The Big Yin curates 60 years of telly magic like your funniest uncle holding court.
In an evening of delights and insight distilled from a lifetime's viewing, Billy Connolly presents the people who have changed his life and the events that have influenced him. With comedy from Max Wall, Chic Murray, Frankie Howerd, Jimmy Tarbuck, and Stanley Baxter; music from Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, the Incredible String Band, Andy Stewart, Eric Clapton and Elton John. Plus sporting moments from Glasgow boxer Benny Lynch, the European Cup Final with Celtic playing Inter-Milan, Jimmy Connors's Wimbledon comeback against John McEnroe in 1982, and tough time trials in the Tour de France. Alongside some of the amazing events that television has brought live into our homes - like the first moon landing and the collapse of the Berlin Wall - some of the personalities that made an impression on Billy Connolly include Madhur Jaffrey, David Hockney, the Dalai Lama, Dennis Potter, David Attenborough, and Nelson Mandela.
Acting
Connolly's impressions are character studies in 30 seconds.
Production
Seamless weaving of archive clips with pure Big Yin energy.
Writing
Anecdotes so perfectly structured they feel scripted.
Director
Steven Grandison
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Billy recorded this in 1999, months before his own major heart surgery—there's an unintentional valedictory quality to his reflections on mortality through others' stories.
The Incredible String Band clip he champions was considered deeply uncool in 1999; Billy's rehabilitation of forgotten folk weirdos predates the entire psych-folk revival by half a decade.
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