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 Black Seal billed as "Himself"); as with his appearances as Kevin Turvey in "A Kick Up the Eighties" (1982), Mayall liked to experiment at this time with a form of performance which blurred the boundaries between fact and fiction and encouraged the audience to believe the action was really happening. His appearance marked his first collaboration with Rowan Atkinson and it was noted that their work together took on a competitive edge; Mayall would dominate the set and preferred to rewrite his own lines. The competitiveness continued into their next Blackadder appearance together when Mayall played the role of the overbearing womaniser,