Geoffrey’s Telegraph obit is the first thing I’ve seen that goes some way to doing him justice. I never knew he left the BBC because of the contempt the organisation had for comedy at the time: “One annual report dismissed it (comedy) with the phrase “all the way from high-value costume drama right the way down to sitcom”.
Archive for August, 2008
Geoffrey Perkins
August 29, 2008
Well, I’ve just had some terrible news. Geoffrey Perkins, who produced the first series of ‘Father Ted’, has died in a road accident.
Geoffrey was the man who found our early ‘Ted’ script, (at that time, written as a mock-documentary) and suggested we turn it into a sitcom. He was the man who chose the house that became our iconic central location (poring over a pile of location photographs, stabbing it with his finger and saying “That’s the one”). He also persuaded us to use Neil Hannon’s ‘Songs of Love’ as our theme music.
This last one was a sticking point for a while. Arthur and I preferred a song by Neil that would later become ‘A Woman of the World’ off the ‘Casanova’ album. That song was jaunty and silly and to us perfect in that it seemed to be subtly making fun of the form we were working in.
“Why do you want to make fun of your show?” said Geoffrey, finally, looking wounded and worried. “People will love these characters.”
I later realised that it was a fork in the road, that discussion, and if we had not travelled the way Geoffrey suggested, we’d have ended up lost…we may never have made it to series three. Without Geoffrey, ‘Father Ted’ would have been a cacophonous riot, and not nearly as loved as it is today. He gave the show a heart, and gave me–still very young, and unsure as to what type of person I should try to become– someone to model myself on.
I hate the fact that I’m writing this. You’ll see his credits soon enough and realise what we’ve lost. Goodbye, Geoffrey. I wish we’d worked together more.
…and BA are scumbags
August 28, 2008
Lloyds is pants
August 28, 2008
Obama plotters: hilarious pair of shit-kickers from central casting
August 26, 2008
They don’t want them no nigra presdunt! Link
If you’ve any hair left after the previous post…
August 18, 2008…at least America’s intervention made Afghanistan a better place. Oh, wait, no, it didn’t at all! Link!
A crack team of savvy individuals…
August 18, 2008“In the past five years I have worked for human rights and refugee advocacy organizations in Serbia, Russia and Croatia, including the International Rescue Committee and USAID. I have traveled to many different places, some supposedly repressive, and have never seen people treated with the kind of animosity that Homeland Security showed that night.” Link
Boy. America, eh? I’d certainly hate to live there and not be a Government employee.
Play ‘War On Terror’ for free!
August 18, 2008
This should be fun! Friend of the site, Andrew Sheerin, and the boys behind the War On Terror boardgame are giving away free copies outside Zavvi tomorrow! Woot!
” Banned from Toy Fairs, barred from the High Street, seized by the Police and recently recalled from 130 shops nationwide, is War on Terror, the boardgame really too dangerous for public consumption?
When Zavvi ordered 5,000 copies of War on Terror, independent publishers, TerrorBull Games, thought their luck had changed. After a year of obstruction and rejection, they finally had a high street outlet. However, the celebrations were short-lived when the games were recalled the very day they went on sale. A Zavvi spokesman strangely claimed that “poor sales” lay behind the same-day recall, but TerrorBull Games suspect differently. Apparently, while many at Zavvi were backing the game, MD, Simon Douglas, was unaware of the deal until the moment he saw War on Terror on the shelves of his own shop. Douglas reportedly “kicked off” and the games were promptly pulled.
Zavvi then refused further delivery and became reluctant to pay for
games they suddenly decided they didn’t want. A protracted legal battle ensued that, while almost bankrupting TerrorBull Games, ended in victory for TerrorBull as they got to keep half the games as well as getting paid in full.
Now, tired of being censored and side-lined, War on Terror’s creators are hitting back … by giving the game away for free. Or to be more precise, giving the games Zavvi paid for away for free. And what better place to hand them out than right in front of Zavvi’s flagship store on Oxford Street? Inventors, Andrew Sheerin, Andy Tompkins and illustrator Tom Morgan-Jones will be doing just that at 12.30pm on Tuesday 19 August
(p.s. don’t forget to bring your cameras!)
Why, That\'s Delightful! 