TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 - 1999

After Beyond The Fringe had finished its Broadway run Dudley Moore was invited by the BBC to help put together a new fortnightly comedy and music show to be titled "Not Only Dudley Moore, But Also..." with the first show transmitted in the second week of January 1965. The guests he chose for the first show included John Lennon who read his own poems, one of which saw Moore, Lennon and Norman Rossington (from A Hard Day's Night) on location in a field. Another guest choice was his Beyond The Fringe partner Peter Cook. The musical director was Peter Knight, while Joe McGrath was the show's producer.

The title for the second show had changed to accommodate Cook, now seen as a partner in the show. Almost as soon as the series had finished on BBC2 it was granted a repeat on BBC1 to a wider audience, suggesting that the show was not only a critical success but also a public one.

Among the American musical guests in the first series were Goldie & The Gingerbreads, June Christie, Mel Torme and T-Bone Walker as well as a weekly spot for the Dudley Moore Trio. Each week the show would finish with Cook and Moore performing Dudley's song "Goodbyee" which, when released as a single credited to "Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore with the Dudley Moore Trio", would become a top twenty hit. They found themselves unlikely pop stars, making appearances on Top of the Pops and Ready Steady Go, which was the likely origin of the pop show spoof in their movie Bedazzled in 1967.

The next series began in January 1966 with a new producer Dick Clement, co-writer of The Likely Lads, another early hit for BBC2. Guests for the second now weekly series featured Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield and Dionne Warwick. Again, the series was quickly repeated on BBC1.

The 1966 Christmas show saw the return of John Lennon in a sketch which saw him as a doorman at a public toilet.

The duo were tempted away to ATV in 1968 for a one off series "Goodbye Again", with musical guests Traffic, Georgie Fame and Ike & Tina Turner.

Like so many BBC comedies at the time, Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part and The Likely Lads, the shows were dropped, only to return a few years' later in colour. So Not Only...But Also returned to BBC2 in colour in February 1970 under the Show Of The Week banner for another series, this time produced by James Gilbert. Among the musical guests were Joe Cocker and the Greaseband, Alan Price and Friends, Michael Chapman and Yes.

When Cook and Moore heard that the BBC were to wipe the existing video tapes they offered the BBC money to buy new tapes instead, but the BBC took no notice and wiped them regardless. However, filmed telerecordings of several shows, plus clips from others still exist. A Best Of DVD is available from the BBC, with rumours of a new and more complete set from the BFI due in 2021.

NOT ONLY...BUT ALSO

BBC2

9th January 1965 - 13th May 1970