The Benny Hill Show

The Benny Hill Show, (one of my personal all-time favorites), was a groundbreaking comedic television show that originally aired in The United Kingdom. The program featured the original, often racy comedy of the show's namesake, Benny Hill, and produced some of Benny's memorable characters; The Halitosis Kid, Maurice Dribble, Fred Scuttle, and Barney the Disgruntled Husband.

Public domain photo courtesy basicfamouspeople.com

The original version of the The Benny Hill Show was broadcast on BBC Television starting in the mid 1950s. In the early incarnations of the show, Hill showed his talent with his uncanny ability to perform impersonations. BBC would carry the show on a sporadic basis from 1955-1968, with Associated TeleVision also airing an occasional Hill special from 1957 to 1960.

The Benny Hill Show would switch over to Thames Television in 1969. This would be the point where Benny would begin to gain his fame as a T. V. icon. In his Thames years, Hill's program would be largely based on slapstick routines and silent film-style pantomimes of comedy and sight gags. Indeed lechery and raciness were a cornerstone of many of the shows, in which tall, beautiful girls called the "Hill's Angels" were often being chased by Benny and a group of men.

After a semi-regular run of thirty-four years on British Television, The Benny Hill Show was sacked in 1989. The reason for the show's cancellation was officially that the cost of each episode was too high to justify the program's sagging ratings.

The Benny Hill Show ran for a total of 98 episodes (58 of which were carried on Thames), between the years of 1955-1989. The syndicated version of the show consists of 111 episodes that are still enjoyed in of dozens of countries worldwide.The Benny Hill Show will always be remembered as a program that spanned the test of time, as well as a portal for showcasing the talents of a genuinely gifted and hard-working comedian.