Not Only... But Also Totally Explained

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Not Only... But Also was a popular 1960s BBC British television series starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Originally, the show was intended as a solo project for Moore, called Not Only Dudley Moore, But Also His Guests. However, unsure about going it alone, Moore invited his partner from Beyond the Fringe, Peter Cook, to guest in the pilot (along with none other than John Lennon, who was to make two more appearances during the course of the series). So popular was the double act — in particular "The Dagenham Dialogues", that Cook was invited to become a permanent fixture and the show became Not Only Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, But Also Their Guests, though it was only ever really referred to as Not Only... But Also.
   Three series were made: January to April 1965, January to February 1966 and finally February to May 1970. The episodes usually began with a sketch based primarily around revealing the words "NOT ONLY... BUT ALSO..." in huge letters placed in obscure places (for example, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal). Among the most famous items on the show were the "Dagenham Dialogues" between Pete and Dud, which were rambling, surreal conversations often running for five or even ten minutes, "The Leaping Nuns of the Order of St. Beryls", "Superthunderstingcar" (a parody of Thunderbirds and other Sylvia and Gerry Anderson puppet shows), Moore's interviews with Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling, Bo Dudley and "One Leg Too Few", a classic sketch about a one-legged actor applying for the role of Tarzan, which had been written by Cook years before and used in Beyond the Fringe, but now found mass public exposure. The show always ended with a rendition of "Goodbyee".
   The series — in particular the "Pete and Dud" segments — was famous for being presented in a largely un-edited form, which allowed Cook the chance to ad-lib, and both (but most famously Moore) the chance to "corpse" (or begin to genuinely giggle). Cook made a habit of trying to crack Moore up in the middle of their dialogues, occasionally forcing himself to corpse in the process.
   Between the third and second series, a series was made by the pair for ATV called Goodbye Again, which was similar, though it lasted an hour and was edited more heavily. As a result, the material suffered. The pair also made a film, Bedazzled, and the most successful sketches were transferred to a very successful live stage show Behind the Fridge, which toured Australia, America and England.
   The BBC wiped many editions of Not Only...But Also from its archives in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as it did with many other programmes, including the second series of Dad's Army and Spike Milligan's Q5. Cook and Moore had even allegedly offered to pay for the cost of preservation and buy new videotapes so that the old tapes wouldn't need to be reused, but this offer was rejected. Some telerecordings of the black and white episodes survive, but all of the videotaped footage from the colour series was wiped, so that the only surviving colour sketches are on 16mm film inserts.
   Any surviving sequences were compiled into The Best Not Only...But Also, screened by BBC2 on 24 December 1974. The BBC worked hard to piece together six half-hour compilation shows, screened on BBC2 from 4 November to 9 December 1990 as The Best of What's Left of Not Only...But Also. In 2003 a 98-minute Region 2 DVD compilation of surviving sketches was released as The Best of Peter Cook & Dudley Moore. Not Only...But Also was commissioned by David Attenborough, who was then controller of BBC2.

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