Alas Smith and Jones

Infobox Television
show_name = Alas Smith and Jones


caption =
format = Sketch comedy
runtime = 30 min per normal episode
creator =
starring = Mel Smith
Griff Rhys Jones
country = UK
network = BBC2
BBC1
first_aired = 31 January 1984
last_aired = 14 October 1998
num_episodes = 62
imdb_id = 0088475
preceded_by = "Not the Nine O'Clock News"
followed_by =

"Alas Smith and Jones" was a British comedy sketch television series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. It was broadcast on the BBC from 1982 to 1998. From 1989 to 1995, it was called "Smith and Jones".

The series followed in the footsteps of "Not the Nine O'Clock News" in its use of taboo-breaking material and sketches in questionable taste (as well as bad language), and also featured head-to-head 'duologues' between Smith and Jones. The series shared several script writers with "Not the Nine O'Clock News" including Clive Anderson, Colin Bostock-Smith and used Chris Langham as a cast regular. Other writers included Andy Hamilton.

The show's title was a pun on that of the American television series "Alias Smith and Jones". The head-to-head sketches were very much in the Pete and Dud mould - Smith was the idiot who knew everything, Jones the idiot who knew nothing.

The series was one of the first to be commissioned by the BBC from an independent company, Talkback Productions of which Smith and Jones were also directors. The format of the Head to Head with similar characters was used by Smith and Jones in a series of commercials.

The show also had a brief run in the United States on A&E and PBS.

In 2006 Smith and Jones returned with "The Smith and Jones Sketchbook", recorded in front of a live audience acting as a look back at their earlier shows.

chedule

The show ran for 10 series with 5 to 7 episodes of 30 minutes duration [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088475/episodes] :
* 27 December 1982: A 5 minute special, broadcast as part of "The Funny Side Of Christmas"
* 31 January 1984 - 6 March 1984: "Series One", 6 episodes
* 31 October 1985 - 5 December 1985: "Series Two", 6 episodes
* 18 September 1986 - 23 October 1986: "Series Three", 6 episodes
* 15 October 1987 - 26 November 1987: "Series Four", 7 episodes
* 21 December 1988: 40 minutes special, "Alas Sage And Onion"
* 16 November 1989 - 28 December 1989: "Series Five", 6 episodes (then titled "Smith & Jones", thus dropping the "Alas")
* 22 November 1990 - 3 January 1991: "Series Six", 6 episodes
* 22 October 1992 - 3 December 1992: "Series Seven", 6 episodes
* 6 September 1995 - 18 October 1995: "Series Eight", 6 episodes
* 19 June 1997 - 24 July 1997: "Series Nine", 6 episodes
* 9 September 1998 - 14 October 1998: "Series Ten", 6 episodes.

Commercial releases

A compilation DVD release (coded for region 2) was scheduled for 8 August 2005 by the BBC, but has been delayed many times (its latest scheduled release was for 26 December 2007, according to sites such as play.com):

Two VHS releases featuring footage from Series 5 & 6 of "Alas Smith & Jones" (then titled "Smith & Jones"), were released in 1991. The second video released in 1993 featured footage from Series 1-4 of the series, specially the second series.

Tie-in books included "The Smith and Jones World Alas" (a humorous gazetteer of the world's countries) and "The Lavishly Tooled Smith & Jones instant Coffee Table Book" (co-written with Clive Anderson), which was designed to look as if it could be made into a coffee table.

External links

*bbc.co.uk|id=comedy/guide/articles/a/alassmithandjone_1299002882.shtml|title="Alas Smith and Jones (1982-1988)" Comedy Guide
*bbc.co.uk|id=comedy/guide/articles/s/smithandjones_7775885.shtm|title="Smith and Jones (1989-1998)" Comedy Guide