The Brian Conley Show
The show was commissioned following Conley's last successful comedy series, Brian Conley: This Way Up. The show lasted for four series, although a live special was shown a year after the series ended, and a Christmas special aired a year after that. Shows were broadcast Saturdays on ITV between 22 February 1992 and 22 July 1995. Repeats began to show a few years later on the now defunct Granada Plus, though episodes stopped showing on the channel a few years before it closed, and has since never been broadcast again. Extracts from various episodes were uploaded to a dedicated YouTube channel, but was subsequently closed due to copyright claims.
The show was a mix of comedy, music, sketches, and variety acts. The first two series were recorded in the Churchill Theatre in Bromley rather than a television studio, giving the show a "live" feel. Conley would perform musical numbers, stand-up routines and sketches, the latter of which were performed on sets that were wheeled out onto the stage, and he'd often change costume in front of the audience. Series three and four were filmed in The London Studios and given a new look. Sketches were now performed on a rotating platform that switched between different sets as it spun. However, Conley's trademark characters were either performed on their own set or were pre-recorded.
Conley decided that the fourth series would be the last when, in an interview with TV Times, he decided to pursue a career on stage. However, after Conley compered the Royal Variety Performance in 1999, the show returned in 2000 albeit in a chat show format, dramatically different to the original show. Whilst it retained Conely's stand-up sets at the beginning of the show, as well as his special guests, sketches and Conley's characters were removed from the show. Whilst this had some fans unhappy, the show managed to pull in some famous guests including Leslie Nielsen and Kathleen Turner. The revival lasted for three series.
comedy