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Howard Lew Lewis

Howard Lew Lewis

Acting

Biography

Howard Lew Lewis was an English comedian and actor best known for his roles in the 1980s sitcom Brush Strokes and Tony Robinson's children's comedy series Maid Marian and Her Merry Men. His first job was with the RAF as a a computer operator and he worked for several years in computing and telecommunications at managerial level before undertaking acting as his chosen career. He often appeared in vehicles for Ronnie Barker, including The Magnificent Evans and Open All Hour, and appeared in the first series of Blackadder. His film roles included Hal in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, a guard in Terry Gilliam's Brazil, Richard Attenborough's Chaplin, and the voice of Obelix in the 1994 animated film Asterix in America. Diabetes and dementia plagued him in later years and he was admitted into a community hospital in Edinburgh in 2017. He passed away there on 20th January 2018. Police Scotland confirmed later that month that they were investigating a complaint brought by Lewis's daughter Debora Milazzo against the hospital. She claimed that her father was given an unnecessary cocktail of high-dose sedatives and maximum-strength opiate painkillers that subsequently brought about his death. The police ultimately found no case to answer.

Known For

Noel's House Party
7.4

Noel's House Party is a BBC television light entertainment show hosted by Noel Edmonds that was broadcast live on Saturday evenings throughout the 1990s. It was set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo. The show was broadcast during the autumn-spring season. It was the successor show to Noel's Saturday Roadshow, and carried over some of its regular features such as the Gunge Tank, the Gotcha Oscar and Wait 'Till I Get You Home. In 2010, Noel's House Party was voted the best Saturday night TV show of all time. The show had many regular guests posing as fictional villagers, including Frank Thornton and Vicki Michelle. The show gave birth to Mr. Blobby in the Gotcha segment. The character became well known, ruining the premise of the segment, but Blobby still made appearances. There was also a contrived rivalry between Noel and Tony Blackburn. In addition, many episodes featured one-off guest stars, including Michael Crawford as Frank Spencer, who came in to find the whole audience dressed as Frank after Fantastic Stuart Henderson from Troon had performed as Frank singing The Beatles song "I Saw Her Standing There", and Ken Dodd in a highwayman's outfit - 'Going cheap at the Maxwell sale' - as Noel's long lost 'twin', Berasent.

Noel's House Party

1991Series
Maid Marian and Her Merry Men
6.3

Maid Marian and her Merry Men is a British children's sitcom created and written by Tony Robinson and directed by David Bell. It began in 1989 on BBC One and ran for four series, with the last episode shown in 1994. The show was a partially musical comic retelling of the legend of Robin Hood, placing Maid Marian in the role of leader of the Merry Men, and reducing Robin to an incompetent ex-tailor. The programme was much appreciated by children and adults alike, and has been likened to Blackadder, not only for its historical setting and the presence of Tony Robinson, but also for its comic style. It is more surreal than Blackadder, however, and drops even more anachronisms. Many of the show's cast such as Howard Lew Lewis, Forbes Collins, Ramsay Gilderdale and Patsy Byrne had previously appeared in various episodes of Blackadder alongside Robinson. Like many British children's programmes, there is a lot of social commentary sneakily inserted, as well as witty asides about the Royal family, buses running on time, etc. Many of the plots spoofed or referenced film and television shows including other incarnations of Robin Hood in those mediums.

Maid Marian and Her Merry Men

1989Series