First chance to see Monkhouse's last TV role

Bob Monkhouse’s last ever TV appearance is to be screened during a new stage tribute to the late comedian.

He filmed a sitcom pilot called Satsuma And Pumpkin, about Second World War codebreakers, in August 2003 – just four months before he died at the age of 75.

Monkhouse starred opposite Tony Hawks as a drunken Czech mathematician called Ernst in the unbroadcast comedy, which was shot partially shot at Bletchley Park.

Now the footage is to be screened as part of the live tribute Some Kind Of Man, created by impressionist Simon Cartwright – the man who recreated Monkhouse’s voice for his ‘beyond the grave’ adverts for the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation in 2007.

The show promises a look back at Monhouse’s 50-year career, and also features animated clips of various celebrities voiced by both Cartwright and Alistair McGowan.

Only three performances of the show have so far been announced: Hereford’s Courtyard Theatre on October 17; Paignton’s Palace Theatre on November 28 and the Stables Theatre, Milton Keynes, on February 14, 2010.

The title of the show relates to the final paragraph of Monkhouse’s 1993 autobiography Crying With Laughter, in which he suggests his own epitaph from a movie quotation – Marlene Dietrich to Orson Welles in Touch of Evil – ‘He was some kind of man. What does it matter what you say about people?’

This show has been backed by Monkhouse’s daughter Abigail and aims to further publicise the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation's Give A Few Bob campaign.

Here is Cartwright’s voice in the original advert:

And here is impersonating Monkhoueon the 1993 ITV series Pot Of Gold:

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Published: 7 Sep 2009