The Russ Abbot Show

The Russ Abbot Show
Starring	Russ Abbot
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Running time	30mins
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	1980-1985 (ITV) 1986-1991 (BBC) 1994-1996 (ITV)

The Russ Abbot Show is a British television sketch comedy series which starred Russ Abbot and ran on the for over 16 years on Television before moving over to Radio 2 for another five years .

The series originated as The Freddie Starr Variety Madhouse, after one series in 1979 everyone else went on to other projects, so in 1980 it was revised to "Russ Abbot Madhouse" premiereing on 12 April 1980. Madhouse featured comedy performers by Les Dennis, Bella Emberg, Maggie Moone, Suzy Aitchison, Micheal Barrymore, Dustin Gee Paul Shearer and Jeffrey Holland.

In 1986 series was transferred over to the BBC, where it was renamed The Russ Abbot Show. In 1991 allegedly the BBC was heard to announce at the Montreux Television Festival that Abbot no longer represented what the audience wanted to see on their screens and the series transferred to ITV.

After the last television series in 1996, The series moved to BBC Radio 2 for 50 episodes from November 1997 to February 2002.

The series showcased Abbot's talents as an all round entertainer and included characters such as Basildon Bond, a James Bond parody, 'Cooperman', a cross between Tommy Cooper and Superman, and C.U. Jimmy, a virtually unintelligible, red-headed, kilt-wearing Scotsman. The programme attracted millions of viewers weekly. The show was popular amongst younger viewers, prompting two annuals to be published in 1982 and 1983. The annuals featured comic strips based on popular characters Abbot had created in the various series of the show. It was also notable for its "Tears of laughter" theme song, which played at the start and end of the show. The stop motion animation titles were by 3 Peach Animation.

eight series were made of the Russ Abbot show, between 1986-1995.

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