On the Margin (1966)

Genre

comedy television program

Country

United Kingdom

Length

1 season, 6 episodes

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 1 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This 1960s British sketch show mixes sharp satire with sentimental nods to old music hall culture. Writer Alan Bennett and a cast poke fun at society while also featuring poetry and songs that show a genuine fondness for Britain's past.

wittysatiricalnostalgicwhimsicalliterateretroeclecticmildly anarchic

What happens

On the Margin was a British satirical comedy sketch show written and performed by Alan Bennett and a regular cast including John Sergeant, Virginia Stride, Madge Hindle and Yvonne Gilan. Guest performers included John Fortune and Jonathan Miller. The show also featured songs and poems by John Betjeman and Philip Larkin. Each episode featured a mixture of sketches, some prophesying his later television dramas such as the quasi-soap Streets Ahead: Life and Times in NW1 (about an upwardly mobile Camden couple) and more unexpectedly, serious poetry and music slots incorporating readings by Michael Hordern and Prunella Scales with archive footage of music-hall stars. This personalised nostalgic element distinguished On the Margin from other contemporary sketch shows, with Bennett's satirical swipes at Britain, integrated with his genuine love of its cultural heritage. It was directed by Sydney Lotterby, produced by Patrick Garland and was broadcast between 9 November and 14 December 1966 on BBC 2. It was repeated twice in 1967, including a screening on BBC 1, but the tapes were wiped due to the BBC policy at the time of reusing videotape in order to save costs. However, a compilation CD of audio extracts was released in 2009, and in 2014 it was announced that audio copies of the entire series had been located. The series was cited by John Cleese as an influence on Monty Python's Flying Circus. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)
• At Last the 1948 Show (1967)
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• Broaden Your Mind (1968)
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• The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
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