There will be exclusive screenings of cult-classic Comic Strip films plus a Q&A with writer and director Peter Richardson and guests as part of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival. Of particular interest to Kate Bush fans are the films GLC (soundtrack by Kate – as part of the 3rd August 1pm screening with guest Alexei Sayle, tickets here) and Les Dogs (starring Kate – as part of the 8th August 1pm screening with guest Steve O’Donnell, tickets here).
Here’s a bit of background on Kate’s involvement with the Comic Strip Presents TV films, in case you didn’t know about them. Kate had always long admired the new wave of alternative British comedians that rose to prominence in the UK in the 1980s, citing The Young Ones as one of her favourite shows.
This resulted in her duetting with Rowan Atkinson for Comic Relief in 1986, having Dawn French and Hugh Laurie star in her Experiment IV music video or later working on her own music and film projects with Lenny Henry (Why Should I Love You?), Stephen Fry (50 Words For Snow), Tim McInnerny (This Woman’s Work video), Robbie Coltrane (Waking the Witch and the Deeper Understanding video) and Noel Fielding (Deeper Understanding video).
By the time her Before the Dawn residency swung around in 2014, it was hardly surprising that guests attending included: Bill Bailey, Ricky Gervais, Dawn French, Frank Skinner, Stephen Fry, Jo Brand, Noel Fielding, Sharon Horgan, Stephen Merchant, Sir Lenny Henry, Sue Perkins, Steve Coogan, Stephen Mangan, Rick Grimshaw, David Walliams, Josie Lawrence, Simon Amstel, Sean Locke and even The Krankies! These were Kate’s people.
With Peter Richardson having directed Kate’s wonderful music video for The Sensual World the previous year, on February 15th 1990, BBC2 in the UK aired an episode of the comedy anthology series The Comic Strip Presents, called GLC: The Carnage Continues, written and directed by Peter Richardson. The 30 minute film parodied a Hollywood telling of the 1980s takeover of the Greater London Council (GLC) by Ken Livingstone (played by Robbie Coltrane) and the subsequent disbanding of that body by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, re-imagining the story as a Charles Bronson / Sylvester Stallone-style action movie.
Kate wrote and performed the instrumental score and theme song to the episode, called “Ken“. The lyrics include the line “Who’s the man we all need? Ken! Who’s a funky sex machine? Ken!” In 2014, Ken Livingstone said “I don’t know if you’ll be applying for tickets to go to Kate Bush’s new tour, but don’t forget, she did one great song – “Ken Is The Leader of the GLC” [sic] – which I’ve still got at home. It’s very good.”
The song appeared as an extra track on her 1990 single Love and Anger released 26th February, the week following the episode’s airing on the BBC, along with The Confrontation and One Last Look Around the House before We Go…, both from Kate’s instrumental score to the episode. The episode’s soundtrack also features other instrumental and choral pieces featuring Kate’s voice, Running Up That Hill, and an extract from Waking the Witch.
Only a few weeks after the screening of GLC came another, even bigger, treat for Kate fans – on March 8th 1990, BBC2 screened the Comic Strip Presents episode, Les Dogs, again written and directed by Peter Richardson, which starred Kate in an acting role as a bride, Angela, in a surreal comedy film based around a wedding. “Les Dogs” are the band playing in a large marquee to celebrate the wedding of Geoffrey and Angela.
During the reception, the fathers of the groom and bride exchange insults and a gun battle ensues in which many guests, and Les Dogs, are casualties, though the happy couple escape. Victor (played by Peter Richardson), who wandered in on the scene, is asked to take wedding photographs and has a series of dreamlike fantasies all based around his infatuation with Angela. The film also stars Miranda Richardson, Alexei Sayle, Danny Peacock, Julie T Wallace, Tim McInnerny, Keith Allen, Adrian Edmondson and Steve O’Donnell.
Kate would work with the Comic Strip again by writing the song Home For Christmas for the episode Wild Turkey, written and directed by Peter Richardson, which was broadcast on December 24th 1992, Christmas Eve. The song featured in a scene between Ruby Wax and Phil Cornwell (the turkey!) and it also played over the end credits. The song surfaced on the 12″ single of Moments of Pleasure the following year and was remastered for inclusion on the compilation CD album The Other Sides in 2018. Peter Richardson would also have a cameo as a mad professor in Kate’s 1993 film, The Line, The Cross and The Curve.
Peter Richardson’s Edinburgh fringe screenings tickets: GLC (soundtrack by Kate – as part of the 3rd August 1pm screening with guest Alexei Sayle, tickets here) and Les Dogs (starring Kate – as part of the 8th August 1pm screening with guest Steve O’Donnell, tickets here). Thanks to Lisa Oliver for letting me know!
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