ITV to profile comedy greats

Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Bob Monkhouse are among the dead entertainers to be profiled in a new biography series for ITV1.

The broadcaster is reviving The Unforgettable… strand, which previously hailed the likes of Tommy Cooper and Benny Hill, for eight new programmes.

Danny la Rue and Jeremy Beadle will also feature in the new series, due to air in June.

The Secombe show will include previously-unseen home-movie footage of his family life, discovered in film canisters in a relative’s home.

ITV1 director of entertainment and comedy Elaine Bedell said: ‘The Unforgettable… remained a valuable brand for ITV and offered revelatory insights.

‘These are affectionate portraits of very famous characters from stage and screen as described by their families and closest friends - often speaking in public for the first time.’

The series has been off air for eight years.

Published: 22 Apr 2010