Bob Hoskins / Hugh Laurie (Aspel & Company)

Bob Hoskins / Hugh Laurie (Aspel & Company) (Aspel & Company)

The veteran chat show host speaks with Bob Hoskins, Lisa Stansfield and Hugh Laurie

Michael Aspel's relaxed manner and engaging, light-touch interview style are in full effect in this 1991 episode of his panel-based chat show, Aspel & Company. Joining Aspel are guests Hugh Laurie, Lisa Stansfield and Bob Hoskins.

Laurie, already established as a comedian thanks to appearances in Blackadder and as half of a comedy duo with Stephen Fry, yet years away from his dramatic reinvention as the lead of the TV series House, here discusses his and Fry's television adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster comic stories, and his relatively "dull" life compared to that of his comedy partner.

Stansfield, at the peak of her fame after achieving global success with her hit single, 'All Around the World', and receiving the Brit Award for Best New Artist, performs the Billie Holliday song 'Good Morning Heartache' and speaks about, among other things, the incongruous mismatch between her soulful singing voice and her broad, Lancashire accent.

Finally, Hoskins joins the panel after returning from a year away from public appearances following the intense film shoot for the live action / animation hybrid film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. After working 16 hours a day for 8 months, acting against animated characters that would only be drawn into the film during post-production, he explains that he was left bruised, and "completely barmy". After a year's holiday in the West Indies with family, he returns with a starring role alongside Cher in the family comedy, Mermaids.

Given the make-up of the panel of guests, class and regional accents become inevitable topics of conversation, with the working-class backgrounds of Hoskins and Stansfield jarring against Laurie's coming-of-age in the hallowed halls of Eton and Cambridge. When Aspel jokes that Stansfield could show Laurie "the real life", she suggests they go out for chips, peas and gravy - "and a buttered muffin, love."

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Let Them Talk: TV Chat Shows

Celebrating the gift of the gab through decades of studio chat.

For as long as there’s been television, there’s been talk – in many ways the formative influence on the small screen wasn’t film, but radio. But the modern chat show was forged in the age of mass television and the rise of celebrity culture in the later 20th century. Ready access to generations of stars and insatiable public curiosity about them has made chat shows a gift that keeps giving. For broadcasters, of course, stardom is an easy route to audiences. For guests, a seat on the armchair or sofa is a chance to self-promote, to plug a new film, book or record... or to rescue a flagging career. Audiences, meanwhile, can hope for a surprise revelation, a glimpse of the ‘real’ person behind the celebrity mask, or just enjoy the illusion that these sparkling stars are guests in our own living rooms. We can chart the changes in the celebrity weather through decades of chat show guests. We might recognise the Hollywood stars, pop icons or sporting legends who made up the ‘A-list’ of decades ago, but often it’s the less guarded ‘B-listers’ (or below) who can intrigue us most, with a well-turned story, a flash of wit, or an insight into what it’s like to live a life in the public eye.

22 videos in this collection

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Victoria Wood & Julie Walters (Live from Two

  • 1982
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Reeves & Mortimer / Nirvana (Tonight with Jonathon Ross)

  • 1991
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Alan Bennett / Jackie Collins (The Russell Harty Show)

  • 1977
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Catherine Deneuve / Anthony Hopkins (Aspel & Company)

  • 1991
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Appointment with John Freeman

  • 1961
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Michael Palin (Live from Two)

  • 1981
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Emma Thompson / policing (The Frost Programme)

  • 1993
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Linton Kwesi Johnson / John Cooper Clarke (Late Night from Two)

  • 1982
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Jilly Cooper / Jean Rook (Calendar People)

  • Leeds
  • 1975
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Vanessa Redgrave / Mick Hucknall (Aspel & Company)

  • 1992
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Sir Len Hutton

  • Leeds
  • 1975
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Dennis Potter / Natalie Cole (Russell Harty)

  • 1976
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Anthony Daniels (Kelly)

  • Belfast
  • 1997
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Jack Ashley (Live from Two)

  • 1980
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James Herriot

  • Leeds
  • 1975
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Bob Hoskins / Hugh Laurie (Aspel & Company)

  • 1991
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Appointment with Victor Gollancz

  • 1962
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Pat Phoenix &Tony Booth (Live from Two)

  • 1980
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Ian Carmichael / Brian Rix (Calendar People)

  • Leeds
  • 1975
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Diana Ross / Shirley MacLaine (Aspel & Company)

  • 1992
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Best of the Stark Truth

  • 1998
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Runrig to Robbie Coltrane

  • 1989
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