Three in a Bed

'Three in a bed' is supposed to be darts player's slang for three darts in the treble-20 - the maximum score. (I've never heard it outside of the context of this programme.)

I remember watching this in 1972 when it was aired on terrestrial TV. It was a pilot for the comedy duo Little and Large, who since earned a reputation among the chattering classes as downmarket, Saturday-night, cheesy 1970s and 1980s TV comedians. However, as one who saw them live (at a stag night in Wakefield in 1979, I think) I can vouch for the fact that their live act was very, very funny, well polished, and absolutely hilarious. If you were part of a well-oiled stag night, at any rate.

Anyway, Three in a Bed, as I dimly recall, was a contrived story in which geeky Syd was found to have the unfailing ability to land three darts in the treble-20. This ability, alas, only operated when he was as drunk as - well, as drunk as someone at a stag party in Wakefield circa 1979. His chum Eddie conscripts him into the pub's darts team for their forthcoming needle match, gleefully anticipating victory, and probably betting on it, or something. When the match night comes, though, Syd is sober as a judge, and there's some sort of malarkey to get him drunk so he can work his three-in-a-bed magic. There may have been some clumsily-scripted romantic interest as well.

The programme was not, in my memory at least, especially funny, and wasn't even memorable, unless you happen to have an extremely good memory, as I did until roughly 1979. But then life was simple then, with only three channels on TV and no Internet and no computers and only rotary-dial phones, and it passed the time OK.