Naked Video

Naked Video
Genre	Sketch show
Created by	Colin Gilbert
Directed by	Brian Jobson
Country of origin	Scotland
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	30
Production
Producer(s)	Colin Gilbert
Running time	30mins
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Scotland
Original run	12 May 1986 – 18 Nov 1991
Chronology
Preceded by	A Kick Up the Eighties

Naked Video was a BBC Scotland comedy series, broadcast between 1986 and 1991 on BBC2, the series was created by Colin Gilbert who also created A Kick Up the Eighties and Naked Radio.

Naked Radio

Naked Radio is a radio sketch show which broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland and started its ten year run on 22 January 1981. The show cover all aspect of Scottish society and contain a lot of Topical satire material rather than parody.^[1] The Series starred Gregor Fisher, Andy Gray, Elaine C. Smith, Tony Roper, Jonathan Watson, John Sparkes, Kate Donnelly, Louise Beattie, Ron Bain, and Helen Lederer (although Lederer and Sparkes were not part of the radio version). The series was produced by Colin Gilbert and the script editor was Philip Differ.

Naked Radio proved a popular part of the local schedule, and in 1985 the cast mounted the show on stage at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Gilbert realised it had potential for television and Naked Video was born. It proved popular at a time when alternative comedy was at its peak. Naked Radio series finished in 1991, when it was axed along with Naked video.

Regular characters

Naked Video featured:

• Drunk Sloane, (played by Helen Lederer) An attractive but stupid woman who props up the wine bar and delivers monologues to camera.

• Bernard and Miriam, (played by Gregor Fisher and Helen Lederer) a repressed middle-aged couple.

• Bitter Divorcee Lizzie, (played by Elaine C Smith) an attractive 30-something woman who (like Drunk Sloane) delivers monologues about her divorce, only from her bedroom, not a wine bar.

• Highlander Angus, (played by Gregor Fisher) A Gaelic TV presenter for the OHBC (Outer Hebrides Broadcasting Corporation).

• The Baldy Man, (played by Gregor Fisher) a vain halfwit with but a few strands of hair across his head. The character was spun off into a separate series. The show was produced and drected by Colin Gilbert who was also working with Fisher on Rab C. Nesbitt.

• Siadwell, (played by John Sparkes) a geeky Welsh poet. (He had appeared previously in the Radio 4 show, Bodgers Banks and Sparkes.)

• Rab C Nesbitt, (played by Gregor Fisher) an alcoholic Glaswegian stereotype who wears a string vest, a pinstripe suit and a grubby headband. He was arguably the most popular character, and also received his own series and became Scotland's most successful sitcom. The show was produced and directed by Colin Gilbert and written by Ian Pattison.

Writers

Writers for Naked Video included Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Nigel Planer, Helen Lederer, Ian Pattison, John Sparkes, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders and Rik Mayall.

Episode guide

There were 30 episodes made over its 6 year run. Each was 25 minutes long, all shown on BBC2

• Series One 12 May-16 June 1986
• Series Two 16 Apr-21 May 1987
• Series Three 19 Jan-23 Feb 1989
• Series Four 29 Sep-3 Nov 1989
• Series Five 14 Oct-18 Nov 1991

DVD

To date the first three series of Naked Video have been released on DVD by 2 Entertain.

• Series 1 released on 17 July 2006.
• Series 2 released on 9 October 2006.
• Series 3 released on 29 January 2007.

To Date series 4 and 5 have not been released.

Reunion

In 2000, the cast were reunited for a theatre show and radio broadcast. [1][2]

Radio documentary

In 2005, Gerard Kelly presented a documentary in the 'Radio Roots' season on Radio Scotland about the show. It looked at how it "sprouted a generation of TV writing and performing talent". [3]

References

1. ^ http://www.angelfire.com/pq/radiohaha/NAKEDRAD.html

External links

• BBC Scotland at BBC Online
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204773/
• http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1363459/index.html
• http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/11021
• Daily Record article