One really shocking thing about Fast Friends is the aptly rapid pace of recording. The recording dates of the pilots are unknown, but for the broadcast episodes, this edition was the sixth to be recorded in just four days. The "two per week" schedule of Blankety Blank was not for this show, and while Les was still recording just two in one night, this was done three days a week. From the 21st-28th March ten episodes were in the can. This left just a short break for two more on the 4th April, the only two to be shot after the show had begun airing.
So, what of some of the unheralded, behind-the-scenes personnel? As well as the names listed onscreen, then Toby Freeman and Celia Pincus also provided question material but weren't credited. Then there were Paul Minett and Brian Leveson, writing partners who went on to write episodes of things like My Family (2000-2011) and created the sitcom Time After Time (1994-1995). At this stage they'd written for a 1987 edition of The Les Dawson Show, and provide script material for Les, again uncredited, in all fourteen broadcast episodes.
There's also the warm ups. Ted Robbins, credited as "contestant liason", was the warm-up man for the first 7 episodes (in broadcast order), including this one. Then there were also three episodes with Bobby Bragg as warm-up, and two apiece for Ian Irving and Jeff Stevenson.
As Les is the only "name" in front of the camera, I asked the warm up guys for their recollections, save for Bobby Bragg who sadly passed away in 2016. Ian Irving suggested that there was a hectic schedule involved, telling me on Twitter (no one calls it X) that: "It was full on but great fun, I am looking forward to doing some more warmup gigs again in the future."
Jeff Stevenson - who had also kindly shared memories for the article on Blankety Blank Series Thirteen - gave more details, noting: "It was a nightmare! [...] I seem to remember the show required two warm ups and it was Ted Robbins warming up the contestants and I warmed up the audience. I think we filmed it at Elstree."
The show was, indeed, filmed at Elstree, though Jeff was concerned that his memories of a 33-year-old TV show might not be accurate, and to check with Ted Robbins. Ted confirmed that the set up matched with his memories with a "Bang on Jeff !!", while Stevenson also revealed that, "I was called in last minute as there were so many problems."
One thing about quizzes of the era is that, while not exactly intellectual pursuits, they did have questions harder than you'd expect in hindsight. Watch an episode of Bullseye, for example, and you might find a question on Greek mythology or 19th century post-impressionist painters from France. Some distance removed from 2024 and Alan Carr asking you to name a person on a photograph. Yes, there are more difficult quizzes today, but this is what passed for light entertainment at the time.
As said earlier, Fast Friends isn't exactly University Challenge, but it still has questions that you may not know the answer to. Obviously such things are entirely subjective, and you either know the answer or not, but there are levels of questions that you would expect more people to know than others. For example, someone asking what animal goes "moo" is likely to get more response than being asked about quantum mechanics. Questions about Shakespeare, geography and ancient culture can abound, and in order to test the show I played along at home with this edition.
The second round is contested until one team has all their players eliminated by incorrect answers, or, if the duration runs out, they go to a "tiebreaker". But due to the nature of this part of the game, the number of questions asked can vary, though is usually around 15-17 questions.
This one had 17 questions for the main game, plus the opening eight questions to find the "Fast Friends" (four for each team) making a total of 25. Out of this, I got 56% right, but 36% of them were guesses, while I got 11 wrong. Even factoring in my own stupidity, that's a pretty solidly challenging quiz. Not "tough", exactly, but questions about Mark Twain, Oliver Cromwell and grouse shooting aren't the sort of things you'd get on an episode of Lingo.
Despite the very public slating the series took, it's not quite the moronic gameshow that it's made out to be... or maybe time has just dumbed down so much in the intervening 33 years making it appear that way.
Lastly, some of Les's most appreciated jokes come off the back of the questions themselves. While the odd one does seem like a genuine ad-lib, occasionally a question card will have a white strip across it, presumably containing the pre-written gag. This one has Les getting laughs with a ruder joke than normal for the show, commenting on how the description of bed as being a "poor man's opera" is accurate: "three short movements, a lot of screaming and it's over".
After three weeks on air, the reviews really started to come in, and they weren't favourable. James Green slated the show in The Stage after this one had aired, and presciently noted the effect of the changing times on Les's career: "Who'd be a comedian in 1991? No ethnic jokes. Nothing sexist. A threat to ban mother-in-law gags which have been his speciality along the lines of 'in the season she swims up and down Loch Ness'. And material being used at a rate of knots".
The Times initially laid the blame on the format, with "Forgettable quiz show hosted by the splendid Les Dawson, who could do with a better outlet for his talent", but later seemed to pass the blame on to Les himself with "Les is on hand with the dreadful jokes". Local newspapers had it as "Les Dawson does his very best but rarely has a more deeply moronic game show besmirched our Saturday night screens".
Les was not oblivious to the bad reaction to the show, writing in No Tears For The Clown
that: "The reviews were all ghastly, the ratings were so low the only people who watched it lived in a submarine, and frankly Fast Friends put a man-sized nail in my theatrical coffin."
At this point it should be clear that this is more of a general overview of Fast Friends, rather than episode-specific. While the top few episodes are genuinely a bit better than the others, this is a very "samey" show, so there's not really anything to separate most of them. Everyone involved is a member of the public, so there's not really much difference, no Roy Kinnear turning up in a mock-bad mood, or Frank Carson trying to steal the show.
This edition is slightly different in that one of the Team Captains, Mel Romane, is a bit of a minor celebrity. Not huge, or even "Blankety Blank panellist" level, but he's a cabaret performer on cruise ships who was on telly for a couple of things. One was a local news presentation, the other was an episode of Home Away From Home