Guest Panellists: Tony Blackburn, Faith Brown, Nicholas Smith, Suzanne Dando, Norman Collier and Joyce Blair.
If you've read the site's article on Blankety Blank Series 16, you may recall Rick McWhirter, a contestant on the Lily Savage revival version, and self-confessed Blankety Blank nerd. Rick had written to the producer of Les's time on the show, Stanley Appel, and kindly shared his response with me in the hope that it would be useful in compiling these articles.
While Stanley's letter will doubtlessly feature more strongly in a look at some of the later series, where a lot of the discussion was based, it's worth noting here that Stanley said that "Everyone who appeared on the show were booked by me" and that the reason why some guests (specifically Kenny Everett, Beryl Reid and Larry Grayson) hadn't appeared in the Dawson era - or just once in Beryl's case - is simply that he just didn't invite them.
Stanley noted that: "Most people in 'show biz' were Les's friends. He never asked for me to book anyone or refuse to work with anyone." With all this in mind, then this episode's a very cosy, friendly edition, with Les even revealing that Norman Collier was the godfather of his daughter. It's a pretty fun edition, even though the most laughs come not from the audience, but from Collier, as he's amused by Les's schtick.
But perhaps most significant is that there's a rare chance in the Dawson era to see the studio audience, when the second male contestant uses the opportunity to ask his girlfriend to marry him. Interestingly, although a large section of the audience is plagued by awful '80s hairstyles that were popular at the time and so laughable now, a fair proportion is still made up of the blue rinse set that were glimpsed way back in the third series.
(She said "Yes", by the way.)
Guest Panellists: Duncan Norvelle, Katie Boyle, Peter Stringfellow, Floella Benjamin, Alfred Marks and Susan Hanson.
A varied panel sees the return of Alfred Marks, semi-regular from the Wogan era, and Floella Benjamin, who Les tries to communicate with by playing a drum rhythm on her desk(!) However, perhaps the most notable panel member is a debuting Peter Stringfellow, who Les makes pains to insist is an old friend.
Piecing together a timeline of Peter Stringfellow in relation to Blankety Blank is pretty much impossible, as he was a man who received - and, in a way, actively courted - tabloid headlines. As a result all kinds of stories kept him in the public eye, and how much is true is open to question. Chances are, if you think about Peter Stringfellow, the first thing you'll think of - after his terrible mullet - are his strip clubs.
But he introduced his "gentlemen's clubs" to the UK with topless dancing in 1996, followed by full nudity in 2002. At this stage in his career he was more known for working with rock stars (he'd hired the Beatles, Hendrix and Stevie Wonder, to name just three acts, in his clubs) and the headlines about him at the time were his legal action against a brand of chips called "Stringfellows".
His much-quoted claim that he'd slept with at least 2,000 women occurred in the very early 1990s, reputedly at a drinking session with Bill Wyman after the release of Wyman's autobiography Stone Alone. As the book wasn't released until late 1990, it places such well-known Stringfellow quotes not only after this edition of Blankety Blank, but after the entire original run of the programme. (In 2006 he told the Press Gazette that it was his biggest regret, noting "As true as it is, it sounds such a childish, braggart thing to say.")
There's also contradictions to Stringfellow, such as his reportedly puritanical nature in some areas, and his alleged well-read background. So, who really was Peter Stringfellow? We may never know for sure, but in November 1985 he was a fairly chirpy, harmless presence on a pretty fun edition of the show.
Guest Panellists: Cyril Fletcher, Janet Brown, Gary Davies, Lynsey de Paul, Tommy Trinder and Nerys Hughes.
Gary Davies becomes another of the then-current Radio 1 DJs to join the show, and such things are obviously subjective. For every person that thinks of the '80s era of Radio 1 as a festering cesspit of inanity that's the work of the Devil himself, there's others that remember it fondly, so no judgement will be passed here. Gary is actually pleasant company, and his appearance is a stark reminder of how the era could have ever conjured up something like the sixth Doctor's costume in Doctor Who.
Also on the show is Tommy Trinder, a relatively rare example of someone non-contemporary appearing on the show. Although Trinder had appeared on the BBC the previous year in music show Super Troupers, the old variety comedian was towards the end of his career, and, sadly, his life. Although Les's crack about Tommy saying it takes him a long time to write the answers down may amuse ("It's takin' yer time to breathe!") it's bittersweet when Tommy died less than four years after this episode aired.
Les openly admitted to reusing old gags, though his crack about Tommy being popular with the Queen ("But Albert was never sure of him") is particularly bad as Tommy is on record as doing a variation on the exact same gag at least as far back as 1979. It's possible it was a well-known joke that neither of them invented, and Bob Monkhouse also did a variation on the gag in January that year in his own self-titled television show. Plus, Les may have intended it as a tribute. But either way, introducing a comic with a gag he cracked himself at leave five years beforehand is a little remiss.
Yet although beset by the same sound issues as 9.7, this is a diverting enough edition.
Guest Panellists: Bill Pertwee, Bella Emberg, Pete Murray, Linda Nolan, Frankie Vaughan and Fiona Richmond.
Bill Pertwee makes his sole appearance here, joining Clive Dunn in series nine for a surprisingly low Dad's Army/Blankety Blank crossover ratio. The question of which faces of the time you'd think would have been on the show is perhaps a worthwhile discussion, as there are many people from the age who didn't make it onto the programme. One might have comfortably expected, for example, Rod Hull, Mike Yarwood or Michael Crawford to have put in an appearance. Yet perhaps the biggest omission is Paul Squire (forever immortalised in The Young Ones as "Paul Squires"), a Search for a Star singer-impressionist who the BBC were promoting during the early '80s in his own astonishingly ropey sketch shows.
As producer Stanley Appel was in charge of the hiring of guests, then a lot of the guests do have association with his other TV projects, and this edition offers a very mixed bag, including the final appearance of Pete Murray. There's also an older singer in Frankie Vaughan, to a former "glamour model" actress turned author, Fiona Richmond. Both Vaughan and Richmond would appear again, Vaughan a semi-regular.
An easy listening singer from the 1950s, while other singers of his ilk had faded away during the emergence of the beat boom of the '60s, Vaughan had stayed popular, notching up eighteen Top 20 hits by 1968, eleven of them in the Top 10, and two of them hitting No.1.
Although Vaughan didn't have any post-'68 hit singles, he was still well known enough to make it on the show, and occupied the bottom centre seat for three of his four appearances, only having to defer to Bernie Winters in 1990. Yet it's still an odd casting choice for 1985, the time equivalent of the new Bradley Walsh-fronted version of the show having Daniel Bedingfield or t.A.T.u. on the panel. Or, as Les puts it, "In your day they sang in Latin."
Guest Panellists: Clement Freud, Thora Hird, Kenny Lynch, Karen Kay, Clive Dunn and Anna Dawson.
Thora Hird returns to the show for the first time since 1979 and would go on to become a Les semi-regular, as well as appearing in a couple of the Lily Savage revival episodes. Thora wrote about the experience in 2000's Not in the Diary, stating that: "There are people who will say to me, "How can you still go on taking part in silly programmes like Blankety Blank, when you’re a Dame, and especially after working with Alan Bennett?" Well, in the first place, I do it because I enjoy it. Very much. Second, working in front of an audience has been my life, and however much I get out of working with great writers like Alan, I don’t want anyone to think that that makes me too snobbish to remember where my bread and butter has always come from. [...] I've been on Blankety Blank with them all — Terry Wogan, Les Dawson and now with Lily Savage. None of them fools, all of them are very clever and great fun to work with."
Making their last appearances are Clement Freud and Anna Dawson, who prove to be decent foils for Les, so it's surprising they didn't come back. There's also Clive Dunn making his sole appearance. Dunn's collection of "dotty old men" may either amuse or annoy - Grandad had only finished the previous year - but it has to be acknowledged what a talented comic actor he was, essaying men far in advance of his own age. Still shy of his 65th birthday when this edition was recorded, he'd been playing the elderly Corporal Jones since he was in his 40s.
Karen Kay puts in her tenth appearance and, as noted in prior articles, she's actually quite talented, but never gets the chance to show it on the Blankety Blank format. Her involvement here brings back some of the chaotic feel of earlier years, where she constantly interrupts proceedings, including taking over Clive Dunn's spot whenever he tries to say anything.
Summoning up almost Danielsian levels of irritation, Kay disrupts without adding anything of note, providing a series of impressions that are so feeble Les doesn't even trash them at the start, seemingly to be kind. Yet after one too many "Who was that supposed to be?" take offs, Les begins to take the easy way out by slating her involvement.
Guest Panellists: Aiden J. Harvey, Claire Rayner, Nicholas Parsons, Stacy Dorning, Bernie Winters and Sally James.
A fun episode, with Les in such an upbeat mood Sally James even remarks upon what a good time he's having. Yet the appreciation of the hosts of Blankety Blank is entirely subjective. Does Les do a better job than Terry Wogan did? Well, while he never saw the questions before reading them out - and it's incredibly obvious on this edition - Les keeps the quiz element on track far more rigidly than Terry ever did.
So, which is the best? Well, it's personal choice. Les jokes that Nicholas Parsons is slowing the show down, and even a contestant points to her watch when Bernie Winters is taking his time, but Terry seemed to understand that those bits were what made the show. Certainly no one was really tuning in for what was a decorated party game, and seeing the show fall to bits was what made it so watchable.
The Lily Savage era (or at least, series 16) was slated on this site for Lily not allowing the panellists to really speak, and certainly Les never goes that far. He also provides entertainment himself in the form of host, and is in good form here, slating everyone assembled. But he seems to feel that it's his job to keep things moving, which is technically true, but also perhaps not what's required to allow the show to reach its full peak.
In terms of trivia, then Les makes reference to being a good friend of Stacy Dorning's dad. This was the actor Robert Dorning. And if you want some really anal trivia, then this is the first episode to end with Les's running gag about the series only being watched by "our viewer in Cheltenham". He's cited as "George" here and in 9.12, isn't given a name in 9.15 and 9.17, is called "Alf" in 9.16 and 9.18, and "Arthur" in 9.19 and 9.20.