Sir Bruce Forsyth RIP

Just look at all those people who no longer post.

I remember watching the video and indeed I'm the first reply to that thread… someone had uploaded a high quality rip of presumably their own home recording of the incident, complete with the ad break afterwards. If you do decide to watch it (if it surfaces again) make sure you're prepared for it and not just absentmindedly clicking on a YouTube link, because it is pretty horrific.

This post from Pete still makes me laugh.

Talking of dead comedians, this turned up on Reddit a few weeks back. A lovely little short film set in a dressing room featuring Bob Monkhouse, Eric Morecambe and Tommy Cooper

I thought I recognised that name, Paul Hendy. He was one of the co-hosts on Don't Try This at Home. Interesting, and probably not coincidental, casting in there too. Bob Holding, the chap playing Eric, actually played Eric in ITV's biopic about Tommy Cooper a few years back with David Threlfall. And Bob is portrayed by Simon Cartwright, an impressionist famous for his own take on Bob and was once a contestant on Bob says Opportunity Knocks. It would've been great to see Daniel Rigby take on Eric Morecambe again. I always admired his performance in Victoria Wood's drama about Eric and Ernie. Overall though, it's a great film.

Paul Hendy also was the last presenter of Wheel of Fortune he was around a lot in the 90s on kids TV too and then disappeared.

I saw the clip that was shown as part of a 2011 Channel 4 documentry on Tommy Cooper, and that was bad enough (and I genuinely wasn't expecting them to show it until it appeared), apparently they cut out the most disturbing bits, and I found that disturbing enough. Never seen the full clip, nor do I want to.

All The Untold Tommy Cooper included was the shot of him sinking to the floor, and the wide shot of the curtain being pulled around him as the ad break started, the latter of which was also included on Tarby's episode of Life Stories. However that also featured a short clip after the ad break where Jimmy walks out in front of the curtain and welcomes the viewers back. That's never been seen before, AFAIK.

Yes, he'll always be the host of 'Dear Mr Barker' to me.

I seem to remember a classic cock up by the BBC post room in which a letter addressed Dear Mr Barker was directed to a very different Mr Barker.

The gentleman in question sent a very nice reply along the lines of "I'm afraid I do 'it's goodnight from him', not woof woof"...

Very surprised that they would air it as part of a normal programme like that… was there any warning beforehand about what you were going to see? It's really not pleasant at all.


(I don't think it should be banned or whatever, I just think it needs to be understood how it can be upsetting to watch, especially if it stays in your memory for a while afterwards).

ANYWAY

The shot of him falling down doesn't look all that disturbing, and the shot of the curtain is wide and partially obscured by the title card. I didn't see the original airing of The Untold and there wasn't any warning on Life Stories. But as I say, compared to the close up shots of him gasping, falling back and "snoring", what's been broadcast since is fairly tame. It's only knowing what's actually happening to him that makes it unsettling.

But yes, let's move on.