The BBC made the unforgivable blunder, (not the worst one they ever made within the corridors of Television Centre as we now know), of wiping tapes of a huge number of television and radio programmes to save money. As a result of this we are deprived of several culturally significant moments. Tape was expensive and as a large amount of programmes were broadcast live, they were not considered worth keeping. Thanks to the fact that a handful of programmes were copied and sent to foreign television stations, we have been able to watch episodes of Doctor Who, Dad’s Army, and others that were once thought lost forever. If they were that keen to erase a series that was running, (the BBC wanted to wipe Monty Python’s Flying Circus until the cast intervened and attempted to buy the original copies), you struggle to find a logical explanation for why they have an archive of pilot programmes that never made it to a series. Maybe they had learned their lesson about destroying the past? If that it the case then we should find out who made the decision and offer them a job with Nottingham City Council.

As part of the celebrations of BBC2’s fiftieth birthday, last night there was a heavily hyped documentary/clip show promising a tantalising look at long forgotten comedy pilots. On the surface this looked like a televisual treasure trove of pilot editions, sometimes a bit different to how they ended up. That is common practise and why none-broadcast pilots are made, so they can develop things into something that the viewer hopefully wants to see. Aside from a few pilots, the show didn’t exactly live up to its promise, and padded it out with clips of shows that hadn’t been repeated since the first broadcast. Not that the show wasn’t interesting of course, but a little misleading.

The one pilot that grabbed my attention was for a situation comedy called Madness. Written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis around the time of The Young Ones (a show that Madness guested on twice), the ‘sit’ involved the discovery that Margaret Thatcher was an alien who had gone back to her own planet. Rather than the deputy Prime Minister taking over or another election being called, the job of running the country was handed to the pop group Madness, with Suggs as PM and the band in the cabinet. For some reason the headquarters were moved to a café in Camden Town, (giving ‘old logo’ nerds like myself a nice look at the old Pepsi symbol and the once familiar LV sticker, signifying that the café accepted luncheon vouchers, whatever they were), rather than Downing Street. I’m sure the ‘com’ was there somewhere; although not in the clips we were shown last night.

If ever there was a programme that should have been commissioned it is this. Without knowing the back-story, I imagine that the BBC probably saw how successful The Young Ones was and invited Ben Elton and Richard Curtis to lunch to ask if they had anything else to pitch. It is my hope that the whole episode is still intact, and that I might be allowed to see it one day. I intend to write to the BBC and Ben Elton to find out if there is a copy of the script that I might be able to look at. Out of curiosity I would, if I could afford it, make the series anyway regardless of whether the BBC wanted it or not. I’d make it just for my own entertainment because the premise is far too good to waste.

Pop groups acting the part of themselves in film and television isn’t a new thing by any means, The Monkees were brought together for a television show after all. The Sex Pistols, The Spice Girls, and New Kids on the Block are among the names that have turned their hands to comedy in order to capitalise on their popularity. This is a genre of film that I have a curious interest in and watch them for their light heartedness and actually gain a modicum of respect for the acts that willingly send themselves up for laughs. If Madness didn’t want to take part in finally making this sitcom a reality, then I can think of a number of bands on a local level that have sufficient humour to carry it off.

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