In the 1950s, 60s and 70s Hughie Green became a TV institution as the host of Double Your Money, Opportunity Knocks and The Sky's The Limit. In his professional life he set high standards, and (if this drama-documentary is to be believed) was the forefather of reality TV, bringing the public on to the stage and showing how talented (or not) they were.
But beneath the fame lay a sleazy private life, dominated by alcohol, drugs and an unhealthy appetite for seedy sex. Understandably his family life was disastrous - divorced from his wife, he was banned from her funeral, and his two children were barely on speaking terms with him towards the end. And in a further tawdry twist - as the tabloids unearthed after his death from cancer in 1997 - Green was proved to be the real father of troubled TV presenter Paula Yates.
Here - in the same season that recently brought us the tragic story of Steptoe and Son and the desperate despair of Tony Hancock - Trevor Eve (pictured) does a fair job at portraying Green, who was clearly an unpleasant individual. While not looking much like him, Eve has a fair crack at the man's distinctive accent and captures his mannerisms well. On TV Green came across as incredibly insincere; cleverly Eve makes it very hard to warm to him.
Sadly at 90 minutes this production feels terribly stretched. It should have been about half the length, a criticism that cannot be levelled at the other programmes in this series. And, while we're at it, this programme doesn't fit with the other shows at all; they are about comedians, that's why they are part of The Curse of Comedy season. Hughie Green was never a comedian, just a very unfunny, sad, deservedly lonely old git, who somehow blagged his way on to our screens and stayed there for 30 years. His shows made ghastly TV at the time; this is equally hideous, but perversely watchable. Paul Strange
Add a comment