66 Hope and Keen's Crazy House / Bus

First  watched  : Uncertain

I  actually  remember  little  more  than  the  titles  of  these  series. Hope  and  Keen's  Crazy  House  was  first  broadcast  for  six  weeks  in  the  summer  of  1971. Anchored  by  experienced  variety  performers  and  real-life  cousins,  Mike  Hope  and  Albie  Keen  it  presented  a  mixture  of  music  and  comedy  in  a  domestic  setting  somewhat  similar  to  ITV's  Little  Big  Time  ; Freddie  and  the  Dreamers  were  actually  guests  on  the  first  programme  which  doesn't  help  me  separate my  vague  recollections.

Perhaps  in  response  to  the  popularity  of   Here  Come  The  Double  Deckers  the  setting  was  changed  to  a  bus  for  the  second  series  in  April  1972   which  ditched  the  support  players  Peter  Goodwright  and  Ruth  Kettlewell  and  introduced  a  narrative  thread  about  hunting  down  a  family  legacy. It  was  repeated  once   in  the  summer  of  1973 ; ...Crazy  House   was  never  repeated.

Hope  and  Keen  were  regular  guests  on  light  entertainment  shows  until  the  mid-eighties  when  they  decamped  to  America  and  performed  in  Las  Vegas.  They  eventually  returned  and  slipped  into  the  twilight  world  of  provincial  pantomime   where  they  might  be  performing  still  ( both  turn  80  this  year  ).