RaspberryLucozade Clearly envious by the success of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' and 'Not The Nine O'Clock News' on the BBC, Granada Television in 1982 pitched together some of the freshest comedy talent around of which consisted of Ben Elton ( who wrote much of the material ), Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Siobhan Redmond and Paul Shearer and placed them into a three part comedy show entitled 'There's Nothing To Worry About!' ( broadcast only in North West England and which was also intended to be a vehicle originally for Rik Mayall ). The following year, Granada screened nationally 'Alfresco', which retained the cast from 'There's Nothing To Worry About!' save for Paul Shearer, who was replaced by Robbie Coltrane.The sketches had little or no logic to them. It seemed to exist purely in its own world. The first episode contained a sketch in which a nervous young man ( played by Hugh Laurie ) attempts to buy a bottle of perfume from a department store as a gift for his mother. ''I'd like some scent, please.'' says the young man to the sales girl ( played by Emma Thompson ), to which she replies ''Sorry, we don't deliver!''. A 'Tales Of The Unexpected' spoof saw Hugh Laurie dancing to the theme of said show. A very funny 'University Challenge' spoof saw Ben Elton answering a question about MI5 spies, only then to be shot dead.The first series was overall very dark in tone. Each week, it would open with an animated set of opening titles which saw a busker playing on a saxophone 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles'. The second series was more upbeat and featured a catchy tune provided by the late David McNiven which played over a comic-strip style set of titles. It was also in the second series that 'The Pretend Pub' ( an obvious send-up of 'Crossroads' ) was introduced, a patently obvious mock-up of a pub peopled by strange characters such as Ezzer, Bezzer, Lord Stezzer, Huzzer and Bobzerr.Despite its many plus points, 'Alfresco' sadly just did not gel. Critics slashed it to pieces and after the second series it simply vanished into the open air. Perhaps it was just too weird for Granada audiences. The cast certainly did their very best with what they were given. In particular, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson ( who looked particularly sexy in some of her guises ) and Robbie Coltrane managed a few guffaws but overall the 'Python' feel was not suited to this stable of comedy.Despite its unremarkable reception, 'Alfresco' has still proved influential in some respects. For instance, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie later made their own BBC series 'A Bit Of Fry & Laurie', Siobhan Redmond landed many straight acting roles such as Maureen Connell in 'Between The Lines' whilst Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson went on to become Oscar award winning stars. In 2009, 'Alfresco' was released on DVD, with all three episodes of 'There's Nothing To Worry About!' included as a special feature.

tonyuk This excellent programme is being released on DVD in the UK today 2nd February 2009. The two-disc package contains both series of 'Al Fresco' and the three-part pilot series 'Nothing To Worry About', which was only shown in the Granada region.The shows are well worth watching - they contained many funny ideas and were generally innovative for their time. As others have mentioned, the acting was also top notch and foreshadowed the talent inherent in the cast.I was Floor Manager/1st AD on the pilot series and the first series of Al Fresco. The location scenes of the pilot were shot on 16mm film but a decision was made to shoot the entire first series on location, using what was then revolutionary lightweight location video equipment. It was also this decision which prompted the name of the series.At the time, most comedy shows were studio-based, shot multi-camera on video, with location inserts shot on film. Attempting to shoot the entire series on location and on video was challenging, to say the least! Up until then, to shoot location drama on video necessitated taking out an entire outside broadcast unit and an army of crew and vehicles. It was very rarely done, with film being the preferred format. With the new lightweight mobile video unit that Granada invested in we could go on the road as a much smaller unit and shoot scenes like a traditional film crew. That was the theory anyway! There were many logistical difficulties and technical breakdowns but we got it done.However, the first series turned out to be very expensive, not least because of the post production. Video editing at the time was expensive, slow and labour intensive and we were shooting a lot of the scenes film-style using a single camera. This necessitated a lot of editing.Granada requested a second series but with a reduced budget. The new producer decided to shoot it like a traditional studio-based sketch show, hence the birth of the 'pretend pub' concept to link it all together.I have many fond memories of working on Al Fresco. I was very young at the time (most of us were!) but even then I knew that this coalescence of talent, coupled with a new way of doing things, was something remarkable and special.I hope a new audience and a new generation will enjoy Al Fresco and that those who were in their teens and twenties in the mid 80s will enjoy rediscovering this lost treasure.

ShadeGrenade One year after 'The Young Ones' and 'The Comic Strip Presents' launched a new wave of British comedians on an unsuspecting world, Granada T.V. brought out 'Alfresco'. Despite starring Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson and Siobhan Redmond, it doesn't seemed to have burned itself into the national consciousness the way those other shows did, possibly because it felt more like a Channel 4 show than an I.T.V. one, and the obvious canned laughter killed many of the sketches stone dead.Beginning each week with a cheeky saxophone arrangement of 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles', 'Alfresco' wandered widely between the borders of the inspired and the inane. Among the former was a spoof U.S. variety show, hosted by the giggly, vacuous singer 'Sherri' ( Thompson ) who announces a tribute to The Beatles and manages to forget the drummer's name ( Ringo ), Fry's pompous doctor unable to grasp why his Sikh patient is wearing a turban ( he thinks its bandages ), and Thompson's fussy librarian revealing to bookworm Laurie the twist endings of the mysteries he intends to read. 'The Pretend Pub' was a spoof soap peopled by oddballs with names like Ezzer, Bezzer, Lord Stezzer, Shizzer and so on. The off the wall humour Fry and Laurie later used in their own show was first in evidence here. Emma Thompson made the most impact on yours truly, mainly because she was stunningly beautiful. I can remember not finding Elton very funny though, sketch comedy was not really his forte, and he was overshadowed by the others. He would later find his niche with 'Saturday Live' and 'The Man From Auntie'. Critics at the time gave the show a pasting, one even renamed it 'Al-fiasco'. It also came under fire from alternative comic Alexei Sayle. "Posh people can have anything they want.", he said, "Even their own satirical show on Granada Television.". Well, compared to the vile mess that was 'O.T.T.' in which Sayle was a regular, 'Alfresco' was 'Monty Python' standard. Given that many of its cast went onto become major stars ( and Oscar winners in Thompson's case ), its surprising how 'Alfresco' has so far eluded a D.V.D. release.

lorigrey I have almost worn out my tape of the few episodes of this show I managed to record before it disappeared from the airways. It featured a cast of astonishing talent, who were, as then, not very well known, yet have all gone onto become far better known and for the very good reason that they are all outstanding actors.I'm surprised it's never been released on DVD given that Hugh Laurie is now starring in the very popular 'House', Emma Thompson has won an Oscar, Robbie Coltrane wowed the critics in 'Cracker' before going onto wow kids as Hagrid in the 'Harry Potter' films and Stephen Fry and Ben Elton are pretty much household names in the UK.The sketches were, on the whole, imaginative and tightly scripted, the acting was outstanding, and as with "Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee" and "A Bit of Fry & Laurie" the sketches never followed the expected route. As with those shows, some of the sketches were witty and inventive and some didn't quite get there, but the hits far outnumbered the misses. And the same could be said of Monty Python, the spiritual grandfather of so many of the sketch shows that followed them along lateral and surreal paths instead of the beginning, middle, end and punchline format of the past. This was an era of so much good comedy on British television that I think shows like this were taken for granted by viewers at the time. I remember the backlash against Emma Thompson by critics when her own show 'Thompson' came out, another sketch show that was witty and inventive yet greeted with a lacklustre shrug by UK critics who seemed to have a problem with a woman being that intelligent, equally good in comedy and drama, and that successful (and - at the time - married to Kenneth Branagh, then a rising star of the British theatre). It's a pity that a series that showcased so much talent in its early stages is not better known and has never been released on VHS or DVD for another generation to enjoy. I would love to sit down and see the whole series again from beginning to end.