My Dad wad a manager in BT during this time.... he was so scathing about E Rantzen and this tv program! How they misrepresented what anyone said who was speaking for a utility organisation.
@@MalevEvans-dw3do Yeah, but it was all tongue in cheek, wasn't it? It was a joke. We all know the people are just doing their jobs, that they don't have much power and are doing as they're told. It's not them they're blaming, it's the ridiculous rules. Besides, a lot of time That's Life was making fun of the PUBLIC rather than the organisations.
AT work, my boss and I suggest writing to the lead singer of Echo And The Bunnymen in these situations. Funny how old TV shows have such a lasting effect!
It was funny, but as an impression it was actually terrible. The voice was not even remotely similar to Cyril Fletcher, and even the mannerisms and facial expressions were completely wrong. It looked and sounded more like a third rate impression of Noel Coward. In contrast Pamela Stephenson’s impression of Esther Rantzen is absolutely spot on.
I remember this when it was broadcast! I've just been trying to contact British Gas for over an hour, and it popped back into my head for obvious reasons!
Absolutely superb. Esther’s dress held down by her pegs, Griff RhysJones as Cyril Fletcher and I think Rowan Atkinson and Mel Smith are supposed to be Glyn Worsnip and Kieran Prendiville! What a fantastic series WTNOCN was.
My wife and I still refer to this sketch and have a damn good laugh over it. Usually when we hear about someone who has demanded something from someone and the response should be 'I'm sorry, but this has nothing to do with us!'
Pamela Stevenson was wonderful in this series. They all were, but I loved her versions of Angela Rippon, Jan leaming and Janet Street Porter. A great time for comedy, now sadly gone...
Main reason that NTNoN has never been repeated is that a large chunk of each show was satire related to topical news stories from the week it was broadcast. They've released compilation DVDs of the great sketches that don't fall into that category but if you saw an original episode now, lots of it would go right over your head without the context of being familiar with exactly what was being spoofed.
Ah yes, back in the days when you could only buy your household appliances from the Electricity or Gas Board showrooms and they took weeks/months to be delivered.
And in 40 years nothing much has changed, has it? The only difference is you have to wait for an hour listening to music that makes you want to poke a stick in your eye. Oh, and being told constantly to piss off and do it online.
Fantastic. I'm old enough to remember all the references, but not the consequences. I suspect 'That's Life' had a really hard time keeping any belief in their show after this. Superb lampoon.
I love the Ask The Family sketch. Mr Smart Arse is a Quantity Surveyor. His wife is also a Quantity Surveyor.And thier two children Nigel and Simon are both Quantity Surveyors.
It's a cleverly observed idea for a sketch, where unlike the real That's Life, they're literally contacting no-one who can actually help. Really funny, and enables them to use the "nothing to do with us" jobsworth response from figures of authority as heard so often on the real show. Beautifully performed by them all, as well. :-)
I have to disagree. Mr Bean is truly awful! The first 10 minutes of the first episode were vaguely funny (if you liked Benny Hill) and then he went on and on, flogging the shit character. Pulling funny faces is only funny for so long.
Pam Stevenson was the only Aussie who could swim outside the shark-proof netting; the sharks took one look at those teeth, and realised that she had a superior weapon!
She also appeared in a crap Series 2 episode of Gerry Anderson’s ‘Space:1999’ & an episode of The Professionals’ which concluded with Bodie & Doyle removing a grenade from her character’s bra (some top scriptwriting there…).
I'm still watching this video 13 years after my last comment on this video. One other thing to add. The real Cyril Fletcher lived about a mile from my house, on an estate where millionaires live, but only ever saw him once, when he came in to the place I worked at in the mid 80's. Sadly I didn't serve him, but he was like he was on That's Life but without the anecdotes or jokes.
So sharply observed. Glynn Worsnip and Kieron Prenderville really did wave their heads about like that and they repeated the punch line just like Rowan does.
Rowan and Mel are mimicking the male 'That's Life' presenters of the time (Paul Heiney and Chris Serle) who used to talk that way when doing consumer investigation items like this.
@@chrisst8922 Prendiville and Worsnip had been replaced by Heiney and Serle by the time of this sketch, but it hardly matters for one pair was much like the other.
A little while ago, I was unfortunate enough to hear "You and Yours" on Radio 4 and thought it was a re-run of this sketch. Now I've seen the original again after xx years, I realise it is nowhere near as ludicrous as "You and Yours".
I remember the real That's Life flipped between presenters even more than in this sketch, when telling a consumer-versus-faceless-organisation story: they really played on it and would switch between the narrator and the "voice of the faceless organisation" for single-word quotes: the poor vision mixer must have cursed being rostered to That's Life ;-) Glyn Worsnip, Gavin Campbell, Maeve Alexander, Kieran Prendiville: a lot of people cut their teeth on That's Life. And Esther (plus prehensile teeth!) remained throughout. Good old Cyril Fletcher and his odd odes. There was something very creepy about how he looked so pleased with himself in his leather chair: G R-J captures that very well.
Griff is more like Nickolas Grace’s Anthony Blanche from Brodeshead Revisited than Cyril. Still funny though. The others are absolutely 100% nailing it!
For those of us who can remember That's Life, this is spot on.
Yes purfleet
@@richardplume3212 A place in Surrey??
My Dad wad a manager in BT during this time.... he was so scathing about E Rantzen and this tv program! How they misrepresented what anyone said who was speaking for a utility organisation.
@@CathyKitson I think he means perfect. How this became Purfleet I have no idea.
@@MalevEvans-dw3do Yeah, but it was all tongue in cheek, wasn't it? It was a joke. We all know the people are just doing their jobs, that they don't have much power and are doing as they're told. It's not them they're blaming, it's the ridiculous rules. Besides, a lot of time That's Life was making fun of the PUBLIC rather than the organisations.
To this day, our family uses the "Have you tried calling the electricity board?" to answer stupid questions.
AT work, my boss and I suggest writing to the lead singer of Echo And The Bunnymen in these situations. Funny how old TV shows have such a lasting effect!
Cirrill
We always say “I am sorry, but this has nothing to do with us”
A bloke I worked with used to say this when anything stupid happened. Which was quite often.
Griff Rhys Jones impression of Cyril Fletcher absolutely superb.
It was funny, but as an impression it was actually terrible. The voice was not even remotely similar to Cyril Fletcher, and even the mannerisms and facial expressions were completely wrong. It looked and sounded more like a third rate impression of Noel Coward. In contrast Pamela Stephenson’s impression of Esther Rantzen is absolutely spot on.
Luckily I am not quite old enough to know him, but I do remember the show, only just.
@@simonmoore2380 yes, she's brilliant
Yes. The camp old twat.
@@sibionicthe voice and manner of speaking were spot on
Not the Nine O'Clock News was essential viewing - legendary - those were the days
That was brilliant parody of That's Life. Pamala Steveson got the manerism of Esther down to a tea.
Down to a "T"....
Tee.
I remember this when it was broadcast! I've just been trying to contact British Gas for over an hour, and it popped back into my head for obvious reasons!
Absolutely superb. Esther’s dress held down by her pegs, Griff RhysJones as Cyril Fletcher and I think Rowan Atkinson and Mel Smith are supposed to be Glyn Worsnip and Kieran Prendiville! What a fantastic series WTNOCN was.
I was literally crying laughing at this. Superb parody of That's Life.
Pure brilliance - Pamela Stephenson was a great impersonator.
Her Janet street Porter interview with Billy Connolly was the moment he fell in love with her and Is the funniest sketch not the nine o clock news did
Shortly before this, Esther Rantzen had been arrested while filming That's Life on the street. Hence the reference.
"This has nothing to do with us". 😂
I just love Pamela's "Cyrillle ..", brilliant. All 4 are superb in this, esp. GR-J. Love it.
Pamelas Esther Rancid impression is spot on.
Esther held down by tent pegs.
Yeah, I mean what made them think of that?
Hilarious, though!
Griff Rhys Jones as Cyril Fletcher! Absolute class!
"Camp old twat!"
@@geoffpoole483 Looks like he was having trouble holding it together when the audience laughed uproariously at that line.
@@geoffpoole483 Those were the days!
the milk was cold
the food stayed fresh
and even the light worked when you opened the door!
My wife and I still refer to this sketch and have a damn good laugh over it. Usually when we hear about someone who has demanded something from someone and the response should be 'I'm sorry, but this has nothing to do with us!'
The long winter evenings must just fly by
@@splatcave3145 Mr Ploppy.
I remember watching this at the time, brilliant. One of the sketches that stayed with me.
Along with the new Metro “hand built by Roberts”. 😅
'It was then that weeeeee contacted the electricity board'
Just realised this is where Jeremy Clarkson got his presenting style and delivery…
She also did a deadly accurate Janet Street-Porter!
Brilliant series! The American Express sketch springs to mind!
One of the best sketches ever!
Griff Rhys Jones. Spot on.
Very funny is an understatement!. It's sheer brilliance!!!!!!.
"And I was arrested on the street" kills me every time!
Pamela Stevenson was wonderful in this series. They all were, but I loved her versions of Angela Rippon, Jan leaming and Janet Street Porter. A great time for comedy, now sadly gone...
Ah yes "Mr Mugabe's Guerillas"....
Her Janet Street Porter impersonation was hilarious.
Brilliant! Series like this should be repeated on mainstream TV! (In place of Cash in the Attic type shows and all the other rubbish)
Main reason that NTNoN has never been repeated is that a large chunk of each show was satire related to topical news stories from the week it was broadcast. They've released compilation DVDs of the great sketches that don't fall into that category but if you saw an original episode now, lots of it would go right over your head without the context of being familiar with exactly what was being spoofed.
@@blagger116 Good point. Which is why even more recent satire such as the brilliant "Drop the Dead Donkey'' is not repeated.
@@blagger116 And you wouldn't get away with calling someone a 'camp old twat' these days.
This was written by 'the Comic Strip Presents' Nigel Planer and Peter Richardson
Nigel Planer orange peel
@@ppmppm7010when will I see you againnnnn
@@ginjaico_6132 soon I hope
How odd, woke up this morning with this sketch in my mind! Have not seen it in 3 decades!
I remember watching this on TV forty years ago, but I only just noticed Pamela Stephenson dress was a tent :D
Ah yes, back in the days when you could only buy your household appliances from the Electricity or Gas Board showrooms and they took weeks/months to be delivered.
And in 40 years nothing much has changed, has it? The only difference is you have to wait for an hour listening to music that makes you want to poke a stick in your eye. Oh, and being told constantly to piss off and do it online.
Fantastic. I'm old enough to remember all the references, but not the consequences. I suspect 'That's Life' had a really hard time keeping any belief in their show after this. Superb lampoon.
That's Life changed shortly after this sketch, I seem to remember. Cyril Fletcher died. They got younger presenters in. Esther remained, though.
@@Jehannum2000 Cyril died in 2005.
Nigel planer wrote this!!!(with Peter Richardson)!!!
Back in the day, when TV was worth watching.
Yes we all agree! TV Gold 👍
"I'M SORRY, THIS HAS GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH US!"
The tent like dress complete with guy ropes and pegs hahaha!!
So many Thatcher references in this program!
Rip mel smith
Rantzen’s skirt pegged to the floor omg 😂😂😂😂
Reminded me of Reeves and Mortimer doing Masterchef, I think they might have noted that surreal touch.
Beautiful acting - Cyriiiil ,-
Pamela Stephenson was a hottie in those days!
Pamela Stephenson is just a fattie in these days!
@Me Too wtf you on about?
I love the Ask The Family sketch. Mr Smart Arse is a Quantity Surveyor. His wife is also a Quantity Surveyor.And thier two children Nigel and Simon are both Quantity Surveyors.
she does her brilliant
It's a cleverly observed idea for a sketch, where unlike the real That's Life, they're literally contacting no-one who can actually help. Really funny, and enables them to use the "nothing to do with us" jobsworth response from figures of authority as heard so often on the real show. Beautifully performed by them all, as well. :-)
Rowan is brilliant in everything he does!
I have to disagree. Mr Bean is truly awful! The first 10 minutes of the first episode were vaguely funny (if you liked Benny Hill) and then he went on and on, flogging the shit character. Pulling funny faces is only funny for so long.
@@dtzjones2222 wanker
They were all brilliant
Thank you for this-spot on indeed. I wonder what Dame Esther Rantzen thought about all this? Well done anyway too!!
A strong woman like her would have laughed at them
Ha ha ha, Esther Rantzen in a twelve-foot marquee - how apt!
LOL I remember thats life, ythis is so realistic and funny.
We rang the Electricity Board . . .
And they said...
I’m sorry. This really has got nothing to do with us.
That is on point and absolutely hilarious
RIP Mel Smith.
I remember that's life as a kid...because it contained humor I liked it.."sausages!"
G R Jones and Pamela Stevenson are even better than I remember in these. Brilliant
One of my favourite sketches
The voice was dead on!
I remember that drivel well. They are spot on.
Pamela is a really talented impressionist. She's got that posh, toothy, 70s vocal fry thing down to a tee.
better then Saturday night live
but 1990s MadTV tho...legendary
The Cyril Fletcher part at the end was hilarious.
Pam Stevenson was the only Aussie who could swim outside the shark-proof netting; the sharks took one look at those teeth, and realised that she had a superior weapon!
@tecdessus Born in NZ, moved to Aus about the age of 4, then came to UK at age 26-27.
She also appeared in a crap Series 2 episode of Gerry Anderson’s ‘Space:1999’ & an episode of The Professionals’ which concluded with Bodie & Doyle removing a grenade from her character’s bra (some top scriptwriting there…).
I can remember this
My father hated this show on a Sunday but as a nipper I loved it.
Hilarious! But makes me feel slightly old...
Esther Tentpegs.
What was that all about?
Hilarious!
The big dresses she used to wear on the show.
I'm still watching this video 13 years after my last comment on this video.
One other thing to add. The real Cyril Fletcher lived about a mile from my house, on an estate where millionaires live, but only ever saw him once, when he came in to the place I worked at in the mid 80's. Sadly I didn't serve him, but he was like he was on That's Life but without the anecdotes or jokes.
I remember that's life this is a brilliant pisstake. Spot on
The best comedy show of its day doing the best parody of one of the most god awful shows broadcast on a Sunday evening.
It's such a good parody! Hahahahaha
David bloody attenborough.
T'would be no surprise if at least one solicitor contacted the Robinsons offering to process their complaint through the courts.
This is very reminiscent of Tracy Ullman's Princess Margaret impression
hahahah just what i needed to make me laugh
And now we have _The Mash Report_ 🤪
Such a great piss take :)
Pamela ... yah, was she funny or what? .... Wonderful.
a classic sketch
That's Life, the origins of 'The Karen I demand to see the manager' 😊
So sharply observed. Glynn Worsnip and Kieron Prenderville really did wave their heads about like that and they repeated the punch line just like Rowan does.
This has got nothing to do with us.
Better than stand-up
utter classic
The same writers did a similar sketch for ITV's 'end of part one' a couple of years previously...... still a funny sketch though :-)
Rowan is doing a Jeremy Clarkson here. Maybe it's where JC got it from
Rowan and Mel are mimicking the male 'That's Life' presenters of the time (Paul Heiney and Chris Serle) who used to talk that way when doing consumer investigation items like this.
@@steveforest8385 Kieren Prenderville and Glyn Worsnip.
@@chrisst8922 Prendiville and Worsnip had been replaced by Heiney and Serle by the time of this sketch, but it hardly matters for one pair was much like the other.
I think it's an audio thing, too.
Actually I think Mel is supposed to be Chris Searle and Griff is Kieran Prendeville
Actually Griff is meant to be Cyril Fletcher. Its Rowan who is playing the other person.
Great show..
Really great That's Life parody but maybe not the first. End Of Part One also had a TL parody.
Mel Smith is a genius
Prince Phillip exploded,
A little while ago, I was unfortunate enough to hear "You and Yours" on Radio 4 and thought it was a re-run of this sketch.
Now I've seen the original again after xx years, I realise it is nowhere near as ludicrous as "You and Yours".
ha ha absolute class
Brilliant-extremely clever!🤟
That's Life was a weird programme, but I still watched it.
They would have a heart wrenching story about a kid with heart problems, and then.. comedy. The show ran for nearly 20 years though!
Is Cyril really Anthony Blanche
Hysterical.😂
They had those painfully smug gits nailed.
From that we get historical programmes narrated by 6 or more talking heads.
I remember the real That's Life flipped between presenters even more than in this sketch, when telling a consumer-versus-faceless-organisation story: they really played on it and would switch between the narrator and the "voice of the faceless organisation" for single-word quotes: the poor vision mixer must have cursed being rostered to That's Life ;-) Glyn Worsnip, Gavin Campbell, Maeve Alexander, Kieran Prendiville: a lot of people cut their teeth on That's Life. And Esther (plus prehensile teeth!) remained throughout. Good old Cyril Fletcher and his odd odes. There was something very creepy about how he looked so pleased with himself in his leather chair: G R-J captures that very well.
Griff is more like Nickolas Grace’s Anthony Blanche from Brodeshead Revisited than Cyril. Still funny though. The others are absolutely 100% nailing it!
Interesting that the name "Harrow on the Weald" is stated rather than "Harrow Weald".
This is still the issue of 2023 when seemingly endless time online trying to get your pipe that once spouted water looked at.
I see :) Thank you.