Alfresco

Alfresco was a British television series starring Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Siobhan Redmond and Emma Thompson, produced by Granada Television and broadcast by ITV between 1983 and 1984. Running for two series, it totalled 13 episodes and was named Alfresco (from the Italian al fresco, meaning "in the fresh air") because, unusually for a comedy sketch show of the time, it was shot on location rather than in a studio.

The programme was a sketch show which was scheduled as an answer to the BBC's highly successful Not the Nine O'Clock News. The main writer was Ben Elton, with Fry and Laurie receiving writing credits by the second series. Of the original team, Tony Slattery was supposed to join the cast for There's Nothing To Worry About, but accepted an offer from Chris Tarrant to join his upcoming follow-up to the disaster of O.T.T. titled Saturday Stayback.

After a three-part pilot series called There's Nothing To Worry About! in 1982, which featured Elton, Fry, Laurie, Redmond, Thompson and Paul Shearer, a first series of Alfresco was commissioned, replacing Shearer with Robbie Coltrane. The third of the seven transmitted episodes in 1983 was in fact a compilation show of the pilot series, featuring some additional material.

The sketches of the first series had a very odd and surreal mood to them. In the second series in 1984 the overall style changed slightly. A linking device in form of a 'Pretend Pub' was created, and the sketches themselves were less dark than in the first series.

Recurring characters

Though the programme was mostly composed of one-off sketches, a few characters appeared over several episodes.

Ben Elton & Hugh Laurie as
Mr. Butcher and Mr. Baker

Mr Butcher and Mr Baker

Elton and Laurie appear four times during the first series as two odd gentlemen in a strange cinematic black & white setting. They usually have a dialogue which relies heavily on wordplay.

Alan & Bernard

Fry and Laurie appear four times during the first series as two young men discussing topics such as war prevention, a trendy cinema and the SAS. The characters appeared before on There's Nothing To Worry About! and the Cambridge Footlights Revue.

Doctor De Quincy

Fry appears twice as Doctor De Quincy, a character he also plays in the sitcom Happy Families in 1985, which was also written by Ben Elton.

Pretend Pub

The cast appear as crew and guests of a pretend pub, which serves as a linking device during the episodes of Series 2: Pretend pub landlord Bobzza (Coltrane), barmaid Shizza (Redmond), Lord Stezza (Fry), Huzza (Laurie), Bezza (Elton) and Ezza (Thompson).

Episodes

• Season One : 1 May 1983 – 12 June 1983 (Seven episodes)
• Season Two : 28 April 1984 – 2 June 1984 (Six episodes)

External links

• SOTCAA article on Alfresco