Benny Hill Not Canceled.

IIRC there was a dispute over Artistic License v Network Controll after Benny Hill made some kind of Non PC Remark, and the show was Canceled.

?So what if Benny hadn't got into the Non PC Flap, and his show hadn't been canceled?
?Could It have had more influence on the next generation of Comics, both in Britain and in the US.?
 
Could It have had more influence on the next generation of Comics, both in Britain and in the US.?

God no, not on the Comic Strip or Mary Whitehouse Experience generation of '80s and '90s British comedians. They were not fond of the old sexist humour.

Supposedly Ben Elton helped kill-off Hill's career by making scathing remarks about the old man--I've heard it said Elton killed Hill, though that's OTT.
 
IIRC, and I was but a lad at the time, but the Benny Hill Show’s ratings took a dive in the late 80s, partially because of the Alternative Comic brigade lambasting the show as being anachronistic but also because it was becoming the same old tat every week. Sketch shows were evolving with people like Fry & Laurie + French & Saunders being more invective, insightful and satirical. Besides these fresher performers, Benny did seem out of place.

For his show to have lasted, he would have had to evolve his style. Perhaps he could revisit his 1970s musical roots and developed a more cabaret type show. The gap in the zaniness market allowed the BBC to heavily promote Noel Edmonds (particularly after they lost Kenny Everett to AIDS) and his particular brand of whackiness with the Late, Late Breakfast Show, the Saturday Roadshow and finally House Party.

What the outcome would have been is harder to call. He might have had more influence on more modern comediennes, he might have had a career renaissance like Frankie Howerd before his death. In fact, he could have lived longer as he refused to lose weight in order to carry on living. If he had more to shoot for, he could have accepted medical advice and gone another decade.
 
IIRC there was a dispute over Artistic License v Network Controll after Benny Hill made some kind of Non PC Remark, and the show was Canceled.

?So what if Benny hadn't got into the Non PC Flap, and his show hadn't been canceled?
?Could It have had more influence on the next generation of Comics, both in Britain and in the US.?

Benny Hill was actually PC at one time? Hard to belive
 
Benny Hill was actually PC at one time? Hard to belive

mattep74

Not really. More that the rest of society, or at least the movers and shakers, were more tolerant. As ljofa said the formula was getting a little stale but more significantly was the change in attitudes. It was acceptable to do the more abusing sort of comedy that started appearing at that time but not the more innocent sort of banter that Benny used.

Steve
 
If the Benny Hill Show wasn't cancelled in 1989 the immediate result would be that few extra years are added to his life so he passes away sometime between 1997 and 2000. As it was he died of a heart attack while watching TV in April 1992, almost 3 years to the very day the show was cancelled. Benny Hill was never the same after the show was cancelled and it could be argued that he literally died of a broken heart.
 
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