A collection of rare television pilots featuring the one and only Frankie Howerd.
Born 6th March 1917, Francis Alick Howerd was once described by Barry Cryer as a comic actor whose career was a series of comebacks. Frankie Howerd was very successful in Britain, but found it harder to break into the US, Canadian and Australian markets. These pilots made in the 1970s provide a rare insight into his work abroad.
From these pilots, the most famous series is Up The Convicts, made by the 7 Network in Australia, and ran for just four episodes. Frankie played Jeremiah Shirk, sentenced to a penal colony in New South Wales, Australia. If you enjoy watching Up Pompeii then Up The Convicts will give you pleasure as well.
This collection includes: Up The Convicts - Episode 3, The Gong Show pilot & The Frankie Howerd Show (CBC) - 2 episodes.
Also included are a number of rare interviews with Frankie Howerd, from Ryan's Roost, The Mike Douglas Show and The Merv Grffin Show.
It's hard not to love Frankie, he was just funny before he even opened his mouth, but I've never seen these. I see Frank Thring was involved in the Ozzy one:
Imagine those two together ... titter ye not ....
It looks pretty bad really. Up Pompeii was really a special thing.
Frankie's material was often (deliberately) awful, but the real deal was his personality, the asides, the innuendos, his timing. You could forgive him anything:
