Rik Mayall's alter ego Kevin Turvey first came to life in 1981 on the BBC Scotland sketch show 'A Kick Up The Eighties' delivering surreal monologues before a live audience on subjects as diverse as work, sex, death, depression, the supernatural and the media among other things, wearing his trademark anorak. The following year he was given his own one-off show entitled 'Kevin Turvey - The Man Behind The Green Door'.
In 1989, the BBC released onto VHS a compilation of all the Turvey sketches from 'A Kick Up The Eighties' entitled 'Kevin Turvey Investigates'.
Many people were convinced that Kevin Turvey was a real person rather than a fictional creation. This was due to the fact that Mayall had insisted that Turvey's name appeared in the cast credits rather than his own name.
It was perhaps due to the fact that Turvey gave Mayall his first regular television exposure that his sketches were made into a compilation rather than sketches from 'A Kick Up The Eighties'. A nice idea, though in my opinion it would have been nice if they had made a compilation of 'A Kick Up The Eighties' as well ( the closest we got to that was when the BBC made a television compilation for Hogmanay in 1987 entitled 'A Kick Up The Bells' which featured sketches from 'A Kick Up The Eighties' and 'Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee'. It was never officially released ).
'Kevin Turvey Investigates' is ideal viewing if you do not have access to 'A Kick Up The Eighties' but if you are lucky enough to have a copy of the series ( which I do ) then I cannot really recommend this video to you.
Funniest sketch - the 'Death' sketch, purely because of Kevin's tale of visiting his 'girlfriend' Teresa Kelly. ''She's out walking the dog!'' Kevin is told by her mother at the door. ''Their dog died in 1977 and I know that because its buried under the onions I grow in my garden. So how could she possibly have been walking the dog, unless its had puppies, but then I would have noticed that the onions would have been disturbed!''.
In 1989, the BBC released onto VHS a compilation of all the Turvey sketches from 'A Kick Up The Eighties' entitled 'Kevin Turvey Investigates'.
Many people were convinced that Kevin Turvey was a real person rather than a fictional creation. This was due to the fact that Mayall had insisted that Turvey's name appeared in the cast credits rather than his own name.
It was perhaps due to the fact that Turvey gave Mayall his first regular television exposure that his sketches were made into a compilation rather than sketches from 'A Kick Up The Eighties'. A nice idea, though in my opinion it would have been nice if they had made a compilation of 'A Kick Up The Eighties' as well ( the closest we got to that was when the BBC made a television compilation for Hogmanay in 1987 entitled 'A Kick Up The Bells' which featured sketches from 'A Kick Up The Eighties' and 'Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee'. It was never officially released ).
'Kevin Turvey Investigates' is ideal viewing if you do not have access to 'A Kick Up The Eighties' but if you are lucky enough to have a copy of the series ( which I do ) then I cannot really recommend this video to you.
Funniest sketch - the 'Death' sketch, purely because of Kevin's tale of visiting his 'girlfriend' Teresa Kelly. ''She's out walking the dog!'' Kevin is told by her mother at the door. ''Their dog died in 1977 and I know that because its buried under the onions I grow in my garden. So how could she possibly have been walking the dog, unless its had puppies, but then I would have noticed that the onions would have been disturbed!''.
