This one-off special Tommy Cooper documentary offers a brand new insight into the personal and untold life of British national treasure, comedian, and magician Tommy Cooper. This film draws on previously unheard audio and unseen archive footage from Cooper's personal and professional life, as well as never-before-performed material and details from the meticulous diaries of his lifelong manager, Miff Ferrie.
It features a wide variety of contributors, from those who tried desperately to save his life the night he collapsed and died on stage to some of his most famous and unexpected fans.
This is an in-depth look into the emotional and professional workings of one of Britain's most loved and admired comedians. The discovery of this archive offers new insights into Cooper's fascinating 35-year relationship with his manager and also how, in later years, Cooper the family man and Cooper the legendary entertainer actually began to meld into one.
It features a wide variety of contributors, from those who tried desperately to save his life the night he collapsed and died on stage to some of his most famous and unexpected fans.
This is an in-depth look into the emotional and professional workings of one of Britain's most loved and admired comedians. The discovery of this archive offers new insights into Cooper's fascinating 35-year relationship with his manager and also how, in later years, Cooper the family man and Cooper the legendary entertainer actually began to meld into one.
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TVTranscript
00:00:00All he had to do was walk on stage and the audience would fall about laughing.
00:00:13This is what they say about Tommy Cooper.
00:00:18What they didn't see was the intense pressure, the conflict, the blood, sweat and tears, until now.
00:00:30Tommy Cooper gave everything he had to become the funniest man in Britain.
00:00:39He spent his life on the road bringing the unique Cooper magic to millions.
00:00:49On television, he was a master of the art of comedy, but there was a price to pay for all the success.
00:00:56Tommy Cooper perfected his comedy talent, but on the way, he damaged his personal and professional relationships and sacrificed his health and his life.
00:01:08We know all this to be true after the recent discovery of never before seeing letters, diaries, photographs, tapes and interviews,
00:01:19which reveal for the first time the full story of the personal agonies of the man behind the fez.
00:01:25Ecti! Ecti! Ecti!
00:01:48Ecti!
00:01:49It's dark, isn't it?
00:02:19In the 1970s, Tommy Cooper was the king of comedy.
00:02:42He was adored by the public and revered by other comedians.
00:02:49He tore apart the rules of magic and show business and became a British comedy icon.
00:03:00Spoon jar jar spoon!
00:03:04Spoon jar jar!
00:03:05What about that smoking jar?
00:03:07Spoon jar jar spoon spoon jar jar.
00:03:10Spoon jar spoon jar jar spoon spoon jar jar.
00:03:12Spoon jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar Jar
00:03:42stand there you know it's just it was just a very unique funny guy I mean for
00:03:54me I've always thought it's art really because it's like I think anything done
00:03:56well is art it's like in it like a mathematical someone plus one equals
00:04:01three in it in great art I think with Tommy Cooper you always get that because
00:04:04he shows you the magic and then he exposes the magic and that's even more
00:04:09magical you know Justin it just doubles up and keeps going I want to make the
00:04:13clock disappear from the box so we'll have to have a hand of a word
00:04:27he just made you laugh the size of the man I mean he was ridiculously large and
00:04:32the chin and the nose and the staring eyes and the feeling that panic was just
00:04:37being kept at bay was intrinsically fun there was a lot of a little boy there
00:04:46there was a great deal of innocence about him I think that's repealed to people
00:04:52that he was harmless all his humor was was fun all he wanted was for you he
00:04:58wanted you to be happy he was loved I mean loved by the British public they they adored him as soon
00:05:08as he walked on everybody oh here he is oh good we're gonna have a good laugh they knew they trusted
00:05:15him to make them laugh I could always tell if it's gonna be good or bad good night on television and on
00:05:23stage Tommy Cooper was the king but recently discovered documents revealed the tensions he
00:05:30faced when the lights went out the most revealing of these new documents are the journals written by
00:05:37Tommy's agent Miff Ferry who astonishingly kept detailed notes of all his telephone
00:05:43conversations 19th Feb 1970 TC rings is drunk and abusive should have been on his
00:05:52way to theatre but cannot get into his garage Tommy Cooper rings to say I hope you have a very unhappy holiday
00:06:00thanks very much the journals document the anger and hostility between Tommy Cooper and his agent the
00:06:09violence between Tommy and his wife and the descent into alcoholism that accompanied his rise to fame
00:06:15Gwen C he broke her nose the day before going on holiday to Gibraltar he sits at dining room table
00:06:25drinking whiskey all night he gets violent when drunk using Miff Ferry's newly unearthed archive and Tommy
00:06:35Cooper's own personal documents and tapes we can now tell the full story of a British comedy legend
00:06:41the young Tommy Cooper discovered a talent for comedy and the fez during his wartime service in
00:06:55Egypt he joined a concert party entertaining the troops and he met the woman who became his wife
00:07:02Gwen Henty I met him in Egypt and I was sent to Alexandria on a Christmas Eve to be a pianist in the show
00:07:14because I read music and I said to this big man give me your dots your music and he said I haven't got
00:07:22it he'd just play the sheik of Arab B and that's how we met I just fell that was it a very big man with
00:07:31the most beautiful blue eyes and then six weeks later I married him with his fez and his new wife Gwen
00:07:40Tommy Cooper arrived in London in 1947 and met the man who would guide his career from obscurity to stardom
00:07:48his agent Miff Ferry it turned out to be a severe clash of personalities which would plague the rest
00:07:55of Tommy's life it was funny seeing them together because Miff wasn't tall and Tommy used to loom over
00:08:01him and this little fella was talking up to him and go away and do what he wanted really he was a tight
00:08:09little bastard he was you know and an arrogant little man he was so doer he didn't have a funny bone in
00:08:18his body he was a good musician Miff Ferry he actually I think the the blue angel he sort of worked in
00:08:26where he was the band leader and I was the story I heard was the the manager that or the guy who owned
00:08:32the club said to Miff you know if you could book the axe he said I know you booked the band you know
00:08:40you can get commission on the acts that come in so he did this Miff Ferry died in 1994 but a few
00:08:48years earlier he talked about the day he met Tommy Cooper in an interview being shown here for the very
00:08:53first time this big fella comes along he's six foot four and he's he looks thin and he's hungry he looks
00:09:02hungry you know and he did an act which is it was it was awful so um I said to men did you do anything
00:09:16else he said yes I'll do some magic I thought oh god whatever what have I let myself head for me
00:09:25Miff Ferry quickly found work for Tommy by exploiting his contacts in the music business securing an
00:09:31appearance on the BBC's high-profile gala variety show in 1950 in this the earliest film of the young
00:09:39man builders almost a magician around the same time a young Bruce Forsyth pleased to have his talent
00:09:47recognized also accepted Miff's offer to become his agent a decision he was soon to regret he really
00:09:55didn't know about comedy I had many many difficult arguments with this man and in fact we often used to
00:10:04laugh about having the worst agent in the business because because he was so bad for us because he
00:10:11didn't know about comedy you know there's the famous occasion Gwen told me when Tommy auditioned what
00:10:19was undoubtedly his greatest routine it's the routine with the hats to New Year's Eve at Joe's pub a happy
00:10:26mob was there the barton tables are crowded lots of noise through the air in the middle of all this
00:10:31was gazing the door banked open wide a torn and tattered tramp walked in happy new year folks he cried
00:10:36the crowd just looked at him and laughed and some began to jeer but a sailor standing about a ship
00:10:45ahoy mate have a beer I thank you son the tramp replied but beer and me are through I never touch a
00:10:53drop again but I'll split I've got to run with you then I've jumped the bank manager he happened to be
00:11:00there I remember Gwen telling me that when Tommy first performed that for Mif he sat there stony face
00:11:10and at the end of it he just walked off well I don't think that works and the line became well if Mif
00:11:19doesn't laugh you can be sure it's funny them's harsh words friend the sailor said the banker said so what
00:11:28them shooting words the cowboy said are you aiming to be shot
00:11:34you know
00:11:45it's New Year's Eve and Joe's pub a happy moment
00:11:47I won't be a minute.
00:12:08Miff Ferry. Ah, hello, Tommy.
00:12:11Whatever kind of agent he was, one thing marked Miff Ferry out as a unique individual.
00:12:16His obsessive attention to detail.
00:12:20The documenting of all his phone calls was eccentric by any standards,
00:12:24but they tell us everything about Tommy's relationship with his agent and his wife
00:12:29as they went from bad to worse.
00:12:38Tommy Cooper's agent, Miff Ferry, kept detailed notes of all his telephone conversations for over 30 years.
00:12:46They give the most intimate insight into Tommy Cooper's life, as well as his comedy routines, like the famous egg trick.
00:12:53Get the egg there, look. I'll prove this, that there's a real egg. How's that?
00:12:59Now, there may be one or two of you may say, well, that's all right. Well, what about the rest?
00:13:05Well, I can't break any more, otherwise I've got no trick.
00:13:07It was one of the few tricks Tommy tried to get right, and it stayed in his act his entire career.
00:13:14But a dispute about who should pay for the eggs is one of the first documented arguments between Tommy and his agent.
00:13:2228th of October, 1954. Tommy rang.
00:13:26Miff Ferry.
00:13:27Ah, hello, Tommy.
00:13:28He wants eggs for trick to be paid for by management.
00:13:32Miff Ferry refused to pay for the eggs.
00:13:35For the famously tight-fisted Cooper, the cost of replacing any broken eggs added an extra layer of tension to the trick.
00:13:44I'd like to point out, if one or two of the eggs fly out, if they do fly out, catch them like that.
00:13:51Not like that, because it goes all over.
00:13:54Many years later, Tommy gets his wife to call Miff on New Year's Eve, because something is bothering him.
00:14:04Miff Ferry.
00:14:06Hello, Gwen. Tommy wants you to know he is still upset because he has to pay for the eggs.
00:14:11I'll wait for World Cup. One, two, three. All right?
00:14:13For the rest of his career, Tommy resented paying for the eggs himself,
00:14:18which may explain his delight when the trick worked.
00:14:20Hey!
00:14:23How's that?
00:14:24Look!
00:14:25Hey!
00:14:29Thank you!
00:14:32Thank you very much.
00:14:36In the 1950s, Tommy Cooper's career took off.
00:14:39He was a dash of colour and chaos in grey post-war Britain.
00:14:43As his life became increasingly hectic, he relied more and more on his agent, as Miff Ferry's notes reveal.
00:14:5370th July 1959.
00:14:56T Cooper rang.
00:14:59His shoes don't fit.
00:15:03Do I know anyone who can get him dear stuff, like a tape recorder, at a discount?
00:15:09Should have been on his way to theatre, but cannot get into his garage.
00:15:12Yeah, I'll see what I can do, okay?
00:15:15He was an old-fashioned agent to sort of...
00:15:18You felt that he was really managing Tommy's life in some sort of way.
00:15:24He was now a regular on television, and was in demand at increasingly high-profile events.
00:15:30At a variety club dinner in 1955, the Duke of Edinburgh becomes Tommy's sidekick.
00:15:35You've done it!
00:15:37You've done it!
00:15:39You've done it!
00:15:41You've done it!
00:15:43You've done it!
00:15:45Outside the thought, before I came here today, there was a man who stopped me.
00:15:47He said to me, he said, excuse me, are you Tommy Cooper?
00:15:49I said, yes.
00:15:50Is you the man on television?
00:15:51I said, yes.
00:15:52He said, oh, dear, dear.
00:15:54He said, I'll never miss you.
00:15:55Never miss you.
00:15:56He said, I've never seen you, so I'll never miss you.
00:15:59After his acclaimed performance as Tommy Cooper in the stage play, just like that,
00:16:03Clive Mantle has a unique insight into Cooper's early years.
00:16:08It's very funny to watch him with that sort of clipped, almost like trying to be a BBC newsreader.
00:16:15It's wonderful.
00:16:16And that fast patter, the fast delivery.
00:16:19Look, there's a spoon.
00:16:20You can all do this yourself.
00:16:22You can all do this yourself.
00:16:23It's an optical illusion.
00:16:24You see, you get the spoon like this, and you just clip the end of it like this, and you do that,
00:16:28and you give the impression of bending the spoon.
00:16:30You're going to do it yourself.
00:16:31Just look, just like you're bending the spoon.
00:16:35The drive when he goes on stage, he's on the balls of his feet in his early career,
00:16:40and the patter is delivered so quickly.
00:16:42He doesn't give the audience time to laugh.
00:16:45And if they do, he rides that laugh.
00:16:47He's starting, he doesn't milk every laugh for as long as he can get to pad out his material for as long as he can.
00:16:54He just drives through, he drives through, drives through, drives through.
00:16:57And that was an amazing, it was an amazing energy he used early on.
00:17:01You know, I was born in Caffilly.
00:17:03I was, I was born in Caffilly.
00:17:05I'm the biggest cheese in the business.
00:17:08The biggest cheese in the world!
00:17:10Miff Ferry's discovery was on the way to becoming a star.
00:17:14But by 1960, cracks are appearing in their relationship.
00:17:1929th January, 1960.
00:17:22TC says he does not like my interfering with his business.
00:17:27He'll just pay me 15% so long as I don't interfere.
00:17:33The interference was part of Miff's managerial style, which he explained in this interview from 1988.
00:17:40If there's something there, you've got to try to develop it.
00:17:44And you've got to tell them what, what not to do.
00:17:48Not necessarily what to do, but it's much more, much more advantageous to everyone.
00:17:53To tell the artist what not to do, you make a suggestion.
00:17:59By the early sixties, Miff's talented young discoveries, Tommy Cooper and Bruce Forsythe,
00:18:04were now established performers who no longer needed Miff Ferry's fatherly advice.
00:18:09Bruce Forsythe had shot to stardom, hosting ITV's Sunday Night at the London Palladium.
00:18:17Thank you very much. Thank you.
00:18:21His catchphrase, I'm in charge, had made him a household name.
00:18:25But Miff told Bruce to stop using it.
00:18:29No, take my advice. I'm in charge.
00:18:32No, you're losing the humility that an artist should maintain.
00:18:36No, Bruce, drop it.
00:18:40He was a control freak, Miff.
00:18:42I can't work with this man anymore.
00:18:44How can I work with this man? It's impossible.
00:18:47And just before the show, Miff came round to me, only half an hour before a live show at the London Palladium started.
00:18:55He said, take that out. He said, it's wrong. And I said, it's staying in.
00:19:00He said, well, I'm telling you to take it out. I said, well, get out of my dressing room.
00:19:04I said, never, ever try to come back in.
00:19:07The dispute between them went to the High Court and ended with Bruce Forsythe buying himself out of the contract.
00:19:14I had to settle out of the court. It cost me a lot of money that I couldn't really afford at the time.
00:19:19But in the end, it was the best business deal I'd ever done.
00:19:22With Bruce Forsythe gone, Tommy Cooper became Miff Ferry's only major client.
00:19:30But managing the chaotic Cooper would take up all his time, as Tommy struggled to cope with the pressure.
00:19:37It must be tremendous strain, though, because you do work so hard in this show.
00:19:41I mean, you do it twice nightly here. You're on quite a lot in the first half and virtually the whole of the second half.
00:19:47Tremendous strain for you, isn't it?
00:19:49Yes, it is. It is, yes. But you get used to it, you know. It is a bit of a strain.
00:19:57Monday, 4th January, 1965.
00:20:00Miff Ferry?
00:20:01Gwen Cooper.
00:20:02Ah, hello, Gwen.
00:20:03The doctor has just left.
00:20:04What?
00:20:05Tommy had a funny spell yesterday.
00:20:07Oh, dear. But when did this happen?
00:20:10And the doctor says he must take things easy and will have to cancel tomorrow's cabaret.
00:20:15It is his heart.
00:20:17He was advised to take things easy, but he did the opposite.
00:20:22In 1965, he started work on his first major television series, Cooperama.
00:20:28The production was a tense affair, as Miff and Tommy clashed over creative control of the programme.
00:20:34See this pulse box? This is my invention. It is, but this invention, you'll get your letters much quicker.
00:20:39No more delays, I promise you that. Just watch this, look. Just right there, like that. Light it.
00:20:43Tenth of March, 1965, 1.10pm. T Cooper. He became insulting.
00:20:58Told me I was not an impresario, etc.
00:21:02To leave the comedy to him. He knew what was best. I did not.
00:21:06My wife was only a chorus girl, etc, etc.
00:21:10Shut up!
00:21:11In another display of misguided advice, for Cooperama, Miff Ferry wanted Tommy to lose his trademark Fez.
00:21:22I am a bit worried at receiving phone calls from various departments of ABC Television requesting photographs of Tommy with Fez.
00:21:30The main purpose of this series was to leave the image of Tommy Fez Cooper and develop Tommy Cooper the Comedian.
00:21:37This is most important as there is too much at stake.
00:21:42Miff gets his way and Tommy hardly wears the Fez at all in Cooper armour.
00:21:48Miff's view of himself as an ideas man also didn't help.
00:21:52There would be times at rehearsals when Miff would call Tommy aside and we'd know that he wasn't happy about something.
00:21:59And they'd go off behind the scenery for about ten minutes and they'd come back and Tommy, you see, was puzzled.
00:22:07He'd come back and he'd look at the sky and say, well, no, what the hell am I going to do now?
00:22:10As if he was thinking, well, do I change it or do I do it the way I've already been doing it, the way I've learnt it?
00:22:16And you work into a tight schedule.
00:22:18Obviously, the directors and producers were not happy with that.
00:22:21And so, after a while, Miff was banned from the set.
00:22:26Wait a minute, wait a minute. There's been a mistake. My name's Cooper. Magic and Merth.
00:22:30You know me, I'll show you. You must know me. Look, look, put it on.
00:22:35You know me now, don't you?
00:22:38The series is not a great success.
00:22:41Miff Ferry negotiates a credit for himself on the programme,
00:22:44which in the end only serves to confirm his responsibility for its failure.
00:22:51Despite all the problems, ITV stuck with Tommy and a new series was planned.
00:22:55The title changed to Life with Cooper and the Fez was reinstated.
00:23:00This pleased Tommy, but upset Miff Ferry.
00:23:05Dear Tommy, re Life with Cooper.
00:23:08I find myself with no alternative but to disassociate myself from the above series.
00:23:14I simply cannot allow my name to be connected with it.
00:23:19You will undo all the good work which has already been done and place your professional career in jeopardy.
00:23:25He couldn't have been more wrong.
00:23:31Tommy defied his agent and found the television formula that worked for the rest of his career.
00:23:37Opening the show with magic tricks and jokes, wearing the iconic Fez.
00:23:41And in this trick, his wife Gwen helps out from the audience.
00:23:46Who do you think of a car, madam?
00:23:48Seven of spades.
00:23:54Seven of spades?
00:23:56Oh, well, I'm sorry about that. Look, I was six.
00:23:59Are you sure it was a seven?
00:24:01Well, what's one spot between the Fez? Look, watch it very closely. Look at that, look.
00:24:04Miff was now forced to take a back seat creatively.
00:24:11But he would have his hands full as Tommy acquired star status, a drinking problem and a mistress.
00:24:26By the end of the 1960s, the Fez, the jokes and the tricks had made Tommy Cooper one of the most famous people in Britain.
00:24:34The other day, she walked into the room, she said, what's different about me?
00:24:36I said, look, I said, new pair of shoes. She said, no.
00:24:40I said, new handbag. She said, no.
00:24:43I said, new dress. She said, no.
00:24:45I said, I don't know, what's different about you?
00:24:46She said, I'm wearing a gas mask.
00:24:52The success of Life with Cooper for Thames Television put Tommy at the top of the show business world.
00:24:58But with that came even more pressure.
00:25:00To complicate things further, he now started an affair with his personal assistant, Mary Kay.
00:25:07It was very nice. It was unexpected.
00:25:10I remember one of the directors said, I think he fancies you, Mary.
00:25:14That's very naughty. But he was just charming. I thought he was beautiful. A lot of people thought he was an ugly bug. But I thought he was just gorgeous.
00:25:28It certainly lasted 17, 17, 18 years as a very deep and loving relationship, a very highly charged sexual relationship, passionately in love with each other.
00:25:42I think he was absolutely petrified that he would be found out. And as a family performer, if the press had got wind of it or someone had revealed it, a kiss and tell or anything like that, his career would have been over.
00:25:55At that time, you know, a family performer, family entertainer of his stature, who was exposed doing something like that, their career would have been over instantly.
00:26:08Tommy Cooper was now leading a double life, which threatened to derail his blossoming career.
00:26:20An appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in New York confirmed he had really hit the big time.
00:26:25And while his glass bottle would now change place with the glass.
00:26:38The bottle has now changed place with the glass.
00:26:40But the most difficult part is to make them go back again.
00:27:10With the world at his feet,
00:27:12Tommy decides to follow the lead of Bruce Forsyth
00:27:14and escape from his contract with Miff Ferry.
00:27:19He tells Miff,
00:27:20I'm too big for you to handle,
00:27:22and sends him this telegram,
00:27:24instructing him to have the contract ready to be seen by solicitors.
00:27:28Dear Tommy,
00:27:30your recurring insults, groundless accusations,
00:27:33culminating in your latest statement,
00:27:35I am too big for you to handle,
00:27:37I now find intolerable.
00:27:39You say that you intend to take legal advice
00:27:42in order to get out of your agreement with me.
00:27:44As it would appear that my achievement over the past 20 years
00:27:48is now being completely forgotten,
00:27:50I suggest that you proceed without delay.
00:27:53You're sincerely, Miff Ferry.
00:27:59Gordon Peters was an aspiring young comedian,
00:28:02also on Miff's books,
00:28:03who, for different reasons,
00:28:06wasn't happy with the agent.
00:28:08I went in and I said,
00:28:10look, you know, things are getting desperate.
00:28:12I mean, I've got no money.
00:28:13I'm living on,
00:28:14I really was living on bread and potatoes.
00:28:17And I was getting fat
00:28:18because that's all it was.
00:28:20And he said,
00:28:23I've got an idea.
00:28:25And he leapt up from his desk,
00:28:26went out and came back
00:28:27and presented me with a woman's leg.
00:28:32What's that?
00:28:33He said, it's one of Tommy's props.
00:28:35He said, you can have it.
00:28:36Go home and make a routine up out of this.
00:28:39I said, look, it's not working.
00:28:41I'd like to, you know, finish.
00:28:43Oh, no, no way.
00:28:45He said, I've got a contract with you.
00:28:46I said, yes, yes,
00:28:47but, I mean, you're not earning from me
00:28:48and I'm not earning anything.
00:28:50I'm not earning anything at all.
00:28:53He said, no, no, no, no.
00:28:54He said, I say, if you go, I say.
00:28:57Gordon Peters took his case
00:28:59to Actors Union Equity,
00:29:01who freed him from his contract.
00:29:03Tommy Cooper was impressed.
00:29:05Tommy would grab hold of me
00:29:07and say, how do you do?
00:29:08And I would explain how I did it.
00:29:10He said, that's what I'm going to do.
00:29:11I want to leave him.
00:29:12Oh, the bastard.
00:29:13I hate him.
00:29:14I hate him.
00:29:14And he really, really,
00:29:16you know, his big, big face
00:29:17was quivering with anger and rage
00:29:19and he really, really did hate him.
00:29:22As Tommy is busy consulting solicitors,
00:29:25David Frost, a long-time admirer of Tommy Cooper,
00:29:29came in with an offer
00:29:29to make a new television series.
00:29:32I think that the way you realise immediately
00:29:36that there was something unique about this man
00:29:39was if you were watching him
00:29:40in the company of an audience
00:29:42and you only had to look at the faces,
00:29:44look at the laughs,
00:29:45and you knew that this man
00:29:47had a particular hold on his audiences,
00:29:50you know what I mean.
00:29:51That people loved him.
00:29:55For the first time,
00:29:56the British television audience
00:29:58saw Tommy Cooper in colour.
00:30:00And it was a sensation.
00:30:03He was so popular with the crew and things
00:30:19that, you know,
00:30:20they would rather claim
00:30:23the most ridiculous thing was deliberate
00:30:25rather than appear to criticise Tommy,
00:30:27you know.
00:30:29That's very, very close.
00:30:31What?
00:30:32What do you mean come off?
00:30:33I just come on.
00:30:47I don't know why I did that.
00:30:50Tommy's axe was perfect for colour television
00:30:52and his magic boxes and props
00:30:54sprang to life.
00:30:55It's brilliant.
00:31:03It's a head-turning box, isn't it?
00:31:05It's, um...
00:31:07It's kind of cheaply made,
00:31:09but it's effective, isn't it?
00:31:11Door handles.
00:31:13Door handles and sticky-back plastics.
00:31:15It looks like something made on Blue Peter.
00:31:16LAUGHTER
00:31:17LAUGHTER
00:31:18LAUGHTER
00:31:19LAUGHTER
00:31:20LAUGHTER
00:31:22LAUGHTER
00:31:23The series is a big hit,
00:31:35but in an interview with the TV Times,
00:31:38Tommy talked about the effort involved in its production.
00:31:40The day after a show, I'm drained.
00:31:45I'm incapable of work because I'm empty.
00:31:49Before a show, I don't know where I am.
00:31:51It's a terrible feeling,
00:31:52and the moment you go on, there's a panic.
00:31:55He was just exhausted, absolutely whacked.
00:32:00I think almost every single show,
00:32:02but at the same time,
00:32:03if he was happy about how it had gone,
00:32:06that's the only thing that really mattered for him.
00:32:08LAUGHTER
00:32:08Now, to get another part,
00:32:10I saw you do, you get a little shake like this,
00:32:12and they drop apart,
00:32:13and probably I'm very happy.
00:32:14LAUGHTER
00:32:15LAUGHTER
00:32:16LAUGHTER
00:32:17LAUGHTER
00:32:17LAUGHTER
00:32:18LAUGHTER
00:32:18LAUGHTER
00:32:19LAUGHTER
00:32:19LAUGHTER
00:32:19LAUGHTER
00:32:20LAUGHTER
00:32:21The success of the series means
00:32:26all talk of solicitors is put on hold,
00:32:28but Tommy's personal life
00:32:31is in total crisis.
00:32:32LAUGHTER
00:32:32You could see that he was troubled.
00:32:37Whether he was troubled because he was lonely
00:32:40or because he was...
00:32:41He didn't fit in anywhere except on the stage.
00:32:45And that is very common.
00:32:48On the stage,
00:32:49he became the person he wanted to be.
00:32:52In real life, he was not the person he wanted to be,
00:32:56but he couldn't control that.
00:32:58The people around Tommy are now very concerned
00:33:02about his excessive alcohol consumption.
00:33:09Miss Ferry?
00:33:10Oh, hello, Gwen.
00:33:12TC, been on the bottle all yesterday.
00:33:16Gwen, just calm down.
00:33:19May 7th, 1969,
00:33:21Dr Jacob examined TC,
00:33:24says he's drinking too much.
00:33:25A whisky, sir?
00:33:33Ice, sir?
00:33:34Thank you very much.
00:33:37And...
00:33:38Ooh, and a little soda, sir.
00:33:39Hmm?
00:33:42Will there be anything else, sir?
00:33:44Yes, a glass.
00:33:45I'm getting so...
00:33:46LAUGHTER
00:33:47The era I work with, comedians,
00:33:49drink...
00:33:50played a large part, I think.
00:33:52The...
00:33:52If they become really successful,
00:33:55you'd think,
00:33:56now they're going to relax.
00:33:58Now...
00:33:58I've cracked it, I've made it.
00:34:01No, all the great ones,
00:34:02the Eric Morecambs,
00:34:03the Tommy Coopers,
00:34:04the Frankie Howards,
00:34:05and everybody,
00:34:06they think,
00:34:07er...
00:34:08I've made it,
00:34:09isn't this great,
00:34:10but...
00:34:11when I walk on tonight,
00:34:12they want it again.
00:34:16I'm living up to my own reputation,
00:34:18I have to do it.
00:34:19And I think that probably...
00:34:20led to that.
00:34:23Here's the glass,
00:34:23here's the bottle.
00:34:24Bottle of glass.
00:34:26Glass, bottle, bottle,
00:34:27glass, bottle, glass, bottle,
00:34:27glass, bottle.
00:34:28What was the thing his wife said,
00:34:30the only trick that he did really well
00:34:32was make a drink disappear.
00:34:33Tommy and Gwen have two children,
00:34:36daughter Vicky and son Thomas.
00:34:38They live in a large family house
00:34:40in West London,
00:34:41but Tommy is on the road
00:34:43much of the time with Mary Kay.
00:34:45The Cooper marriage
00:34:46is in serious trouble,
00:34:47compounded by Tommy's
00:34:50excessive drinking,
00:34:51and Miff Ferry's journals
00:34:52reveal the distressing details.
00:34:55April 30th, 1969.
00:34:59Mrs T.C.
00:35:01Oh, hello, Gwen.
00:35:02He struck her in front of the children.
00:35:05Oh, when did he do this?
00:35:08No.
00:35:09No, look, I'm extremely sorry.
00:35:12I think it is important to stress
00:35:15about the telephone journal
00:35:17is that it is giving you
00:35:19a very detailed account
00:35:22of a less than pleasant side
00:35:26of a marriage,
00:35:28that there was a lot of,
00:35:32dare I say, violence
00:35:33taking place behind the scenes
00:35:37of the cosy domesticity
00:35:40of the suburban home
00:35:42at Chiswick.
00:35:45Gwen C.
00:35:46Miff Ferry.
00:35:47Thinks I ought to know
00:35:48that she is divorcing Tommy.
00:35:50Hello, Gwen.
00:35:50Can't stand it anymore.
00:35:53He keeps beating her up.
00:35:54No.
00:35:55Last time was on their anniversary.
00:35:57He drinks all the time,
00:35:59buys bottles of spirits
00:36:01like anyone else buys beer.
00:36:03Tommy's alcohol consumption
00:36:05had now gone way beyond
00:36:06normal social drinking
00:36:07and was having a disastrous
00:36:09effect on his life.
00:36:12A bar bill from 13th of May, 1972
00:36:15shows the extent of Tommy's
00:36:18drinking at this time.
00:36:20Six days at the Club Fiesta
00:36:21in Sheffield
00:36:22involved two bottles of brandy,
00:36:24two bottles of whiskey,
00:36:26three bottles of gin,
00:36:27two bottles of port
00:36:28and three pints of double diamond.
00:36:33LAUGHTER
00:36:33It was desperate.
00:36:42All those around him
00:36:42kept trying to help him
00:36:44see sense,
00:36:47to stop
00:36:48or take it easy
00:36:50but he couldn't.
00:36:51He was just on this nosedive.
00:36:55As Tommy's alcoholism worsened
00:36:57and his marriage to Gwen
00:36:58descended into bleak soap opera,
00:37:00he would make a triumphant return
00:37:02to Thames Television
00:37:03where his comedy
00:37:04would reach new heights.
00:37:07I was cleaning up the attic last week
00:37:09with a wife.
00:37:11Filthy, dirty,
00:37:12covering the cobwebs.
00:37:13But she's good for the kids.
00:37:14LAUGHTER
00:37:15In October 1973,
00:37:27the Tommy Cooper hour
00:37:28hit the nation's TV screens.
00:37:30I'll put the cards in this.
00:37:33At 52 years old,
00:37:34the man once billed
00:37:35as almost a magician
00:37:36is clearly never going to be one.
00:37:39LAUGHTER
00:37:39And this made the act
00:37:42funnier than ever before.
00:37:47Now this duck
00:37:48LAUGHTER
00:37:49LAUGHTER
00:37:50LAUGHTER
00:37:50Must take your chosen card
00:37:55from their pack.
00:37:58Now, you may have seen a duck
00:37:59do that before,
00:38:01but be fair,
00:38:02Blanc...
00:38:02LAUGHTER
00:38:03APPLAUSE
00:38:05What was your chosen?
00:38:15LAUGHTER
00:38:16LAUGHTER
00:38:16Oh, correct.
00:38:18LAUGHTER
00:38:19This is a review
00:38:22by Kenneth Tynan
00:38:23in the Evening Standard.
00:38:26Cooper is convulsed
00:38:27by his own incompetence.
00:38:28Holding his sides,
00:38:29he staggers helplessly
00:38:30from trick to trick.
00:38:32No man was ever less
00:38:33surprised by failure.
00:38:35Cooper has a gurgling awareness
00:38:37of the futility
00:38:38of human effort,
00:38:39and this is what
00:38:40raises him above the crowd.
00:38:43The very famous
00:38:44Indian rope trick.
00:38:46You may have seen this trick
00:38:48because I tell you what happens,
00:38:49I throw this in the air,
00:38:50it stands up on its own,
00:38:52and a boy climbs up it.
00:38:53LAUGHTER
00:38:54LAUGHTER
00:38:55LAUGHTER
00:38:56LAUGHTER
00:38:57LAUGHTER
00:38:58LAUGHTER
00:38:59I think his timing
00:39:01was perfect.
00:39:03I mean,
00:39:03when he would tell a joke,
00:39:05he didn't have like a...
00:39:07He just seemed telling the joke
00:39:09without the punchline.
00:39:11It was hysterical.
00:39:12I bought one of his skin diving outfits,
00:39:14let me see it,
00:39:14like a frogman suit.
00:39:15But the whole thing,
00:39:16you know,
00:39:17goggles,
00:39:18big flippers,
00:39:19tank on the back,
00:39:21and I had a photograph taken
00:39:22like that and like that.
00:39:23LAUGHTER
00:39:24LAUGHTER
00:39:24Well, you never know,
00:39:26do you?
00:39:26You never know.
00:39:26LAUGHTER
00:39:27LAUGHTER
00:39:27And I went to the bay
00:39:29and I jumped in
00:39:29because you're not supposed
00:39:30to dive in,
00:39:30it's dangerous.
00:39:32And I jumped in
00:39:33like that,
00:39:34and I think I turned a bit,
00:39:35a little bit,
00:39:36I went down.
00:39:36LAUGHTER
00:39:37LAUGHTER
00:39:37And I went down
00:39:41about 155 feet.
00:39:42LAUGHTER
00:39:43It was lovely,
00:39:45very quiet.
00:39:45LAUGHTER
00:39:46And I'm going along like that.
00:39:48LAUGHTER
00:39:49LAUGHTER
00:39:50I've got the instructions here.
00:39:53LAUGHTER
00:39:54And I get rid of them,
00:40:04and I start to do that like that.
00:40:05LAUGHTER
00:40:06LAUGHTER
00:40:07And the feet are going like that.
00:40:11LAUGHTER
00:40:12Not in the front,
00:40:13in the back,
00:40:14you know what I mean?
00:40:14LAUGHTER
00:40:15LAUGHTER
00:40:16And I'm going to...
00:40:17LAUGHTER
00:40:18And I don't care now,
00:40:19you know what I mean?
00:40:20LAUGHTER
00:40:20LAUGHTER
00:40:21I'm all over the place.
00:40:24And the goggles are getting all misty,
00:40:27and everything.
00:40:28And I'm humming to myself.
00:40:30Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm.
00:40:31LAUGHTER
00:40:31Not loud, just...
00:40:33Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm.
00:40:34LAUGHTER
00:40:35And all of a sudden,
00:40:37I saw a man walking towards me.
00:40:39LAUGHTER
00:40:40LAUGHTER
00:40:40In a sports jacket,
00:40:43grey flannies.
00:40:43LAUGHTER
00:40:44I thought,
00:40:47that's unusual for a Thursday.
00:40:48LAUGHTER
00:40:49So I went towards it,
00:40:52I was moving like that,
00:40:53And I got right up to him, I took this pad out, and I wrote to him, what are you doing down here?
00:41:00Walking about in a sports jacket, great slant.
00:41:03And he took this pad for me, and he wrote on there, I'm drowning.
00:41:10He made it look easy.
00:41:12But the truth was that Tommy Cooper was at the centre of a hugely complicated television production.
00:41:18Tommy Cooper show, VTR number 8241, part one.
00:41:215, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
00:41:27Cue the extras, off you go.
00:41:3097 on 4 next.
00:41:32This never-before-seen recording of a studio rehearsal of the Tommy Cooper hour
00:41:36demonstrates the amount of people involved on a daily basis.
00:41:40Cue the flunkies.
00:41:43Everything and everyone reliant on the performance of just one man.
00:41:48Lose the chatter.
00:41:50And cut.
00:41:5198 on 3 next.
00:41:52Cut.
00:41:5399 on 2 next.
00:41:55100 on 1 next.
00:41:56And cue the flunkies, cut.
00:41:57101 on 3 next.
00:41:58Your cloak, monsieur.
00:41:59Your hat, monsieur.
00:42:01Your cane, monsieur.
00:42:03Your gloves, monsieur.
00:42:04Cut.
00:42:06As soon as Tommy leaves the card players, he should be followed over.
00:42:11Yes.
00:42:11We've got more light on his face this time, Dave, have we?
00:42:16And of course, all this in the shadow of the agent he increasingly despised, Miff Ferry.
00:42:22Tommy Cooper hour director, Royston Mayo, saw the effect Miff could have on the atmosphere of a TV studio.
00:42:31It was a bit like meeting royalty, really.
00:42:33I mean, he stood there in the Astrakhan coat, you know, looking at every bit, the manager and the agent.
00:42:39And he'd got this attitude of, I own Tommy Cooper, and I own this, and I own you, and one way out of me, and I could get you off of you.
00:42:47He had this air about him, but Miff Ferry put the fear of God up of Tommy when he walked off.
00:42:54By now creatively sidelined, Miff Ferry still found ways to annoy Tommy, and began turning up at studio rehearsals with his new pet dog.
00:43:04Miff would insist on bringing this perishing dog with him, you know, and it would always go, whack, in the middle of a, you know, God, please, can you take the dog out, sir, please?
00:43:17Tommy reckoned that he could actually, he could have eaten the dog in one bite, he said. It was that small.
00:43:24One bite, I'm just, well, just one.
00:43:28Because Tommy hated the dog. He hated it.
00:43:30This hand is a killer.
00:43:32No?
00:43:34Yes, go ahead.
00:43:39What's the matter?
00:43:40It's the wrong hand. It's this way.
00:43:42By November 1974, Tommy Cooper and Miff Ferry are at the height of their professions, but they are barely on speaking terms.
00:43:51With Tommy on the road, and having an affair with Mary Kay, Miff is forced to communicate with him via Tommy's wife, Gwen.
00:44:02Dear Tommy, I have no particular wish to talk to your wife on the telephone, but I have been unable to contact you personally, which left me with no alternative.
00:44:13In this letter, Miff now discreetly alludes to the problems being caused by the affair with Mary Kay.
00:44:19Meanwhile, in view of the trouble and embarrassment which you have caused regarding your hotels, it is regretted that I cannot continue to book your hotel accommodation.
00:44:31Yours sincerely, Miff Ferry.
00:44:32Tommy's affair with Mary Kay was conducted in hotel rooms all over the country.
00:44:41Mary documented their secretive liaisons in these drawings.
00:44:46The picture is completed by newly discovered tape recordings of the pair rehearsing scripts.
00:44:52Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday.
00:44:55Ah, it is Rupert.
00:44:57I hear his foot upon the stair.
00:44:59Oh, oh, oh!
00:45:02Darling, how long is it?
00:45:04How long is what?
00:45:06Since you played the piano for me that night in Monte Carlo nearly two years ago.
00:45:11It's nearly two years ago.
00:45:15Is that it?
00:45:17Oh, good.
00:45:18You have a little snooze, a little nap, eh?
00:45:20I'll get on with something else.
00:45:22Go to sleep, a baby, clothes, and bigly waters.
00:45:26And when you're sleeping, sleeping, dreamy.
00:45:29Good night.
00:45:32The letter from Miff about hotels sends Tommy into a spin.
00:45:36Dear Mr. Ferry,
00:45:42Your latest letter exceeds all tolerable bounds of discourtesy and unreasonableness.
00:45:48And both my wife and I find it difficult to continue our forbearance.
00:45:53Your reference to a distaste for speaking to my wife is offensive in the extreme.
00:45:59Yours sincerely, Tommy Cooper.
00:46:01I tried to get to the hotel, it was packed, so I went to this big boarding house.
00:46:06And I knocked it at the door, the landlady put her head up the window.
00:46:08She said, what do you want?
00:46:08I said, I want to stay here.
00:46:09She said, I want to stay there and shut the window.
00:46:14Despite his anger, Miff eventually backs down and continues to book Tommy's hotels.
00:46:20But he can't resist having the last word, criticising Tommy for punching a teddy bear.
00:46:31Dear Tommy,
00:46:33Enclosed herewith are two letters from young viewers and refer to you punching a teddy.
00:46:39It is most disturbing at this stage of your career to receive such reaction to your television appearances.
00:46:47With all these distractions behind the scenes,
00:46:50Tommy Cooper still somehow produced the best work of his career.
00:46:53So I went to this doctor, and I said, it hurts me when I do that.
00:46:58He said, well, don't do it.
00:47:03He looked like he was having the best time in the world.
00:47:06My eyes! Look at my eyes!
00:47:14Evil, evil, evil, evil, evil.
00:47:18Evil, evil.
00:47:19I'm just nervous, that's all.
00:47:23A bouquet of flowers.
00:47:24Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
00:47:55He was the one who went on, and as soon as he went on, his act was falling apart.
00:48:01Nobody else did that.
00:48:03I've come on to do this, and it's going wrong now.
00:48:07Nobody else did that.
00:48:12The Tommy Cooper hour is the man at the peak of his powers,
00:48:16and is now considered to be classic British comedy.
00:48:19But this didn't stop the conflict between Tommy and his agent,
00:48:23or between Tommy and his wife.
00:48:27Or the heart attack that would nearly kill him.
00:48:301975 saw Tommy back at Thames Television making the series Cooper.
00:48:48Thames Television signed me up to work with Tommy Cooper in the 70s,
00:48:56and we ended every show with a sketch called Fez to Fez, which is a wonderful name.
00:49:02Thank you very much indeed.
00:49:04Good evening, Tommy.
00:49:05Good evening, David.
00:49:06Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
00:49:07Welcome once again to Fez to Fez.
00:49:09Well, as you see, on the table in front of us here, we have a box full of hats,
00:49:13and to my mind, this means that Tommy's going to do one of his classic poems,
00:49:16using all the hats.
00:49:17Is that right, Tommy?
00:49:18No.
00:49:18Up to this point in his career, Tommy's excessive drinking had not affected his comedy.
00:49:26But during the making of Cooper, it became a problem.
00:49:31You could see that he was drinking heavily.
00:49:33The adrenaline of somebody who's on stage performing all the time is, you know,
00:49:38takes quite a lot out of the nervous system.
00:49:40Do you think that on earth, everyone has a double?
00:49:43I had a double just before the show.
00:49:44We rehearsed in a pub, unfortunately, next door to the Thames Studios at Teddington.
00:49:51The pub was called The Anglers, and the rehearsal room was upstairs,
00:49:55and all day long, drinks were set up on a tray.
00:49:59So, as the afternoon went on, Tommy became more and more inebriated,
00:50:04and, you know, just like that, became more just like that.
00:50:07And by the time one evening we got around to showtime,
00:50:11Tommy had had so much to drink that, unfortunately, they had to send the audience home.
00:50:16And they told them that he was indisposed, which was not strictly true.
00:50:21Nobody knew it at the time, but the 1975 series of Cooper marked the end of Tommy's glory years.
00:50:29There's a man having a barbecue with a front guard,
00:50:30so he turns to speak like that, and the flames are getting higher and higher.
00:50:35Higher and higher, see?
00:50:36And he's singing.
00:50:38Oh, Solomir.
00:50:41No music.
00:50:44Oh, Solomir.
00:50:47Farewell.
00:50:50And the flames are getting higher and higher.
00:50:53And a drunk walks by, he says,
00:50:54your singing's all right, but your monkey's on fire.
00:50:58From now on, his personal problems would begin to overwhelm him.
00:51:04A few weeks after the series ended,
00:51:07Tommy is once again exhausted, in ill health, and drinking far too much.
00:51:12Miff Ferry is now earning every penny of his commission
00:51:14as he tries to save Tommy's career, as well as his marriage.
00:51:19Miff Ferry?
00:51:21Gwen called.
00:51:22She has had enough.
00:51:23Can't get any sleep.
00:51:25He drinks whiskey all night.
00:51:27He gets violent when drunk.
00:51:30Just a pissing bastard.
00:51:33Are you all right now?
00:51:33She smashed the chair at him.
00:51:37The furniture got thrown more and more between them.
00:51:41She throwing as much furniture as him, apparently.
00:51:44From what I could see, she was a very heavy drinker herself,
00:51:47and so if they fought, they probably fought,
00:51:50not because he was drinking too much,
00:51:52but because they were both drinking.
00:51:55Tommy and Gwen's marriage had now lasted for nearly 30 years.
00:51:59Tommy was having a secret affair,
00:52:01and the violent arguments and threats of divorce continued,
00:52:05but they were still together.
00:52:07We had our ups and downs,
00:52:09but the whole thing was we were married,
00:52:12and I think show business came first and then the family.
00:52:16I think Gwen was a very forceful character,
00:52:19very strong.
00:52:22I think she bossed him.
00:52:23I think she knew very well that he had an ongoing relationship on the road,
00:52:32and they were a brilliant partnership that,
00:52:36if ever separated, would have been the end of him.
00:52:42Tommy Cooper had earned his place at the top table of British comedy
00:52:46and was honoured at a variety club lunch in March 1977
00:52:50with wife Gwen at his side.
00:52:53Chief Barker, fellow Barkers,
00:52:56justinuous guests, ladies and gentlemen.
00:52:59From now on, let's speak to school downhill a bit.
00:53:09What?
00:53:12You've got to put your face on.
00:53:14Not yet, not yet.
00:53:16I told you to wait in the truck, didn't I?
00:53:27Your own wife happy with you.
00:53:29That's good, isn't it?
00:53:32Anyway, I must say,
00:53:33when I heard of the zombie,
00:53:34I told the family,
00:53:38and I told my son and daughter,
00:53:40I've got a son and daughter.
00:53:41I get things right sometimes.
00:53:46And I said to my son Thomas,
00:53:50I said, I've been invited as a guest of honour
00:53:52to lunch by the variety club.
00:53:55And he looked at me with tears in his eyes.
00:53:57And he flung his arms around me.
00:54:02And he said, what the hell for?
00:54:08The following month,
00:54:10Tommy's years of hard living
00:54:11finally caught up with him
00:54:12as Miff's phone journals record.
00:54:15T.C. did not go on last night.
00:54:25Had a heart attack.
00:54:27What?
00:54:28Tommy had travelled to Rome
00:54:29for a private show for delegates
00:54:31at an IBM conference.
00:54:33Just as he was about to walk on stage,
00:54:36he collapsed.
00:54:36Italian doctor said he must not drink
00:54:41or smoke or even smell it.
00:54:44T.C. had severe heart attack.
00:54:47T.C. nearly died.
00:54:51Tommy came home to recover,
00:54:53but his only concession to medical advice
00:54:55was to drink white wine instead of whiskey.
00:54:59It was a low point for Tommy
00:55:00as he waited for his health to improve.
00:55:02May 31st, 1978.
00:55:06T.C. does not want me to call him.
00:55:09Too depressing.
00:55:10I talk to him as if he is a schoolboy.
00:55:13The doctor says he must not be depressed.
00:55:16Banged phone down.
00:55:20He eventually recovered enough
00:55:22to return to television in 1978
00:55:24with Cooper just like that.
00:55:28The effects of his ill health were obvious.
00:55:30Tricks that were once performed with vitality
00:55:34had now slowed to a crawl.
00:55:40Empty!
00:55:47Just eight years earlier,
00:55:49Tommy was in his prime.
00:55:51Now the same routines were joyless
00:55:53and silent.
00:55:56The body's just about moving,
00:56:01but it's not the same.
00:56:02It's not the same as that vital,
00:56:04electric performer that he was,
00:56:06you know, in his 30s and 40s
00:56:08and early 50s.
00:56:10From now on,
00:56:11his best television moments
00:56:12came in a number of guest appearances.
00:56:15When Eric Sykes,
00:56:16his co-star from the 1967 film The Plank,
00:56:19was the subject of This Is Your Life,
00:56:22it was Tommy who stole the show.
00:56:24And there in the audience on stage
00:56:28with Eric,
00:56:31half the first division
00:56:32of British comedy at that time.
00:56:34You had Spike Milligan
00:56:35and Frankie Howard
00:56:36and Terry Thomas
00:56:37and Max Bygraves
00:56:38and Hattie Jakes
00:56:39and a lot more.
00:56:41And he looked around
00:56:42and saw all these other people
00:56:45and, you know,
00:56:48he very decently
00:56:50didn't do anything.
00:56:53Good evening.
00:56:54Do something.
00:56:55Is that it?
00:56:56Do something.
00:56:57Can you tell us something?
00:57:01Tommy,
00:57:03why don't you tell us something
00:57:04about that famous film of Eric's,
00:57:05The Plank?
00:57:06Oh, yes.
00:57:10Now,
00:57:10I remember now
00:57:11doing this film
00:57:12with Eric,
00:57:15The Plank,
00:57:17and,
00:57:17it was very funny,
00:57:20wasn't it?
00:57:23No,
00:57:24it was very funny.
00:57:25He not only acted in it,
00:57:27he wrote it,
00:57:27didn't he?
00:57:28Yeah,
00:57:28yeah.
00:57:29I was coming to that.
00:57:31You're getting a boy with me.
00:57:33And,
00:57:34Eva,
00:57:35I know I was in it,
00:57:37I'm telling you I was in it.
00:57:41I just said,
00:57:42what?
00:57:43You're in it now.
00:57:47There was an admiration
00:57:48which shows you,
00:57:49it proves
00:57:51that idea that
00:57:53although what he was doing
00:57:54in terms of what the public saw,
00:57:57which was this half-assed magic act,
00:57:59you know what I mean,
00:57:59always going wrong,
00:58:00the level of respect
00:58:03that he got
00:58:04from his peers
00:58:05because
00:58:06they understood
00:58:08just how brave
00:58:09it was
00:58:11that he was doing.
00:58:12Come on,
00:58:13David.
00:58:15This Is Your Life
00:58:16was broadcast
00:58:16on Christmas Day,
00:58:181979,
00:58:19followed later that night
00:58:21by Tommy's appearance
00:58:23on Parkinson.
00:58:24I don't really gamble.
00:58:26No.
00:58:27No,
00:58:27but today,
00:58:28this man gave me a tip
00:58:29and I lost 200 pounds.
00:58:32200 pounds?
00:58:32200 pounds,
00:58:33yeah,
00:58:33but I mean,
00:58:33that's nothing to do.
00:58:34I shouldn't
00:58:35say anything about it
00:58:37because
00:58:37it's just nothing.
00:58:40Go ahead.
00:58:41you're very upsetting.
00:58:47No,
00:58:47no,
00:58:48I'm sorry I brought it up.
00:58:53Oh,
00:58:54John!
00:58:58John!
00:58:59Cooper!
00:59:00In 1980,
00:59:03Tommy would make
00:59:03one last TV series.
00:59:05Cooper's Half Hour
00:59:06contained hardly
00:59:07any new material
00:59:08but one new routine
00:59:09showed Tommy's awareness
00:59:11of his diminishing powers.
00:59:13The producer,
00:59:14in the last show,
00:59:15said to me,
00:59:16I said to him,
00:59:18what was it like?
00:59:20I said to him,
00:59:21what was it like?
00:59:22And he said,
00:59:22he went,
00:59:23he went,
00:59:23it wasn't very good.
00:59:30I said,
00:59:30what do you mean?
00:59:31He said,
00:59:33it wasn't you.
00:59:35I said,
00:59:35what do you mean
00:59:36it wasn't me?
00:59:37He said,
00:59:38what you did about
00:59:38his sparkle.
00:59:40He said,
00:59:40you were down.
00:59:41He said,
00:59:41you weren't bright,
00:59:42all like that.
00:59:44The clown prince
00:59:45of British comedy
00:59:46now faced a struggle
00:59:48with his demons
00:59:48but he would keep going
00:59:50right to the end.
00:59:53By 1983,
01:00:04ill health
01:00:05had forced Tommy
01:00:05into semi-retirement.
01:00:10He had failed
01:00:11to control his drinking
01:00:12and television companies
01:00:14weren't prepared
01:00:14to take a risk
01:00:15on such an unreliable performer.
01:00:19But now and again,
01:00:21as in this after-dinner speech
01:00:22for Dean Martin,
01:00:24the old magic came back
01:00:25and he had the audience
01:00:27in the palm of his hand.
01:00:30Now,
01:00:30I'm not going to tell
01:00:31the drinking joke
01:00:32because he must be fed up
01:00:34with it.
01:00:35And I drink
01:00:36just for medicinal purposes.
01:00:39I'm sick of being sober.
01:00:40I'm on a whiskey diet.
01:00:53I am.
01:00:54Last week,
01:00:54I lost three days.
01:01:00The nation's affection
01:01:02for Tommy Cooper
01:01:03never faded.
01:01:04Tommy Cooper.
01:01:05In one of his last
01:01:07TV appearances
01:01:08on the Bob Monkhouse show,
01:01:10it was clear
01:01:11that the sight
01:01:11of Tommy walking on stage
01:01:13was still a magical moment
01:01:14for any audience.
01:01:15even his agent,
01:01:34Miff Ferry,
01:01:35was at heart
01:01:36a Tommy Cooper fan.
01:01:3712th of November,
01:01:401983.
01:01:41Your stint
01:01:42on the Monkhouse show
01:01:43was excellent.
01:01:44Even made me laugh.
01:01:46How about that?
01:01:49They hated each other
01:01:50at one level.
01:01:52But deep down,
01:01:54you do become aware,
01:01:56reading between the lines,
01:01:58of a sneaky regard
01:01:59between the two of them.
01:02:00If one had to assess
01:02:02Miff's performance
01:02:03as an agent
01:02:04for Tommy,
01:02:05you've got to give him
01:02:0699.9%.
01:02:08He kept Tommy working,
01:02:11he kept the money rising,
01:02:13he kept the image intact.
01:02:17And I don't think
01:02:18any more could have been
01:02:19expected of him.
01:02:24All he had to do
01:02:25was walk on stage
01:02:26and everybody laughed.
01:02:28But on 15th April, 1984,
01:02:31live on television,
01:02:32he did it
01:02:33for the very last time.
01:02:35Do you believe
01:02:35in reincarnation?
01:02:37It was already clear
01:02:39by then that his health
01:02:40wasn't great.
01:02:41And I think by the end,
01:02:45those live shows
01:02:46were really taking their toll.
01:02:48You know,
01:02:49he was exhausted
01:02:50and not in the best of health.
01:02:53So I think it was,
01:02:56you did see,
01:02:58in a sense,
01:02:59this kind of great monument,
01:03:02this great figure,
01:03:04sort of slightly in decline.
01:03:08The energy had gone,
01:03:09but he still had the magic.
01:03:12You've got to laugh.
01:03:15Please.
01:03:18He was still Tommy Cooper
01:03:20and nothing could take
01:03:22that away from him.
01:03:23I want someone here now.
01:03:26I'm just a born actor.
01:03:29I want someone here now
01:03:30just to think of any car.
01:03:31Who do you think of a car, sir?
01:03:33Any car you like in the pack.
01:03:35Don't tell me.
01:03:36Every thought of my time.
01:03:38The gentleman there
01:03:39is just full of a car.
01:03:40Would you have placed him there, sir?
01:03:49Now, this duck
01:03:50will take your children
01:03:54car from that pack, sir.
01:03:56Now, you may have seen
01:03:57a duck do that before.
01:04:00But be fair,
01:04:02blindfolded.
01:04:02Only one.
01:04:18What was your daughter?
01:04:20Correct.
01:04:20It was all very normal,
01:04:28to be honest.
01:04:28I was waiting there
01:04:29with the cloak
01:04:30and Tommy was his usual self
01:04:34and the audience
01:04:35were in raptures of laughter.
01:04:39All I did was literally
01:04:41walk on stage
01:04:41carrying a cloak
01:04:43and I wrapped the cloak
01:04:45round his shoulders
01:04:47and I then came round
01:04:49the front
01:04:50and sort of
01:04:52down up the bottom
01:04:53and went to
01:04:54move away
01:04:55the mic
01:04:56and literally
01:04:58within seconds
01:04:59of me
01:05:00moving away
01:05:02he fell.
01:05:04He sort of slumped
01:05:06backwards.
01:05:07I actually thought
01:05:08this isn't right.
01:05:10You know,
01:05:11there's something
01:05:11the audience
01:05:13was still laughing
01:05:14but
01:05:14there was something
01:05:16not right
01:05:17and I remember
01:05:18looking back
01:05:19thinking
01:05:20I wonder
01:05:21if he's all right
01:05:23because I mean
01:05:24he was a big chap
01:05:25so you could hear him fall
01:05:26and as I was moving
01:05:28off the stage
01:05:30the choreographer
01:05:31and director
01:05:32were both there
01:05:33and as I approached
01:05:37the wings
01:05:38they actually said
01:05:39you need to cut
01:05:40to commercial break.
01:05:42There's a problem.
01:05:43I was watching
01:05:44and as soon
01:05:45as he sank
01:05:45to his knees
01:05:46I didn't realise
01:05:49how bad it was
01:05:50but I knew
01:05:50it was bad
01:05:51because Tom
01:05:52had bad legs
01:05:53he had varicose veins
01:05:54and everything
01:05:54I thought
01:05:55him kneeling
01:05:56I don't like this
01:05:57this is not good
01:05:58this is awful.
01:05:59we were watching
01:06:00with my family
01:06:01and when it happened
01:06:02my wife and daughter
01:06:05were still laughing
01:06:06I said
01:06:06no don't
01:06:07something's happened
01:06:08I said
01:06:08Tommy would not
01:06:09have fallen down.
01:06:13The pop man
01:06:14put the curtains
01:06:15around Tommy
01:06:15said you have to
01:06:18check him out
01:06:19what was going on
01:06:19then we dragged him back
01:06:21we dragged him back
01:06:23and laid him down
01:06:24I spoke to him
01:06:25I called him his name
01:06:27Tommy speak to me
01:06:29Tommy
01:06:29Tommy
01:06:30speak to me
01:06:31open your eyes
01:06:32speak to me
01:06:33open your eyes
01:06:33open your eyes
01:06:34he didn't
01:06:35ok then
01:06:36I then felt for the pulse
01:06:38there was no pulse
01:06:39I put my mouth
01:06:41directly over his mouth
01:06:42and blew air into him
01:06:43nothing happened
01:06:45I had no response
01:06:45I then started doing
01:06:47chest compressions
01:06:48there was absolutely
01:06:49nothing whatsoever
01:06:50so then I knew
01:06:52we had really got
01:06:53a serious problem
01:06:54he wanted me to watch
01:06:58the show
01:06:59on the television
01:07:01in the lounge
01:07:02which I did
01:07:03and when he collapsed
01:07:05I knew that something
01:07:06had happened
01:07:07and
01:07:08then a newspaper man
01:07:12phoned through
01:07:13and told me
01:07:15and I put the phone down
01:07:17and the next thing I know
01:07:18my son came home
01:07:20that was it
01:07:26tributes have continued
01:07:29this morning
01:07:30for comedian Tommy Cooper
01:07:31who died last night
01:07:32after collapsing on stage
01:07:34during a live television show
01:07:35also watching on that
01:07:39fateful night
01:07:39was the man
01:07:40who had been with Tommy
01:07:42from the very beginning
01:07:42his agent
01:07:44his agent
01:07:44Miff Ferry
01:07:45it was rather tragic
01:07:48I don't really know
01:07:53how to describe it
01:07:55he was doing
01:07:58the act
01:07:59finishing off
01:08:02in front of the front cloth
01:08:03when he collapsed
01:08:05and that was
01:08:07that was
01:08:07the end of Tommy
01:08:09I mean
01:08:11how does one describe it
01:08:13I was devastated
01:08:15you just couldn't
01:08:16just couldn't believe it
01:08:18together
01:08:20they had been through it all
01:08:22from nowhere
01:08:23to stardom
01:08:24but now it was all over
01:08:26for Tommy Cooper
01:08:27and Miff Ferry
01:08:28meticulous to the last
01:08:33Miff Ferry
01:08:34was at his desk
01:08:35as usual
01:08:35in the days
01:08:36after Tommy's death
01:08:37writing
01:08:38died on stage
01:08:40in Tommy Cooper's
01:08:42bookings diary
01:08:43with his only client gone
01:08:52Miff Ferry's days
01:08:54as an agent
01:08:54were at an end
01:08:55and the telephone
01:08:57finally stopped ringing
01:08:59I know that I went to his
01:09:20service
01:09:22in church
01:09:23when he was
01:09:24was cremated
01:09:26and when he went
01:09:27through those
01:09:28little curtains
01:09:29and the coffin
01:09:30I think that was the most
01:09:33most depressing moment
01:09:37of my life
01:09:37I thought here
01:09:39the cloud gone over the sun
01:09:43he was a comic
01:09:47that taught me
01:09:49the absolute value
01:09:52of a smile
01:09:52and a laugh
01:09:54and what it can do
01:09:57pull it
01:10:03pull it
01:10:04pull it
01:10:04well like I said
01:10:07from my
01:10:07thank god
01:10:09Tommy Cooper
01:10:10was alive
01:10:10when I was alive
01:10:11because it would
01:10:12brighten my days
01:10:13if I was having
01:10:14a pissed off day
01:10:15it would make me
01:10:16my life worth
01:10:18while living
01:10:18that day
01:10:18he was just
01:10:20an incredibly
01:10:21talented man
01:10:22I brought a greyhound
01:10:23over a month ago
01:10:24a friend of mine
01:10:26said what are you going
01:10:26to do with it
01:10:26I was going to race it
01:10:27he's about to look at it
01:10:28I think you'll beat it
01:10:29I went swimming the other day
01:10:31I was swimming like that
01:10:34no it wasn't
01:10:35it was like that
01:10:36no no it was like that
01:10:37I went to the doctor
01:10:39he said to be opening my mouth
01:10:40so I went like that
01:10:41and he looked down
01:10:43he said a little roar
01:10:44so I went
01:10:45I dreamt I was
01:10:48eating a giant marshmallow
01:10:50and when I woke up
01:10:52in the morning
01:10:53the pillow was gone
01:10:54look see that
01:10:55this one does the same
01:10:57flower
01:11:14he loved laughter
01:11:22he loved being laughed at
01:11:24he liked laughing
01:11:25with other people
01:11:26and he was just
01:11:28very lovable
01:11:28a great comedian
01:11:32is loved
01:11:34and Tommy Cooper
01:11:36was a great comedian
01:11:37and we all loved him
01:11:40it's an evening
01:11:46of Armstrong and Miller
01:11:47tonight
01:11:47catch the best bits
01:11:48of their Channel 4
01:11:49sketch show
01:11:50at 10 past 11
01:11:51after they go retro
01:11:53for Felix and Murdo
01:11:54next
01:12:10we'll see you next time
01:12:12next time
01:12:14we'll see you next time
01:12:16next time