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Not Just Funny Animal Voices (BBC Radio 4)
Not Just Funny Animal Voices (BBC Radio 4)
Nov 15, 2024 7:02 AM

Author:Terry Nutkins,Terry Nutkins

Not Just Funny Animal Voices (BBC Radio 4)

A BBC Radio 4 documentary all about Johnny Morris of BBC TV's 'Animal Magic' fame, a household name and character who created charming, comic voices for the creatures in the show.‘Not Just Funny Animal Voices’ presenter Terry Nutkins, (Johnny’s TV side-kick, mentor and close friend until Johnny’s death in 1999), explores Johnny's life and work, and explains that what made him unique was not just ‘Animal Magic’, but a colourful life and broadcasting career stretching back to 1946.One major event in Johnny's life, was when the show ended in 1983. For the first time the man who axed that programme, former head of the BBC Natural History Unit, John Sparks, speaks about making that decision and how he broke the news to Johnny.Also featuring interviews Desmond Hawkins (founder of the Natural History Unit), who discovered Johnny in a pub; BBC producer Tony Soper who describes the tension between them as he wanted to make 'straight nat-hist' films and wasn't keen on Johnny's anthropomorphic approach; and Mirielle Farrow, a close friend of Johnny's who discusses his marriage to a much older woman and why he had a passion for cats. Last broadcast 18 February 2011 and produced by Karen Gregor.

Reviews

Borrowed Time is a witty, creative and exciting tale of manipulation by an alien intelligence, in which the real villain happens to be compound interest.

—— Daniel Tessier , http://www.doctorwhoreviews.co.uk

the writing and acting are so tight they're in danger of cutting off your blood supply

—— Jane Anderson , Radio Times

Cabin Pressure is one of the best written, cast, acted and directed comedies on anywhere.

—— Gillian Reynolds , Daily Telegraph

The more I listen to John Finnemore's Cabin Pressure, the more I think what a stonking masterpiece it is. Perfect in every department.

—— Philip Pullman

no-holds-barred

—— List

very funny but also very moving

—— The London Paper

very funny

—— Hampshire View

there are moments here that shine with the genius for observational comedy for which Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders (the Fatty of the title) are famous

—— Guardian

Dawn writes (with) tenderness, caring and oodles of charm. Well-paced, it's a reminder of why she has been a staple of the British comedy scene since the early 1980s

—— Guernsey Press

Anyone perparing for another dry, identikit celebrity autobiography is going to be delighted by these hilarious memoirs

—— She

French can still cut the comic mustard

—— Time Out

while much of the book's tone is that of the unassailably jolly Dawn we all expect ... other letters are tear-jerkingly poignant and none more so than those she writes to her late father Denys French

—— Daily Express

For all her honesty anyone hoping for a light-hearted romp will be delighted ... While her charm shines throughout, the more intense moments stay with you in a way that most celeb autobiographies can only strive for

—— Sunday Express

you'll be captivated by her witty and warm style

—— Prima

Self-depracating yet never self-pitying, irreverent yet never truly cynical, she comes across as a woman genuinely at ease with herself ... French is engaging company, and at her best she writes about heartbreak and elation with such grace that her book is impossible to dislike

—— Boston Standard
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