 Credited as the man who brought the alternative comedy generation to
television, Paul Jackson has risen from minor player in 1970s light
entertainment to international media bigwig.
The son of TV producer T. Leslie Jackson - whose own credits included This is
Your Life (BBC, 1955-64) and Call My Bluff (BBC, 1965-88) - he was born Kevin
Paul Jackson in London in 1947, joining the BBC around 1970, initially as a
runner. By the end of the 1970s, he had graduated to producer/director, with a
host of light entertainment credits, including Top of the Pops (1964-), Blankety
Blank (1979-89), The Two Ronnies (1971-86) and Larry Grayson's Generation Game
(1978-81) - the kind of programming that many of the new comedians hoped to
sweep away.
It was in a personal rather than professional capacity that Jackson found
himself, one night in early 1980, at the Comedy Store in London's Soho,
epicentre of the newly born 'alternative cabaret'. The evening would determine
the path of his career over the next few years. He first pitched to the BBC
a 26-part series capturing the live experience; with understandable caution,
BBC executives agreed to a single 35-minute slot. For the resulting programme, Boom Boom...
Out Go the Lights (tx. 14/10/1980), Jackson assembled five of the scene's most
notable talents - Alexei Sayle, Keith Allen, Rik Mayall, Tony Allen and Nigel
Planer (but not Mayall or Planer's respective stage partners, Adrian Edmondson
and Peter Richardson) - who performed elements of their live acts in a crude
approximation of a club environment. Music was provided by the
not-very-alternative Paul Jones' Blues Band, one of whose songs gave the show its title.
Broadcast in a thankless slot, Boom Boom... won little attention or audience
response. Nevertheless, it was a spearhead of sorts, and did appear to boost
audiences at the Comedy Store. A follow-up programme seven months later (tx.
5/5/1981), adding Edmondson, Richardson and others, fared a little better.
In the meantime, Jackson went freelance, set up his own company, Paul Jackson
Productions, continued to produce Blankety-Blank, and launched the
slightly-alternative Three of a Kind (BBC, 1981-83), as well as the more
old-school Carrott's Lib (BBC, 1982-83). In 1982, however, The Young Ones (BBC,
1982 & 1984), finally broke alternative comedy on television, although its
cult was not quite matched by its audience figures, especially in the first
series.
Despite his close association with the scene, he never abandoned his
commitment to more mainstream comedy. Sandwiched between alternative showcases
like The Entertainers (Channel 4, 1983) - which shone the spotlight on the likes
of Hale and Pace, French and Saunders, and Ben Elton - Girls on Top (ITV,
1985-86), Saturday Live (Channel 4, 1985-87) and Filthy Rich and Catflap (BBC,
1987) were production credits for Cannon and Ball (ITV, 1979-88). "I don't think
there are that many differences between someone like Rik Mayall and Cannon and
Ball," he once said - an attitude that didn't endear him to some of the
alternative comics, notably Alexei Sayle and Peter Richardson, who had long
suffered a fractious relationship with Jackson.
In 1986 he joined the independent Noel Gay Television, marking a new
direction which would take him into an increasingly executive role - although he
continued to produce, notably with the surprise hit Red Dwarf (BBC, 1988). He
was instrumental in securing an ITV franchise for Michael Green's Carlton, and
in 1991 took up post as the company's managing director, rising to managing
director of Carlton UK Productions in 1995, before returning to freelance
production and direction and ultimately rejoining the BBC as head of
entertainment in 1997, becoming Controller of Entertainment the following year.
Two years later, however, unhappy at restructuring, he left the BBC once again,
to become managing director of Granada Media Australia. In 2002 he was recalled
to the UK as Granada's director of international formats and entertainment. He
didn't stay at home long; in summer 2003, he was appointed president of Granada
Entertainment USA, becoming chief executive of Granada America in early
2004.
Mark Duguid
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FILM & TV CREDITS
