Harry Hill still remembers the thrill of when his parents turned on the TV at their home in a Kent village.
‘This was the 1970s so it was a massive thing, the only window on the outside world, which young people don’t understand now,’ he laughs.
‘But I can’t tell you how exciting something like Top Of The Pops was, or Multi-Coloured Swap Shop on a Saturday, and even the news show Nationwide.’
He couldn’t have known that his childhood love of the box would underpin much of his future: Harry is a comedian, but it is his wry, good-natured skewering of what we watch for which he is most loved.
Harry Hill takes a look back at the TV of the 1970s in Harry Hill’s World Of TV will air tomorrow, 8.30pm on BBC2
Harry Hill’s TV Burp, in which he took an irreverent look at the week’s viewing, was appointment television and won three BAFTAs.
It ended in 2012 after a decade, but fans will be delighted to hear Harry is back with a new clip show, Harry Hill’s World Of TV on BBC2, taking a look at a different genre each week and showing how they’ve evolved over the decades.
Morecambe and Wise – one of Harry Hill’s favourites
He examines soaps, medical dramas, police dramas and home improvement shows, alongside history documentaries and cookery programmes, each a delightful trip down memory lane – and a startling illustration of changing social mores.
‘It’s not meant to be a documentary on TV; it’s a mickey-take,’ Harry reflects. ‘But watching the development of shows – from quite naive, slow-paced stuff to the kind of modern, short-attention-span material of today – does, by accident, tell a story.’
It’s not hard to be struck by what passed for high drama back in the day: against the backdrop of train crashes and brutal murders that characterise modern soap storylines, it’s impossible not to chuckle at the clip of Coronation Street’s Ken Barlow knocking a glass over in the Rovers in the 60s to gasps from the pub-goers.
‘It’s the same with the part on history documentaries, which starts off with Kenneth Clark in Civilisation talking about Vermeer and ends up with Danny Dyer hacking a melon with a sword in his Right Royal Family,’ says Harry.
‘The first few DIY shows are a bloke making a pelmet for half an hour, whereas Changing Rooms is manic, with endless people and a whole house made over.’
The exception is police dramas. ‘We’ve gone from The Sweeney, with blokes jumping out of a van with shotguns and being thrown over car bonnets, to Line Of Duty, which is basically Adrian Dunbar in a restaurant ordering wine and 20 minutes in the interview room,’ he smiles.
Harry discusses today’s equivalent shows to those which once graced the nation’s screens – including today’s Line of Duty compared to the 70s detective show, The Sweeney
Harry admits to having a soft spot for The Sweeney, the 70s detective show with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman. ‘It’s un-PC in a soft way. It’s not racist, but it’s a little sexist, and you don’t think it’s real, with the boys running around shooting guns. But it’s fun.’
In fact, he thinks the 70s are wrongly maligned altogether. ‘I’m very fond of the 70s,’ he says. ‘It’s had a bad press, partly from Jimmy Savile and Gary Glitter and that bunch, but it was great. There was a real sense of fun, with all those shows that inspired me to become a comedian – Generation Game, Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper. I loved Benny Hill at the time, I was a real mad Benny Hill fan.’
With all his TV work it is easy to forget Harry, 55 – who qualified as a doctor – is also an acclaimed stand-up comedian, bursting onto the scene at the 1992 Edinburgh Fringe, where his talent was so clear that the judges created the Perrier Best Newcomer award.
The Sweeney starred John Thaw (left) as Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman (right) as his partner, Detective Sergeant George Carter
Dennis Waterman playing Detective Sergeant, George Carter (pictured) in The Sweeney
He still performs live and thanks his lucky stars for his career switch. ‘The longer I’ve been performing, the more comfortable I am with it,’ he says. ‘Not having a proper job for 30 years is a huge achievement.’
Unlike many other comedians, however, he’s rarely on social media. ‘I’m quite thin-skinned and people say nasty things. I got Instagram but I hardly use it,’ he says. His posts are largely irreverent, like the Chris Whitty puppet he created early on in lockdown.
‘I had my ventriloquist’s dummy and made him look like Chris Whitty. All good fun. But then I was in the park and heard two older ladies saying, “You see these celebs on Twitter, or wherever, desperate for attention.” I thought, actually, it is a bit desperate. If you’re going to make content, you want to get paid for it.’
Naturally this view isn’t shared by his daughters Kitty, Winifred and Frederica. ‘One of them said, “Look at Gordon Ramsay, he’s dancing in his kitchen, he’s got nine million followers.” And I’m thinking, “I just can’t… things have got to get really bad.”’
Harry (pictured) says he believes in the power of TV despite the decline in viewers for terrestrial channels
There are, at least, some things the family agree on. ‘My youngest is 16, so it’s a wonder she’ll sit and watch anything, but we like The Voice Kids and Celebrity Gogglebox,’ he says.
And despite the decline in viewers for terrestrial channels, Harry has faith. ‘I really believe in the power of TV,’ he says. ‘I like the way people can stumble into it. They turn the TV on and get drawn in, which doesn’t happen with the internet, where you can’t see the wood for the trees.’
Recent events have created huge challenges for broadcasters, who have had to abandon filming schedules and adapt formulas such as Bake Off. ‘I thought I should set aside time to come up with the answer to the future of TV,’ jokes Harry. ‘No one knows what the future holds, but people working in TV are so ingenious, they’ll find the answer. I’m certain of it.’
- Harry Hill’s World Of TV, tomorrow, 8.30pm, BBC2