That Was The Week That Was
Devised by former Tonight men, including Donald
Baverstock, Ned Sherrin, Alasdair Milne and Antony Jay, That
Was The Week That Was (or TW3 as it became known)
reflected the new permissive image of the BBC under Director
General Sir Hugh Carleton Greene.
 It was deliberately made by the Current Affairs department and
not by Light Entertainment, in case the latter played it too
safe.
Producer Sherrin intended that it should "discuss anything
that people might talk about on a Saturday night".
They
certainly talked about TW3 as it rapidly drew an audience
of 10 million, way above the expected figure.
The show was fronted by the hitherto unknown David Frost, a
ministers son, with resident accomplices William Rushton (famed
for his impersonation of Macmillan), Bernard Levin (famed for his
acidic interview style), Lance Percival, Roy Kinnear, Kenneth
Cope, John Bird, John Wells, Eleanor Bron, Al Mancini, David
Kernan and Roy Hudd.
Millicent Martin sang the theme song, which never scanned,
incorporating the week's events. It always began "That was
the week that was - it's over, let it go".
Much of the show was written by journalists rather than by
scriptwriters, and among regular contributors were Dennis Potter
and Kenneth Tynan. The show covered such previously taboo comic
subjects as racism, royalty and religion. Politicians of the day
were also fiercely lampooned.
The series provoked enormous public outcry, but those who made
the program would have been disappointed if it hadn't! An Anglican
vicar once called Levin a "thick-lipped Jewboy", one
critic attacked Frost and Sherrin for being 'peddlers of filth and
smut and destroyers of all that Britain holds dear' and there were
endless complaints about Rushton's scruffiness, Frost's front
teeth and Kinnear's stomach.
Stylistically the show broke many rules: although it was
commonplace on "live" shows of the fifties (like the
rock & roll show 6-5 Special) to see the cumbersome
cameras being pushed from one set to the next, TW3 went
beyond that.
A camera mounted high up in the studio would offer a bird's-eye
view of the entire proceedings, showing the complete studio set-up
with the flimsy sketch sets, the musicians, backstage personnel,
the audience, other cameras, etc.
The format of the show was simple, rigid enough to keep it all
together, flexible enough to let items lengthen or shorten or
disappear altogether, depending on time.
Millicent Martin (the
only permanent female member of the team) would sing the title
song (with a new set of lyrics each week relating to the news of
the past few days) then David Frost, as host, would introduce the
proceedings and act as link man between the items and often
appearing throughout in sketches or giving monologues.
Originally John Bird was to have been host but declined.
Sherrin saw Frost at a club, doing an act where he gave a press
conference as Prime Minister Harold MacMillan, and offered him the
role of co-host with Brian Redhead who dropped out after doing the
unaired pilot.
Bernard Levin interviewed people in the news or with strongly
held views and his acid wit added an edge which occasionally
produced flare-ups both verbal and physical. (A member of the
studio audience once punched him, rather ineffectually, following
a scathing review he had written).
Lance Percival acted in sketches and sang topical calypsos (a
device also used on Tonight) many of which were ad-libbed.
David Kernan was a resident singer whose strength was his ability
to parody other singers and styles, Timothy Birdsall drew
cartoons, Al Mancini pulled faces and the engine room was provided
by Willie Rushton, Kenneth Cope and Roy Kinnear who fleshed out
the sketches and comic chatter.
The show occasionally featured guest artists, most famously
comedian Frankie Howerd whose popularity had waned somewhat. His
one appearance on TW3 managed to dramatically resurrect his
career.
Memorable moments from the series include Gerald Kaufman's list
of silent MPs which highlighted politicians who hadn't spoken in
the House of Commons in ten or fifteen years. The sketch caused a furore
when it was read out by the team, despite the fact that the
information was readily available.
Kenneth Cope's "confession" monologue featured a
figure, hidden in shadows, who confesses to being heterosexual and
relates the misery it can cause. Frost's scathing profile of Home
Secretary Henry Brooke insinuated, amongst other things, that his
intractability in an immigration case had led to the murder of the
subject.
Millicent Martin, sang with black faced minstrels about racism
in the Southern States. And most memorable of all was the truly
serious edition immediately following President Kennedy's
assassination.
The whole show was given over to the subject, tackling the
shock felt and the implications of the shooting with rare
solemnity and dignity. That episode has since been lodged at the
Smithsonian Institution
An American version of the series (also featuring Frost, with
co-hosts Alan Alda and Tom Bosley) debuted on 10 January 1964 on
NBC and ran until May 1965.
Singer Nancy Ames took the Millicent Martin role and Buck
Henry, Pat Englund and Alan Alda were among the regulars. The show
proved equally groundbreaking in the United States and, like the
British version, was no stranger to controversy.
Ned Sherrin died of cancer in 207, aged 76.
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