The Benny Hill Show Wikia
in: Episodes, 1970 Episodes

The Underwater World Of Jacques Custard

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Production[]

Episode: 5
Date: October 28, 1970
Time: 50:44
Musical Director:
Vocals: The Ladybirds
Choreography:
Producer: John Robins
Director: John Robins
Writer: Benny Hill

Episode[]

Ted 01
Under01

Highlights[]

  • Suitcase on a Train
  • Look #7
  • The Mask
  • The Bill Stickers
  • The Underwater World of Jacques Custard

Cast[]

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Quotes[]

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  • Jacques Custard - "Unlike other fish, the Cobalt fish only has one mating season a year. This lasts for twelve months"
  • Jacques Custard - "Unfortunately, there is no female of the species. The Cobalt Fish is a very unhappy fish."
  • Jacques Custard - "The viping fish is the smallest fish known to man; yet, it lays a batch of eggs weighing four times its own weight. It is also a very unhappy fish."
  • Jacques Custard - "This female sole had spent five years in the Cobalt Sea and had yet to find a mate. Poor old soul..."
  • Chow Mein - "I'm not confusing you; you're confusing me!!!"

Trivia[]

  • This episode was recorded on October 22, 1970.
  • The original TVTimes listing for this episode listed Liz Fraser as among those appearing. However, that issue was published before the "audience night" date above, and when the show aired, Fraser was not in it. She would appear in the next show (Opportunity's Knocking), though.
  • The opening sketch features a groundskeeper (Bob Todd) rushing to beat a homeless person (Benny Hill) to a freshly painted bench
  • In a departure from the usual production methods, all but the last episode of the 1970-71 series (and Love Will Find A Way) had outdoor sequences videotaped with an outside broadcast unit instead of filmed.
  • Nicholas Parsons does the opening.
  • In a brief departure from the last four episodes, Benny groups the Quickies in this episode as examples of Look Number Seven
  • The Mask gets replayed practically scene for scene and even with some of the same cast members in The Scarlet Pimple on February 6, 1980.
  • In a short Quickie, an arms dealer (Benny) tries brokering a deal with an African chieftain (Dan Jackson)
  • In a series of fake out-take Quickies:
    • On a talk show, the hostess (Patricia Hayes) and a priest (Benny Hill) are caught with their microphones on while gossiping
    • Moira Anderson (Benny) finds her microphone in a strange place (Verne Morgan is the stage grip)
    • Inglenook Hampendick (Benny) has no steps to get on stage
    • Moira has difficulty raising and releasing her microphone from its stand
    • An opera singer (Jan Butlin?) is upstaged by her gondoliers (Ken Sedd/Verne Morgan/Benny Hill) when the last gondolier gets stuck
    • A close-up on a singer (Benny) reveals his missing front teeth
    • An actor (Benny) has an anxiety attack while filming with his attractive co-star (Rona Newton-John)
    • Hampendick's microphone flies from his hand during his excitement
    • During a production of "Romeo and Juliet," Juliet (Rona Newton-John) forgets her lines in front of her co-star (Benny)
    • Hampendick noticeably loses his breath in his song going up and down stairs to retrieve his female back-up (Charmaine Seal, Rona Newton-John and two unknowns)
    • An actor (Benny) carries in a nude portrait with his face on its shoulders
  • Inglenook Hampendick is an obvious satire of Engelbert Humperdinck, an English pop singer who dominated the music charts in the 60s and 70s. Overall, he has sold more than 140 million records worldwide.
  • The quickie where Benny gets nervous in front of Rona Newton-John was a parody of a recurring ad campaign for Matchsticks chocolate candies - which featured Hill's onetime girlfriend, actress Annette Andre.
  • "Who were you expecting? Jimmy Clitheroe?" - Jimmy was a popular British comedian who was only four-foot-two. He passed away on June 6, 1973, two and a half years after this episode.
  • The "Romeo and Juliet" quickie is a satire of Act 2, Scene Two.
  • The nude portrait gaffe recurs in a Crossroads spoof on the "Jack and Jill" rhyme in 1975.
  • Before "The Underwater World of Jacques Custard" starts, Fred Scuttle tells "Brian" to "get Philip to lace it up." He was calling out to Brian Tesler, Thames Director of Programmes, and Head of Light Entertainment Philip Jones.
  • At one point, Scuttle mentioned one programme's budget as £15,000. This was roughly the budget per show for Benny's specials in the second series.
  • "The Underwater World of Jacques Custard" is a spoof of the Jacques Cousteau documentaries of the 1960s.
  • Two's Company actually performed "Try to Remember," but the A&E Video DVD's of Hill shows misattributed the title.
  • The closing tag features a court martial with a man (Benny) who nearly keels over from a cigarette and escapes when the firing squad (unidentified) are distracted by a woman (Leslie Goldie in her first appearance). Bob Todd plays the general. (This was also his first appearance in the series.)
  • Several clips from this episode made it into the The Best of Benny Hill.
  • The Production Number for this episode was VTR 3454.

Sequence[]

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