Hill had struggled on stage and had uneven success in radio, but in television he found a medium that played to his strengths. "The Benny Hill Show" had a music hall-derived format combining live on-stage comedy and filmed segments, and its humour relied on slapstick, innuendo, and parody. Recurring players on his show during the BBC years included Patricia Hayes, Jeremy Hawk, Peter Vernon, Ronnie Brody, and his co-writer from the early 1950s to early 1960s, Dave Freeman. Short, bald Jackie Wright was a frequent supporting player who in many sketches had to put up with Hill slapping him on the top of his head.