Not Only... But Also
Not Only... But Also was a British sketch comedy television series produced by the BBC, featuring the writing and performing partnership of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and broadcast in three series from 1965 to 1970.[1][2] The programme originated from a successful one-off comedy special starring Moore, which evolved into a full series after the duo's established chemistry from their Beyond the Fringe stage collaboration.[3][4] It showcased satirical sketches, musical interludes by Moore, and the duo's signature "Pete and Dud" dialogues—absurdist conversations between characters Pete (a pompous know-it-all) and Dud (a hapless everyman)—which became emblematic of 1960s British humour.[3][2] The series aired initially on BBC2, with repeats on BBC1, and was acclaimed for advancing satirical comedy on television, building on the Goons' legacy while introducing visual and verbal absurdity that influenced subsequent British programmes.[5][2] Its impact stemmed from Cook's sharp wit and Moore's versatile musicianship, often blending highbrow intellectualism with lowbrow farce, as seen in sketches like the "French Tourist" or art gallery parody.[3][6] However, much of the original footage was lost due to the BBC's tape-wiping practices in the era, leaving only fragments and compilations, though recent archival recoveries have preserved additional material.[7][8]Historical Development
Origins in the 1960s Satire Movement
![Film frame from Not Only... But Also (1964)][float-right] The British satire movement of the early 1960s emerged as a cultural reaction against the deference and conformity of the post-war era, employing irreverent humor to critique authority, politics, and social institutions. This shift was catalyzed by the revue Beyond the Fringe, written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 1960. The production's sharp sketches mocking establishment figures and absurdities drew large audiences and critical acclaim, transferring to London's West End and later Broadway, thereby popularizing satirical comedy among a broader public.[9][10] Peter Cook played a pivotal role in institutionalizing the movement by opening The Establishment Club in Soho in October 1961, a venue dedicated to live satirical performances that hosted emerging comedians and challenged traditional comedy norms. The club's success, alongside the launch of Private Eye magazine in 1961 and the BBC's That Was the Week That Was in 1962, amplified the satire boom's reach into print and television. Cook and Moore's partnership, forged during Beyond the Fringe, capitalized on this environment, with their contrasting styles—Cook's deadpan intellectualism and Moore's physical expressiveness—proving ideal for dissecting contemporary hypocrisies.[11][12] Building on their stage success, Cook and Moore transitioned to television, resulting in the BBC2 commission for Not Only... But Also, which debuted on January 9, 1965. The series adapted the duo's satirical sketches for the small screen, featuring monologues, dialogues, and visual gags that lampooned British society, thus extending the 1960s satire movement's influence into broadcast media amid a period of loosening censorship and growing youth culture. Early footage from 1964 suggests preparatory work predated the formal premiere, aligning with the movement's momentum.[13][5]Formation of the Cook-Moore Partnership
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore first collaborated professionally in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival on August 27, 1960, at the Royal Lyceum Theatre.[14] The production, featuring Cook, Moore, Jonathan Miller, and Alan Bennett, showcased their emerging comedic synergy through joint sketches such as "One Leg Too Few," where Moore portrayed a one-legged actor auditioning for a role requiring full mobility, with Cook delivering deadpan interrogations that highlighted their contrasting styles—Cook's verbal precision against Moore's physical expressiveness.[15] This initial teamwork, born from the 1960s British satire boom, laid the groundwork for their partnership by demonstrating Moore's musical and mimetic talents complementing Cook's scriptwriting prowess, though they had no prior joint performances.[16] Following Beyond the Fringe's transfer to London's West End in 1961 and Broadway in 1962, where it ran for over 1,500 performances and grossed millions, Cook and Moore began honing a dedicated double act outside the revue's ensemble format.[14] They experimented with improvised dialogues and routines in club settings, including Cook's Establishment venue opened in Soho in 1961, refining characters like the working-class Pete and Dud whose surreal, meandering conversations would become their signature.[17] This phase solidified their duo dynamic, with Cook often scripting monologues that Moore animated through piano accompaniment and buffoonery, attracting audiences seeking irreverent alternatives to traditional British comedy.[18] By 1964, their partnership had evolved to include scripted television dialogues, prompting Moore to invite Cook for a TV appearance that tested their conversational format, paving the way for a sustained collaboration.[15] This culminated in their BBC series Not Only... But Also, debuting January 2, 1965, which formalized the Cook-Moore act as a vehicle for sketches blending satire, music, and absurdity, though rooted in the live-stage chemistry forged earlier.[18] Their bond, marked by mutual inspiration amid personal contrasts—Cook's towering cynicism and Moore's diminutive charm—enabled a telepathic onstage rapport that distinguished them from contemporaries.[15]Production Challenges and BBC Involvement
The BBC commissioned Dudley Moore for a one-off comedy special in late 1964, during which he collaborated with Peter Cook on sketches such as the "Pete and Dud" dialogues and a segment on teaching ravens to fly underwater, impressing executives enough to greenlight a full series on BBC2.[2] The resulting first series consisted of seven 45-minute episodes produced between January and April 1965, featuring original sketches, musical performances by Moore, and guest appearances, with production emphasizing the duo's improvisational style where dialogues were often recorded spontaneously, transcribed, refined, and enhanced with ad-libs during filming.[1][18] Subsequent series in 1966 and 1970 followed a similar format under BBC oversight, with episodes later trimmed to 30 minutes for BBC1 repeats, but production faced technical hurdles, including one 1965 episode broadcast approximately five minutes shorter than intended due to editing or transmission issues.[8] More significantly, the BBC's routine policy of wiping videotapes for reuse—driven by the high cost and limited storage of 1960s recording media—resulted in the erasure of most episodes across all series, despite Peter Cook's direct offers to purchase the masters, which the corporation declined.[19][7] This loss persisted until 2010, when audio recordings of 13 wiped episodes surfaced from a private collection, highlighting the BBC's archival decisions as a major impediment to the series' complete preservation.[20][21]Series Format and Content
Sketch Structure and Style
The sketches in Not Only... But Also primarily revolved around dialogues between Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, often portraying the recurring characters Pete and Dud, two cloth-capped working-class men from Dagenham.[3] These "Dagenham Dialogues" featured extended conversations on diverse subjects ranging from everyday life to philosophy, with Cook's Pete delivering nasal, overconfident, and surreal opinions, while Moore's Dud interjected with naive or frustrated responses.[3] [22] The format emphasized verbal sparring and absurdity over rapid punchlines, with some sketches lasting eight to nine minutes, allowing for character-driven escalation of nonsense.[23] Stylistically, the show blended satire targeting social pretensions, high art, and contemporary issues with surreal and physical elements.[24] Cook's deadpan delivery of ill-informed pontification contrasted Moore's reactive physicality, incorporating improvisation that occasionally led to corpsing, enhancing the authentic, unpolished feel.[25] Sketches often juxtaposed intellectual topics with mundane settings like pubs or galleries, underscoring the duo's critique of elitism through proletarian lenses.[3] Musical interludes, leveraging Moore's piano skills—including unconventional techniques like playing with elbows or feet—added variety, merging comedy with performance art.[26] [27] The overall approach prioritized witty, freewheeling exchanges that ranged from whimsical to existential, influencing later British sketch comedy with its focus on character depth and topical irreverence.[3]Recurring Characters and Signature Sketches
The most prominent recurring characters in Not Only... But Also were Pete and Dud, played by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, respectively. These cloth-capped, raincoat-wearing working-class men from Dagenham typically appeared in dimly lit pub or sitting-room settings, exchanging surreal, meandering dialogues on topics ranging from everyday banalities to philosophy, religion, sex, art, and music. Pete embodied a pompous, self-assured know-it-all with encyclopedic pretensions but flawed logic, while Dud served as the hapless, dim-witted everyman reacting with confusion or agreement; their exchanges often incorporated ad-libbed elements, corpsing (breaking character with laughter), and escalating absurdity, showcasing the duo's improvisational chemistry.[2][3] The "Dagenham Dialogues" formed the core signature sketches featuring Pete and Dud, debuting in the first series on January 23, 1965, and recurring across episodes; these routines, such as "A Spot of the Usual Trouble" (alias "Film Stars"), "The Worst Bloody Thing That Could Happen to You," and musings on curry eggs or travel mishaps, emphasized verbal interplay over visual gags and became the show's hallmark for intellectual yet idiomatic British humor.[2][3] A compilation of twelve such sketches was later published in the 1990 book The Dagenham Dialogues, underscoring their enduring appeal.[6] Other signature sketches included "Poets Cornered," where guest comedians like Frank Muir, Spike Milligan, and Barry Humphries improvised rhyming poems on absurd prompts, facing the penalty of a gunge tank for failure, which added an element of risk and spontaneity to the revue format. Dudley Moore's solo musical interludes, such as his virtuoso piano performances in unconventional settings (e.g., atop Tower Bridge in the opening sequence) or the recurring closing bit with a sinking piano, blended comedy with jazz-inflected musicianship, often transitioning seamlessly into sketches. Guest appearances yielded notable one-off signatures, including Peter Sellers collaborations like "The Gourmets" (March 20, 1965), depicting pretentious diners, and "Boxer-Cum-Painter," highlighting physical comedy amid the duo's verbal style.[2]Transition from Black-and-White to Color
The initial two series of Not Only... But Also, broadcast on BBC2 in 1965 and 1966, were produced entirely in black-and-white, reflecting the standard monochrome format of early BBC2 programming prior to the widespread adoption of color television.[5] These episodes relied on studio-based sketches and film inserts captured without color capabilities, aligning with the technical limitations of the era where BBC2 operated primarily in black-and-white despite experimental color tests beginning in 1966.[28] A four-year production hiatus followed the 1966 Christmas special, during which Peter Cook and Dudley Moore pursued separate ventures, including the stage revue Behind the Fridge that toured internationally from 1967 onward. This gap coincided with the BBC's rollout of color television: BBC2 initiated regular color broadcasts on July 1, 1967, starting with coverage of the Wimbledon tennis championships, enabling nearly all BBC2 programs to transition to color by mid-1968.[29] By 1970, when the duo returned for a third series of six episodes, the program was produced in color, capitalizing on the established infrastructure for PAL color transmission on UHF.[6][30] The shift to color introduced enhanced visual fidelity for certain sketches, such as outdoor or artistic sequences like "The Art Gallery," where chromatic elements could underscore satirical elements, though the core verbal humor of recurring characters like Pete and Dud remained unchanged. However, much of the 1970 series suffered from the BBC's tape-wiping practices, with only fragmentary color film inserts and off-air audio surviving, underscoring preservation challenges unique to the transition era.[7] This move to color marked the final original run of the series, aligning with broader industry momentum toward full-color production by the early 1970s.[31]Broadcast Episodes
First Series (1965)
The first series of Not Only... But Also consisted of seven 45-minute episodes broadcast on BBC Two, featuring sketches written by and starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.[7][1] The programme originated from a commission for Dudley Moore to host a solo comedy special, which evolved to include Cook after Moore expressed reservations about performing alone.[32] Episodes aired on Saturdays, beginning with the premiere on 9 January 1965, followed by instalments on 23 January, 6 February, 20 March, and subsequent dates in spring 1965, with the series concluding that year.[33] The format blended verbal satire, musical interludes by Moore's trio, and character-driven sketches, often centering on the duo's personas as Pete and Dud—working-class everymen from Dagenham engaging in absurd, philosophical dialogues over pints.[1][2] Recurring elements included the "Poets Cornered" segment, where guest comedians such as Frank Muir, Spike Milligan, and Barry Humphries improvised rhyming verses on provided topics.[1] Notable sketches from the series featured guest appearances, including Peter Sellers in "The Gourmets," a parody of pretentious dining, broadcast on 20 March 1965, and a French tourist routine involving Humphries.[34][35] John Lennon contributed a pre-filmed segment in uniform, reflecting the era's satirical edge on cultural figures.[2] The black-and-white production emphasized Cook's deadpan wordplay and Moore's physical comedy, with episodes repeated on BBC One in May 1965, contributing to its immediate popularity among viewers attuned to the 1960s satire boom.[36] Most episodes from this series were routinely wiped by the BBC due to tape shortages, leaving only fragments and off-air audio recordings; for instance, the 20 March episode survives partially through surviving clips of Sellers' involvement.[5][7] Contemporary response hailed the series as a success for its innovative absurdity and stifled-laughter interplay, marking a shift in British television comedy toward unscripted spontaneity and social observation, though some critics noted its reliance on the duo's live-stage chemistry from Beyond the Fringe.[1][36] The first series laid the foundation for the show's reputation, averaging strong ratings on BBC Two despite the channel's limited reach at launch.[27]Second Series (1966)
The second series of Not Only... But Also consisted of seven 30-minute episodes, broadcast weekly on Saturdays from 15 January to 26 February 1966 on BBC Two England.[7] This marked a reduction in runtime from the first series' 45-minute format, allowing for tighter editing and repeat airings, while maintaining the core structure of satirical sketches, verbal duologues, musical interludes by Dudley Moore, and occasional filmed segments.[1] Peter Cook and Dudley Moore continued as writers, performers, and directors for many sketches, emphasizing absurdism, social observation, and character-driven humor without reliance on visual effects or large casts.[2] The series retained recurring elements such as the "Pete and Dud" dialogues, where Cook portrayed the pompous, know-it-all Pete and Moore the hapless Dud, often set in a pub debating trivial or philosophical matters with escalating wordplay.[1] Sketches explored themes of British class dynamics, urban ennui, and cultural pretensions, delivered in a deadpan style that influenced later alternative comedy. Guest appearances added variety, including actor Joe Melia in the premiere episode for collaborative bits.[37] Production remained low-budget, relying on studio audiences and minimal sets, with Moore providing piano-based musical breaks featuring jazz standards or original compositions.[2]| Episode | Air Date | Channel | Notable Guests |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 January 1966 | BBC Two | Joe Melia[37] |
| 2 | 22 January 1966 | BBC Two | None specified[38] |
| 3–6 | 29 January–19 February 1966 | BBC Two | None specified |
| 7 | 26 February 1966 | BBC Two | None specified[39] |