My rather pointless exercise in trying to get the BBC to explain why "When Churchill Said To Me..." was not broadcast for over a decade has come to an end. Unless someone wants to crowdfund an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights). Apparently the BBC and the ICO think that should the BBC ever have to explain what went on it would undermine the BBC commercially. One can see that BBC producers don't want to be submerged with nosey FOIs but I thought it was worth a go. After all Then Churchill Said to Me is a real curiosity. Frankie Howerd first appeared in a historical comedy on stage in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum ... when it was moved to TV this became (for copyright reasons) Up Pompeii ... which then became a film directed by Ned Sherrin (yes that one off Loose Ends). The film was so successful it was followed by Up the Chastity Belt as years before Blackadder did the same thing Ned had the idea of transplanting the same actors through time...
Lurk became Lurkio and got to hang out with Ertha Kitt who sang the theme tune. Apparently she was spending a lot of time in the UK after being a bit blacklisted in Hollywood for upsetting the President Lyndon B. Johnson's wife "
The children of America are not rebelling for no reason. They are not hippies for no reason at all. We don't have what we have on Sunset Blvd. for no reason. They are rebelling against something. There are so many things burning the people of this country, particularly mothers. They feel they are going to raise sons – and I know what it's like, and you have children of your own, Mrs. Johnson – we raise children and send them to war." Mrs Johnson was apparently reduced to tears and so the story goes the CIA conspired to put it about that she was a lady of very loose morals ...
After Up the Chastity Belt Ned came up with the idea of Up the Front (set in WWI France.... Again not unlike Blackadder but wit more smut than anti-war sentiment) which featured Zsa Zsa Gabor as Mata Hari and Bill Fraser as Lurkio/Lurk's recurring nemesis. It was written by Sid Colin and Eddie Braben (of Morcombe and Wise fame). Up the Chastity Belt was written by Sid Colin, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson (of Hancock fame). Up Pompeii was written by Sid Colin (of the Army Game) fame. So Then Churchill Said to Me would seem to be a natural contuation of this conceit... it was written by Maurice Sellar (who had worked on Up the Front) and Lou Jones... and featured Nicholas Courtney who had given up being straight man to Doctor Who to become... It really is a very odd program ...for a start the Cabinet War Rooms were not even open when it was made but the depiction of Churchill's bunker is suspiciously accurate... right down to the colours of the walls and the widths of the corridors etc...
It really is an oddity ... not as odd as the failed Whoops Baghdad ...which would have been Up Baghdad if it hadn't been thought that sounded too much like support for Saddam and the Ba'ath party... see here... but pretty odd...
Of course we know the reason it wasn't shown for 10 years was something to do with the Falklands War. But beyond that I have discovered ... nothing. The explanation given is that information about the timing of the broadcast of comedy programs is somehow Journalism?
21. The Commissioner considers that the information that has been
requested in this case relates to the selection, prioritisation and timing
of matters for broadcast or publication. The request is therefore directly
related to the output of the BBC in terms of selection of matters and
timing for broadcast/publication.
22. For the reasons above, the Commissioner is therefore satisfied that the
information requested is derogated. Therefore, the Commissioner has
found that the request is for information held for the purposes of
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