesday. It’s been a phenomenal unmissable tv moment for two whole series. But everyone seems to be moaning about the ending, although I can’t see why.

The premise for the show was that Sam Tyler, a detective from 2006, had an accident and woke up in 1973. The show captured all the fun of 1970s police shows like The Sweeney, but used Sam’s character to contrast them with modern attitudes. The big question throughout was whether Sam was in a coma and dreaming he was in 1973, had somehow travelled back in time to 1973 or if he was in 1973, but only thought he was from 2006.

If you’ve not seen the last episode, don’t read on, as there’s likely to be spoilers.

As well as the weird test card girl and people talking to Sam through his tv and radio, there was a recurring theme of the Wizard of Oz – Gene Hunt often referred to Sam as Dorothy, Sam often spoke of how he wanted to go home, Frank Morgan (the officer from Hyde) was also the name of the actor who played the Wizard in the 1939 film. These were highlighted by the use of Over The Rainbow on the soundtrack of the last episode. But what did these have to do with Sam and his getting home? As the episode was progressing I was following this thought more and more (associating characters – Annie was the Scarecrow, Dorothy’s best friend and clever without knowing it, Ray was the Tin Man and Chris the Cowardly Lion) it did seem like Sam would have to kill the wicked witch (Hunt) to get home. But then I thought that in the Wizard of Oz it isn’t the killing of the witch that gets Dorothy home, but her wanting to go. And so it was with Sam.

His discovery that he had been in a coma seemed to fit the Wizard of Oz theme. In the film Dorothy wakes up at home, thinking all her adventures have been a dream:

DOROTHY
But I did leave you, Uncle Henry — that’s just the trouble. And I tried to get back for days and days.

AUNT EM
There, there, lie quiet now. You just had a bad dream.

…

DOROTHY
No. But it wasn’t a dream — it was a place.

…

DOROTHY
No, Aunt Em — this was a real, truly live place. And I remember that some of it wasn’t very nice but most of it was beautiful. But just the same, all I kept saying to everybody was, I want to go home. And they sent me home.

But then came the real twist. Sam was unhappy with his modern life, so jumps off a roof and back into 1973 in time to save his friends, including Hunt. And he was left to live happily ever after in the 1970s (and presumably change policing for the better). But this doesn’t seem to have pleased a lot of people. They seem unhappy that the 1973 world was a fantasy, all dreamed up in the head of comatose Sam. But was it? It was unclear if this was the case, or if Sam had somehow managed to find a way to travel to this alternative time by leaving his current life.

I’ve been thinking more about the Wizard of Oz. In the books, it wasn’t all a dream, but a real place that Dorothy found by accident, and somewhere she was able to return to. So could it be that neither the present day nor the 1973 world were fantasy, but were both real in some sort of parallel existence, like Dorothy’s present day and Oz? Then there’s no let down, no cop out. And it leaves the door wide open for the spin-off series.

Waiting …

It’s now a month since BBC correspondent Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza.

Despite various pleas and vigils there’s still no news …

I pray he’s returned safely to his family soon.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

Doctor Who – The Shakespeare Code

(PROBABLY WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS)

The first time Martha travels back in time and she meets William Shakespeare!

I really liked this episode. I’m always a little concerned about historical stories in Doctor Who, but this one really seemed to work. Martha was asking all the right questions for someone new to time travel, and I especially liked the way she asked about if it would be safe for her, being black, and the Doctor explained that black people were quite commonplace in all levels of Elizabethan society. Hurray for someone having done some research!

I really liked the representation of Shakespeare, apart maybe from his Manchester accent (surely Shakespeare would have had a midlands accent??). He was written and performed as an ordinary bloke with an extra-ordinary talent for words. The word genius was used and I think it was apt in describing this character – his intellect seemed to match the Doctor’s, although there was much he didn’t understand he wasn’t fazed by the concept of time travel and aliens.

Which brings me on to the ‘big bad’ of the episode. I felt the three Carrionites were exactly the right kind of alien threat to be inhabiting Shakespeare’s world. They appeared like the three witches from Macbeth, and seemed to use magic (the Doctor explained that it wasn’t magic, simply a different form of science) and their power came from words. All very cleverly thought out.

A really fun, enjoyable episode with a strong story. And I loved all the leavering in of quotes from Shakespeare (and one from Dylan Thomas), to which he would reply “ooh, I like that” and the Doctor would say “you can have that one”!

It’s Friday …

Another week, another Goodies show (ok, so it’s less than a week since the last one, but it sounded better). This one was in Birmingham, not my favourite city in the world, but the one I know best.

I think by now I’m starting to know the show quite well, but even so every time I see it it’s different – the audiences react to different things, the ad-libs and the fact that I always forget which bit comes next make it all so new and exciting each time. Although Tim did accuse us of laughing before the jokes when we spoke to him at the stage door!

We had front row seats (again), at the extreme left hand side facing the stage. We were so far to the left that I could see into the wings and spent a good part of the time before the show trying to identify the silhouettes that were walking in to view (I did manage to make Clair laugh by saying “there’s Graeme, I recognise the cat on his head”!)

The show was as good as ever and the audience were very responsive. It was great to see so many kids in the audience, some of them quite young (I won’t say too young because I watched the show on the telly at the age of four or five). There were two girls sitting behind us who were probably about six or seven and they laughed and giggled their way through the show probably as much as we did. Lots of the kids were hanging around the stage door after the show wanting autographs and photographs and there was a lovely moment when Tim was having his picture taken with two small children (I was concerned that it didn’t look comfortable for him having to bend down that far) when the mum told them to smile and Tim said “I am”!!

Highlights of the show were spotting Tim singing along to Grease Cycling, puppet Bill attempting to scare Tim and Tim fighting back, and we didn’t get the chance to better our clip request from Southend as someone further down the front row shouted out for Tim in a dress! We’ll save it for another time …

After the show there was a large crowd at the stage door, and as usual we let most of them ask for autographs before us. I asked Tim and Graeme to sign my new LWT series DVD. It’s great when you don’t have to tell them who it’s to (although I don’t know how Graeme remembers everyone’s name – he must have a great memory). I also got hugs from both. Tim gave the best and longest hug ever and afterwards said that it was the best bit. Graeme’s hug was great too, and while we were hugging he said how good it was to see me again and I replied that it was good to see him too (what a great and original reply! But at least I can manage to put words together and form a sentence now!!). he also asked if we would be turning up at any more shows, to which I replied “erm … well … maybe …”. That’s my attempt at being evasive!

As it was easter, and as Graeme had been commenting on the food when we were all at Southend, we’d bought them both easter eggs. We’d had messages iced on to them – Tim’s said “Hello Cheeky” and Graeme’s “Ungelievagle Genius” (apart from the ‘e’ had fallen off genius). When we were getting them out of the bag they both looked a little bemused as to what we had for them, but they both appeared to like them. Tim commented on the fact that the chocolate was ‘extra thick’ and took it, in good humour, as a personal comment. But chocolate doesn’t come in extra cuddly!!