Summary

One in this comedy/variety series hosted by David Frost in which sketches and songs about a central theme are presented within a news-style format. This program focuses on the issue of the class system in Britain. Frost first discusses the different products and techniques used in advertising to appeal to different classes. The cast performs a brief sketch showing that class differences began in the days of the caveman. Next, sketches about the English court system and cockney actors becoming celebrities illustrate the importance of certain class accents. John Cleese, Ronnie Corbett, and Ronnie Barker, as representatives of the three classes, then perform a sketch that is repeated in various forms throughout this series. Following this, brief sketches involving Lord and Lady Godiva and Christopher Columbus arriving in America show that class conflict has many forms. Julie Felix then performs a song about trade unions, "I'm Sticking to the Union." Next, Frost interviews English school children about their impressions of other classes, followed by a sketch in which John Cleese portrays the headmaster of an English public school where the traditions of brutality, honor, and emotional reserve are taken to extremes. Tom Lehrer then sings a comical song about National Brotherhood Week during which different classes try to get along -- albeit for only seven days. In the program's last sketch, a starving Englishman wandering in the desert exhibits the utmost stiff-upper-lip. Frost closes the show by warning that even in heaven there are classes.

Cataloging of this program has been made possible by the Bell Atlantic Foundation, 1999.