TELEVISION MEMORIES 3: Cult Comedy – ‘Let The Blood Run Free’

 

‘Let The Blood Run Free’ was an early 1990s comedy show on Channel 4 written and performed by an Australian comedy collective known as ‘the Blood Group’. This show was set in a run down hospital and spoofed the mannerisms of popular Australian soaps such as ‘The Sullivans’, ‘The Number 96’ and the infamous ‘Prisoner: Cell Block H’, as well as film melodramas from the 1940s onwards. It was surreal, it was demented, and it was the best thing on at half past one in the morning.

 

In fact, the show was originally broadcast in Channel 4’s popular post-watershed Friday night evening comedy slot, before being moved half way through the transmission run in a ‘post-pub’ slot anytime from midnight onwards on any day of the week. As these were the days before the advent of the digital channels, with their schedules of almost wall-to-wall repeats, as well as easy ‘red-button record technology’, it was necessary to keep a close eye on your copy of the ‘TV Times’ to see when the next episode was to be broadcast just in case you missed it. I was an avid viewer and managed to record most of the episodes in a continuous thread on to my VHS tapes (I still have these tapes alongside compilations of ‘Spitting Image’, ‘Drop The Dead Donkey’ and ‘Bottom’).

 

As the show was formatted to run as a serial like all the ‘soap operas’ it spoofed, it was necessary to try and get all the episodes recorded in order just in case you missed some of the random chaos that would appear in that week’s episode and because the show was largely improvised, this could be anything. The storylines were O.T.T. and you never knew what was going to happen to the characters of ‘Effie, ‘Matron Dorothy Conniving-b**ch’, ‘Nurse Pam Sandwich’, ‘Dr. Ray Good’ and the Janitor, ‘Warren Conkshonk’ from week to week. Characters got married and then next week got married again, whilst other characters got run over and came back from the dead in true ‘Harold Bishop – Bobby Ewing’ fashion and at least one character turned into a true ‘Hammer Horror Beastie’ though I cannot remember if it was ‘Warren’ into a werewolf or ‘Matron’ into a vampire.

 

Whatever the storyline may have been and however ridiculous the storyline became, each episode would lead up to a ‘cliff-hanger’ of true ‘soap’ ideals. With this ‘cliff-hanger’, I think that if you lived in Australia you could also vote to influence the outcome that will provide the storyline of next weeks show, in a way similar to what C4 is going to do with their new interactive ‘Dubplate Drama’.

 

I loved this show and was mystified to why they made only a couple of series, even though some of the cast are now involved with shows such as ‘Kath & Kim’, and other shows like ‘Green Wing’ and ‘Scrubs’ exist to fill the void. However, if you like these shows, are a fan of ‘Bottom’ and ‘The Young Ones’ or are a fan of Australian comedy from ‘The Castle’ and ‘The Boys from The Bush’ to Paul Hogan’s early shows, this is definitely a show to discover, if you haven’t already.

 

boy do you pick some obscure programmes! or maybe they were aimed at a young audience..

Nah, never liked that one at all.

Personally, never heard of it.

boy do you pick some obscure programmes! or maybe they were aimed at a young audience..

 

I would guess it is only as obscure as ‘Green Wing’ would be in Twenty years time. For all its anarchic spirit it could be regarded as the Australian ‘Young Ones’

I would guess it is only as obscure as ‘Green Wing’ would be in Twenty years time. For all its anarchic spirit it could be regarded as the Australian ‘Young Ones’

 

but if it is of that calibre then i would have caught it...?... obviously not!

but if it is of that calibre

 

Yes, it was wonderful and very funny.