I became a teenager in 1972. It is hard to remember that in those days, whilst just about everyone in the world I lived in had a television set , few had the privilege of colour. And to boot , there were only three channels , BBC 1 , BBC 2 , and ITV to choose from. Programmes did not start until around 4 o'clock and there was a complete shutdown at around midnight when the national anthem was played and those so inclined stood up in respect. No satellite channels 24/7 .No specialised channels. Daytime was for work not watching telly. Oh, and no video recorders. Least not in my house.If you missed an episode, tough.And it was often quite a while before it was repeated. So, if you are younger than me , try to imagine for one moment just how narrow programming was. There was an incredible symmetry to the watching week. Schedulers had fewer slots to fill. And my memory is that there were three key times in the week for comedy...........Sunday evening 7.30 , Monday night at 8 , both ITV , and for BBC Thursday 8 o'clock.
That is not to say there was no comedy at any other time. I don't think the TV watershed existed as such but even in the early 70's certain sitcoms or comedy programmes would only be shown later (after the news very often which meant 9.30 onwards for the Beeb and 10.30 or later for ITV). But as a 12/14 year old it was those three ,thirty minute slots that fed both my comedy diet and the hunger of millions of others. Because alternatives were limited , you had a good idea as you were watching that most people you knew would be watching too. No wonder that over 30 years later so many productions from this period are regarded as national treasures.Many millions of people watching week in week out. Following the plots. Talking about it together the next day. Not just comedy but drama also. There was limited live sport ( Grandstand on BBC and World of Sport on ITV both on Saturday afternoon and the legendary Sportsnight with Coleman on Wednesday at 9.30 ). Reality TV had not been invented. Nor viewer telephone voting. None of us had telephones where I lived.
My memory, and I stand to be corrected, of Sunday 7.30 was On The Buses and Please Sir! Both of these series were , in their day , hugely popular with the British public. And for many a young lad , titillating, in the absence many other places to get your titters ! The general premise of On The Buses was two old men , one a bus driver , the other his conductor , pulling 'birds' left right and centre. The series first reached our screens at the very end of the swinging sixties in 1969 and in the next four years an incredible 74 episodes were produced. It felt like it was never off our television screens. There were some other great characters in this sitcom apart from Stan and Jack and many of the best laughs were provided by occasions when they were not chasing the clippies (female conductors ! ) or the bored housewives on their route. Stan's Mum, his sister Olive and her husband Arthur will go down in history as one of the funniest sitcom families of all time. And the stand out character, the one everyone impersonated in the playground the next day was Blakey , the Hitleresque inspector with his catchphrase ' I 'ate you, Butler'. There was nothing complex about the humour in OTB, much of it was the saucy humour found on seaside postcards. But the country loved it, as it prepared for the start of a new working week.
Please Sir ! was a shorter series of 55 episodes and centred on Mr Hedges, a young teacher and new to his vocation, who is handed the class from hell , 5 C . The screening of Please Sir ! coincided with my own school days of course and how marvellously rowdy and riotous was Fenn Street compared to my school. As with OTB , the characterisation was superb , both with the 'kids' , who were meant to be 15 - 16 year olds but actually played by actors slightly older , and the 'staff ' , highlight of whom was Potter the caretaker. I remember an episode involving Potter and a ten bob note ( or maybe something more valuable ) on a piece of string which he pulled when somebody tried to pick it up. It was of course a comic type joke , found weekly in the Beano and Dandy , but inspired for a week or two a new playground joke at my school. The sexual innuendo in Please Sir ! was always simmering just below the surface. I guess it had to be because these grown up actors were meant to be kids ( unlike On The Buses where they were definitely very old men in my young eyes). I had a strange unease with the ongoing story lines of Maureen, the dreamy girl pupil who was hopelessly in love with Sir. It was the only pathos in the programme .The Please Sir ! half hour was greatly entertaining in a mad , fraught kind of way. It is no longer screened on British TV and we are all left wondering if it is in any way funny today.
For many years after ,this time slot continued to be used as the comedy half hour by both ITV and BBC until to a large degree the soaps stole it. But the sitcoms that followed gradually became more mainstream and safe, never again getting close to the risque adventures of On The Buses and Please Sir !
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