what's wrong with Benny Hill?

Written by Mark Carey

Music by Kevin Oliver Jones

Produced by Giles Shenton

Performed by Mark Carey & Dani Carbery

Benny Hill died alone in his spartan flat in 1992, he was 68. His body was undiscovered for several days. 

Benny was, had been and still is, one of the most successful comedians of all time. 

When Apollo Eleven landed on the moon in 1969, millions watched live on TV but that evening many more had tuned in to “The Benny Hill Show”.

Today “The Benny Hill Show” is broadcast regularly in over a hundred countries around the world. In Britain he has effectively been “cancelled”. 

“What’s Wrong With Benny Hill?” is a brand-new musical comedy that explores the life and legacy of a very peculiar and brilliant comedian. It tells the story of his life and shows why he was considered by many of his peers to be the best, an “Imperial Clown”. 

Benny was Charlie Chaplin's favourite comedian. Anthony Burgess described him as “One of the great artists of our age.” He has millions of avid fans all over the world so why has he been airbrushed from British Comedy History? Why is there no statue or memorial in his home town of Southampton?

Mark Carey, in his latest play sets out to address these questions and provide an insight into a unique and deeply private man with a very public face, and tackles current issues such as cancel culture and freedom of speech.

“What’s Wrong With Benny Hill? features Mark Carey and Dani Carbery.

Future dates

9 Feb 2024  Clent Parish Hall (Live & Local Worcestershire) 

      https://www.liveandlocal.org.uk/

10 Feb 2024   Clipstone Social Club (Live & Local Nottinghamshire)

       https://www.liveandlocal.org.uk/

17 Feb 2024  The Market Theatre, Ledbury, Herefordshire

     https://themarkettheatre.com/shows/benny-hill

1 Mar 2024   South Hill Parks Arts Centre, Bracknel, Berks

22 Mar 2024  Heron Theatre, Milnthorpe, Lancs

     https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/theheron/events

4 May 2024  Fisher Theatre, Bungay, Suffolk

     https://fishertheatre.org/FisherTheatre.dll/WhatsOn

11 May 2024  Ashton under Hill Village Hall (Live & Local Worcestershire) 

      https://www.liveandlocal.org.uk/

15 June 2024   Plough Arts Centre, Torrington, Devon

5 July 2024  The Albany Theatre, Coventry

     https://www.albanytheatre.co.uk/shows/whats-wrong-with-benny-hill-2/

Date TBC -  The Ropewalk, Barton-upon-Humber,  North Lincs

Past performances

12 July 2023  Ilmington Village Hall, Warwickshire

13 July 2023  Ilmington Village Hall, Warwickshire

14 July 2023  Ilmington Village Hall, Warwickshire ***SOLD OUT*** 

15 July 2023  Ilmington Village Hall, Warwickshire

23 Sept 2023  Southwold Arts Centre, Southwold, Suffolk

28 Sept 2023  Southwell Library, Southwell, Notts 

7 Oct 2023  Cygnet Theatre, Exeter

9 Oct 2023  Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, Glos ***SOLD OUT*** 

10 Oct 2023  Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham,

24 Nov 2023  Brixham Theatre, Brixham, Devon

A bit like John Peel playing The Undertones’ ‘Teenage Kicks’ twice in succession on his radio show in 1978, I would gladly have watched a second consecutive performance of this Mark Carey play on Thursday night. And that really should be ‘nuff said. 

However, name a British comic genius. Cooper, Cleese, Morecambe, Milligan, Sellars? Gervais, Connolly, Atkinson, Coogan, Kay? Victoria Wood? But Benny Hill has now become so synonymous with outdated sexually inappropriate humour and his frequent racially stereotyped characters that it is easiest to gloss over this giant of the comedy world. With 21 million viewers of The Benny Hill Show in 1971, it’s hard not to agree with one member of the audience on Thursday evening who said, “we all laughed at him”.

But should we now look back and realise that this was inappropriate? And shameful? Ben Elton pointedly commented, “We know in Britain women can’t even walk in parks anymore”, when criticising the programme in 1987. Within Carey’s show, which rightly deserves to tour to full houses, we learn all there is to learn about Alfred Hawthorne Hill. From his comic turns in the playground, the huge success of his television show, his frequent travels to France, his relationship with his father ‘The Captain’, his ill health and inability to manage his huge fortune, through to his lonely death at home in 1992 aged 68. Carey provides a genuine performance of a man who only ever wanted to make people laugh. There isn’t a hint of caricature, even when exhibiting Hill’s trademark smirks and eye rolls. This is honest, truthful acting at its best.

But this play is a two hander or rather a ‘one and a dozen-hander’ for Dani Carbery matches Carey by supplying a stream of individuals crucial to the telling of this tale; she plays his father, a French waiter, a seedy paparazzi, a solicitor, an American tourist (Hill had huge fame in America too), a showgirl, a Mary Whitehouse sort, and an alternative comedian who condemns Hill for his brand of so-called humour. She manages to give everyone their own personality through voice, movement and great facial expression.

But hold on, there are original songs aplenty throughout too (although I fancy ‘Ernie’ lost out to save on performance rights, or would it have been just too cliche to include?). The set is simple, a living room, but adaptable for all variety of locations. 

At the end, my wife and I drove home continuing to discuss the merits of working class comedy performed by working class individuals. There is nothing inherently wrong with Benny Hill for wanting to make people laugh, and laugh they did. 

The show runs until Saturday 15th at the delightful Ilmington Village Hall then touring thereafter. Do not miss out!

Tony Homer