Arthur Askey

Arthur Askey was a diminutive British comedian, born in 1900. He began his professional career as a music hall performer in 1924, but it wasn't until 1938's Band Wagon (which lasted a full five seasons), that he became a household name in England. His film debut was in the 1937 British feature Calling All Stars, but then, in 1939, Band Wagon swooped in again and made him a film star with a film following on from when Arthur and co-star Richard "Stinker" Murdoch were evicted from their beloved flat. Film stardom carried Arthur through to the mid 1940s, but it wasn't till 1956 when he starred in another film, Ramsbottom Rides again. He started his own television show: The Arthur Askey show, where, of course, he was the main player and that carried on till his retirement. He died in 1982. IMDb Mini Biography By: Slick-50

Works

Band Waggon

A gang of spies held up in a haunted castle gives this team of celebrated British wireless comedians plenty of scope for laughs.

Release Date1940-03-23

Charactersd Arthur Askey

Vote Count6

Rosie Dixon - Night Nurse

Young Rosie Dixon starts her nurse training at St Adelaide's Hospital, but the student doctors and randy male patients just can't keep their hands off her.

Release Date1978-02-01

Charactersd Mr. Arkwright

Vote Count8

The Love Match

After being arrested for assaulting a football referee, desperate train driver Bill (Arthur Askey) raids the railwaymen's holiday fund to cover his £55 fine. He knows he's going to be discovered though, leaving him no choice but to get the money back by hook or by crook! His last chance is to run a book on the United v City football derby. If that wasn't tense enough, Bill's son is also making his debut for United. It looks like it's going to be a day to remember - do you dare look? ...The Love Match.

Release Date1955-02-01

Charactersd Bill Brown

Vote Count4

Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt

Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde starring Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch as Oxford 'scholars'. The film is one of many to be made based on the farce Charley's Aunt. Taking inspiration from a well-known Victorian play, a modern-day prankster poses as a wealthy woman in a ploy to prevent him and his friends from being expelled from college.

Release Date1940-08-31

Charactersd Arthur Linden

Vote Count6

Funny Up North

Documentary featuring a cavalcade of Northern comedy stars including the great Frank Randle, George Formby, Arthur Askey, Norman Evans and many more. The North of England has always enjoyed its own very particular brand of comedy, best seen today in Coronation Street. 80 years ago however Mancunian Studios produced feature films for the northern masses. Funny Up North tells the story of the Mancunian Studios, its eccentric owner John E Blakeley and its cavalcade of stars including such household names as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Jewell, George Formby and the legendary Frank Randle. Hosted by Professor Chris Lee, the authority on northern cinema, Funny Up North takes you on a journey from its humble beginnings to its sad demise in the 1960s.

Release Date2011-07-23

Charactersd Himself

Vote Count1

The Ghost Train

Mismatched travellers are stranded overnight at a lonely rural railway station. They soon learn of local superstition about a phantom train which is said to travel these parts at dead of night, carrying ghosts from a long-ago train wreck in the area.

Release Date1941-05-05

Charactersd Tommy Gander

Vote Count34

Back-Room Boy

Jilted by his fiancee, Arthur Pilbeam gets a job as far away from women as possible. Alone in a lighthouse, he soon finds that 12 other people end up living on the tiny island. Thirteen is an unlucky number; and one-by-one they disappear ...

Release Date1942-04-15

Charactersd Arthur Pilbeam

Vote Count11

Bees in Paradise

Four pilots become stranded on a tropical island inhabited by beautiful women.

Release Date1944-03-20

Charactersd Arthur Tucker

Vote Count7

King Arthur Was a Gentleman

Arthur King joins the army, and soon starts fantasizing about King Arthur and his knights.

Release Date1942-12-28

Charactersd Arthur King

Vote Count5

Calling All Stars

Musical review. The messenger carrying the master discs of a season drops them, so Flotsam and Jetsam are sent out to collect the stars concerned. Each star gives an extract from his or her record.

Release Date1937-03-01

Charactersd Waiter

Friends and Neighbours

During the Cold War, a British family struggles to overcome cultural differences as they welcome two Russian social workers into their home for a visit.

Release Date1959-01-11

Charactersd Albert Grimshaw

Vote Count2

Hitler: The Comedy Years

A documentary about the portrayal of Adolf Hitler in popular culture.

Release Date2007-05-10

Charactersd Arthur (archive footage) (uncredited)

Vote Count1

I Thank You

Classic comedy starring Arthur Askey. The perils, humiliations and humour of trying to run a second-rate theatrical company are further compounded when financial aid, given by the former famous music-hall star Lady Randall (Lily Morris), is withdrawn. Not to be defeated, the stars decide the show must go on and devise a plan to persuade her to reinvest

Release Date1941-10-20

Charactersd Arthur

Vote Count6

Tell Me Another

Personal anecdotes as told to Dick Hills.

Release Date1976-05-18

Charactersd Guest

Episode Count2

Vote Count1

The Alf Garnett Saga

Alf and his family have been moved from their East End home into a high-rise council estate. Alf is not only having trouble coping with his new 'home', but also with the long commute to work, the long walk to the corner pub, his long-suffering wife Else, rebellious daughter Rita, and her philandering, constantly unemployed husband Mike.

Release Date1972-03-22

Charactersd Arthur Askey

Vote Count5

Make Mine a Million

Sid Gibson is a soap powder salesman who decides what he really needs is TV advertising. The problem is, he's absolutely broke. He calls upon his friend Arthur Ashton, who arranges to sneak a plug for Sid's suds into a live TV spectacular. The public goes bananas for the product but to maintain sales Sid and Arthur must arrange for ever more outrageous plugs on TV shows. The Ascots races, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo - no show is safe.

Release Date1959-02-24

Charactersd Arthur Ashton

Vote Count5

Ramsbottom Rides Again

Bill Ramsbottom sells his English pub and drags his family off to Canada where he has inherited a ranch from his grandfather Wild Bill Ramsbottom. He ends up tangling with outlaw Black Jake, an Indian chief Blue Eagle, and the local law.

Release Date1956-04-30

Charactersd Bill Ramsbottom

Miss London Ltd.

Askey stars as a man trying to save his flagging escort agency. A new partner suggests getting some new girls in, just in time for the soldiers' leave. The film also features the English singing favourite of the forties, Anne Shelton.

Release Date1943-06-14

Charactersd Arthur Bowman

Vote Count6

The Sooty Show

The Sooty Show is a British children's Puppet series which aired on the BBC from 1955 to 1967 and ITV from 1968 to 1992. It follows the adventures and comedic day to day life of puppets Sooty, Sweep and Soo with their owner Harry Corbett, and in later years, his son Matthew.

Release Date1955-01-16

Charactersd Self

Episode Count2

Vote Count8

Legends

The story of the big names that have shaped the musical genres, plus an occasional stopgap for the new rock 'n' roll - comedy.

Release Date2006-11-17

Charactersd Self (archive footage)

Episode Count1

Vote Count1

Before Your Very Eyes

The programme ran on BBC in 1952-53, returning in '55 after a hiatus. "Before Your Very Eyes" featured comic monologues and simple skits, of the sort which had been popular in English music hall between the wars. Askey was ably assisted by Dickie Henderson, soon to become a major comedian in his own right.

Release Date1952-04-06

Charactersd Self

Episode Count31

Vive Torbay

A little travelogue feature presenting Torbay - new resort along the 20 mile stretch of South Devon coast.

Release Date1968-08-22

Charactersd Self

Rising Stars

Music variety show from the United Kingdom.

Release Date1979-10-14

Charactersd Self - Host

Episode Count7

Living It Up

Comedian Arthur Askey and his buddy Stinker reside in a flat on top of Associated-Rediffusion's Television House in Aldwych, getting into all sorts of comedic situations. The series was based on the BBC radio comedy Band Waggon. Produced for the ITV network by Associated-Rediffusion, all nine episodes survive in the archives.

Release Date1957-04-12

DepartmentCreator

JobCreator

Charactersd Self

Episode Count[ 9 ]

The Birth of Television

In this feature-length documentary from 1976, Leslie Mitchell and special guests recall the birth of BBC Television forty years before.

Release Date1976-11-01

Charactersd Self - Interviewee

The Nose Has It!

Made for Gaumont British Films in London. Featuring comedian Arthur Askey, a humorous film warning against sneezing in public during W.W.II. With comic situation sketches the film shows various types of sneezes and the effect these might have on other people. (Nga Taonga)

Release Date1942-01-08

Charactersd (Self)

Desert Island Discs

Arena celebrates Roy Plomley's Desert Island Discs with the help of many celebrity castaways, including Frankie Howerd, Russell Harty, Trevor Brooking, the Lord Mayor of London, Professor JK Galbraith and Arthur Askey. The special guest for the 40th anniversary programme was Paul McCartney who was also a fan of the show: 'I love its homeliness. It conjures up the best in traditional British pleasure, like the great British breakfast. It's an honour to be asked'.

Release Date1982-02-23

Charactersd Self

To See Such Fun

Compilation of classic British comedy moments

Release Date1977-11-01

Lancashire Coast

The holiday attractions of the Lancashire coast, including a beauty contest in Morecambe, Southport flower show and Blackpool Fun Fair.

Release Date1957-08-01

Vote Count1

Raise Your Glasses

Release Date1962-10-14

Episode Count5

The Arthur Askey Show

The Arthur Askey Show was a short-lived black-and-white British sitcom starring Arthur Askey that ran for six episodes in 1961. It was written by Dave Freeman. It was made for the ITV network by ATV.

Release Date1961-03-11

Episode Count6

Arthur's Treasured Volumes

Arthur's Treasured Volumes was a black-and-white British television series that aired on ITV in 1960. Starring Arthur Askey, it was written by Dave Freeman and was made for the ITV network by ATV. All episodes are missing having been presumed wiped during the 1960s, although part of the first episode "A Blow In Anger" was recovered by Paul Stroud and shown at the National Film Theatre in November 2003.

Release Date1960-05-02

Episode Count6