The Really Nogger Picture Show video
reviewed by Ronnie Soo

For the benefit of the newer converts to the Liverpool Group and those who are not Group members, this video was made by the original Liverpool Group, and the name “Really Nogger” came from an anagram of  “Roger Langley”!  I’ll name check as many of those involved as I can remember, not all of whom I knew personally but here goes:  Richard Baker, Mitchell Benn, Graeme Currie, Paul Collings, Janet Fishwick, Roy Fishwick, Jamie Riley, James Roberts and Simon Threadgill. 

There are two parts to the video, the first is a collection of skits & sketches filmed in various Liverpool locations.  The group poke fun at the series, the co-ordinators, even Patrick McGoohan himself is not safe!  Kicking off with a spirited reworking of the Muppet Show theme, the scene switches to a shop for a variation of Monty Python’s Parrot Sketch, e.g.:  “I wish to register a complaint about this Rover Mk. 1 you sold me!”  The shop used is actually Tutill-Nicol stationers in the city centre, and it was Roy who wangled it so they could film there, being employed by them at the time.  Clearly the group were as much Python fans as Prisoner fans, and they got a lot of mileage from mixing the two up!  In another sketch, again using Tutill-Nicol, we see “Max Hora” trying to eat his lunch when a visitor to his shop rudely interrupts him.  It’s supposed to be PMcG but of course “Max” (Roy) fails to recognise “McGoohan” (Mitchell), leading to the farcical situation where “McGoohan” has to play charades for “Max” to work out who he’s dealing with!

Throughout the video various Noggers pop up in all sorts of places with the words “Hello, I’m Karen Langley”, I’ve not worked that one out, nor the surreal scene where the team dance around a large stone to the tune of  “O Fortuna”, or the “Old Spice” music to the culturally challenged like myself!  The weirdest bit is the little plastic penny farthing on top of the stone, which each Nogger (dressed in Village style capes) licks in turn!  Er, OK!  After this the credits roll, and all involved have gained a “Really Nogger” anagram in their name!

The second part is based around the Really Nogger Group’s stage appearance at the 1988 Convention, and the opening sequence is a 70’s style cop show intro called  “The Noggers”, which culminates in the group popping up on the Hercules Hall stage!  The on-stage sketches are cut with more “home video” scenes, I won’t go into them all ‘cos there’s loads (!) but again they start off with another “Parrot Sketch” variation, this time the complaint is about  “this actor I purchased”.  The actor, lying on the floor, is meant to be McGoohan but was actually Mitchell Benn!  Following this a video segment called “THRUST”.  This was an “investigative” piece about the phenomenon called Prisoner Abuse, and how it was rife in Liverpool.  We are then introduced to the “cops” led by James Roberts, complete with raincoat, briefing the others about the upcoming raid on a known Prisoner Abusers’  “gaff”.  The actual raid is cleverly filmed in “fly on the wall” style and some of the group play two parts, for example one minute you see Jamie getting arrested in his full Prisoner garb, and the next he pops up again as a cop looking for more Prisoner Abuse evidence!

Back on stage the group play a “discussion panel” in the style of the usual BBC2/C4 late night discussion programmes, this features among others Mitchell as Frank Maher, and Simon as Karen Langley, no he was not in drag!  Unfortunately the chap who played Dave Lally was so convincing in his cape, boater and false beard that no one knows who played him!  Dave did not play himself however, this was confirmed when the camera panned to the real Lally in the audience, minus cape and boater!  Dave, did you lend your stuff to the group for this sketch?  Of course the main gags were “Karen” looking for phallic symbolism in everything and “Lally” trying to tap her up at every opportunity!  This was followed by a “Lally Aid 88” appeal in aid of Max’s shop, before the stand out sketch - Prisoner “Mastermind”.  Graeme was the quizmaster and Mitchell the contestant, whose specialist subject was answering the question before last!  The only way to appreciate this sketch is to see it, I’m certainly not going to do a transcript here, but try and imagine how they fit in “lots of Number Twos”.  After another Max skit, this time over an actual incident in 1984 when he failed to recognise David Tomblin visiting his shop, a Pythonesque argument then ensued over how to finish the show.  They ended with two songs, first  “My Way”, suitably Prisonered up, then a short burst of lead guitar from Strat-slingin’ axe hero Mitchell Benn.  “Eruption” it wasn’t, but it led nicely into “All To Nogger Now”.  Everybody except Mitchell sang a line, and at the chorus Graeme got a little carried away, strutting into the audience and clapping his hands to get everyone up, which many did!

They left the stage to rapturous applause, which no doubt spurred them on to further Nogger presentations, I’ve yet to see any of those on video!   

My thanks to Ray & Jane O’Leary for lending me their video so I could do this write up.