The Two Ninnies

The Two Ronnies was a television comedy sketch show created by Bill Cotton for the BBC, which aired from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Barker and Corbett, the Two Ronnies of the title. The show was produced annually between 1971 and 1987. It had many notable writers including John Cleese, Spike Milligan, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones. In addition, Barker used the pseudonym Gerald Wiley when writing sketches.

The show featured comic sketches in which Barker and Corbett appeared both together and separately, with various additions giving the program the feeling of a variety show. The sketches often involved complex word-play, much of it written by Barker, who also liked to parody officialdom and establishment figures, as well as eccentrics. In addition to their regular TV series, the Ronnies also made a number of Christmas specials and telemovies, the best known of which being Futtocks End, The Picnic and By The Sea.

In common with similar British productions of the time, The Ronnie's humor included healthy doses of innuendo and the occasional baring of a starlet's knickers, particularly during the "serial" segments such ''Death Can Be Fatal.'' Full-figure lingerie scenes were much rarer than in The Benny Hill Show, but young female extras appeared in their underwear on occasion throughout the Seventies and early Eighties.

Afternoon Delights

More evidence that Japan is home to the most advanced civilization on the face of the planet: while Western kids were raised on a steady diet of Scooby Doo, Groovie Goolies and Everything's Archie, Japanese pre-teens were fed a healthy blend of panty shots and lingerie scenes via the popular media.

Chargeman Ken

Yes, it's all completely true: back in the late sixties, Japanese audiences were treated to scenes like this literally every day after school. Japanese Animation (anime, for the uninitiated) had a long history of fan service, particularly where young female characters were concerned. As the years wore on, the cartoons became increasingly more risque, leading to impromptu stripteases in shows like Cutie Honey (1973) and Majokko Megu Chan (1974). 

Majokko Megu-Chan

Sure beats the heck out of Sabrina the Teenaged Witch, doesn't it? All kidding aside however, it's worth noting that live action panchira was extremely popular on Japanese TV, so the transition to anime was probably inevitable. Despite periodic outcries from P&T groups and child welfare advocates, the trend caught on and soon became a staple of the cartoon industry. In the space of thirty years, fan service went from this in 1970:

Mahou No Mako-Chan

...to this in 2000:

Gakko No Kaidan

Viewed as cute and harmless (if a little risque), shows like Gakko No Kaidan and Read Or Die were aimed at a young demographic, mainly adolescents and middle-schoolers. Most of the humor was family friendly; kids could laugh at the jokes while their parents smiled at the frequent innuendos.

Read Or Die

British Comedies of the 1970s

The 1970s were a kind of Golden Era for the British television and film industries. As Hammer, Ealing and Amicus rose to prominence, BBC, ITV and Thames cornered the market on comedies, dramas and police procedurals. There was no shortage of risque content either; the Carry On gang were at the height of their game, Benny Hill was elevating farce to the level of an artform and the hottest part of the Sun was page three. Virtually every TV series produced after 1969 incorporated gratuitous panty shots, unexpected stripteases, wardrobe "malfunctions" and full-figure lingerie scenes. As the decade progressed, the studios' costume departments kept pace with the fashion industry, especially where the actresses' underwear was concerned. Female cast members wore floral bras and briefs during the early seventies, eventually giving way to gauzy French intimates towards the Eighties. It's interesting to note that this obsession with the bare essentials wasn't confined to rom-coms and variety shows; "dolly birds" turned up in productions as disparate as UFO, The Sweeney and The Professionals.

From: Doctor in Trouble, Doctor at Large, The Two Ninnies and Dick Emery.

 

 

From: Carry On Loving and Carry On Abroad.