Concept and creative process
BBC Features commissioned the BBC Resources broadcast design team in Manchester to produce the title sequence and programme kit of parts for two BBC2 Comedy Zone specials ‘The Two Fat Ladies Comedy Cook-In’. The shows were presented by the marvellously entertaining celebrity chefs Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson. As well as doing some cooking on the show, the two ladies recalled some of their favourite funny moments from classic TV comedies sitting on a sofa (shot in a green screen studio) with a completely drawn background room and foreground TV set composited around them.
The key clients at BBC Features were executive producer Bridget Boseley and producer Garry John Hughes. Designers Gregory Millar and Ian Bate were supported by senior designer Mark Allen. The title sequence shows the motorbike-loving ladies going on a madcap journey. Initially driving down a country lane, then past polar bears in the arctic, down a rollercoaster, then along the tracks of the London Underground, before overtaking a speeding steam train, over a viaduct, down a ski-slope, past ancient Stonehenge and the Tour de France cycle race, before eventually passing their own ‘laughing’ road sign which reveals the programme title ‘The Two Fat Ladies Comedy Cook-In’.