Post by inspectorflint on Jun 7, 2022 8:36:54 GMT
Greetings everyone!
For quite a while now, I'm on the hunt for certain pieces of lost media. One of those is the pilot for a sitcom called "Three Flights Up".
To give some information about it:
Back in the days after their long running sketch show ended in 1998, the two British comedians Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones had an idea for another comedy project, this time in form of a sitcom. The two got told that they can go ahead and make an pilot, which they did. The outcome was the pilot for a potential sitcom called "Three Flights Up", in which they would also play the main characters. Said pilot was shown to the BBC, however they were not interested anymore to work with Smith and Jones any longer. Because of this the sitcom didn't get pick up for a full series, furthermore the pilot was never been broadcast on TV.
Years later, the pilot was finally shown to the public on some events, such as on Griff Rhys Jones' live tour "Jones & Smith" or on the Slapstick Festival 2015.
According to Wikipedia, there were also plans to have the pilot available as bonus material on Volume 2 of "At last Smith and Jones", a Best Of DVD which has yet to be released. Chances that said DVD will be ever released are pretty low however, who knows if it ever comes out one day. (Mind you their sketch show, "Alas Smith and Jones", a.k.a. "Smith and Jones" later on, is not available in its entirety on DVD for whatever reasons neither.)
While doing some research I was able to find a summary from a person on another forum who went to the Slapstick Festival 2015:
Unfortunately, I was not able to find any footage of the pilot itself. I hoped finding at least some pictures or a self recorded clip of it, but no results. Strangely enough, even if most sources say that the pilot was never broadcast on TV, one source actually states that it got shown on BBC Two apparently as a tribute to Mel Smith who sadly died in 2013. Not sure if this is true or not, there was one tribute on August 3rd 2013 which I was able to find but no mention of "Three Flights Up", instead it was a episode of "Smith and Jones: Prime Cuts" (basically a Best Of episode from their sketch show) followed with a documentary of "Not the Nine O'Clock News" (in which Smith and Jones were part of along with Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson. Their sketch show is a spin-off of this show).
Here are some sources:
salfordnow.co.uk (the one source which says that the pilot was shown on BBC Two apparently)
walesonline.co.uk (includes some background information)
Slapstick Festival 2015 - Festival Guide (mentions the full screening of the pilot there)
Wikipedia (mentions the pilot to be included in Volume 2 of the Best Of DVD)
That's all I got on this topic. I hoping to find maybe someday any footage of it to get at least a look of how it would have been since I'm very curious. Of course if someone knows more about this pilot then please let me know. Any help would be great!
For quite a while now, I'm on the hunt for certain pieces of lost media. One of those is the pilot for a sitcom called "Three Flights Up".
To give some information about it:
Back in the days after their long running sketch show ended in 1998, the two British comedians Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones had an idea for another comedy project, this time in form of a sitcom. The two got told that they can go ahead and make an pilot, which they did. The outcome was the pilot for a potential sitcom called "Three Flights Up", in which they would also play the main characters. Said pilot was shown to the BBC, however they were not interested anymore to work with Smith and Jones any longer. Because of this the sitcom didn't get pick up for a full series, furthermore the pilot was never been broadcast on TV.
Years later, the pilot was finally shown to the public on some events, such as on Griff Rhys Jones' live tour "Jones & Smith" or on the Slapstick Festival 2015.
According to Wikipedia, there were also plans to have the pilot available as bonus material on Volume 2 of "At last Smith and Jones", a Best Of DVD which has yet to be released. Chances that said DVD will be ever released are pretty low however, who knows if it ever comes out one day. (Mind you their sketch show, "Alas Smith and Jones", a.k.a. "Smith and Jones" later on, is not available in its entirety on DVD for whatever reasons neither.)
While doing some research I was able to find a summary from a person on another forum who went to the Slapstick Festival 2015:
Unfortunately, I was not able to find any footage of the pilot itself. I hoped finding at least some pictures or a self recorded clip of it, but no results. Strangely enough, even if most sources say that the pilot was never broadcast on TV, one source actually states that it got shown on BBC Two apparently as a tribute to Mel Smith who sadly died in 2013. Not sure if this is true or not, there was one tribute on August 3rd 2013 which I was able to find but no mention of "Three Flights Up", instead it was a episode of "Smith and Jones: Prime Cuts" (basically a Best Of episode from their sketch show) followed with a documentary of "Not the Nine O'Clock News" (in which Smith and Jones were part of along with Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson. Their sketch show is a spin-off of this show).
Here are some sources:
salfordnow.co.uk (the one source which says that the pilot was shown on BBC Two apparently)
walesonline.co.uk (includes some background information)
Slapstick Festival 2015 - Festival Guide (mentions the full screening of the pilot there)
Wikipedia (mentions the pilot to be included in Volume 2 of the Best Of DVD)
That's all I got on this topic. I hoping to find maybe someday any footage of it to get at least a look of how it would have been since I'm very curious. Of course if someone knows more about this pilot then please let me know. Any help would be great!
