Hale & Pace do Son Of Cliché, and a MYSTERY

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This is obviously the most important thing to have happened today in Red Dwarf fandom – I have discovered two first-series Hale & Pace sketches which originate from the first series of Son Of Cliché.

H&P 1.4 (23/10/88) – “Song For Jack” (originally from SoC 1.4, 15/9/83)

H&P 1.6 (6/11/88) – “Lumpkin Land” (originally from SoC 1.7, 4/10/83)

Three very interesting things here:

1. As we know, Grant and Naylor would frequently recycle bits of SoC throughout their TV career, but here they are not credited on either episode, or indeed on record as ever being involved with the programme, so what’s going on here? Could it have been some odd contractual arrangement with Noel Gay that prevented their names turning up on the end roller? It is after all the Noel Gay connection that led to Howard Goodall getting the Red Dwarf gig and not Peter Brewis (who at that point was had not only been Son Of Cliché’s MD but also done the music for more or less every 1980s Paul Jackson project, so would have been a shoo-in under ‘normal’ circumstances).

2. Red Dwarf was obviously already on TV by this point – indeed, Hale & Pace began airing properly between Stasis Leak and Queeg, and these sketches went out very soon after series 2 finished (the H&P version of ‘Song For Jack’ aired only 12 days after Parallel Universe, in fact, which part-recycled another series 1 SoC song itself).

3. Peter Brewis was working on H&P at this point as MD, and as composer of ‘Song For Jack’ it’s quite pleasing that he presumably supplied live accompaniment for both versions five years apart. The piano underscore at the start of ‘Lumpkin Land’ is reminiscent of the original as well. Was this then all an under-the-table favour from G&N to get their old mate some mechanicals money after he didn’t end up scoring their show? It’s worth noting that Brewis wasn’t house composer on H&P, just arranger of Joe Griffiths’ songs, and he appears to leave suddenly during series 2. If this guess is anywhere near the truth, it opens up further interesting possibilities about the reason they might have written ‘Tongue Tied’ into Red Dwarf in the first place.

Obviously all this is wild speculation, but what an enjoyable mystery…!

Topic

[John Hoare]

This is EXTREMELY INTERESTING, and requires FURTHER INVESTIGATION.

I have nothing else to add, but this thread deserves a reply right now!

[Author]

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