Channel 5 to air ‘unseen’ Tommy Cooper performances

Channel 5 celebrate the work of the late funnyman…

Tommy Cooper is still revered as “the comedians’ comedian”, over thirty years after his fateful final performance on a live television show in 1984.

This special programme showcases some of Tommy’s performances previously unseen by a British television audience including his guest appearance on The David Frost Show in New York in 1969 and his tour-de-force performance on an American television special in 1967, plus performances unseen since their original single transmission decades ago – featured here in full at their original length.

The programme includes testimony and memories from those who worked with or knew Tommy, including actress Dame Sheila Hancock, music producer Trevor Horn, broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, entertainer Jimmy Tarbuck and writer Colin Edmonds.

Also featured are famous fans who continue to admire his unique blend of magic and comedy, including broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald, comedian Zoe Lyons and magician Pete Firman.

Thomas Frederick Cooper was born on the 19th of March 1921, at 19 Llwyn-On Street in Caerphilly, Glamorgan. His family moved to Devon when he was three and following a present of a magic set when Tommy was eight his interest in illusion began. After seven years of military service he took his first steps into show business on Christmas Eve 1947. Cooper quickly rose to prominence in entertainment with his comedy act as the magician whose tricks often failed, but it was television work that brought him national recognition following his first appearance in 1948 on the BBC.

In the 60s and 1970s he was a regular on screens with his own show, first with ABC Television then LWT and later Thames Television on ITV. It was on that channel in 1984 he collapsed from a heart attack in front of 12 million viewers who were watching LWT’s Live from Her Majesty’s. His death was announced later in the evening on TV news broadcasts.

Tommy Cooper: The Lost Tapes, December 30th at 9pm.

The programme is followed by two Tommy Cooper Christmas specials from 1973 and 1974.