According To Dora
A themed-sketch show for funny-lady Dora Bryan who was a dab hand
at this sort of revue-style comedy. She was born Dora Broadbent in
Southport on 7 February 1924 and worked as a dancer before
discovering her gift for humour and making a name for herself on
stage (from 1947) and TV, both as a guest star and in her own shows.
In According To Dora (subtitled ''A Bryan''s-Eye View On
The World'') a different subject was broached each week and various
writers submitted material on such topics as entertainment, home and
beauty, travel and transportation, creature comforts, and the
future.
Helping her out in the sketches were a slew of well-known British
comedy faces, including Joan Sims, John Junkin, Clive Dunn, Patricia
Hayes, Richard Wattis, Tony Selby, Kenneth Connor, Graham Stark,
Wilfrid Brambell and Deryck Guyler.
Some years earlier, on 22 August 1964, BBC2 presented Dora
Bryan, a single show in which the talented star had performed
songs and sketches from many of the stage-shows and revues in which
she had appeared.
Writer Alan Melville worked often with Bryan, sometimes appearing
as her straight man, and their names are linked through many of her
TV appearances.
She starred in the first episode of The Brighton Belle
(BBC1, January 1972), a three-part comedy/drama written by Melville
to mark the demise of the famous train that had long shuttled
commuting theatrical-types to London from the South Coast (Bryan
lived in Brighton).
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