Alfresco (TV series)
A location-shot sketch show from the alternative comedy era.
Alfresco is a British sketch comedy television series produced by Granada Television and broadcast by ITV from 1 May 1983 to 2 June 1984. It starred Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Siobhan Redmond and Emma Thompson. The show was named from the Italian al fresco, meaning 'in the fresh air', because it was shot on location rather than in a studio, which was unusual for a comedy sketch show of the time.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Sketch comedy
- Runtime
- approx. 25 minutes
- Starring
- Robbie Coltrane
- Ben Elton
- Stephen Fry
- Hugh Laurie
- Siobhan Redmond
- Emma Thompson
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Channel
- ITV
- First aired
- 1 May 1983
- Last aired
- 2 June 1984
Facts from the source article.
Production
The programme was a sketch show intended as an answer to the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News. Ben Elton was the main writer, with Fry and Laurie receiving writing credits by the second series. A three-part pilot titled There's Nothing to Worry About! in 1982 featured Elton, Fry, Laurie, Redmond, Thompson and Paul Shearer, and was shown only in the Granada region. Tony Slattery was originally to join that pilot but instead accepted an offer from Chris Tarrant for Saturday Stayback. After the pilot, a first series of Alfresco was commissioned for national broadcast, replacing Shearer with Robbie Coltrane. The third of seven transmitted episodes in 1983 was a compilation of the pilot with additional material. The first series had a very odd and surreal mood; the second series in 1984 changed slightly, introducing a 'Pretend Pub' linking device and less dark sketches.
Recurring characters
Though mostly one-off sketches, a few characters appear over several episodes. Elton and Laurie appear four times during the first series as two odd gentlemen in a black and white cinematic setting, with dialogue relying on wordplay and Laurie doing an impression of Peter Cook in E. L. Wisty mode. Fry and Laurie appear four times during the first series as two young men discussing topics such as war prevention, a trendy cinema and the SAS; these characters previously appeared on There's Nothing to Worry About! and the Cambridge Footlights Revue. Fry appears twice as Doctor De Quincy, a character he also plays in the 1985 sitcom Happy Families. In Series 2, the cast appear as crew and guests of a pretend pub: landlord Bobzza (Coltrane), barmaid Shizza (Redmond), Lord Stezza (Fry), Huzza (Laurie), Bezza (Elton) and Ezza (Thompson).
Reception
Mark Duguid, in the British Film Institute's Screenonline resource, described Alfresco as 'a relatively minor, but not undistinguished, piece of the alternative comedy jigsaw'. The Guardian wrote that the comedy is more off-the-wall than Elton's later work, with some two-handers almost Boosh-like and a joyful post-Python spirit. The A.V. Club noted that much of the humor is more conceptual than funny. PopMatters called it not quite an embarrassment but frayed around the edges and of inconsistent quality, recommending it only for fans of the individuals or 80s comedy completists.
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