Hugh Laurie & Stephen Fry Reunite for One-Off Special

LONDON: UKTV has reunited Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, who have worked together on shows such as Blackadder and the comedy showcase A Bit of Fry and Laurie, for the first time in 15 years in a one-off special, commissioned by GOLD, that celebrates their relationship. 

The special, made by Tiger Aspect and airing exclusively on GOLD, brings together the two this fall in what is their 30th year of friendship. Throughout the program, Fry and Laurie will reveal insights into their friendship and careers, as they take a look back at their sketches, along with clips from their work.

Fry’s career has spanned acting (Wilde, Kingdom, Blackadder, Bones) to directing (Bright Young Things) to writing (The Liar, Making History) to voicing (the Harry Potter books) to presenting (Stephen Fry in America, Qi, Sorry I haven’t a Clue). Laurie currently stars in the global hit series House. He has also done a number of movies, voiceovers for cartoons, comedy, music and wrote the best-selling novel The Gun Seller. The two met 30 years ago as students in Cambridge and their relationship has continued over a number of projects, including Saturday Live, Blackadder and A Bit of Fry and Laurie, which ran on BBC One and Two for four series between 1989 and 1995. 

Fry commented: "I am delighted to be given the opportunity to retread the 30 years Hugh and I have known each other and worked together. It was a great joy reminiscing about our times together and I hope GOLD viewers enjoy watching us grow older and older…"

UKTV’s director of commissioning, Jane Rogerson, said, "Watching Hugh and Stephen reminisce over their 30 year friendship is heart-warming, funny and very special. We’re so proud they chose to do it for GOLD.”

GOLD’s channel head, Paul Moreton, added, “We are so proud that Stephen and Hugh have chosen to come together on television for the first time in 15 years to create a new show exclusively for GOLD. This fantastic special follows in the footsteps of the hugely successful Fawlty and Blackadder specials which also brought together Britain’s comedy royalty to GOLD.”

Ricky Kelehar, the director of factual entertainment at Tiger Aspect Productions, said, “We’re delighted to be working on another blue-chip comedy documentary for GOLD following our very successful collaborations on Blackadder: The Whole Rotten Saga and Fawlty Towers Re-Opened. Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie have had extraordinary careers and have a remarkable relationship and we are thrilled that we have managed to persuade them to spend some quality time together especially for this project.”