THE COMIC STRIP COMPLETE COLLECTION: DISC ONE (1984)

Cast

Plot

The Comic Strip club opened in October 1980 at the Boulevard Theatre in London. Like the Comedy Store before it, this was located within a Soho strip joint, but, unlike that other and more famous venue, what was staged at the Comic Strip was more like a show, with the same personnel repeating nightly - and honing, all the while - the same act. The eight-strong core team at the venue comprised Alexei Sayle, Arnold Brown and three double-acts: Mayall and Edmondson, Planer and Richardson and French and Saunders. Peter Richardson was keen to get the team on to TV, and was especially interested in using film as the medium. After some ideas had been thrashed around, Richardson took a list to Jeremy Isaacs, head of Britain's fourth TV channel, due to open in November 1982, whereupon six films were commissioned. With the exceptions of Arnold Brown (whom Comic Strip TV viewers never saw) and Alexei Sayle (who showed up in only six of the 37 films), the six other protagonists appeared in most of the productions. Added to round off the eight were Pete Richens (who co-scripted a good many of them and had tiny roles in two latter productions) and Robbie Coltrane, who had not played the Comic Strip club but was brought in as a friend by Rik Mayall. These eight formed their own production company, Comic Strip Productions, with Peter Richardson the linchpin and driving force of the collective. This disc contains the entire first series and the first episode of series 2. "FGMID"; it's the holidays again, which means it's time for the Famous Five to go down to the coast, uncover the mystery of why Uncle Quentin has been kidnapped, turn Dorset into a drug free zone and thwart a couple of dangerous criminals whilst shovelling as much food down their throats as possible. "War"; a couple on the run in foreign-army-occupied England. "The Beat Generation"; a pastiche of the Beat Poets era, set in England in the summer of 1960. "BNT"; a pre-Spinal Tap rockumentary, about the worst rock band in music history contains never-before-seen footage of the boys in action and traces their meteoric rise to fame. "Five Go Mad On Mescalin"; another Famous Five pastiche.