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.
Alfresco (TV series) Alfresco (TV series) Alfresco is a British sketch comedy television series starring Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Siobhan Redmond and Emma Thompson, produced by Granada Television and broadcast by ITV from May 1983 to June 1984. Running for two series, it totalled 13 episodes and was named Alfresco (from the Italian "al fresco", meaning "in the fresh air") because, unusually for a comedy sketch show of the time, it was shot on location rather than in a studio. The programme is a sketch show which was intended as an answer to the BBC's highly successful "Not the