Alfresco TV series

Alfresco

1983 - United Kingdom

Alfresco was ITV’s spirited, if uneven, response to the BBC’s trailblazing Not the Nine O’Clock News — a sketch show that combined surrealism, satire, and silliness in equal measure. Running for two series in the early 1980s, the programme offered a chaotic blend of comedy, musical pastiche and topical parody, and while it never quite reached the heights of its better-known peers, it remains a fascinating early showcase for a now-legendary ensemble.

The cast — Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond, reads like a who’s who of British comedy and drama royalty. At the time, however, they were fresh-faced newcomers finding their feet. With Elton providing the lion’s share of the writing in the first series (and Fry and Laurie contributing more in the second), Alfresco laid early foundations for A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Saturday Live, and The Man from Auntie.

The sketches themselves were a mixed bag—deliberately anarchic and often more conceptual than laugh-out-loud funny. Targets ranged widely: chat shows, Shakespeare, wartime films, effeminacy, private healthcare and more. This “anything goes” attitude gave the show a loose, occasionally surreal edge—one that The Guardian likened to the later absurdism of The Mighty Boosh in some of the Fry and Laurie double acts. While moments of brilliance gleamed through, especially in the performances, the series was often frayed at the edges, with a rough-and-ready quality that’s either endearing or maddening, depending on one’s taste.

The show began life as a regional pilot mini-series, There’s Nothing to Worry About!, broadcast only in the North-West in 1982. By the time Alfresco debuted nationally, Paul Shearer, who starred in the pilot series, had been replaced by the irrepressible Robbie Coltrane, further strengthening the chemistry of the cast. Interestingly, one episode of the main series is largely a compilation of the earlier pilot, augmented with new material—an indication of both the show's experimental spirit and perhaps some behind-the-scenes improvisation.

Though it never quite became the cultural touchstone its contemporaries did, Alfresco has carved out a modest place in the history of British alternative comedy. Mark Duguid of the BFI called it “a relatively minor, but not undistinguished, piece of the alternative comedy jigsaw”—a fair summation. While it might appeal mainly to completists and fans of the now-famous cast, there’s a scrappy charm to its ambition and unpredictability.

Not quite essential viewing, but far from an embarrassment—Alfresco is a relic of a transitional moment in British comedy, where tradition met irreverence and a new generation began to find its voice.

Published on November 27th, 2018. Marc Saul.

Read Next...

Between the Lines

An ambitious police officer leads the Complaints Investigation Bureau of the Met Police to investigate corruption inside the force in this gripping and dramatic series that predated Line of Duty by 20 years

Also starring Siobhan Redmond

Gormenghast

A gothic fantasy based on the first two novels by Mervyn Peake that follows the life of Titus Groan, the heir of an ancient and decaying castle who faces threats and challenges, not least of all from an ambitious murderer

Also starring Stephen Fry

Inspector Gadget

Like the Six Million Dollar Man, Inspector Gagdet was an ordinary human until an accident armed him with a whole host of in-built secret weapons.

Also released in 1983

Taggart

Ground-breaking, intelligent and immensely watchable crime series set on the grey and rainy streets of Glasgow, 'Taggart' became one of the UK's longest running thriller series

Also starring Siobhan Redmond

University Challenge

The inter-university quiz, first launched in 1962, in which some of the sharpest undergraduate minds in the country battle it out, has become part of the national culture

Also starring Stephen Fry

Auf Wiedersehen Pet

Comedy drama about unemployed construction workers forced to seek employment in Germany.

Also released in 1983

Cracker

Possibly the starkest, darkest, popular drama series to have emerge from a British Television company since the classic Edge of Darkness, Granada Television's Cracker was an instant success.

Also starring Robbie Coltrane

A Bit of Fry and Laurie

Sharp, funny, surreal and intelligent comedy sketches written and performed by renowned duo Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

Also starring Stephen Fry

Jeeves and Wooster

The misadventures of the dapper but dim-witted idle millionaire Bertie Wooster and his indispensable gentleman’s gentleman, the incomparable Jeeves

Also starring Stephen Fry