This has completely flown under the radar, so thanks to Si Bromley for spotting it in his TV guide and tweeting about it. Danny John-Jules and Craig Charles are hosting Craig & Danny: Funny, Black and On TV on Tuesday 13th October at 8pm on ITV. Part of a season of programmes marking Black History Month, the pair present a celebration of iconic Black British comedy stars spanning fifty years, featuring a combination of archive and interviews. Here’s the press release.

It’s an intriguing and welcome move for Craig and Danny to be working together as a twosome, and especially on a mainstream channel like ITV. It’s all the more pleasing given that Red Dwarf is often overlooked in discussions such as these, despite being a prime example of diverse representation and colour blind casting, even though it originated at a time before such terms were coined. Plus, the mere existence of this programme will infuriate racists on Twitter, so win-win.

28 comments on “Old, Gifted and Black

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  • I was watching something on ITV Hub yesterday and got a generic “black history month programming” advert. But it’s the only thing I’ve seen, and even then I only really picked up on it because of this thread.

  • The Psiren’s still is an odd one. Presumably Doug out from the ITV archives for some reason? And presumably sent out to ITV for some other reason some time ago?

    The typo is interesting. Maybe they’re trying to make us feel comfortable as we’re used to these sorts of blunders from UKTV etc.

  • Fair. Shame they didn’t go with image two.

    Fun fact, I used to have that 3rd image as a poster back in the day.

  • Same! It was originally Dwarf’s first ever (of two) Radio Times cover, heralding the start of Series VII.

  • YES that’s right.

    The other cover was the 10th anniversary right? I feel like I had that pinned to a wall for a while too.

  • yeah I had memory of the cake, now you mention Ainsley it’s all coming back to me now.

  • Same! It was originally Dwarf’s first ever (of two) Radio Times cover, heralding the start of Series VII.

    Ah, I knew I had something with that on that wasn’t a poster or a magazine. Just checked and it was also the front cover of the 1998 calendar.

  • Well, that was… alright.

    Imagine a version of The Last Three Million Years but about black British comedy instead of Red Dwarf and that’s pretty much this show. An interesting whistle-stop tour but it felt like it could have been four hours instead of one.

    It’s all the more pleasing given that Red Dwarf is often overlooked in discussions such as these, despite being a prime example of diverse representation and colour blind casting, even though it originated at a time before such terms were coined.

    And indeed, ended up being overlooked in this very programme.

    (Craig and Danny barely even appeared, other than as voiceovers.)

  • (Craig and Danny barely even appeared, other than as voiceovers.

    What better way to exemplify black representation than making them voice overs.

  • I think it was more about budget than anything else. It was entirely clips, talking head interviews and voiceover.

  • The fact they were voiceover only is probably more to do with Covid restrictions than anything else. It was hardly a high-budget affair, but I feel that if this was being made in normal times, they’d have splashed out on some on-camera links, and it would have been all the better for it. A further problem was that Craig and Danny clearly recorded their narration separately, which meant it was a little stilted and lacked the proper camaraderie you expect when they’re together.

    And yes, bizarre that Red Dwarf was only mentioned in passing as the reason the two narrators knew each other, rather than a more substantial discussion about it in terms of race. I guess the difference between Dwarf and almost everything else they discussed (particularly the stuff from the 90s onwards) was that most other things had Black authors as well as performers. The fact that the cultural and ethnic background of the actors is never a feature of Dwarf counted against it, despite that being interesting and significant in and of itself. But you’d think that surely if you’re going to get Craig and Danny to “front” your documentary, you’d discuss their work!

    It did contain something truly significant however. As well as a handful of stills all sourced from that Alamy search I linked to yesterday, right towards the end there was a small, silent snippet of Danny’s 1993 Tongue Tied video. I’m not sure if it was ever shown on music channels and the like when it was in the charts, but I’m fairly sure this is the first time it’s been televised as part of a mainstream programme.

  • but I’m fairly sure this is the first time it’s been televised as part of a mainstream programme.

    Truly, we are living in historic times.

  • They should have built it up as a never-before-broadcast special event like the forwards Arthur Smith clip in the First Three Million Years.

  • I guess the difference between Dwarf and almost everything else they discussed (particularly the stuff from the 90s onwards) was that most other things had Black authors as well as performers.

    Curious that Paul Garner was asked to write the programme.

    Instead of Steve Bunce.

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