Tom Gutteridge direct the BBC's General Election coverage. In 1980 Gutteridge moved to Music & Arts department as Executive Producer, where he was responsible for the twice-weekly Russell Harty chat shows. In 1982, he produced and directed the comedy sketch series "A Kick Up the Eighties", which first discovered the talents of Rik Mayall (as Kevin Turvey) and Tracey Ullman, and which won a Scottish BAFTA. In 1983 and 1984, he produced and directed the popular BBC1 dance series "The Hot Shoe Show", starring Wayne Sleep and Bonnie Langford, which in 1984 was nominated for a BAFTA as Best Light Entertainment Series.
The Professionals (TV series) popular TV comedy series "The Two Ronnies", Ronnie Corbett played a bungling version of Martin Shaw's Doyle in a sketch called "Tinker Tailor Smiley Doyle" (Series 11; broadcast February 1985 - March 1985). This was a joint send-up of "The Professionals" and the "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" TV drama, with Ronnie Barker playing George Smiley along the lines of Alec Guinness' portrayal in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Corbett's Doyle provides the brawn to the brains of Barker's Smiley and actually comes out the worse. The sketch guest-starred Frank Williams from "Dad's Army". In 1984 some of the team behind "The