Up in smoke, 15 years of comedy props

Upset of Treason Show comic

Comic Mark Brailsford has lost the collection of props it took him 15 years to accumulate in a devastating house fire.

The blaze at his parents' home in Lancing, West Sussex, destroyed costumes, technical gear and props used in the topical Treason Show, which he and his collaborators perform every month around the South Coast.

Items lost include a Zippy puppet, a talking skull and costumes for the Queen, Prince Philip and Prince Charles. He put the cost of the damage at £7,000 but admitted: 'It’s difficult to explain to a loss adjustor why Zippy is so valuable.'

Brailsford also lost the the entire set and costumes for The Lad Himself, a play about Tony Hancock he starred in at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe.

He told Chortle: 'It's been hell frankly, mainly due to the distress my parents have gone through. It's very sad, we've lost a lot of beloved props and costumes, but luckily no one was harmed and the houses – my parents' and the neighbours' – are only superficially damaged.'

The blaze ripped through a garage a on Sunday after it was sparked by a stray hot coal from a barbecue.

Brailsford said he's currently compiling a list of lost props, adding that 'after 15 years of accumulating props on an almost monthly basis, it's quite a lot of work – replete with special memories'.

He listed some of the other items lost as including 'a hand-crafted Basil Brush; a Patrick Moore outfit with him in a pair of wings from heaven in the posthumous Sky at Night, the usual assortment of military uniforms for sketches about the Iraq War (now used sadly in the same context about the war in Syria), as well as guns, comedy glasses, an electric guitar, a Dusty Bin and around a dozen different comedy wigs and as well as the Alex Salmond Tam 'o Shanter and kilt.'

Production assistant Katy Matthews added: 'I feel a personal connection to some of those props, so sad.'

Brailsford added that the blaze was upsetting 'not least because the company is struggling to make ends meet as we're somewhat nomadic these days, and it is fair to say that things are a struggle for small producing companies like ours'.

He is now planning a fundraising gig in September to try to replace some of the items; while vowing that the next show – on July 12 at the Ropetackle in Shoreham – would still go on.

Treason props fire view from rear pic.twitter.com/Rqf6s0fWK5
— Treason Show - Edinburgh Fringe 2002 at Chortle.co.uk">The Treason Show (@Treason_Show) June 23, 2014