Three of a Kind
Encyclopedia
Three of a Kind was a British comedy sketch show starring comedians Tracey Ullman
, Lenny Henry
and David Copperfield
. Three series were made by the BBC between 1981 and 1983.
The show bolstered the careers of Ullman and Henry, as well as being an outlet for young writers including Rob Grant
and Doug Naylor
, Ian Hislop
and Nick Revell
.
Ullman and Henry went on to greater success after the show, with Ullman initially launching a brief but successful pop career in 1983 before starring in the ITV
sitcom Girls On Top
in 1985 and then going on to a high profile career on American television. Henry was given his own BBC series The Lenny Henry Show
in 1984 and he remains a semi-regular fixture on British television to this day. Copperfield, however, garnered less success and has been seen relatively little since the series ended.
of the show, entitled Three of a Kind and released under the 'Best of British Comedy' banner appeared in 1988 from 20th Century Fox
. It contained the four episodes of the first series edited together into one program without the musical guest performances.
This same video was released earlier in the UK in 1985 by BBC Video & re-released in 1998 under Paradox Videos. In 2005 and 2006, DVD
s of each series were released in the UK by 2entertain/BBC Worldwide.
Tracey Ullman
Tracey Ullman is a British stage and television actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author ....
, Lenny Henry
Lenny Henry
Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
and David Copperfield
David Copperfield (comedian)
David Copperfield is best known from the BBC 1980s sketch show Three of a Kind, in which he starred alongside Tracey Ullman and Lenny Henry. His real name is Stanley Barlow. He was born and raised in Yorkshire, where he began his professional career performing in various cabaret venues. His big...
. Three series were made by the BBC between 1981 and 1983.
The show bolstered the careers of Ullman and Henry, as well as being an outlet for young writers including Rob Grant
Rob Grant
Robert Grant is a British comedy writer and television producer, who was born in Salford and studied Psychology at Liverpool University for two years....
and Doug Naylor
Doug Naylor
Douglas R. Naylor is a British comedy writer, science fiction writer, director and television producer.Naylor was born in Manchester, England and studied at the University of Liverpool. In the mid-1980s, Naylor wrote two regular comedy sketch shows for BBC Radio 4 entitled Cliché and Son of Cliché...
, Ian Hislop
Ian Hislop
Ian David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye...
and Nick Revell
Nick Revell
Nick Revell is a British stand-up comedian and writer for radio and television. Born John Revell, he studied at Lincoln College, Oxford, and subsequently taught English at Westminster School....
.
Ullman and Henry went on to greater success after the show, with Ullman initially launching a brief but successful pop career in 1983 before starring in the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
sitcom Girls On Top
Girls On Top
Girls On Top was a British television sitcom on ITV from 1985 to 1986. It was conceived by and starred French & Saunders - their first high-profile writing for television - and despite a low budget and poor critical reception received high ratings. It was made for the ITV network by Central.The...
in 1985 and then going on to a high profile career on American television. Henry was given his own BBC series The Lenny Henry Show
The Lenny Henry Show
The Lenny Henry Show is a comedy sketch show featuring Lenny Henry. In its first incarnation it ran for two seasons on BBC 1, in 1984 and 1985. Each season had six episodes. A 40-minute special was aired in December 1987...
in 1984 and he remains a semi-regular fixture on British television to this day. Copperfield, however, garnered less success and has been seen relatively little since the series ended.
Books
- A Three Of A Kind book, featuring various sketches from the series, was published by the BBC in 1983.
Video and DVD
A single videoVideo
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
of the show, entitled Three of a Kind and released under the 'Best of British Comedy' banner appeared in 1988 from 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. It contained the four episodes of the first series edited together into one program without the musical guest performances.
This same video was released earlier in the UK in 1985 by BBC Video & re-released in 1998 under Paradox Videos. In 2005 and 2006, DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s of each series were released in the UK by 2entertain/BBC Worldwide.
Vinyl
- A comedy album was released in 1983.
- Tracey Ullman's 'Little Red Riding Hood' story telling sketch from the series is sampled over an electro-boogie backing track on a Stiff Records 12" [BUY IT 217]. The record was pressed in 1984 and only exists as a white label test pressing. 'Little Red Riding Hood' was never released due to copyright issues. Some copies of this extremely rare 12" had 'One Of A Kind' stamped on the sleeve, a reference to both Tracey Ullman and the name of the show.