Talk:Hall's Pictorial Weekly

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Untitled[edit]

I have made a few corrections and additions to the article. The dates for the first and last editions of the show are taken from The Irish Times TV listings. The four cast members listed in the infobox represent the core team who performed in the various comedy sketches over the life of the programme. These are referenced in The Irish Times article, "How Ballymagash became part of folk culture", cited in the sources. I have removed the following paragraph for a number of reasons. I can find no evidence that Dermot Morgan or Rosaleen Linehan ever appeared in the show. The reference to Frank Hall's role as film censor is covered in his own article. And the assertion that the show became more risque in the late 1970s is unreferenced.

I will leave the paragraph here in case anyone cares to dispute my edit.

A curious aspect of the programme was that in 1978 presenter Frank Hall was appointed Ireland's Official Censor -- responsible for banning, for example, Monty Python's Life of Brian (although after intense pressure from the Catholic Church.) What was interesting was that Hall's Pictorial Weekly in the late 1970s became steadily more risque, introducing such notable comedians as Dermot Morgan, Frank Kelly, Rosaleen Linehan and many others. It may be that Hall's status helped protect the programme -- after all who would a complaint be rendered to but Hall himself? It is also likely that he calibrated the humour just inside the edge of trouble. Later Dermot Morgan, Gerard Stembridge and others started the satirical radio show Scrap Saturday.

Jim Bruce (talk) 09:31, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]