I’ve just moved some pictures around in my office to make space to hang something new. One of the frames I’ve moved onto a different wall is a copy of a BBC memo given to me by my late friend and producer Geoffrey Perkins. Geoffrey was an amazing man and if you don’t know who he was I suggest you do a google search and see how someone managed to pack five lifetimes into 55 short years. So one day Geoffrey and I were in his office, he’d just returned after retrieving my latest script of Benidorm from the printer in the main part of Tiger Aspect when and I commented on the copy of a BBC memo which hung on his wall.
“It’s a bit of a risk leaving me alone in your office, I always try and nick that memo off your wall but my coat is never big enough”, I joshed.
“Take it”, said Geoffrey
“No, don’t be silly, I was only joking” I backtracked.
“Honestly, I want you to have it, I don’t need it, I’ve got the original there”.
And there sure enough, slightly further along the wall was the original BBC memo, very well preserved but slightly askew, having been shoved into a 99p clip frame.
The missive in question wasn’t just any internal BBC memo from 1974 but one which, if it had been acted upon (by cancelling the series), would have changed the face of British television comedy history. The series in question was called, “Fawlty Towers”. Here it is in close up so you can see exactly what it says. And hopefully the next time someone is critical about yourself or your work, remember, it’s just one person’s opinion. And they ain’t necessarily right…
