Complete & Unadulterated
The Naughty Early Years - Set 2

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Volume 1
(Episodes 1-4)

Benny sings Fad Eyed Fal

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This is the second collection of programs from the Benny Hill Show that A&E have released. This time you'll see ten programs spread over three DVD's, as opposed to the 11 that covered the years 1969-1971 in the first set. These ten programs are from 1972-1974 and I have made the reviews fairly short for each program with simple descriptions and comments for each sketch. You'll find the reviews divided into three pages, one for each Volume of this set. I've also taken the liberty to mention a few highlights at the beginning of each review. Look for technical details and closing comments at the end of page three, as well as a review of the bonus features. You'll find the original Episode number in brackets at the beginning of each review. Enjoy.

Benny sings "Fam and Fufan: A Poem by Folomon Faint John"

Benny and Paula Wilcox in "The Lonely Miss Fox"

Percy Thrower interviews "Amos Thripp: Head Gardener"

"Air Travel and Benny's Duet: Those Days" with Marian Davies of the Ladybirds

"Medical Memory Lane"

Left to Right: Lesley Goldie, Nicholas Parsons and Benny in "Nicholas Parsons talks to the Children of St. Solomon's School"

Benny sings the brilliant "Fad Eyed Fal"

Left to right: Jackie Wright, Sue Bond (getting a pinch) and Benny in the classic "Woodstick"

Jenny Lee-Wright and Benny in "Benny's Ballad: Portable TV Set"

Episode 1 (12)

(Feb. 23, 1972)

Color [50:31]

Bennie Quickie: Sweet Chess
Benny's Ballad: Oh, Zandoona
Fred Scuttle's Health Farm and Keep Fit Brigade
Fam and Fufan: A Poem by Folomon Faint John
Pierre De Tierre: Avant-Garde French Film Director
The Lonely Miss Fox
Silvia McNeil: I Don't Know...
Percy Thrower Interviews Amos Thripp - Head Gardener
Benny Quickies: Television Secrets
Chow-Mein at Customs and Integration
Benny's All-Star Finale
Closing: Department Store (not in the menu)

Cast: Benny Hill, Henry McGee, Paula Wilcox, Bob Todd, Percy Thrower, Sylvia McNeil, The Ladybirds, Jenny Lee-Wright, Jack Wright, Carol Mills, Bettine Le Beau, Penny Meredith, Mia Martin, Pamela Cundell, Roy Scammell, Malcolm Weaver, Jim Tyson, Geraldine Burnett.

Produced and Directed by: John Robins

Highlights: Chow-Mein at Customs and Integration; Fam and Fufan: A Poem by Folomon Faint John; The Lonely Miss Fox; Pierre De Tierre: Avant-Garde French Film Director.

This Collection begins with the first program Benny did in 1972. In Bennie Quickie: Sweet Chess, Henry McGee plays Chess with Benny (who is in drag), with pieces of chocolate as chess pieces. Benny gets a surprise when he attempts to eat one of the pieces! The opening number, Benny's Ballad: Oh, Zandoona features Benny playing a guitar and singing a song about a woman he's in love with. The Ladybirds provide vocal backup from a second story window.

Henry McGee interviews Fred Scuttle in "Out and About With Henry McGee" about his health farm in Fred Scuttle's Health Farm and Keep Fit Brigade. Scuttle uses his usual puns and wordplay to describe all of the benefits of his health farm. There is also an excellent film clip of Scuttle and his "keep-fit brigade" with Benny attempting to show his physical prowess and failing miserably. There is a huge cast of players in this one, including Bob Todd, Henry McGee, Jackie Wright, Carol Mills, Bettine Le Beau, Jenny Lee-Wright, Penny Meredith, Mia Martin & Jim Tyson, The two acrobatics are Roy Scammell & Malcolm Weaver. Both were noted British TV Stuntmen. Look for a closeup of two girls doing some bicycle motions in the air with their feet and the camera getting a closeup of their undies.

Fam and Fufan: A Poem by Folomon Faint John features Benny reading a poem which has the letter 's' replaced with 'f' so that we have to pay all the more attention to make the proper substitutions in our minds. Benny was a genius at using language like this throughout the series and this is a prime example with plenty of innuendos. Henry McGee plays the interviewer in Pierre De Tierre: Avant-Garde French Film Director with Benny as a famous French film director who reveals his film not as a masterpiece, but the product of several mishaps.

Benny plays a lonely man listening to a Spanish lesson tape and is visited by The Lonely Miss Fox, played by Paula Wilcox (from "Man About The House" which was spun-off in the US as "Three's Company"), who later turned on the Benny Hill Show in the 1980's along with the "Politically Correct" movement. She demanded that the show be withdrawn from repeat airings. Benny is the foil to her as the unhappy woman looking to Benny for sympathy and then chewing him out. All he has is his blowup doll for company.

Next up is a musical act: Silvia McNeil: I Don't Know... which features a performance of a song from, I believe, "Jesus Christ Superstar". Benny is the gardening expert in Percy Thrower Interviews Amos Thripp - Head Gardener. Percy Thrower (1913-1988) was actually a popular gardening show host in England. In Benny Quickies: Television Secrets, Benny plays a sharp shooter (first with Mia Martin & Pamela Cundell) and then with Jenny-Lee Wright; a doting mother in two commercials, one for spaghetti (Kevin O'Leary was the kid), another for "Benvril" (with Mia Martin making her final appearance on the show) and finally as a director with actresses who just can't get their lines together (Carol Mills & Geraldine Burnett). Look for Bettine Le Beau with Henry McGee.

Next is the highlight of this program, Chow-Mein at Customs and Integration with Henry McGee greeting the china man at an airport immigration desk. You'll see Jenny Lee-Wright & Bettine Le Beau at the very beginning. The fireworks really start when Bob Todd shows up as another China Man and the two of them have great comic chemistry here. This program ends with Benny doing several impersonations, including Nana Mouskouri and Gilbert O'Sullivan in Benny's All-Star Finale. Just watch when he sings "My Way". Classic stuff. Finally, the Closing Sequence: Department Store (not in the menu) features Benny measuring Jenny Lee-Wright for a bra, along with Bob Todd. Benny is then chased at the end and the credits roll. This is not a top notch program, but it does have several good sketches, including the poem "Fam and Fufan" and the Chow Mein segment.

Episode 2 (13)

(Mar. 22, 1972)

Color [51:11]

Benny Quickie: Undercover Nazis
Benny's Ballad: Wild, Wild Women
Nicholas Parsons Talks to the Children of St. Solomon's School
Trespassing at Lakeside Park
Medical Memory Lane
Air Travel and Benny's Duet: Those Days
Benny Quickies: Nemo the Fastest Quick Change Artist in the World
Television Director Fred Scuttle: Scuttlevision
Poor Prunella
Noel Coward's Little Things!
Meeting People: Chow-Mein Meets Nicholas Parsons
Benny's Ballad: Harvest of Love
Closing: Escaped Convict (not in the menu)

Cast: Benny Hill, Nicholas Parsons, Bob Todd, Zienia Merton, The Ladybirds, Jenny Lee-Wright, Lesley Goldie, Carol Mills, Pamela Cundell, Penny Meredith, Jack Wright, Johnny Greenland, Jim Tyson, Geraldine Burnett, Yvonne Paul, Verne Morgan, Josie Stewart, Brian Nolan, Robert Howe.

Produced and Directed by: John Robins

Highlights: Medical Memory Lane; Television Director Fred Scuttle: Scuttlevision; Noel Coward's Little Things!; Meeting People: Chow-Mein Meets Nicholas Parsons.

This one starts with Benny and Bob as undercover Nazis in a british tavern. There is plenty of Benny's usual wordplay with his thick German accent. Bob Todd lets the cat out of the bag in this one. Benny is then introduced and he sings one of my favorite tunes from the show Benny's Ballad: Wild, Wild Women. I like this tune a lot and the Ladybirds are excellent as the backup singers. Benny sings of the life of a single man and this tune gets this program off to a rousing start.

In Nicholas Parsons Talks to the Children of St. Solomon's School Benny plays a little girl, a black child, but the funniest part is when he plays a young french boy painting a "nakid" woman and man. You'll see Lesley Goldie as the teacher. When Benny is a black child, it looks like Jenny Lee-Wright on the left and Penny Meredith on the right, but I'm not totally sure. Classic! Benny then tells tales of the life of Fishermen in Trespassing at Lakeside Park.

Next up is the brilliant Medical Memory Lane with Benny playing an old man in hospital with a large cast in this one. There is an announcement that it is his 92nd birthday on the radio, followed by several different pieces of everyday hospital occurrences set to music, dance and mime. Carol Mills gives Benny a kiss, Lesley Goldie "fluffs" his pillow & Jenny Lee-Wright brings him flowers. Who is that girl taking his pulse? Benny even performs like a magician to give Jackie Wright a pill. The old men in the wheelchairs are Benny, Jim Tyson, Bob Todd & Jackie Wright. The Can-Can girls (from left to right) are Lesley Goldie, Geraldine Burnett, Jenny Lee-Wright, Penny Meredith and Carol Mills. The girls lift their skirts and show off their legs. I think this also marks the first of many sketches which would eventually lead to Hill's Angels. Benny had always wanted lots of beautiful women around him and this was just the beginning.

Benny then comes out and does his impersonation of an American Southerner, complete with Southern drawl and attire. He talks about Air Travel and sings with his wife (Marian Davies of The Ladybirds) in Air Travel and Benny's Duet: Those Days. Benny plays an actor who must change costumes quickly in Benny Quickies: Nemo the Fastest Quick Change Artist in the World. We also see Benny in the "Balmolive" commercial with Jenny Lee-Wright; in a play with Lesley Goldie where he must play several characters at once and as Robin in a Robin Hood send-up. Great sight gags throughout. This also contains the "Adjudicating Panel" of a music festival with a director having to deal with a bad cameraman. Members of the panel include Bob Todd, Jenny Lee-Wright (a close-up of her chest), Lesley Goldie (with a close-up of her stockings!) & Jim Tyson. Brilliant gags in this one.

Television Director Fred Scuttle: Scuttlevision starts with a hilariously twisted introduction to Fred Scuttle by Nicholas Parsons, and they discuss television and managing the programming of it with great puns and innuendos throughout. We're then treated to Poor Prunella which features Benny's hilarious recitation to a bad jazz band. You'll see Jackie Wright on the trombone, Jim Tyson on the drums & most likely Josie Stewart on the piano. Hilarious! Next up is the hilarious Noel Coward's Little Things! with Benny singing a sentimental song about an old couple, with Benny as the husband in the film clip. His wife (Pamela Cundell) is obviously homely and he has to play the husband who puts up with her. Excellent! The song was actually "Little Things Mean A Lot" written by Edith Lindeman & Carl Stutz and a hit in 1954 for Kitty Kallen.

Next up we find Chow Mein and this time his wife (Zienia Merton, also known as Sandra Benes on "Space: 1999") with him in Meeting People: Chow-Mein Meets Nicholas Parsons. This is always an hilarious character for Benny and this time is no exception. Nicholas Parsons attempts to play the refined English gentleman but Chow Mein and his wife have the laughs on him. They talk about their experiences in England and there is also the usual misunderstandings. Finally, we have Benny relating the love of a farmer for his wife in Benny's Ballad: Harvest of Love. The end of this program finishes up with Benny in Closing Sequence: Escaped Convict (not in the menu). Benny does breakout of prison, complete with the prison suit still on him and runs afoul of police and others chasing him. I think the two Police Women are Lesley Goldie & Penny Meredith. Benny soon finds out life on the outside isn't so easy. This is actually a better program than the previous one and we're treated to several great sketches including the brilliant "Medical Memory Lane", "Meeting People: Chow-Mein Meets Nicholas Parsons" and of course Benny's Ballad: Harvest of Love. Plenty of great moments throughout this program.

Episode 3 (14)

(Oct. 25, 1972)

Color [50:51]

Benny Quickie: Slot Machines
Benny's Ballad: The Dustbins of Your Mind
Meeting People With Hugh Paddick
Benny's Ballad: Fad Eyed Fal
Woodstick
Autumn Fashion Parade
Berlin Youth Choir Recital
Closing: Washroom Chase (not in the menu)

Cast: Benny Hill, Hugh Paddick, Bob Todd, The Ladybirds, Jack Wright, Bettine Le Beau, The Mike Sammes Singers, Bella Emberg, Lillian Padmore, Connie George, Verne Morgan, Dickie Martyn, Michael Moore, Sue Bond, Trudi Van Doorn, Jypsie Kemp.

Produced and Directed by: Keith Beckett

Highlights: Benny's Ballad: Fad Eyed Fal; Woodstick; Meeting People With Hugh Paddick.

This program starts off with the clever Benny Quickie: Slot Machines with Bob Todd as the persuasive gambler who knows how to entice the machines for cash. Benny's attempts are far less successful. In a twist, the opening number is introduced by Benny himself, Benny's Ballad: The Dustbins of Your Mind. This number also features The Ladybirds in glittering black dresses and the setting is an outdoor cafeteria. Let your mind wander with this fun number.

Benny then introduces Meeting People With Hugh Paddick where Benny plays three guests to the interviewer. First, the dottering old "Col. Eatwell" of the Royal Army Catering Corp. You'll miss a lot if you don't pay attention. Benny also reprises his role of the woman who is ITV's most loyal viewer. As before, she thinks that the commercials are actually real TV programs. Benny is always great in drag. Finally, Benny appears as the American Western Movie Star Butch Cafferty. He seems to be the typical macho western character, but as he continues to drink something that is definitely not water, we learn more about who he really is. A brilliant character.

Benny's Ballad: Fad Eyed Fal is, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant numbers he ever did. The simple replacement of 's' with 'f' will really turn your brain to mush as you try to make sense of what Benny is really saying. I'm also trying to figure out how he wrote it and how he ever memorized this musical gem. The musical arrangement only adds to this ingenious tune.

Benny then takes a jab at the counterculture with this send-up of the famous three day rock festival in Woodstick. This is one of the most elaborate and adventurous things Benny had done up to that time. Shot on various locations, we're treated to various catchy tunes like "Woodstick" and "Big Daddy's Alabamy Bound". We get to see old guys with young groupies, hot young chicks, old ladies hitchhiking, Bob Todd in a running gag with a lawn chair, various bizarre musical acts and visual gags galore. A masterpiece and the finest item in this episode.

Next, we have Autumn Fashion Parade which is actually a series of running gags with Benny as the idiot fashion-boy alongside the more sophisticated girls. This chapter also contains more of those moments when things go wrong on television, including Benny as a girl in a milk commercial, a deodorant ad (with possibly, Trudi Van Doorn a girl who's actually topless and concealing it), a stage play that's a "real gas" and a running gag with Benny as a stewardess. Benny then plays a German choir leader in Berlin Youth Choir Recital. Benny once again utilizes his ability to speak different languages to comic effect. You'll see Bob Todd, Jackie Wright and Bettine Le Beau in this silly german farce. Finally, the Closing Sequence: Washroom Chase (not in the menu) features several girls, (including Sue Bond), going into a public washroom and getting more than they bargained for. The usual chase ends this excellent program.

Episode 4 (15)

(Dec. 27, 1972)

Color [49:28]

Benny Quickie: Church Mission
Benny's Ballad: When I Was a Lad
Benny's Television Bloopers
Fred Scuttle: Striptease Cabaret
The Christmas Booze-Up
The Ladybirds: Don't Stop The Music
Benny's Advertising Bloopers
Yackanory
Benny's Ballad: Portable TV Set
An American in Britain and Benny's Ballad: The Common Market Square Dance
Closing: Peeping Trees / Army Camouflage Unit (not in the menu)

Cast: Benny Hill, Nicholas Parsons, Bob Todd, Jimmy Thompson, Diana King, Pat Ashton, Jenny Lee-Wright, The Ladybirds, Jack Wright, Walter Goodman, Anthony Kenyon, Bella Emberg, Sue Bond, Lillian Padmore, Cherry Gillam, Dennie Bayliss.

Produced and Directed by: Keith Beckett

Highlights: Benny's Ballad: Portable TV Set; Yackanory; Fred Scuttle: Striptease Cabaret; Closing Sequence: Peeping Trees / Army Camouflage Unit (not in the menu).

Benny Quickie: Church Mission starts this one off with Benny as a Minister and a simple but clever sight gag. Then Nicholas Parsons introduces our host and Benny sings in Benny's Ballad: When I Was a Lad in a cafe setting with The Ladybirds in support. In this one Benny tells of his life as a lad and his love for the gamekeeper's daughter. There's also a few film clips in this one too. The girl is Dennie Bayliss, her only appearance on the show.

Benny then introduces Benny's Television Bloopers features Benny and Jenny Lee-Wright on a date; a running gag with Benny and Pat Ashton singing romantic duets; a suicide on a cruise ship (also a runner); Benny singing "Knock Three Times" with disastrous results; Pat Ashton and Benny in several movie clips from a movie with all kinds of problems like horrible closeups, boom shadows and fast cutting and finally there is a dance routine with Jenny Lee-Wright. All classic bloopers. Next up, Nicholas Parsons interviews Mr. Scuttle in Fred Scuttle: Striptease Cabaret about his "fun-boy" club with girls that dress up as Teddy Bears for male entertainment. Lots of fun stuff in this one.

Next, Benny gives us a story in The Christmas Booze-Up and then The Ladybirds: Don't Stop The Music has the trio in black dresses singing a tune which was quite popular at the time. The sets are simple and the directing for this number may not be as interesting as some of the previous songs the girls did on the show, but this is still a fun little tune. Benny then tackles commercials in Benny's Advertising Bloopers starting off with a paint commercial which becomes a running gag with Benny and Bob Todd, a cheese commercial, a runner for women's deodorant with Benny in drag, Benny as a Pirate for a Rum ad, and Benny in drag for a dog food commercial.

In Yackanory, Benny tells the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears wearing a german costume. This is a great bit with Benny telling the story with a thick german accent that forces us to pay attention. He speaks both german and english at the same time, so pay attention. Next is the classic Benny's Ballad: Portable TV Set with Jenny Lee-Wright as the wife who takes her TV set everywhere. As Benny tells his sad story, we get three film clips: a takeoff on TV's "Ironside" with Benny as the wheelchair bound detective (with Pat Ashton, Jimmy Thompson and Bob Todd); Benny in what appears to be a cooking show and Benny as a TV priest who reveals more than we should see and a send-up of the Ladybirds with Benny, Bob Todd & Jimmy Thompson. At the end we get to see Jenny and Benny on their honeymoon. Lots of fun stuff in this one.

An American in Britain and Benny's Ballad: The Common Market Square Dance features Benny as an American traveller telling stories of his travels throughout the world and then there is "The Common Market Square Dance". Look for Jenny Lee-Wright in the skirt with the slit right up to her waist. Finally, Closing Sequence: Peeping Trees / Army Camouflage Unit (not in the menu) takes us to a location shot in a field with Pat Ashton kissing Jimmy Thompson. Three girls strip down, including Sue Bond as the first girl, along with Dennie Bayliss and Cheryl (Cherry) Gilham. All the while the trees are actually men in disguise getting an eyeful. Great Stuff to end this fun program.