As mentioned on Nigel Parkinson's blog, there's a TV documentary on The Dandy coming to your screens over the holidays. I understand it'll only be shown on BBC Scotland initially and will be broadcast on New Year's Eve. Hopefully those of us South of the border will get to see it sometime in 2013.
Here's the official programme notes from the BBC:
"In Just Dandy Ford Kiernan celebrates the anarchic humour of the Scottish comic that has kept children of all ages entertained. As the classic publication reaches the end of its run, Ford meets the artists and writers as well as fans including comedian Frank Skinner."
On the Caledonia TV website you can view a trailer for the show which features the presenter and some exclusive Nigel Parkinson artwork. What's more, it leads off with a TV ad from the archives advertising The Dandy No.991 (November 19th 1960). For those of you who weren't around when comics were regularly advertised on TV, this is the sort of cheap and cheerful promotion they had back then.
I don't have that issue, but I do have the preceding one, No.990. Here's the cover...
This was part of a several-week revamp of The Dandy which saw the comic increase from 12 to 16 pages, add a new logo and more colour, and introduce new characters such as Dirty Dick and Corporal Clott. Arguably this was the beginning of The Dandy's best decade, with consistently solid storytelling and artwork throughout the Sixties. (Admittedly I'm biased as these were the years I grew up reading the comic.) Here's that very first Corporal Clott story from The Dandy No.990, November 12th 1960. Art by Davey Law...
...and here's the next issue ad for that Dandy Thunderbang seen in the 1960 TV advert...
Don't forget, Just Dandy airs on BBC One Scotland on Hogmanay!
