The Dawson Watch

Les wrote fondly of The Dawson Watch, particularly in comparison to The Les Dawson Show (1978), which, while eventually resurrected in 1982, had run for just one series before The Dawson Watch began.

In his 1984 autobiography "A Clown Too Many", Les stated: "The Les Dawson Show ended its run on television, and nobody noticed its demise. But I knew it had harmed my career, for when I played cabaret dates, the halls had vacant tables, history was repeating its charms. The BBC came up with an idea for a series during the summer run at the Spa Theatre, Bridlington in 1978. It was a spin off from an American show hosted by that sardonic comedian Alan King. The idea was a sort of comic 'watchdog' programme. I saw a video of it and the theme was to take on all the situations that beset people, like the law or medicine and put humour into stock procedures such as house conveyancing or the National Health. The programme appealed to me, and we arranged to start taping the series in late September.

[...] it was produced by Peter Whitmore, a very able man who steered the show along nicely. The set was in the shape of a giant computer with two or three lovely long-legged girls walking about with note books and pencils to give it an air of efficiency. The Dawson Watch, although not perfect, did much to wipe out the memory of the previous series and to my astonishment, it appealed to a higher intellectual bracket."

Featured in Les Dawson Forever: Episode #1.2 (2016)