I was looking on YouTube and found some Russ Abbot clips from the 80's. I used to watch his show and you could tell he was having fun making it - and the other actors struggled to keep a straight face as they delivered the corny jokes!

Although we are supposed to be more 'sophisticated' and 'enlightened' these days and look to comedies with canned laugher imported from the USA there is still a place for the Russ Abbots of the world I think. Perhaps that is why I liked Miranda - made with real fun.

What did you think of Russ Abbot - would he still go down well on a Saturday evening?

RT

For a moment I thought it was going to read that he'd died. His style of entertainment is dead..the Eric and Ernie variety type peformance would be alien to many youngsters today. Having said that Brucie has survived and hasn't changed his act one bit and appears to be still loved by young and old alike, although personally I can't stand him.

Even the once great preserve of British TV humour, the sitcom has perished in recent years. Do we blame the TV producers, the men in suits wanting the quick buck on the back of stupid talent shows? Or do we blame the viewers?

I blame Simon Cowell and his army of talentless glossed over sychophantic ne'erdowells.

But is it really any worse than the Young Generation, the Black and White Minstrels, Val Doonican and Seaside Special?

I must change these rose tinted spectacles.

I was never a massive fan of Russ Abbot but he was certainly better than the tripe that's currently put out on Saturday evening. I remember he did a very good spoof of the musical Annie.

Anything has to be better than yet another dancing show.

Just a few more thoughts...

I do feel rather sad about Saturday night telly. After a busy week I looked forward to seeing some fun TV. Noels House Party was not really my style but even that had some watchable segments (the bit where the viewer appeared on their own TV was always good). We also had Gladiators and despite the later problems concerning steroid abuse it was exciting viewing - and the contestants really did try hard.

Whad do we have now? As you say, bland, glossy and over-hyped shows which for some reason seem to have a following (although not by anyone I know). Just as some people look back and cringe at 80's shows today (not me I may add), just think, in the future those same people will probably be cringing at 2010 telly.

I used to like Russ Abbott's madhouse and remember everyone used to talk about it in the playground on a monday morning. I seem to remember this career even launched the careers of Les Dennis, Dustin Gee and Michael Barrymore, who I seem to remember did a Basil Fawlty impression.

I also used to like 3-2-1, although the clues were absolute nonsence and the Generation Game in the 70's was essential viewing on a saturday night. In fact people used to build their whole weekend around it.

Eric and Ernie went out and learned their craft live. They were attuned to their audience. You can't just say they wouldn't be popular today because they worked in the 1960s/70s. Unlike Ant and Dec - fragile studio creations - M&W evolved by playing to real audiences (Ant and Dec look terrified if something goes wrong on a live show), and they had the humility to work with strong-minded producers and directors like John Ammonds - a brilliant TV man - and Ernest Maxin. Those two weren't afraid to say, 'You can, and will, do better'. And on top of that they had a brilliant scriptwriter in Eddie Braben. A real lesson to Jonathan Ross and others today - get a great team around you, trust them, and work hard.

When the BBC were showing repeats of "Are You Being Served" on Saturday evenings a while back they were getting ratings of nine million plus. Stick some compilations of Russ Abbott on Saturday evening i reckon ratings would be high. Lets have some Benny Hill Compilations as well,its ok for the rest of the world to show him but not here. "Mind Your Language" is shown twice a day in India and nobody shouts "Racist". In fact its exactly the opposite, there would be a big stink if it was taken off.

One problem these days seems to be that most people in TV are fatalists. They hear something announced at the Edinburgh festival as fact, such as 'the proliferation of channels means there is no longer a chance to attract a mass audience,' or 'mainstream Saturday night TV is dead,' and then they go out and commission programmes that fulfil the prophesy. They never actually attempt to test such hypotheses. And they are flawed hypotheses. Compare the situation with novels: there are far more novels published today than fifty years ago, but the broad reading audience hasn't really fragmented at all - rather, most novels go unread and a small core of popular novelists continue to dominate the market. There's nothing preventing viewers from watching a really imaginative, engaging, entertaining show on BBC or ITV or C4 just because there are so many vapid digital channels around showing repeats or reality tat. Most of what's now on BBC4 should be on either BBC2 or even BBC1. Most of what's currently on ITV should be on a cheap and obscure digital channel. Great programmes, like great music, will still attract a great big audience. To paraphrase Field of Dreams: 'If you make it they will come'.

doubt Russ would work today but I just watched some dvds with Frankie Howerd and Tommy Cooper and they were hilarious..but maybe I'm an old codger.

Eric and Ernie were really corny.. but good on them.

Isn't Prunella Minge a chacater from a Carry-On film ?

I must admit I never found Russ Abbott funny, even as a child. Abbott was shown in the same era of a number of very unfunny comedians like Les Dennis (and his shortlived partner Dustin Gee), Bobby Davro, Little and Large and Cannon and Ball. Les Dennis at least had the sense of humour to parady himself on the best (IMO) episode of Extras.

My first No Limits girl - Lisa Maxwell - went on to Russ, got her own series and ended up in The Bill; however, unlike Jenny Powell, she didn't appear in the Old Bailey as a character witness.

I have to say I don't remember Lisa Maxwell doing no limits, however I have seen a clip somewhere of Tamsin Outhwaite from EastEnders doing it, although this may be an audition. Lisa still looks pretty good for a women in her mid/late 40's as is often seen on Loose Women

With the 80's revival being so popular these days, isn't the time right for some "No Limits" nostalgia on one of the beeb satellite channels?

Great idea Angel; pure BBC4 with marvellous old hits and a nostalgic look at our cities.

I used to quite like it when I was younger, this was mainly because it was a rare opportunity to see pop videos on tv, in the days before MTV etc came to the uk. Also the delightfull Jenny Powell was quite appealing.

The programme was featured heavily on the programme "I love 1986" a few years ago. It was ridiculed by some for one minute talking about a cathedral in Norwich and then the next introducing a video from Reo Speedwagon.

Both well worth seeing!

I have just won a Russ Abbot tape off eBay - and watched some yesterday evening. Well, I did find myself laughing at it - and it has been a good while since I actually laughed at the telly. Despite it being corny and 'old fashioned', Russ and Les played their parts with real fun and I enjoyed seeing Russ and Les in the lie detector sketch - with both men struggling not to laugh.