Bio[]
Name That Tune is a British game show which features two opposing contestants, who compete for prizes and merchandise by testing their knowledge of popular songs and music tunes. The show is hosted by Tom O'Tarbuck (Benny Hill).
Tom introduces the night's contestants, Barney Tredder (Jack Wright), who still lives in his birth home in Matlock (which Tom calls "Wedlock") with his wife who he calls "Bubbles" (because she never has a tissue). The other contestant is Vera Friendly (Louise English) from St. Albans, a French girl wearing a blue dress which is high in front and (very} low in back. Through her scenes, Tom makes a few funny comments about the name tag on her chest. Unfortunately, from the start, she seems to speak very little English, and Tom struggles to give her the instructions to the game, but Vera eventually confesses she knows "some English" and the game awkwardly proceeds.
In the first round, Barney and Vera must identify songs from the words on a board, but the words on Vera's board fall off to reveal the song before she touches it. Barney, meanwhile, is upset the words won't come off his board, but Tom comes over, kicks the wall and all the words fall to reveal a back-handed comment.
The next round is "Melody Roulette," where a song is identified by just its tune. As the wheel music is played for the first time, Barney sings "Over the Rainbow" to the show theme before Tom tells him they haven't started yet. Both contestants get the first tune wrong, but the next few songs played are all French tunes which Vera identifies correctly. Barney meanwhile stands by disgusted annoyed, mentioning they're all French tunes. Tom gives him a chance with an obscure Chinese tune he somehow correctly identifies. However, when Tom moves the prize from $100 to $5, Barney objects and moves it back, but he confidently hits the board and the extra zero fall off. Tom gives him the $1. Tom now wants a good spin on the board, and after Tom spins it, it wobbles, crashes to the floor and rolls off stage.
The following round is "Name That Tune in One" where the contestants name songs from a few notes, but Barney and Vera try doing it in one-note samples. From the start, Tom keeps coaching and giving hints to coax Vera to give the correct answers. However, she does seem to get one tune ("I Didn't Want To Do It") out of what seems sheer luck. However, at the same time, he's trying to distract and lead Barney astray with misleading clues. {He actually claims one song is by Dean Martin, later clarifying he means "Fred Martin, who was Dean of St. Paul's," and identifying another one as "about a monkey on a fast train."
Barney ends up having to step aside with a consolation prize presented to him by a show model (Leigh Miles), but just what the object is unrevealed. Even the girl doesn't know; she's holding it upside down.
With Vera the winner, Tom learns she hopes to use her winnings to go to the Riviera and sunbath naked with an Englishman who helped her. The next round of "Golden Medley" where she has to identify forty tunes in three minutes, but he changes it to "three tunes on forty minutes." Already unconsciously maneuvering to accompany her on her trip, he continues his usual chicanery to help her name as many tunes in the time allotted with more veiled clues. After winning her prize, Tom asks who will accompany her on her trip, and she immediately drops her French accent for a West London accent, calling over Barney to join her, implying they were in a scam together as they go off to get some stiff drinks, leaving Tom to his ultimate chagrin and disappointment.
Trivia[]
- This sketch is a parody of "Name That Tune," an American television game show that originally ran from 1953 to 1959, and in syndication from 1974 to 1981.
- There were, up to that point, two British versions. The first aired (under the title "Spot the Tune") on Granada Television from 1956 to 1963. As of the original airing of this spoof, "Name That Tune" has run since 1976 as part of Thames' "Wednesday at Eight" (later "London Night Out"). The host at this juncture was Tom O'Connor, and the musical director was Alan Braden. In 1983 it would be spun-off as its own series, and by then, O'Connor was replaced by Lionel Blair.
- The lighting and camera work on this sketch is remarkable. At the time of this sketch, Louise would have been 18 or 19, and in her close-ups, she looks just as young if not younger, making Benny's advances as Tom O'Tarbuck a bit cringe-worthy.
- In the sketch, Benny asks Jackie why he's itching, and Jackie comments, "Because I know where I'm itching." This gag is recycled from the Cissy sketch from 1975.
- The (alleged) tunes in the sketch are "Over The Rainbow," "Only A Rose," "Colonel Bogey," "I Don't Know Why, But I Do," "What Kind of Fool Am I?," "I Beg Your Pardon," "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas," "Bless You," "I Didn't Want To Do It" and "London Derry Air." Other medleys named or inferred are "The Cobbler Song," "After The Ball," "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts," "Gentle on My Mind" and "Aba Daba Honeymoon" along with two French songs and a bizarre Chinese ditty.
- It looks as if the price wheel might be rigged to always land on a $100 prize (except when Benny is manually moving it). The other $100 prize (the one which falls off) looks brighter and cleaner on the wheel than the other prize.
- Benny identifies the "Name That Tune in One" as something else. It sounds as if he's saying "Big-A-Note" which doesn't make sense. However, according to a history of the show, it was formerly called "Bid a Note," and contestants were given an option to name the tune in anywhere from one to seven notes.
- The "Name That Tune in One" segment features several images of gnarled or disfigured hands hitting piano keys. Benny's pianist, Ted Taylor also makes one of his several on-screen appearances.
- The plot point of a game show host throwing a game to help an attractive female contestant was recycled from Sale of the Half-Century.
- This was an early example of Louise English's comedic acumen.
- The assistant who ushers Barney out of the set in the third round is Leigh Miles. The other assistant to the end may be Samantha Spencer-Lane.
- The name Tom O'Tarbuck is an amalgam of the names of two British game show hosts, Tom O'Connor and Jimmy Tarbuck. Benny Hill plays the character both looking and speaking more like Jimmy.
