Sunday Night at the London Palladium - Volume One [DVD]

Network's TV releases can be hit and miss for audio and video quality and this DVD, like others, does not contain remastered material. In particular, the Bruce Forsyth and Norman Wisdom two-hander is a videotaped version of the original recording. However, the good news is that it has very good quality picture and sound and only in one short segment two-thirds of the way through does the quality both of the videotape and the original film source dip for a short time. The sleeve says that the best quality source materials were used to make this set, and that's probably true.

This DVD contains some genuinely interesting and rare material. The undoubted highlight is the 1961 show performed during the equity strike by Bruce Forsyth and Norman Wisdom, who were not members of Equity. The pair perform the entire hour from start to finish, including the famous wallpaper sketch (often shown on TV as a standalone clip), a Beat the Clock special where Norman interrupts Bruce, a hilarious finale where Norman's attempts to sing 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling' are frustrated by a phonecall for Bruce before he finally gets to deliver a serious full rendition of his own song 'Don't Laugh At Me 'Cause I'm A Fool', and a wild and wonderful comedy dance encore. They even improvise some fun on the famous revolving stage as the credits roll. It's a pleasure to watch them work: there's a lot of improvisation, and the two stars obviously worked terribly hard so that the show went on. It's hard to imagine many of the stars of today doing the same. This set is worth buying for their show alone - it's a good quality full-length copy of the performance and a fitting tribute to the late, great Norman Wisdom.

The rest of the shows contain less exciting material but enough to warrant their inclusion. The never-broadcast 1974 show is only really half a show, since the first half is cobbled together from other recordings - presumably they were trying to make up the original material to a full hour-long show - but it does feature a very funny topical comedy patter-poem from the late Bob Monkhouse which has never been broadcast on TV. And the 1973 show has two great turns from Larry Grayson in his heyday, including 'I've Had It Here' (at least that's the first line of the song) and a remarkable finale routine together with Rod Hull & Emu. You won't quite believe what Emu does to Larry's rear end in a family show!

The earliest shows in the set are hosted by Hughie Green and Tommy Trinder (one each). I notice that on the internet there are reports that on his appearance as guest-host Hughie Green was hit on the head when the 'Beat the Clock' clock fell on top of him at the end of that section of the show. What this set doesn't say (but probably should) is that this is most likely the reason that this surviving recording is under full length - it's the Beat the Clock segment that's missing, which is made obvious by Hughie's introduction to Mario Lanza. As reported on the net, he makes an unusually short introduction to the 'top of the bill' act, and he does indeed look glassy-eyed and nearly says "Saturday Night..." instead of "Sunday Night at the London Palladium"! However, this show is worth watching for Mario himself: he begins with the famous 'Because' before moving onto some serious opera and then closing with 'The Loveliest Night Of The Year'. He had performed at the Royal Variety Performance two days before recording this, and his voice is in tremendous form.

I don't think many (any?) more of the early shows survive, but it's interesting to note that while Bruce Forsyth is relatively well represented here there are none of the shows hosted by Norman Vaughan or Jimmy Tarbuck in the latter half of the original 1955-1967 run, despite the fact that a 1965 Tarbuck-hosted show, near enough complete, is available on Youtube, including a marvellous Pete & Dud finale from Peter Cook and Dudley Moore ending with their famous 'Goodbye' song. But, in fairness, Network don't advertise this as a "complete" set, rather "some of the best of what remains in the archives". And true enough - that's what they've given us, and it's one of the jewels in their output. If you reckon you're a fan of British post-war comedy, you should buy this just for Bruce and Norman's legendary comedy hour.

Long before "Pop Idol" & "Britain's Got Talent" and many years ago. a show emerged during the late 1950's called "Sunday Night At London Palladium". this show was broadcast live from the theatre. it became very popular and had entertainment for everyone.I remember watching this show during the 1960's when I was a boy.the show ran until the 1970's. the dvd is a 3 dvd set of the best of the show. filmed in black & White & Colour. there are acts you will hate and acts you will like it was that sort of show. also are the crazy games that of "Beat The Clock" but, you want to see some of the prizes people won. items that were a luxury then. one couple win a set of suitcases and flight tickets for a weekend in Paris plus £20 spending money! which in those days was proberly considered a lot of money. early compares include Hughie Green, Tommy Trinder,Bruce Forsyth,Jim Dale & Ted Rogers. the dvd is also quite eerie as most of the acts and some people are dead. there is also a sketch whereby Norman Wisdom & Bruce Forsyth do a crazy hilarious sketch together. if you want to see what entertainment we had then back all those years ago or you remember this program then this dvd is for you. pop stars did appear on the show in this dvd set is Adam Faith, Bobby Darin, Freddie & The Dreamers, John Barry 7, Cliff Richard,Engelbert Humperdinck,the drifters,Sacha Distel.
the sound quality on some of the dvd is not great but, bare in mind how old some of these programmes are. but, it is a trip down memory lane and quite entertaining. compare this to our talent shows of today I know what I'll sooner watch. the dvd comes with extras there are two image galleries of stars who have appeared on the show and behind the scenes look on how the show was organised and pictures of the people involved.

This was one of the "must see" shows of the 1950s and 1960s, sparking the careers of comperes such as Bruce Forsyth and Jimmy Tarbuck, as well as bringing stars to a huge audience. This first collection gives a fascinating insight into the television and entertainment of the era. In addition to many clips of the various performers of the time, there is also the "extra" of the special strike edition featuring Norman Wisdom and Bruce Forsyth. Picture quality, inevitably, is variable from clip to clip, but in general I must say I was impressed (given the age and the fact that I had previously seen some very faded clips) with how sharp and "cleaned up" everything seemed, and I certainly enjoyed the chance to re-visit this historic variety show.