I was worse for bear on SuperTed
THE voice behind SuperTed has revealed that pub lunches were so boozy that he and the rest of the cast were plastered as they recorded the children’s TV hit.
One one occasion, Derek Griffiths and other voiceover actors were so drunk, a film of the recording remained on the cutting room floor – along with the cast.
Griffiths, 75, spoke as plans are under way to remake the BBC show about the teddy bear with super powers – but minus the 80s show’s guns, fattist jokes and camp stereotypes. He said: “The day started with a visit to the pub for lunch.Well, everyone was sozzled by the time we got in – and it was the most hysterical recording.
“They actually filmed one episode being recorded and they couldn’t use any of it because it was so disgustingly filthy. Drunken actors were rolling about the floor.”
Griffiths was joined byVictor Spinetti as evil cowboy Texas Pete, Melvyn Hayes as a skeleton and Roy Kinnear as dimwitted, overweight Bulk. Jon Pertwee voiced SuperTed’s alien sidekick Spotty in the series, which ran from 1983-1985.
But Griffiths is not fussed about missing out on the remake, destined for 2023.
He told Best of British magazine: “I can’t play an ingenuous teddy bear who’s in his 70s. I was pushing my luck then.”
SuperTed creator Mike Young hopes to cast stars such as Michael Sheen, Rhys Ifans and Ioan Gruffudd in the new series. But he said in 2014: “Popeye used to smash people in the face. But of course there is no television network anywhere in the world that would let you do that now. “In SuperTed we had a gun-slinging cowboy, a gay skeleton and a fat guy who had jokes made about his weight.All these things you just wouldn’t do today.”