'Russ Abbot's Madhouse' ended on LWT after seven series, however fans weren't left waiting too long for his return as in 1986 he was offered a lucrative contract by the BBC to head this equally long running sketch show, simply titled 'The Russ Abbot Show'. It was more of the same offered before. All of the characters from 'Madhouse' such as 'C. U. Jimmy', 'Special Agent 008 Basildon Bond', 'Cooperman' , 'Vince Prince' and 'Boggles, all returned. Many of his original supporting cast such as Les Dennis, Sherrie Hewson, Jeffrey Holland and the ever reliable ( and sadly deceased ) Bella Emberg joined Russ again however some new faces joined the cast over the years such as Gordon Kennedy, Suzy Aitchison, Paul Shearer and Lisa Maxwell.
The gags weren't as funny this time around and the show quickly became repetitive. In one sketch, a drunk diner requests that the waiter bring him a large gin and tonic and when the waiter asks if he wishes anything to eat, the man replies: ''Go on then, stick a slice of lemon in it!'' One very funny sketch though had a police inspector trying to extract a confession from a criminal with the aid of a lie detector, however the machine ends up exposing the inspector as the liar.
The show did had a long and successful run however in 1991, the BBC decided there was only so much corn they could take and dropped Russ like a hot brick. The show was revamped in 1994 by ITV with unsuccessful results. He later tried leading a sitcom in the late '90's entitled 'Married For Life' ( which was a British adaption of the long running U. S sitcom 'Married With Children' ) but it flopped big time. That seemed to be it for poor Russ.
Neither 'Russ Abbot's Madhouse' or 'The Russ Abbot Show' have yet been put out on DVD. A BBC VHS compilation was released in the early '90's however.
The gags weren't as funny this time around and the show quickly became repetitive. In one sketch, a drunk diner requests that the waiter bring him a large gin and tonic and when the waiter asks if he wishes anything to eat, the man replies: ''Go on then, stick a slice of lemon in it!'' One very funny sketch though had a police inspector trying to extract a confession from a criminal with the aid of a lie detector, however the machine ends up exposing the inspector as the liar.
The show did had a long and successful run however in 1991, the BBC decided there was only so much corn they could take and dropped Russ like a hot brick. The show was revamped in 1994 by ITV with unsuccessful results. He later tried leading a sitcom in the late '90's entitled 'Married For Life' ( which was a British adaption of the long running U. S sitcom 'Married With Children' ) but it flopped big time. That seemed to be it for poor Russ.
Neither 'Russ Abbot's Madhouse' or 'The Russ Abbot Show' have yet been put out on DVD. A BBC VHS compilation was released in the early '90's however.
