Making fun of feminism: British television comedy and the second wave

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses the representation of second wave feminism in two mainstream comedy shows starring male comedians. Scott On … (BBC 1964–74) and a sketch narrative which featured in the 1980 season of The Two Ronnies (BBC 1971–1986) brought feminism into family living rooms. While these shows make fun of feminism they also represent key aspects of the second wave, often echoing debates taking place in the women’s liberation movement. Despite their conservative politics Scott On … and The Two Ronnies put feminist ideas on screen in the 1970s and early 1980s; they represent a mainstream resistance and response to the second wave activism which was changing the British social and political landscape. Such shows make fun of feminist politics, yet in doing so they register and refract feminist debates.

KEYWORDS:

• Television
• comedy
• feminism
• second wave
• British

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the staff at the V&A’s Theatre and Performance Archive in Blythe House, London, for their help with my work on the June Whitfield and Ronnie Barker collections; also the staff at the BFI’s Research Viewing Service in Stephen Street, London, for kindly enabling me to view a VHS copy of Scott On … The Sex War. I am very grateful to Victoria Bazin, Julie Scanlon, Sue Regan, Karen Ross and Mel Waters for feedback, discussion and printouts during work on this article, and to the anonymous reviewers whose comments helped to develop and clarify the debate.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. According to BARB statistics for 1981, The Benny Hill Show was the fourth most popular show that year and had 20 million viewers (https://www.barb.co.uk/resources/tv-facts/tv-since-1981/1981/top10/), but I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, the third most popular show in 2020, had only 14.27 million viewers—and only 13.78 watching via a TV set (https://www.barb.co.uk/resources/tv-facts/tv-since-1981/2020/top10/) accessed April 14 2021.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rosie White

Rosie White is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Literature, Theory and Popular Culture at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Her work includes Violent Femmes: Women as Spies in Popular Culture (2008) and Television Comedy and Femininity: Queering Gender (2018). E-mail: [email protected].