After "Not the Nine O'Clock News", Mel Smith and Rhys Jones decided to create and write more material together, and to start a management company. From 1984, Smith and Rhys Jones appeared in the comedy sketch series "Alas Smith and Jones" (the show's title being a pun on the American television series "Alias Smith and Jones"). After the first series, the pair appeared on the big screen in Mike Hodges' sci fi comedy movie "Morons from Outer Space" and then in 1989, the LWT production "Wilt".