The Stage

Radio review - light programme

Published Monday 22 June 2009 at 16:30 by Derek Smith

For those delighting in a trip back to the halcyon era when TV advertisements weren’t CGI enhanced and full of deadly dull bank employees singing about mortgages, Radio 4’s Bill Mitchell, The Man Who Wrestled Pumas. Probably, was a great, albeit too brief look at a man whose voice was more gravel laden than the M1’s hard shoulder.

Narrated by Miriam Margolyes, herself a veteran of voicing commercials, if the name wasn’t familiar to begin with, the gruff tones featured here, on ads for brands such as Denim aftershave (‘For men that don’t have to try too hard’) and famously, Carlsberg, immediately bring Mitchell into focus.

Born in Canada, he found his real home in the famous inns of London’s Soho, holding court daily with contemporary voice artists such as Robert Powell and Tom Baker, the latter reborn post Little Britain. Always dressed all in black, “as it meant one less decision to make a day,” he even filled Orson Welles’ shoes, getting to voice one of the most famous tag lines in modern day advertising when Welles’ fee became prohibitive, even for a brewing giant. These days, Margolyes observes, there are far more voice-over artists working around the world compared to when he was in his husky, macho pomp, There are though, far fewer real characters in the profession, she adds. Like Bill Mitchell indeed, a talented, somewhat eccentric man who, to use the Denim line, clearly didn’t have to try too hard to get work, or attract loyal friends.

Like truly classic TV commercials, enduring spoof comedy about the music business is pretty thin on the ground, despite it being tackled by many down the years. The Rutles, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes, has to be up there with the best, but it’s the sublime This Is Spinal Tap, which is always quoted as the benchmark by which others are judged - a quarter of a century since being made.

Presented by Peter Curran, Back from the Dead - The Return of Spinal Tap managed to effortlessly recreate that celluloid comedy splendour, in radio rockumentary form, of a heavy rock band trying to piece it all together again before their big comeback gig. From the moment base player Derek Smalls reflects, “We found our way to the stage - most the time”, we know we’re in for an hour long, bittersweet treat.

Hearing Jarvis Cocker waxing lyrical about their number Big Bottom, and Suggs admitting that the awful Jazz Odyssey track (from the new album Back from the Dead) inspired Baggy Trousers, is just radio comedy gold. When it comes to lampooning the industry, even 25 years on, the team that first created Spinal Tap, and now this programme, still wears the trousers - or Spandex tights.

Any radio show that’s just started its 51st series has to be considered a national treasure. Described as an antidote to panel games, Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue may be mainly cosy, middle class comedy fare, but it’s impossible not to warm to the panel’s total enthusiasm - here including Barry Cryer and Victoria Wood - and eagerness with which the live audience boos and claps at every opportunity. Now using rotating chairmen, after the death of Humphrey Lyttelton last year, Stephen Fry sets the bar high here for those following, clearly relishing the banter he has with his quick-witted colleagues. Criticising such an institution may be tantamount to heresy, but adding 15 minutes to the 30 wouldn’t do any harm.

Being remembered best for composing the theme tunes for Neighbours and Crossroads wouldn’t be a bad thing in most people’s books. But, in the case of Tony Hatch, celebrating his 70th birthday this month, it must be a tad irksome considering he also wrote such wonderful songs as Downtown and Don’t Sleep in the Subway, both huge hits for Petula Clark. Colour My World - The Tony Hatch Story, the first of a three-parter presented by Bill Kenwright, promised and delivered a detailed insight into the classically trained composer and musician who signed up the Searchers, after Brian Epstein turned them down. While he’s made a fair few careers since the early sixties, he also helped strangle many at birth as a tough judge on original TV talent showcase, New Faces. Mind you, Jim Davidson won fame on that show. As Simon Cowell probably wouldn’t admit, everyone makes a bad call some time.

PROGRAMME DETAILS

Bill Mitchell - The Man Who Wrestled Pumas. Probably, BBC Radio 4, Thursday, June 18

Back from the Dead - The Return of Spinal Tap, BBC Radio 2, Saturday, June 20

I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, BBC Radio 4, Monday, June 15

Colour My World: The Tony Hatch Story, BBC Radio 2, Friday, June 19