Oh In Colour

Oh In Colour

Oh In Colour title screen.
Genre Comedy
Created by Spike Milligan
John Antrobus [1]
Directed by John Howard Davies
Joseph McGrath
Duncan Wood
Starring Spike Milligan
John Bluthal
Charlie Young Atom
Alan Clare
Edward Underdown
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 6
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Release
Original network BBC
Original release 27 September 1970 (1970-09-27) – 1 November 1970 (1970-11-01)

Oh In Colour was a comedy television sketch programme broadcast on BBC tv in 1970. It ran for one six-episode series from September to November 1970.[2] It was written by and featured Spike Milligan, who was accompanied by different stars every week.[3] It was shown after the thoroughly more popular Q5, also written by Milligan and Neil Shand. It is likely the programme was written to bridge the long production gap between Q5 and the next series, Q6, which did not appear on TV screens until 1975. (Milligan later complained of the BBC's cold attitude towards the series and stated that he would have made more programs had he been given the opportunity.)

Due to the BBC's then-policy of deleting old programmes to save film, only one episode is currently known to exist, which, ironically, given the programme's title, exists only in black-and-white.

Relation to Q..

The format is essentially identical to Milligan's Q series; a series of madcap sketches, typically lacking in plot or cohesion, with the cast and crew often donning bizarre or inappropriate outfits during pieces. The show ran for 30 minutes without commercial breaks, as is typical for programmes broadcast on the BBC. It is unknown whether Oh In Colour was ever actually broadcast in colour or not, as the only surviving tape (episode six, the final broadcast) exists in black-and-white, but as the BBC had moved mostly to colour by the end of 1970, it probably was.

In the surviving episode one can find the racial gags that mired the Q... series in controversy. The staff are similar, too, with mainstays John Bluthal and Fanny Carby taking part in both programmes.[4]

Episodes

Series No. Episode No. Title Original air date
1 1 Unknown 27 September 1970 [5]
1 2 Unknown 4 October 1970 [6]
1 3 Unknown 11 October 1970 [7]
1 4 Unknown 18 October 1970 [8]
1 5 Unknown 25 October 1970 [9]
1 6 Unknown 1 November 1970 [10]

References

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