- Shaggy Dog Story (TV)
."Shaggy Dog Story" was a charity programme for
Children in Need , put together by theBBC in 1999 as asequel to the previous year's "Future Generations " video (featuring chilcren's programmes), and the great success of 1997's "Perfect Day " charity single.Shaggy Dog Story was dedicated to the BBC's comedy output. It featured various comedians and comic actors (some in character, others as themselves) telling a long-winded
shaggy dog story about a cricket captain who ends up recruiting a horse for his team, with each one sharing a line or phrase. It was begun with Ronnie Corbett in his trademark armchair, who is most famously known for telling such stories onThe Two Ronnies . It was first shown onDecember 27 1999 . The participants, in order of appearance, were:*
Ronnie Corbett (as himself)
*Paul Whitehouse (as The 13th Duke of Wybourne fromThe Fast Show )
*June Whitfield (as herself)
*Stephen Fry (as himself)
*Richard Wilson (as Victor Meldrew fromOne Foot in the Grave )
*Harry Enfield (as Tim Nice-But-Dim fromHarry Enfield's Television Programme )
*Ronnie Barker (as Albert Arkwright fromOpen All Hours )
*Charlie Higson (as Bob Fleming fromThe Fast Show )
*Spike Milligan (as himself)
*Neil Morrissey (as Tony Smart fromMen Behaving Badly )
*Reece Shearsmith (as Edward Tattsyrup from The League of Gentlemen)
*Steve Pemberton (as Tubbs Tattsyrup from The League of Gentlemen)
*Geoffrey Palmer (as himself or Lionel Hardcastle from As Time Goes By)
*Caroline Aherne (as Denise Best fromThe Royle Family )
*Craig Cash (as Dave Best fromThe Royle Family )
*Jennifer Saunders (as herself)
*Dawn French (as herself)
*Phil Cornwell (as Michael Caine fromStella Street )
*John Sessions (as Mrs Eileen Huggett fromStella Street )
*the cast ofBig Train (as horse jockeys)
*Mark Gatiss (as Hilary Briss fromThe League of Gentlemen (comedy) )
*Victoria Wood (as Bren fromdinnerladies )
*Ardal O'Hanlon (as Thermoman from My Hero)
*Mark Williams (as Patrick Nice fromThe Fast Show )
*the cast ofGoodness Gracious Me (as the Coopers/Kapoors and the Robinsons/Rabindranaths)
*Peter Sallis (as Norman Clegg fromLast of the Summer Wine )
*Angus Deayton (as himself)
*John Thomson (as Louis Balfour fromThe Fast Show )
*Paul Kaye (as Bob Slay fromPerfect World )
*Belinda Lang (as Bill Porter from2 point 4 Children )
*Gary Olsen (as Ben Porter from2 point 4 Children )
*Emma Chambers (as Alice Tinker fromThe Vicar of Dibley )
*Craig Charles (as Dave Lister fromRed Dwarf )
*Chris Barrie (as Arnold Rimmer fromRed Dwarf )
*Jack Dee (as himself)
*Alan Davies (as himself)
*John Cleese (voiceover)A second, shorter story, entitled "Mammals vs. Insects", was also broadcast on
4 January 2000 . This story revolved around a football match between the two teams of creatures and featured many of the participants from the other story.
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