Stephen Fry's "Live From the Lighthouse"
“Stephen Fry’s Live From the Lighthouse” was the third and most spectacular fund-raising special by Pozzitive, following on from Filth! in 1994 and The Big Snog a year later in 1995.
Taking over Channel 4 for an entire evening of live television, the core of the show was a comedy and music variety show hosted by Stephen Fry and Mel & Sue (Mel Giedroyc & Sue Perkins) from the London Lighthouse, one of the first AIDS hospices and centre for information, therapy and all-round wonderfulness. The show had a live donations line, including a room full of celebrities ready to take your call, and raised money for the Terence Higgins Trust, which distributed it to a number of AIDS/HIV charities.
As well as the main show, the evening featured a number of specially-commissioned programmes, including “A Ribbon Runs Through It” - a Rock & Roll Years-style history of the spread of HIV/AIDS and a 60m programme from September Films, following on from their previous series of films, “Hollywood Vice”, “Hollywood AIDS”, about the shattering effect the disease has had on the Entertainment capital of the World.
Other highlights included “Heroes On Heroes” - where stars talked about a particular person who had been affected by AIDS and had meant so much to them - there was Michael Palin talking about Denholm Elliot, Wayne Sleep on Rudolf Nureyev and Boy George on Tony De Vit. The show also featured four short films on true-life people who’s lives had been affected by HIV/AIDS. These were profoundly moving, and the donation phone lines were gratifyingly active moments after each film went off the air.
Lowlights included the OB Truck going down with about half an hour before we went on air. Someone both noble and majestic crawled underneath it with a big spanner and some batteries, and all was well by the time Channel 4 Presentation and Continuity handed over to us at 9.00pm
The comedy and music featured many great stars - do have a look at the Cast & Credits list - but highlights included Alan Partridge interviewing Noel Gallagher (“Coward, Edmunds, Gordon and now Gallagher, what is it about Noels throughout history that has captured the public’s imagination?”), the first and only televisual meeting between those two sex gods Tony Ferrino and Ali G, and a remarkably filthy Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones Head To head sketch that had even the Channel 4 lawyers frantically checking the rulebook backstage...
Oh, and Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie performing The Hedge Sketch. Live. Bloody hell.
The show also featured a hilarious film of Stephen Fry interviewing Armistead Maupin (“Tales Of the City”) including a moment when they both sat on the gravestone of an old friend of Maupin’s who had succumbed to AIDS. Stephen: “Oh - would he mind us sitting on him?” Maupin: “Not if I remember him correctly...”
Stephen Fry's "Live From the Lighthouse"
"Stephen Fry's "Live From The Lighthouse""
First TX: 28/11/1998 21.00-24.15 Channel 4
Hosted by | Stephen Fry |
with Mel & Sue | Melanie Giedroyc |
Sue Perkins | |
and starring | |
Ali G | Sacha Baron-Cohen |
Antoine De Caunes | |
Julian Clary | |
Steve Coogan | |
Stella Street | Phil Cornwell |
& | John Sessions |
Harry Enfield | |
Noel Gallagher | |
Boy George | |
Hugh Laurie | |
Armistead Maupin | |
Graham Norton | |
Michael Palin | |
Simon Pegg | |
Dr Barry Peters | |
All Saints | |
Wayne Sleep | |
Mel & Griff Talking Heads | Mel Smith |
Griff Rhys Jones | |
Celebrity Phonelines - | |
Max Beesley | |
Luisa Bradshaw-White | |
Melvyn Bragg | |
Adam Buxton | |
Joe Cornish | |
Alan Davies | |
Angus Deayton | |
E17 | |
Les Ferdinand | |
Terry Gilliam | |
David Ginola | |
Sean Hughes | |
Liz Hurley | |
Samantha Janus | |
Ulrika Jonsson | |
Mark Lamarr | |
Simon Le Bon | |
Yasmin Le Bon | |
Matt Lucas | |
Lulu | |
Meg Matthews | |
Martine McCutcheon | |
Tim McInnerny | |
Paul Nicholls | |
Neil Pearson | |
Anne Robinson | |
Colin Salmon | |
Imelda Staunton | |
Mark Thomas | |
Ramon Tikaram | |
Stephen Tompkinson | |
Gianluca Vialli | |
VT Pleas - | |
Victoria Wood | |
Jerry Springer | |
Elton John | |
Script Associates | Ian Brown |
James Hendrie | |
Steve Punt | |
Additional material by | David Tyler |
Jeremy Salsby | |
Alan Partridge | Peter Baynham |
Armando Iannucci | |
Steve Coogan | |
Mark Burton | |
John O'Farrell | |
Geoffrey Perkins | |
Richard Preddy | |
Gary Howe | |
Music | |
Directed by | Geoff Posner |
Produced by | Geoff Posner |
Jeremy Salsby | |
David Tyler |
Stephen Fry's "Live From the Lighthouse"
Sadly, very little remains of the glory of that night, although the Alan Partridge/Simon Pegg/Noel Gallagher interview can usually be found on YouTube...
Read up on everything Stephen Fry here -
... and here's lovely Mel & Sue's lovely page -
Watch an older version of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry doing "The Hedge Sketch" -
And the whole point of the show was to raise money for AIDS/HIV charities. So, if you fancy it, here's a link to The Terrence Higgins Trust. Nuff said.
Take it further ...
YouTube: | Clips playlist |