Best of the free Fringe – Peter Fleming: Have You Seen?

Then there are the fringe Fringe shows: those which are not in the programme, but still deserve at least as much attention (and many have the added bonus of being free).

Tom Burgess’ Peter Fleming: Have You Seen? is one of those hidden gems.

Tom is a self-confessed cult television geek, and his latest comic creation, Peter Fleming, was born out of a fascination with BBC shows from the 60s and 70s.

He said: “I’ve been a fan of old Doctor Who since I was a kid, and became obsessed with the idea of missing TV episodes, so in a way, this idea has been floating in my head for decades.”

The show follows Fleming, a retired children’s television pioneer, as he tries to unearth his BBC programmes that have sadly been lost (surely by accident) from the archives, including Professor Zany's Mad Laboratory (1962), Mrs Peregrine's Wingless Birds (1976) and Nicholas the Mischievous Cupboard (unknown).

Tom said: “Peter Fleming comes from a childhood spent watching VHS compilations of Jon Pertwee and Sylvester McCoy, and looking back, bittersweet, at pieces of our culture that brought joy to so many, now just out of reach. As a child, that mystique masked what in adulthood became increasingly clear was possibly a load of old tat.”

With his cut-glass accent and wild greying hair, Fleming is a wonderfully doddery eccentric who reconstructs his bizarre early television creations with gusto.

Tom lists shows like Noggin the Nog, with its haunting soundtrack, and the Trumptonshire Trilogy as inspiration for Peter’s back catalogue: “The homemade sensibility of all those programmes, and the creeping sense of folk horror, get under the skin like nothing else.”

Peter Fleming: Have You Seen? has a classic silliness about it, as a fond homage to a bygone era.

It’s a warm style of comedy that feels refreshing compared with many contemporary acts who strive to be edgy.

Tom believes one mistake comics make is thinking that audiences just can’t handle something un-PC, when the problem is actually to do with the tediousness of their material.

“It’s easy to disparage – you’ve no vulnerability if you hate everything – and why on earth would someone find that interesting to watch? If I’m going to watch someone make fun, I want to see them do it from a place of affection – like my hero Peter Cook, when he sent up the establishment and institutions that benefited him for so much of his life, or the love that underpins every line of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.”

An experienced comic, Tom has been writing and performing since 2012, when he became one third of the award-winning sketch trio Staple/Face.

Since Staple/Face split, Tom has been clowning around as one half of comedy duo Sam and Tom, while working on his own show as Peter Fleming.

He said: “Performing solo is much lonelier, but this makes it easier to throw myself into Peter’s character - an isolated old man, increasingly clear in the knowledge that all he has left is himself. But I do my best to keep him company as he travels the country in search of his lost programmes, and he does the same for me on my lonesome train journeys from gig to gig.”

Catch Peter Fleming: Have You Seen? at the Black Dove, Friday May 24 at 7pm (45 mins). Entry is free/donations.