The Spike Milligan Tribute Site

Bemusement and amusement from Spike Milligan.

Inspired Lunacy

Q in sign language for the deaf .

Spike Milligans’ Q defies description, but that isn’t going to stop us trying. The very, very odd sketch show first aired in 1969 as Q5 ( - more series followed, oddly enough numbered Q6, Q7, Q8 and Q9) and throughout the years featured luminaries such as Peter Jones, David Lodge and Chris Langham.

‘Q’ gave carte blanche to Spike Milligan’s freeform, surreal wit. Some of the time you'd be sat there in total incomprehension, but the rest of the time you'd cry with laughter. The sketches came thick and fast, stopping with no apparent conclusion, running into one another, making outrageous leaps from one subject or location to another. Even the costumes were madcap and contradictory - everyone was labelled with luggage tags, and our Spike seemed to have a fondness for large noses and hats.

A lot of contemporary comedians like Vic and Bob couldn’t do what they do without this groundbreaking predecessor: even the Monty Python team namechecked Q as an influence. We wouldn't go as far as to say it is timeless - that's a term reserved for gentle sitcoms, and this is much stronger stuff- but it is one of the finest moments of one of the greatest men of British comedy.

Classic TV anarchy from Milligan who, with writing partner Neil Shand, liked to present material that crossed lines of decency and taste in a quest to take comedy into unexplored territory. With their surreal sketch ideas, costumes that still bore the BBC prop department tags, half constructed sets, often bizarre make-up and air of uncontrolled chaos, the Q shows were certainly groundbreaking and pipped Python to the post with their deliberate avoidance of punchlines, many of the sketches segueing into the next routine or simply being abandoned half way through.

Television scarcely seemed able to contain the sprawling scope of the Q shows, and the shows baffled and angered as many viewers as they entertained. Milligan's relationship with his BBC masters was fraught during much of the run: he always wanted to direct the shows himself, propelling them into ever weirder areas, but the executives thought that he needed a strong hand on the tiller. Reputedly (but oddly), they refused to allow the final series to be titled Q10, thinking that the baffling Q prefix had been around for long enough, so Milligan - possibly with a nod towards such 'official' thinking - renamed it There's A Lot Of It About.

Although their importance within the development of the genre is recognised, the Q shows do not enjoy the same posthumous reverence among fans and critics that is reserved for Monty Python's Flying Circus. There are, arguably, three main reasons for this. Firstly, the Q shows were comedically less consistent, with moments of genius squeezed in between bouts of charmless corn. (This was probably because Milligan himself, with Shand, did the bulk of the writing, and his own idiosyncratic flights of fancy could be hit and miss, whereas the Pythons all wrote, the members exercising a kind of quality control mechanism over the others' writing, ensuring that flimsy material was rejected.)

Secondly, there is the question of taste - Milligan's rather old-fashioned shock value usage of racial abuse (jokes about 'wogs' and 'Pakis') and sexual situations (the semi-clad, mammoth-breasted Julia Breck as sexual predator) were acceptable in the climate of the 1970s but don't age as well as the Pythons' shock material (homosexual brigadiers, cannibal undertakers) where authority figures bear the brunt of the humour. Lastly, there is the construction of the programmes - whereas both Q and Python had almost limitless freedom to leave a sketch at any point and play with the reality of the show and the genre of television, Terry Gilliam's brilliant animations permitted Python to effect seamless transitions from one sketch to the next, which, when coupled with the Pythons' faultless sense of programme continuity, gave their shows a greater all-round balance.

Notwithstanding all of this, the Q shows provided Spike Milligan with his longest TV run and brought his humour firmly into the 1970s, delighting old and new fans alike.

Reviews

Kim: "Batter-pudding-meister" Well, blimey! Bemusing, helter-skelter comedy from the batter-pudding-meister himself.

Watching this you can’t believe that it is thirty years old - it has a verve which is rare, and a succession of characters that can only be the imaginings of a demented genius. The sketches are unruly, irreverent and a huge amount of fun.

Q took the comedy ball and pitched it out of the court , hitting a small dog and killing it, which was found by Mrs Wolsten-Casawary and later cooked into her finest stew. Spike Milligan was a comedy god. Anyone who disagrees can meet me outside, now.

Stephen: "Genre-bending Invention"

If you ever felt that you weren't quite sure what the phrase 'inspired lunacy' means, watch this show. Unlike other pretenders to the throne, this is truly surreal.

The gags are bizarre but ingenious. The artist colouring over the 'Mona Lisa' with a painting-by-numbers grid is a classic.

It is clear that Monty Python were inspired by this format, though didn't quite capture the frenzied pace and confused logic of Milligan's genre-bending invention.

It's almost too much to follow. It makes you realise how surprisingly conservative and formulaic the genre is now. Even 'The Fast Show' seems restrained compared to 'Q'.

James: "Cute Bits of Streets"

Q is a celebration of ... well, anonymous bits of West London. Lots of the random location work features cute bits of streets and parks around Television Centre. Some sketches even take place a little further down the street than the last one, almost as though Spike Milligan was just starting to head back, and then had another idea.

But the Punjabi Dalek who gets back after a hard day in the office: pure class.

VIDEO CLIPS

Exterminate The home life of Daleks
Handy In a crisis, this one.
Painting By numbers
That One! The idiot scout troupe

Thanks Aunty Beeb for the info - now repeat the series!

Cast

Spike Milligan

John Bluthal

Alan Clare
Richard Ingrams - (Q5)

John Wells - (Q5)
Philippe Le Bars - (Q5)
Fanny Carby - (Q5)
Anthony Trent - (Q5)
Robert Dorning - (Q6, Q7)

David Lodge- (Q6, Q7, Q8 & TALOIA)

Julia Breck - (Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9 & TALOIA)
Stella Tanner - (Q6, Q7, Q8)

Peter Jones - (Q6)

Alec Bregonzi - (Q6)

Chris Langham - (Q6)
Margaret Nolan - (Q6)

Rita Webb - (Q6, Q8)
Neil Shand - (Q7)
Keith Smith - (Q7, Q8, Q9 & TALOIA)
Sheila Steafel - (Q7)
John D Collins - (Q7, Q8)

Bob Todd - (Q8, Q9)
Jeanette Charles - (Q8, Q9)

David Rappaport - (Q9)
David Adams - (TALOIA)
Suzanne Sinclair - (TALOIA)
Mike O'Malley - (TALOIA)
Linzi Drew - (TALOIA)
Susan Jack - (TALOIA)

Transmission Details

Number of episodes: 38 Length: 30 minsSeries One (7) Q5 31 Mar-5 May 1969, BBC2 Mon 8.50pm
Series Two (6) Q6 6 Nov-11 Dec 1975, BBC2 Thu 9pm
Series Three (7) Q7 3 Jan-14 Feb 1978, BBC2 Tue 9pm
Series Four (6) Q8 4 Apr-9 May 1979, BBC2 Wed 9pm
Series Five (6) Q9 17 June-22 July 1980, BBC2 Tue 9pm
Series Six (6) There's A Lot Of It About 20 Sep-25 Oct 1982, BBC2 Mon 9pm 21 Nov-26 Dec 1969, Fri 8.30pm