Threlfall must have had to watch that video many times to get that last bit exactly right - then to enact it must have been one of the strangest scenes he's ever played. I can imagine that the atmosphere on set might have felt fairly macabre actually - every actor's done a death scene, but this was such a well-known and well-loved guy, dying in such an extremely bizarre & grisly way. Well done to Threlfall for pulling it off with such aplomb.
In 1999 wrestler Owen Hart fell to his death on a WWF show that was live on US tv and Sky Sports, though the fall itself wasn't broadcast, and the show wasn't stopped.
The promoter/producer etc isn't gonna want to stop the show under any circumstances.
I have often found it curious why they just carried on with the show and didn't pull it in favour of something else even a repeat of a programme...
After all is there was a security alert or something at the theatre they'd have to have something on standby to broadcast..
Just wonder why they couldn't have done that in this instance?
A different era I imagine and an attitude of "the show must go on". Nowadays there would probably be absolute uproar if a live show continued after someone died on air, but back then there was no Twitter, Facebook, internet, radio phone in shows.....nothing. Most people probably just shrugged their shoulders when they found out he had died on stage and the show had gone on.
I thought Jason Manford (he played the man who sold Tommy his tricks) did a very bad Jimmy Tarbuck impression ! (Voice only)
The man who impersonated Les Dennis was good though, but I didn't realise that other fella was supposed to be Eric Sykes !
Jason Manford was playing a character called Ken Brooke. We heard the voice of someone playing Jimmy Tarbuck towards the end, but we didn't see him on screen.
this was such a well-known and well-loved guy, dying in such an extremely bizarre & grisly way.
But to the audience watching it live at the time (as I was) it did not come across that away and only realised something was badly wrong when they cut to an ad break. Only Tommy could take his final curtain call and make it still seem funny.
A different era I imagine and an attitude of "the show must go on". Nowadays there would probably be absolute uproar if a live show continued after someone died on air, but back then there was no Twitter, Facebook, internet, radio phone in shows.....nothing. Most people probably just shrugged their shoulders when they found out he had died on stage and the show had gone on.
No I can assure you 'most' people were in fact able to show shock/disbelief/sympathy for Tommy Cooper that night and his family. Strangely enough we were able to do that without Twitter, Facebook, Internet etc - yes people died and people grieved long before that.
But to the audience watching it live at the time (as I was) it did not come across that away and only realised something was badly wrong when they cut to an ad break. Only Tommy could take his final curtain call and make it still seem funny.
I was actually referring to Threlfall having to play that scene as part of this programme - knowing that was how it was seen at the time, but also knowing that he would have to pull off the performance of a lifetime to recreate it. (It has to be one of the most compelling & morbid death scenes an actor has ever had to play?)
I was actually referring to Threlfall having to play that scene as part of this programme - knowing that was how it was seen at the time, but also knowing that he would have to pull off the performance of a lifetime to recreate it. (It has to be one of the most compelling & morbid death scenes an actor has ever had to play?)
yes, funnily enough the close ups I found less affecting than when the camera panned back and we saw it just as millions of people saw it that night, Tommy alone and crumpled in the middle of the stage before anyone realised that it wasn't a joke.
yes, funnily enough the close ups I found less affecting than when the camera panned back and we saw it just as millions of people saw it that night, Tommy alone and crumpled in the middle of the stage before anyone realised that it wasn't a joke.
That was the 'money shot' - suddenly we were in the audience's shoes and seeing it as they did. Chilling indeed...... (It was interesting that they showed some audience members' faces as becoming serious - there must have been doctors there that night who would have been aware of TC's symptoms. But the other main point that this scene brought across was the speed of the whole event - while people were still looking at each other questioningly, the production team had swung into action and brought on the ad break. Look at it again - the whole thing was over in seconds.)
I've just remembered, I have Donny Osmond's autobiography "Life Is Just What You Make It'. He was on the bill the same night that Tommy collapsed. I've found the relevant bit (page 212). Donny says Tommy was 'imitating an old man having a heart attack at the sight of a beautiful model who walked across the stage'. Less than a minute later, he was still on the floor - they thought he was milking it. It was only when the host walked over and said 'Tommy, come on, joke's over', that they realised something wasn't right, and shouted for an ambulance. They quickly drew down the curtain and cut to the commercial break.
So even the other people on the bill thought it was part of the act. However, 'The show did go on, though the audience was understandably subdued'.
A different era I imagine and an attitude of "the show must go on". Nowadays there would probably be absolute uproar if a live show continued after someone died on air, but back then there was no Twitter, Facebook, internet, radio phone in shows.....nothing. Most people probably just shrugged their shoulders when they found out he had died on stage and the show had gone on.
To be fair, he had a heart attack on air, but they may not have known until later (after he'd been taken to hospital, that he'd actually died. He was still moving when they cut to the ads.
for the first 15 minutes i found it horrible to watch to be honest. I was a huge fan of Tommy Cooper growing up and my dad loved him. However I stuck with it and to be honest I found it a very enjoyable moving drama. The point to the whole thing was Tommy Cooper found performing and fame quite hard, he wasn't your run of the mill comedian. a lot of Comedians like Eric Morecombe had script writers and performed much more TV, but Tommy preferred live performances and found it difficult if people didn't laugh at him, and its in this that every comedian/clown either accepts or lets it get to them. some better comedians than Tommy have found things tougher, Hancock being one of them, Tommy was very often drunk even on stage at times he smoked and sweated profusely but he still made people laugh. As for people moaning about the standard of comedy then they truly didn't live through the period as back then comedy had a kind of childish innocence to it. To judge Tommy by everything thats gone after him is like trying to compare Norman Wisdom with Chubby Brown. as I said I found it good after I got past the fact that the main character seemed to laugh like Tommy in almost every piece of dialogue. The supporting characters were brilliant especially Helen McCrory as Mary and Amanda Redman playing his wife Dove.
I thought it was a fair stab at Tommy Cooper by David Threfall
yes, funnily enough the close ups I found less affecting than when the camera panned back and we saw it just as millions of people saw it that night, Tommy alone and crumpled in the middle of the stage before anyone realised that it wasn't a joke.
According to Fisher's biography TC had donned the cloak in preparation for his routine where he produced stuff from inside it, which got more and more bizarre as the routine went on. It was to have ended with Tarby himself being pulled from inside the cloak, protesting that he couldn't hand anything else through.
I remember watching TC's death on TV - I was 9 at the time - and thinking when it happened that something wasn't quite right. After LFHM ended my dad went through to the kitchen to put the kettle on for a pot of tea when the ITN News came on and Trevor McDonald announced that TC had died; I remember my mum shouting through to the kitchen to my dad to come back through. It was the first time that I became aware of death, perhaps because TC had died so publicly. When Eric Morecambe died in similar circumstances a few weeks later I remember thinking 'not another one gone'. It was all so spooky, two comedy greats gone, both to heart attacks, in the space of six weeks.
I 'enjoyed' the programme - it was very well done & IMO, equally non judgemental & sympathetic to all the characters.
Tommy Cooper was portrayed as a professional of those times...
The aftermath, for all, must have been terrible - the son dying of drink, 4 years later....the mistress writing a kiss & tell.
The daughter, as the only surviving relative, was involved initially in this show. I note that she has an agent. Perhaps, a financial falling out ?
BIB his son didnt die of drink, according to wikipedia: he died suddenly on 13 August 1988, aged just 32, of haemophilia, following complications caused by liver failure.'
anyway i felt DT did a fantastic job of portraying TC especially the death scene.
Comments
But not in these circumstances...
In 1999 wrestler Owen Hart fell to his death on a WWF show that was live on US tv and Sky Sports, though the fall itself wasn't broadcast, and the show wasn't stopped.
The promoter/producer etc isn't gonna want to stop the show under any circumstances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l0P2EsUsJk
A different era I imagine and an attitude of "the show must go on". Nowadays there would probably be absolute uproar if a live show continued after someone died on air, but back then there was no Twitter, Facebook, internet, radio phone in shows.....nothing. Most people probably just shrugged their shoulders when they found out he had died on stage and the show had gone on.
She died in 2011.
yes, funnily enough the close ups I found less affecting than when the camera panned back and we saw it just as millions of people saw it that night, Tommy alone and crumpled in the middle of the stage before anyone realised that it wasn't a joke.
How did you find out about that?
I couldn't find no info about her on wikepeidia etc
She died in 2011 aged 83 :
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/tommy-coopers-dark-side-id-3430619
Read online that they had bomb threats during the 70's revival of Sunday Night At The London Palladium & at least one show was abandoned.
(Saw something on You Tube about it! )
So even the other people on the bill thought it was part of the act. However, 'The show did go on, though the audience was understandably subdued'.
To be fair, he had a heart attack on air, but they may not have known until later (after he'd been taken to hospital, that he'd actually died. He was still moving when they cut to the ads.
I thought it was a fair stab at Tommy Cooper by David Threfall
Thanks...
since that programme Monday I have really got myself interested in it all..
What.... Just like that ??
Thank you very much...:):D
According to Fisher's biography TC had donned the cloak in preparation for his routine where he produced stuff from inside it, which got more and more bizarre as the routine went on. It was to have ended with Tarby himself being pulled from inside the cloak, protesting that he couldn't hand anything else through.
I remember watching TC's death on TV - I was 9 at the time - and thinking when it happened that something wasn't quite right. After LFHM ended my dad went through to the kitchen to put the kettle on for a pot of tea when the ITN News came on and Trevor McDonald announced that TC had died; I remember my mum shouting through to the kitchen to my dad to come back through. It was the first time that I became aware of death, perhaps because TC had died so publicly. When Eric Morecambe died in similar circumstances a few weeks later I remember thinking 'not another one gone'. It was all so spooky, two comedy greats gone, both to heart attacks, in the space of six weeks.
BIB his son didnt die of drink, according to wikipedia: he died suddenly on 13 August 1988, aged just 32, of haemophilia, following complications caused by liver failure.'
anyway i felt DT did a fantastic job of portraying TC especially the death scene.