Lazarus & Dingwall
Mark Arden and Steve Frost, collectively known as The Oblivion Boys had been inching their way into the nation’s comic consciousness for a while in the early Eighties, not only through their brilliant and chaotic “The Wow Show” (with Lee Cornes and Paul Mark Elliott) in Edinburgh and on Radio 4, but also through appearances in Saturday Live and The Young Ones. Their finest hour to date came in a series of Carling lager ads - including the Bouncing Bomb advert which became famous in its own right.
At the same time, writers Kim Fuller and Vicki Pile (later to create “Smack the Pony” and “Green Wing”) had been writing together for some time on various sketch shows including “Pushing Up Daisies" and "Coming Next”. Inspired by the if-it’s-a-joke, film it approach of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker Airplane films (and perhaps Police Squad), they created a sitcom set in “The Really Serious Crimes Squad" fronted by two maniacal incompetents called - Lazarus & Dingwall.
The show ran for six episodes on BBC 2 for six weeks in 1991, and the pilot was produced and directed by Geoff Posner.
Lazarus & Dingwall
Pilot/Show 1
"You Expect Us to Believe That?"
First Tx 1/2/91 BBC Two 21.00-21.30
Starring | |
Lazarus | Steve Frost |
Dingwall | Mark Arden |
Chief | Peter Bland |
1st Plainclothes Officer | Simon Godley |
2nd Plainclothes Officer | Neil Mullarkey |
Clinton | Jim Findley |
Beverley Armitage | Race Davies |
Fishmonger | Kenny Ireland |
Justin De Jong | Robert Bathurst |
Auberon | Jonathan Kydd |
Alfonso Gueyara | Vernon Nurse |
Fish Customer | Joyce Latham |
1st Policeman | Glen Buglass |
Written by | Kim Fuller |
& | Vicki Pile |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Show 2
"What Happened To The Gerbil?"
First Tx 8/2/91 BBC Two 21.00-21.30
Starring | |
Lazarus | Steve Frost |
Dingwall | Mark Arden |
Duane Blake | Lionel Blair |
Beverley Armitage | Race Davies |
Gary Bateman | Jeremy Gittins |
Sandy Delgrano | Kay Stonham |
Film Director | Geoffrey McGivern |
Child Suspect | Edwin Silvester |
Child Solicitor | Russell Evans |
Written by | Kim Fuller |
& | Vicki Pile |
Directed by | Bob Spiers |
Produced by | Geoff Posner |
Show 3
"The Whisper Of A Bat’s Wing"
First Tx 15/2/91 BBC Two 21.00-21.30
Starring | |
Lazarus | Steve Frost |
Dingwall | Mark Arden |
Gary Bateman | Jeremy Gittins |
Beverley Armitage | Race Davies |
Stella Ewbank | Jo Rowbottom |
Grenville Mullard | Andrew Charleson |
Alistair the Jockey | Steve Steen |
Suspect | Andrew Dunford |
Written by | Kim Fuller |
& | Vicki Pile |
Directed by | Bob Spiers |
Produced by | Geoff Posner |
Show 4
"What The Hell’s Going On?"
First Tx 22/2/91 BBC Two 21.00-21.30
Starring | |
Lazarus | Steve Frost |
Dingwall | Mark Arden |
Beverley Armitage | Race Davies |
Gary Bateman | Jeremy Gittins |
Jasper Strudwick | Paul Williamson |
Duncan Moody | James Larkin |
Alexandra de Deure | Glynis Brooks |
Hippy | Kevin Williams |
Identikit Witness | Pamela Beesley |
Arab | Eddie Lamare |
Written by | Kim Fuller |
& | Vicki Pile |
Directed by | Bob Spiers |
Produced by | Geoff Posner |
Show 5
"This Isn’t Your Lucky Day"
First Tx 1/3/91 BBC Two 21.00-21.30
Starring | |
Lazarus | Steve Frost |
Dingwall | Mark Arden |
Beverley Armitage | Race Davies |
Wanda Lonely | Liz Edmiston |
Receptionist | Claire Summerskill |
Witness | Anna Turner |
Written by | Kim Fuller |
& | Vicki Pile |
Directed by | Bob Spiers |
Produced by | Geoff Posner |
Show 6
"The Little Red Mark on the Side of the Head"
First Tx 8/3/91 BBC Two 21.00-21.30
Starring | |
Lazarus | Steve Frost |
Dingwall | Mark Arden |
Chief | Peter Bland |
Judge | Stanley Unwin |
Mr. O | Granville Saxton |
Christine Lennox | Caroline Leddy |
Suspect | Roger Griffiths |
Nurse | Fiona Moyes |
Written by | Kim Fuller |
& | Vicki Pile |
Directed by | Bob Spiers |
Produced by | Geoff Posner |
Lazarus & Dingwall
Sadly, the show has never been released on video or DVD.
But hey - you can read more about Mark Arden here
and more about Stephen Frost here
and watch the classic Carling Black Label Dambusters advert featuring The Oblivion Boys on YouTube