The Secret Policeman's Ball
“The Secret Policeman’s Ball - The Ball In The Hall” was the first revival of the famous Amnesty International concerts to use the “Secret Policeman” name since 1991.
David & Geoff came on board as “Creative Directors” for the show, which was staged at The Albert Hall on October 14th 2006; it was transmitted a couple of weeks later on October the 31st, although we weren’t involved in the television production....
Rehearsals were a blast - working with the delightful Natalie Imbruglia spoofing her own version of “Torn” to David Armand’s brilliant mime, getting together with Jimmy Fallon to create a bespoke sketch (eventually written by Jon Holmes & Matt Kirshen) and watching the Green Wing team work up their own brand of magic as we sat and watched...
The day itself was the usual glorious blur of confusion that these gigs usually are. Highlights of the day were trying to track down Richard E Grant so that he could rehearse a ten part spoof Cluedo sketch in which he was the lead, trying to find somebody to play Reverend Green in said sketch at the last minute after Chevy Chase had to drop out (Stephen Merchant looked like a startled faun when we asked him, so Julian Rhind-Tutt nobly stood in at the last minute) and bringing the whole cast back on stage to sing the final song, a spoof on Land Of Hope & Glory, with luminaries like The Boosh and The Magic Numbers clutching their songsheets faithfully.
The other thing we learnt is that it doesn’t matter if you get lost backstage at The Albert Hall; just keep going round and you’ll eventually get back to where you started...
Trivia - at one point, Ralph Fiennes was going to join the cast of the Cluedo sketch, playing Colonel Mustard. In the Extras section you can see the extract from his script that was never performed...
The Secret Policeman's Ball
"The Ball In The Hall"
First Tx: 31/10/06 22.00-24.00 Channel 4
The Secret Policeman's Ball
To buy the DVD click here
The show contained a Cleudo sketch (written by John Finnemore and Kevin Baker with Steve Punt & David Tyler). At one point, Ralph Fiennes was due to be in the piece. Click here to see the extract from his script that was never performed...