3. The Slammer
To be honest, I’m still bitter that my school never got to be in the live audience to witness the wild ride that was The Slammer. The Governor was a real childhood celeb.
Set in a prison for entertainers guilty of ‘crimes against showbusiness’, The HM Slammer offered entertainers the chance to walk free if they won the prison’s weekly talent competition. Melvin Odoom — now a well-known Radio 1 daytime DJ — was a long-running HM Slammer inmate. He played a former dancer who had been imprisoned in The Slammer after a disastrous Royal Variety performance in front of the Queen.
Similarly, British ventriloquist Keith Harris was also found guilty of stage-related crimes. His backstory involved a performance going so terribly that he physically froze and had to be revived by the supporting cast in order to perform. Another core memory is McFly’s HM Slammer gig. Surely the best venue of their career?