05 June, 2008

"I knew it was an offer you couldn't refuse"

It's always fun seeing dramatisations of life at the BBC, and last week's Mary Whitehouse knockabout was no exception. But they're all too rare, and there's a ton of stuff that could be given the same treatment.

So here's an idea for anybody - though preferably Roly Keating at BBC2 - to commission: a drama serial along the lines of Our Friends In The North, telling the history of the Beeb from the end of the Second World War up to, say, 1987 when John Birt arrived and the DG was sacked.

Each episode would focus on one particular year, like 1955 when ITV started or 1978 when Christmas almost got cancelled because of strikes. The same actors would play the same characters throughout the series (again, like Our Friends). Other people would come and go through the decades. There'd be appearances from then-contemporary politicians and celebrities.

It would, it could, be marvellous. The key, though, would be the casting. For starters, how about:

ALASDAIR MILNE: David Tennant
BILL COTTON: Warren Clarke
MICHAEL GRADE: David Morrissey
DAVID FROST: Michael Sheen
ESTHER RANTZEN: Caroline Quentin
FRANK BOUGH: Anthony Head
TERRY WOGAN: Peter Serafinowicz

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

TERRY WOGAN: Peter Serafinowicz: Inspired :)

Chris Hughes said...

I'm looking forward to the 1985 edition, when David Morrissey gets to tell David Tennant that he's cancelling Doctor Who.

Who's going to play Colin Baker and John Nathan-Turner?

Ian Jones said...

John Nathan-Turner will be played by Rory McGrath. As for Colin Baker...David Mitchell in a curly blond wig?

Anonymous said...

Can we get Richard Attenborough to play David Attenborough or would that rip a whole in the space-time continum.

Unknown said...

Catherine Tate or Julia Nighty Night person as Rantzen, surely?