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| Bruce Forsyth had the rare gift of being your TV friend | Bruce Forsyth had the rare gift of being your TV friend |
| (5 months later) | |
| Philip Edgar-Jones | |
| Sun 20 Aug 2017 00.05 BST | |
| Last modified on Sat 2 Dec 2017 02.49 GMT | |
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| It’s not easy for people to be totally authentic on television. Very few can do it, but you absolutely knew the “TV Bruce Forsyth” was the same man you would meet in everyday life. Early in my career, I bumped into him in a lift and greeted him like he was an old pal. Forsyth responded as if we were indeed old pals, saving my blushes. | It’s not easy for people to be totally authentic on television. Very few can do it, but you absolutely knew the “TV Bruce Forsyth” was the same man you would meet in everyday life. Early in my career, I bumped into him in a lift and greeted him like he was an old pal. Forsyth responded as if we were indeed old pals, saving my blushes. |
| For anyone working in entertainment television he was a true trailblazer. Like many of his contemporaries, he worked in the theatre before breaking into live television on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. | For anyone working in entertainment television he was a true trailblazer. Like many of his contemporaries, he worked in the theatre before breaking into live television on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. |
| He was a “triple threat”, as it’s known – the entertainer who could act, sing and dance. But Forsyth had something more that allowed him to adapt with incredible skill to the then relatively young medium of television, to leap from the stage through the lens and into the living rooms of a million different people. Which has much to do with authenticity. | He was a “triple threat”, as it’s known – the entertainer who could act, sing and dance. But Forsyth had something more that allowed him to adapt with incredible skill to the then relatively young medium of television, to leap from the stage through the lens and into the living rooms of a million different people. Which has much to do with authenticity. |
| Watching the archive from those 50s and 60s shows on the TV news obituaries you can’t help but marvel at his ability as ringmaster – wrangling his co-stars in brilliantly funny two-handers; coaxing humour from members of the public in Beat the Clock – all the while putting the theatre audience and the millions of viewers at home at complete ease. And all pulled off with an effortless charm. | Watching the archive from those 50s and 60s shows on the TV news obituaries you can’t help but marvel at his ability as ringmaster – wrangling his co-stars in brilliantly funny two-handers; coaxing humour from members of the public in Beat the Clock – all the while putting the theatre audience and the millions of viewers at home at complete ease. And all pulled off with an effortless charm. |
| Forsyth was often comically impatient with his contestants, but he was never edgy, nasty or snide – he wanted the people who shared the stage with him to shine as much as he did. | Forsyth was often comically impatient with his contestants, but he was never edgy, nasty or snide – he wanted the people who shared the stage with him to shine as much as he did. |
| You always knew that in his company (as you felt, watching) you could sit back and relax – that you would be safe in his hands and share in his twinkly-eyed merriment along with your family. He would never let you down or make you feel uneasy. | You always knew that in his company (as you felt, watching) you could sit back and relax – that you would be safe in his hands and share in his twinkly-eyed merriment along with your family. He would never let you down or make you feel uneasy. |
| We even had a TV family nickname for him – he was “Brucie”, our pal, not just plain Bruce. That again is a gift only a few have – you felt you could have a great night out with Brucie, that he’d be your A-list friend, the one you needed to get along for a night out to make sure everyone else had a great time too. | We even had a TV family nickname for him – he was “Brucie”, our pal, not just plain Bruce. That again is a gift only a few have – you felt you could have a great night out with Brucie, that he’d be your A-list friend, the one you needed to get along for a night out to make sure everyone else had a great time too. |
| In later years, it would have been easy to write Forsyth off as “old school”, but he survived shifts of tone and television trends and when Strictly Come Dancing came along the smart producers knew well that his ability to be the ringmaster and make that connection with a large and diverse audience was something that could elevate the show beyond its ballroom roots. | In later years, it would have been easy to write Forsyth off as “old school”, but he survived shifts of tone and television trends and when Strictly Come Dancing came along the smart producers knew well that his ability to be the ringmaster and make that connection with a large and diverse audience was something that could elevate the show beyond its ballroom roots. |
| And so it was with all his shows – from Play Your Cards Right to The Generation Game: Bruce Forsyth took what in lesser hands would have been just other programmes and elevated them to small pieces of television gold. For 70 years, he gave generations joy and what better way to measure a man’s life. | And so it was with all his shows – from Play Your Cards Right to The Generation Game: Bruce Forsyth took what in lesser hands would have been just other programmes and elevated them to small pieces of television gold. For 70 years, he gave generations joy and what better way to measure a man’s life. |
| Philip Edgar-Jones is director of Sky Arts and Sky UK head of entertainment | Philip Edgar-Jones is director of Sky Arts and Sky UK head of entertainment |
| Television & radio | |
| Opinion | |
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