Turn on the TV in the 1970s, and you could scarcely watch a programme without encountering a Benny.  Today, there seems to be more different slang meanings for the word ‘Benny’––most of them derogatory–– than there are actual Bennys on the TV.  And perhaps this, in some way, explains their demise.  No one chooses to be a Benny anymore.  And, after all, being a Benny is a matter of choice.

For me, there were three definitive Bennys.  Benny Hill, Benny Hawkins and Benny Green––no, not that one, the other one.

In the early 1970s, over 20 million people in the UK used to regularly tune in to The Benny Hill Show, making it one of the most-watched programmes on the TV.  The show comprised a mixture of slapstick, smut and silliness.  Benny Hill was actually christened Alfred Hawthorne Hill, but he chose the screen name Benny after his favourite comedian, Jack Benny.  Thanks to Benny Hill, it is still impossible to listen to Rich and Randolph’s 1963 instrumental Yakety Sax without imagining a high-tempo chase scene involving several scantily-clad young women and a number of bald-headed, middle-aged men.

Benny Hawkins was more regularly known simply as ‘Benny’.  Played by actor Paul Henry, the simple-minded, woolly-hatted handyman’s ill-fated romance with ‘Miss Diane’ on Crossroads was prime-time viewing for 11 years.  The peak of Benny pathos was reached when Benny’s Theme was released as a single in 1977.  Who knew then that forty years later this behemoth of brainlessness would win the jackpot on Pointless Celebrities?

Benny Green­­––no, not that one, the other one––was a rare occurrence of a Benny played cool.  Benny Green, played by actor Terry Sue-Patt was the very first person ever to enter the school gates of Grange Hill.  Benny Green was mischievous, rebellious, but he was also anxious; he depicted the reality of the whirlwind of emotions of starting a new school.  A friend to Tucker Jenkins, rarely seen without a football, Benny Green was a trailblazer in a TV landscape more Mind Your Language than multicultural; short in stature, but big on influence.

During the 1970s, if my TV was not either tuned to The Benny Hill Show, or Crossroads, or Grange Hill, it was because the Test Card was on.

© Beery Sue

Beery Sue is a Benny in all but two letters.