Benny Hill was once one of Britain’s most popular entertainers, with his particular brand of comedy – slapstick and risque – hugely popular for some two decades with a theme tune that will bring back memories for anyone of a certain age.
It’s reported that one of his specials, aired in 1969, attracted a bigger audience than the moon landings but in recent years, the comedian has fallen out of favour, with some of his sketches being criticised over their racist and sexist jokes.
This was the topic of a recent Channel 5 programme, The Cancellation of Benny Hill, looking back at the comedian’s career, noting that his popularity extended to major stars including Michael Jackson, while he also appeared in a number of movies, including The Italian Job and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
In 1971, viewing figures for his show topped 21 million and the comedian was awarded ITV personality of the year.
But his success would come to a sudden end in the 1980s and his shows are ‘rarely on TV nowadays – having been criticised for containing racist, sexist, risqué and vulgar content which would be deemed unacceptable by today’s standards’.
Programme’s makers looked back through the archives to find footage that cannot ‘under normal circumstances’ be played on TV today, and aired it for some younger viewers, Ellie, Pradeep, and Jodie, as well as cultural commentators, to get their reactions.
The show also sought to answer the question of ‘whether it’s time to bring Benny out of the comedy cold, or whether he should stay “cancelled?”.’
Sketches from Benny Hill’s work which include scantily clad women are now considered sexist and outdated
However, Gen Z viewers were amused by this scene, which showed a chat show host interviewing a vicar who’d accidentally left
Some of the clips shocked the younger viewers due to their politically incorrect content, however, there were others that they found more amusing.
They were shown one famous sketch which features Benny playing a chat show host speaking to a vicar whose flies are undone.
The chat show host tries to surreptitiously move a table with a vase of flowers on it to hide the vicar’s wardrobe malfunction, and this didn’t go down too badly with the Gen Z audience.
Pradeep said of the clip: ‘That was funny and I think when he was trying to cover it up with the flower pot that was funny as well, just the awkwardness of it all.’
However, another clip, which showed a male office worker watching a young female colleague – wearing a short skirt and suspenders and bending down to open a drawer, was less popular.
At the beginning of the sketch, the male worker is counting letters, and has reached number 2,044. However, after he’s distracted by his lecherous gazing at the secretary, he realises he’s lost count, and has to start again.
Pradeep said of the scene: ‘The fact that was on TV, as well, prime time TV, is insane.’
Jodie added: ‘If that came up while you were watching TV with the family, it would definitely be very weird.’
‘You’d quickly turn it off,’ Pradeep agreed.
One of the modern criticisms of Benny Hill’s work is how women are often presented scantily clad, in ornamental roles (seen in the Benny Hill Show in the 70s)
On top of having his own television show, Benny Hill appeared in a number of films, including The Italian Job (pictured)
Journalist Nina Myskow, who appeared in the programme said of the sketch: ‘So this is purely a male fantasy of what a secretary is: subservient, bend over when required, just so sleazy. Just so sleazy.’
However, actress Nina Wadia was slightly more positive.
She said of the scene: ‘It’s sad that it had to be a woman with suspenders on that distracts him, but it kind of works in that sketch. It works for me because the punchline is funny.’
Another clip the Gen Z-ers found amusing showed firemen chasing after a fire engine, from a special called Two Time Feud.
Ellie said: ‘The Two Time Feud was quite funny, like when they are running behind the fire engine, that’s quite funny.’
However, one segment from the special was less popular – it showed a close up of a female firefighter sliding up and down the fireman’s pole while wearing a short skirt and suspenders. There was then an ‘action replay’.
Commenting on the special, prominent feminist journalist Julie Bindall said: ‘I couldn’t help but laugh when seeing that when they did get to the house to rescue [them] from the burning building that the female fire fighters were wearing short skirts and spiked heels as they were going up the ladder.
‘It’s ludicrous to think of it as something that would have just been not even questioned at the time.’
She added that one of the firemen crawled into the burning building just to ‘canoodle’ with a woman trapped in there.
However, she added: ‘But actually [there] were some very funny bits as well. Clever writing.’
While some of Benny Hill’s (pictured) comedy has not aged well, some critics have lamented that this work – a product of its time, has overshadowed his other quality comedy
The most shocking scene for Gen Z viewers was a skit which saw the comedian using blackface
Commenting on how unrealistic it was to see multiple women wearing just lingerie while appearing in the window of the burning building, Ellie and Jodie noted that it was ‘not a common occurrence.’
It was noted by several commentators, including Julie Bindel, that when the programme was made, competitions like Miss World were at peak popularity, and judging women on appearance alone was even more common than today.
Moving onto another feature of Benny Hill’s work which is racist by today’s standards, the show discussed a character he depicted (one of his numerous characters from across the globe) called Chow Mein from China.
This sketch was more shocking to the Gen Z-ers, with Pradeep noting: ‘That would not fly today, I don’t think.’
Jodie added: ‘That caught me off guard, to be honest, I was not expecting that.’
Ellie said: ‘The accent and him squinting his eyes, that was really bad.’
Among the jokes, was one where the English man Chow Mein was speaking to understood the word ‘election’ as ‘erection’, due to the stereotypical accent used by Hill in the sketch.
Jodie said: ‘So the humour with the miscommunication I think was actually quite funny, but that the miscommunication was because of race is what made it unfunny.’
Benny Hill had some unexpected fans – including Michael Jackson, who was at the height of his fame when he met the comedian in 1992, just months before his death
The comedian scored a Christmas number one with his track The Fastest Milkman of the West (seen in video)
Speaking about the context in which the programmes were made, actress Nina Wadia said: ‘If you have 21 million people tuning in to watch someone portray characters who you think are inappropriate, it’s a sign of the times. Why […] would Benny HIll get blamed for something if society was laughing at it?’
The show also looked at one of Hill’s less controversial characters – Fred Scuttle – who was enjoyed by people of all the generations represented in the show, including the Gen Z-ers. However, one skit which featured Scuttle setting up an escort service was less popular, with all the male escorts old men, and the women young and glamorous.
Another more popular character was Two Ton Ted from Teddington. He appeared in Hill’s song ‘Ernie (the fastest milkman in the west)’, which was 1971’s Christmas number one.
The song was about a love rivalry between milkman Ernie Price (who was played by Hill in the music video) and bread delivery man Ted (played by Henry McGee). They both lust after a window named Sue. After Ted kills Ernie using a rock cake and pork pie, he marries Sue, but on their wedding night they fear they are haunted by the ghost of Ernie.
Speaking about the song and video, Julie Bindel said: ‘It was just very clever […] it was just a very, very funny song and rhyme.’
Gen Z-er Ellie said of the song that it is ‘so catchy’ it will be ‘stuck in her head’, prompting Jodie and Pradeep to agree.
However, for modern viewers, the most shocking sketches were those featuring blackface. Watching one such scene, Gen Z-er Jodie said: ‘In today’s world, if that came up on TV, [it would be] 100 per cent cancelled, no career.’
Benny Hill was described as a person who was humble, uninterested in money, and someone who enjoyed spending alone. He is said to love travelling, and a good French speaker. He is said to have been more sophisticated than much of his work may have suggested.
Benny Hill (pictured in 1981) was found dead in his flat in April 1992. He had suffered a heart attack while sitting on his sofa watching television. He was 68-years-old
A major changing point, according to the show, was when Hill debuted the series Hill’s Angels in the 80s. As many have pointed out, the show lost much of its fun, instead presenting a more overtly ‘sexy’ image of women, presenting them as mere objects as pleasure.
So while the Benny Hill show had been exported to 127 countries worldwide by the mid-80s, changing attitudes in Britain meant that it was losing its allure. As women were becoming more prevalent in the business world, those who appreciated Hill’s Angels were seen, according to Julie Bindel, as ‘dinosaurs’.
Upcoming alternative comics, who were becoming more popular – like Billy Connelly – made Benny Hill appear old-fashioned and out of touch.
Despite toning down the Hill’s Angels, and introducing the ‘little angels’ – children who bullied a harangued butler characters – according to some critics, the Benny Hill show had ‘lost its spark’, and in 1984, it was unceremoniously axed.
While he filmed an American show in 1991, titled Benny Hill’s American World Tour, privately, his health was declining. In February 1992, Hill suffered a heart attack – and was visited by Michael Jackson, a huge fan, while in hospital.
He soon brokered a new TV deal. However, in April that year, Hill was found dead, sitting on his sofa, watching television. His cause of death was a heart attack. He was 68-years-old.
At the time of his death, Benny Hill was still a hugely popular comedian – with a surprising fan base including many from the US hip hop community like Snoop Dogg.
Some critics now have lamented that his comic prowess has been overshadowed by some of his work which has become dated and offensive.
The cancellation of Benny Hill is available on My5