Angus Deayton - Allegedly....

My first recollection of Angus Deayton is not of his suave facial expressions but his droll, sardonic voice.  Someone - I forget who or when – recommended I listen to Radio 4’s Radio Active, and the local radio parody lured a lot of young people like me to the network’s 6.30 comedy slot. The programme also introduced us to the latest bunch of talented writer-performers off the Oxbridge production line. Besides Deayton, there was Geoffrey Perkins, musician Philip Pope, Helen Atkinson-Wood and Michael Fenton-Stevens, each of whom became familiar on TV. 

The troupe reunited in 1989 for KYTV, migrating many of the same ideas, and even the same scripts, from a fictional inept radio station to an equally fictional satellite TV network, obviously in no way related to the fledgling Sky TV! I remember encouraging some of my friends to attend a recording at TV Centre and this spot-on wartime celebration edition of KYTV is the one we saw in the studio. 

A few years earlier another Billericay Rotaract social jaunt had taken us to London for Rowan Atkinson’s first one-man show. Except it wasn’t quite a one-man show. I was delighted to discover that the Blackadder star’s straight man was none other than Angus Deayton. I watched one of the better sketches being broadcast in that year’s inaugural Comic Relief fundraiser. Indeed Angus appeared with Atkinson in other TV shows around that time, including the first, not very funny, series of The Black Adder and, once more the unfortunate fall guy, in The Curse of Mr Bean. 

There he was again as a regular sketch performer on the hit-and-miss Alexei Sayle’s Stuff while in the mid-Nineties, the ‘godfather of alternative comedy’ was Angus’ guest on The End of the Year Show, a sort of chat show-cum-review for New Year’s Eve. By that time, Deayton had found a new legion of fans with regard to another satirical look at current affairs, as presenter of Have I Got News For You? 

He was the ideal choice of host, performing the scripted gags with eyebrows raised to precisely the perfect angle while feeding lines to Ian Hislop, Paul Merton and guest panellists. Then in 2002, it all went a bit Pete Tong. The News of the World splashed a sensationalist story about Angus, cocaine and a woman who turned out to be a prostitute. To the Beeb’s credit, they didn’t sack him straightaway and to Deayton’s credit, he didn’t shy away from presenting that week’s edition of HIGNFY. It was the programme everyone wanted to watch, knowing that Hislop and Merton would taunt him mercilessly, which of course they did[7]. 

My one criticism of Angus Deayton is that he was the inadvertent catalyst for the UK having to endure Boris Johnson as Prime Minister and Britain leaving the EU. When further tabloid revelations eventually led to the presenter’s dismissal, the producers’ stopgap policy of different guest hosts each week became permanent. In ’98, a bumbling, shaggy-haired upper-class twit of a Spectator columnist first took the role, and was an instant hit. He may have been recognised as an obvious reactionary idiot but when you are harbouring political ambitions, just being recognised is a huge advantage and so began the rise and rise of Bo-Jo. Thanks a bundle, Angus! 

Unlike Johnson the PM, Angus Deayton didn’t go off and hide in a freezer or a £15,000 a week Caribbean island. He returned to the podium to lead the 2008 British Comedy Awards, bringing his own humiliating experience to bear on that year’s Jonathan Ross scandal. I had also forgotten that he hosted the first series of Would I Lie To You back in 2007, before Rob Brydon made the job his own. The comparisons with his old HIGNFY role were immediately apparent. It wasn’t topical but most of the laughs were generated by the regular team captains, in this case David Mitchell and the utterly brilliant Lee Mack. Angus also provided the scripted links for 2008 Sport Relief’s amusing ‘fake’ interviews. 

In the Nineties and Noughties there were all manner of awards shows or nostalgic clip-fests for which the smug, laconic Angus Deayton was admirably suited. I also watched him present or narrate documentaries such as In Search of Happiness and Doing Rude Things but he has since cropped up regularly in TV and radio sitcoms and even reviving Radio Active at the Edinburgh Fringe, but few of his vehicles have joined my repertoire of viewing. An exception was One Foot in the Grave. 

As Victor Meldrew’s rather boring suburban neighbour, Patrick, Angus must have been well inside his comfort zone, exasperated by Victor’s attitudes and antics while looking down his nose in that way only Deayton can. Of course the series was a massive success but probably set in concrete his typecasting for life. He may never win an Oscar or Olivier Award, but as a droll straight man for the modern age, he’s not just the daddy; he's the grand-daddy.