Not Only... But Also - History

History

The show was originally intended as a solo project for Moore, called Not Only Dudley Moore, But Also His Guests. However, unsure about going it alone, Moore invited his partner from Beyond the Fringe, Peter Cook, to guest in the pilot (along with Diahann Carroll and John Lennon, who was to make two more appearances during the course of the series). So popular was the double act — in particular "The Dagenham Dialogues", that Cook was invited to become a permanent fixture and the show became Not Only Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, But Also Their Guests, though it was only ever really referred to as Not Only... But Also.

Three series were made: January to April 1965 (prod/dir Joe McGrath), January to February 1966 (prod/dir Dick Clement) and February to May 1970 (prod/dir Jimmy Gilbert). John Street produced the (surviving) 1966 Boxing Day Special - despite initial tension with Cook, the results were excellent.

After the first series, episodes usually began with a sketch based primarily around revealing the words "NOT ONLY... BUT ALSO..." in huge letters placed in obscure places (for example, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal). Among the best known features of the show were the "Dagenham Dialogues" between Pete and Dud, which were rambling, surreal conversations often running for five or even ten minutes, "The Leaping Nuns of the Order of St Beryl", "Superthunderstingcar" (a parody of Thunderbirds and other Sylvia and Gerry Anderson puppet shows), Moore's interviews with Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling, and the "rhythmic voodoo" R&B singer Bo Dudley - though the fame of these almost certainly owes much to the fact they still exist in vision, unlike much of the series.

Contrary to popular myth, the Cook perennial "One Leg Too Few", a classic sketch about a one-legged actor applying for the role of Tarzan, which had been written by Cook years before and used in Beyond the Fringe, never appeared in Not Only... But Also, although it did feature in one of the Australian shows in 1971. The show always ended with a rendition of their "Goodbyee" song, once memorably with Peter Sellers accompanying on timpani.

The series — in particular the "Pete and Dud" segments — allowed Cook the chance to adlib and both, but most famously Moore, the chance to "corpse" or begin to genuinely giggle. Cook made a habit of trying to crack Moore up in the middle of their dialogues, occasionally forcing himself to corpse in the process.

Between the second and third series, the two men made a series for ATV called Goodbye Again (director Shaun Riordan), which was similar, though it lasted an hour and was edited more heavily. Unlike Not Only But Also, at least, all the tapes survive.

The BBC wiped most editions of Not Only...But Also in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as it did with many other programmes in this era. Cook and Moore even offered to pay for the cost of preservation and buy new videotapes so that the old tapes would not need to be reused, but this offer was rejected. Some telerecordings of the black and white episodes survive, but as the completed videotapes of the colour series were wiped, the only surviving colour sketches are the 16mm film inserts.

A 1971 visit to Australia saw Cook and Moore record two half hour Not Only... But Also specials for Australian television. Though they've come since to be viewed as "Best Ofs" (featuring new versions of "One Leg Too Few", "Shirt Shop", "Colonel Bogey" and possibly "Pseudolene/Job Offer" (see episode guide)), at least half of the material was new. These two also survive intact.

A number of surviving sequences were compiled into The Best Not Only...But Also, screened by BBC2 on 24 December 1974. Cook and Moore persuaded the BBC to piece together six half-hour compilation shows, screened on BBC2 from 4 November to 9 December 1990 as The Best of What's Left of Not Only...But Also and released in 100 minute compilation form under the same title on VHS. In 2003 a 98-minute Region 2 DVD compilation of surviving sketches was released as The Best of Peter Cook & Dudley Moore; this is the same as the previous video tape but missing the third series opening sequence "Tower Bridge".

A Region 1 DVD of The Best of... What's Left of... Not Only... But Also... was released by BBC Worldwide on 9 September 2008, featuring all six compilation episodes. This still leaves over half the extant material unreleased in any form.