what's wrong with Benny Hill?

Written by Mark Carey

Music by Kevin Oliver Jones

Produced by Giles Shenton

Performed by Mark Carey & Georgie Taylor

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”. Benny Hill's early career was so brilliant that he was considered by many of his peers to be the best, an “Imperial Clown”.   

Today “The Benny Hill Show” is broadcast regularly in over a hundred countries around the world. In Britain he has effectively been “cancelled”. Millions laughed at him every week but now it's almost as though he'd never existed. Is this fair of the man who was Charlie Chaplin's favourite comedian? Benny Hill performed a type of comedy that over 21 million Britons wanted to watch every week. Very outdated now, but does his legacy deserve to be ignored? Was he a genius or is he an irrelevant dinosaur?

“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 and sets out to provide an insight into a unique and deeply private man with a very public face, and uses Benny Hill's life to raise questions about current issues such as cancel culture and freedom of speech. 

What’s Wrong With Benny Hill? features Mark Carey and Dani Carbery. The show doesn't aim to answer any questions, but looks to start a conversation about what can be funny, what can be offensive, and who has the right to make that decision.

Future dates

21 Feb 2025  Tutbury Village Hall, Staffs (Live & Local Rural Touring)

     https://www.liveandlocal.org.uk/whats-on/

22 Feb 2025  Milton Village Hall, Derbyshire (Live & Local Rural Touring)

     https://www.liveandlocal.org.uk/whats-on/

5 April 2025  Dorchester on Thames Village Hall, Oxon

17 May 2025  Florence Nightingale Memorial Hall, Holloway, Derbyshire (Live & Local Rural Touring)

     https://www.liveandlocal.org.uk/whats-on/

6 Sept 2025  Middlesbrough Theatre, Middlesbrough, North Yorks

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

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

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

17 Feb 2024  The Market Theatre, Ledbury, Herefordshire

1 Mar 2024   South Hill Parks Arts Centre, Bracknel, Berks ***SOLD OUT***

14 Mar 2024  The Astor Theatre, Deal, Kent

22 Mar 2024  Heron Theatre, Milnthorpe, Lancs

4 May 2024  Fisher Theatre, Bungay, Suffolk

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

24 May 2024  The Bear Pit, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks

15 June 2024   Plough Arts Centre, Torrington, Devon

5 July 2024  The Albany Theatre, Coventry

12 July 2024  Clyro Village Hall,  Powys, Wales 

25 Aug 2024  The White Bear, Kennington, London  ***SOLD OUT*** 

26 Oct 2024  Vera Fletcher Hall, Thames Ditton, Surrey

8 Nov 2024  Welland Village Hall, Worcs (Live & Local Rural Touring)

9 Nov 2024  Great Carlton Village Hall, Lincs (Live & Local Rural Touring)

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