Tutti frutti

[DB7]

It was a comedy classic that amassed a cult following and scooped six Baftas, only to be shelved for two decades. Now, as the BBC finally contemplates Tutti Frutti's return, the original cast members have branded the broadcaster's decision to run it on BBC4 a disgrace.

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Described by one cast member as the best series ever made in Scotland, the six-part comedy drama which propelled Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson to stardom has been aired just once since it first appeared in 1987.



Scottish writer John Byrne captured a moment in time, charting the fortunes of The Majestics, a Scottish rock band embarking on its silver jubilee tour after the death of lead singer, Big Jazza.



Last month, the BBC suggested it was close to ironing out copyright issues which it claimed had prevented its return, and pencilled in Monday evenings from 10pm on BBC4 as the preferred June slot.



But actor Maurice Roeves, who played Majestics guitarist Vincent Diver, called their plans "absolute rubbish". Roeves said: "What's the point of putting it on BBC4 when TV companies are fighting for audiences? Put it on BBC1 and they will get a massive audience. It really does make you wonder what is going on. I try not to think about it because I just get angry and upset.



"I know Channel 4 had wanted to buy it and I just wish Michael Grade had managed. He always said it would be a massive hit on its third showing. It means a lot to folk and they are being cheated."

[paul the drummer]

this has happend to so many wonderfull tv shows,i guess the bbc just want us to watch cooking and makeover programs,it makes me sick.bring back tutti frutti.also what happend to crocodile shoes and crocodile shoes 2? this had good rateings

and must have cost a lot of money to make.why not show these great shows again and make some money.

[silverwhistle]

Yup. There used to be a far wider range of programmes: not all great, to be sure, but not just the makeover/gameshow/cops/doctors that all of the channels are throwing at us these days.

[wellpip]

Do you think we will ever see Tutti fruity (probably not spelled right) again. Anyway I remember it well and heard that the BBC were considering running it again but there are problems with music copy write. I understand most of the cast are very keen for its return?

[burnttoast]

Do you think we will ever see Tutti fruity (probably not spelled right) again. Anyway I remember it well and heard that the BBC were considering running it again but there are problems with music copy write. I understand most of the cast are very keen for its return?

I would love to see this again! Hard to imagine this is the same Robbie Coltrane that went on to play Cracker, oh and Hagrid..

[jimbo1942]

According to 'official' comments (some time early last year) located on the Web, some of the cast are not very keen which is terribly sad as this series was fabulous and deserves a run again on BBC 4 (at any rate) - especially to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its first showing.

[jamiestuart]

I read recently that the master tapes from BBC series from the eighties, Tutti Frutti were missing. Did anyone else read this or have any information? Let's just hope that the BBC have not wiped the tapes as they did with many historic material from the sixties and seventies etc.



(The series starred Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson)

[DB7]

No, it was due to be repeated last year but I don't believe it happened. There are said to be problems over music copyright and another writer who claims the idea was stolen from him.

[CaptainWaggett]

Suzi keeps Tutti Frutti off the telly

The Times (London); Sep 8, 2007; Melanie Reid; p. 3

Full Text:

(Copyright (c) Times Newspapers Limited 2007)



* Award-winning series not seen since the 1980s



* Crucial contract was lost in BBC upheaval



A-Wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop-bam-boo! For anyone who remembers the 1980s, that distinctive lyric could only mean Tutti Frutti, the massively successful TV comedy drama that defined the decade and launched the careers of Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson.



It revolved around the Majestics, a failing Scottish band who sang rock-and roll covers. When the lead singer, Big Jazza McGlone, was lost in a car crash, they hired his younger brother Danny (Robbie Coltrane) to take his place. Suzi Kettles (Emma Thompson) joined the band, and she and Danny developed a love-hate relationship.



The series was written by John Byrne and attracted 14 Bafta nominations and six awards. Yet after two showings it mysteriously vanished and was never seen again.



So what happened? Why has the BBC, now capitalising on the nostalgia industry by re-releasing much inferior stuff, never let us see it again, even on DVD? Conspiracy theories that have grown up around the fate of Tutti Frutti include copyright problems, lost tapes and even the suggestion that the series is too slow and too powerful for dumbed-down modern tastes.



The Times can now reveal the real reasons why what is probably the best thing ever produced by BBC Scotland has been consigned to the darkness.



Andy Park, the award-winning producer of the six-part series, says that the main reason is a lost contract relating to just one word -believed to be Suzi -in the title song. As Emma Thompson's character's name it was used instead of Sue, which was in the original lyrics.



And Park says that the copyright issue was resolved 20 years ago.



The cast had to learn how to perform. Mr Park brought in the musician George "Zoot" Money to teach them to play instruments sufficiently well to survive camera close-ups. But nobody ever checked whether the lyrics were true to the original.



The series was transmitted in 1987 and re-screened in Scotland two years later on BBC2. During its first transmission, Park said, a complaint was received from someone who claimed to have written the lyrics, saying that the BBC had, in copyright terms, made "a parody".



Ironically, Tutti Frutti is of very dubious provenance in the first place, with various sets of lyrics and some doubt over the identity of the lyricists. But Mr Park says that he immediately solved the matter by paying the man Pounds 1,500 and getting him to sign a standard condition that granted the BBC media rights for the performance all over the world for all time. The paperwork was signed and duly returned.



"The matter was solved immediately," he said. "It appears to be a running sore now, but it was a sore which was healed at the time. The theory that it's unresolvable is rubbish."



But then came a huge internal reorganisation between BBC Enterprises and BBC Worldwide. At this point, in the late 1980s, the crucial paperwork was mislaid.



"We sent the correspondence to BBC Worldwide. They ought to have it all," said Mr Park. "It was watertight. I knew what I was doing; I'd just done 400 hours of commissioning for Channel 4, dealing with all the contracts and deals."



According to Mr Park, there was another erroneous lyric in an Everly Brothers song used in the series, but it never became an issue.



A second big factor that has kept Tutti Frutti off our screens and unavailable on video or DVD was money. The six, hour-long episodes were made on a shoestring of Pounds 1.6 million. At the same time, the BBC in London had commissioned Fortunes of War, also starring Emma Thompson, which was the same length but had a budget of of Pounds 6.4m (and was resoundingly trounced by Tutti Frutti at the Baftas).



"If I had had Pounds 2 million, I would have contracted the actors for three transmissions," said Park, "but that would have bust the budget. Three was the norm then, but I was operating on a shoestring. Money was so tight that I could only shoot four episodes on 16-mill film; the other two episodes were on video tape."



He also said that one of the actors -now a Hollywood star -did not sign the permission slip allowing the series to be released on video. Efforts over the years to get a video release have apparently foundered largely for this reason, and it is now too costly for the BBC to recontract the actors at 2007 prices. For some years one person tried to pay for the third transmission, but this, too, was unsuccessful.



Mr Park said: "Over the years everyone has played the blame game and tiny errors have been magnified by the time which has passed. It's a shame. Tutti Frutti was a wonderful thing."



A spokeswoman for the BBC said: "We are very keen to show it, but there are some rights issues that need to be resolved. It is on- going."



The song that started it all



A-wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop-bam-boo



Tutti Frutti, all over rootie,



A-wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop bam boo.



I got a gal named Sue,



She knows just what to do.



I've been to the east, I've been to the west, but she's the gal That I love the best.



Tutti Frutti, all over rootie



The words and music to Tutti Frutti are usually credited to Dorothy LaBostrie and (Little) Richard Penniman.



In 1955 Little Richard, then little known, was invited to a recording session in New Orleans with Fats Domino's backing band. It did not go well.



In frustration he pounded a piano and sang a ribald song that he had been performing live for some time. Although the song was essentially his own, it bore some similarities to a 1938 song by Slim and Slam.



The producer asked a local songwriter, Dorothy LaBostrie, to clean up the lyrics.



A third name, Lubin, is sometimes credited. Some believe this to be a pseudonym used by Art Rupe, the owner of Specialty records, to claim royalties on some of his label's songs.



Tuttu Frutti reached No 2 in the Billboard Rhythm and Blues chart. It is No 43 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and No 1 in Mojo Music Magazine's 100 records that changed the world

[DB7]

In 1955 Little Richard, then little known, was invited to a recording session in New Orleans with Fats Domino's backing band. It did not go well.

Surely this is out of copyright now?

[CaptainWaggett]

Wouldn't it depend on which version they used ? Each new recording/lyric change etc has a new copyright period, I think. And the 50 year period would have applied until recently.



So which actor is holding it up, do we think?

[DB7]

So which actor is holding it up, do we think?

Emma Thompson. I've read quotes from Coltrane backing it's repeat showing - and I'm not sure he that much of an arse.

[winsfordtown]

Robbie Coltrane presented an award to Emma Thompson at the BAFTA's one year and as she was walking to the podium he called her Kettles. She gave him back a right dirty look.

[narabdela]

My DVD copy arrived today from Amazon. Very nice packaging.



Extras are a bit thin on the ground, but salvaged by an excellent and very informative interview with John Byrne. He covers the issue of the release delay, but he himself has not been given any firm answer on which, if any, actor was causing the hold-up.

[wellpip]

What's the quality like, I've heard that it's a little fuzzy as if taken from VHS tape? :)

[narabdela]

What's the quality like, I've heard that it's a little fuzzy as if taken from VHS tape? :)

It's by no means pin-sharp, but a lot better than VHS quality.



Interestingly, four of the episodes were shot on film and two on videotape. Byrne thinks that this had something to do with Union demands at the time.

[zorro2566]

How long are the episodes,30 or 60 minutes?

[HUGHJAMPTON]

How long are the episodes,30 or 60 minutes?

6 episodes at 60 mins, zorro

[zorro2566]

Great,my memory hasnt let me down then.Now i will order it as soon as it comes back into stock,eveywhere seems to be sold out!

[GoggleboxUK]

Play have it, just ordered my copy from there



Play.com (UK) : Tutti Frutti (2 Discs) : DVD - Free Delivery