Old guard not laughing now

ANYONE avoiding sport last weekend could have stumbled on an oasis of laughter.

There were Tommy Cooper and The Two Ronnies clip shows recalling a golden era when comedy was king.

And, as The Fight For Saturday Night showed, entertainment was a serious business. The BBC Four doc was heaven for anyone who grew up watching Noel Edmonds and threw up watching Naked Attraction.

Michael Grade made the decades-long ratings battle between BBC One and ITV seem chummy. It wasn’t. The bitter grudge match made Vardy vs Rooney seem like a sitcom tiff.