Ade Edmondson on singer Sandy Denny
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ade Edmondson - star of The Young Ones, The Comic Strip Presents, Bottom and much more besides - chooses the singer Sandy Denny. "I think a large part of my Englishness comes from Sandy Denny," he says of the singer perhaps best known for her work with Fairport Convention. The programme includes archive of Richard Thompson, Mick Houghton and Sandy herself, plus help from Patrick Humphries, who interviewed Sandy Denny shortly before her early death aged just 31.
The producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde
Transcript
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| 0:31.6 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:35.7 | Today's guest came to prominence as a memorable part of the young ones. |
| 0:40.3 | I don't want to make you feel old, Adrian, because you're younger than me, |
| 0:44.7 | but you've been a famous man now for over 40 years. |
| 0:48.7 | There was Filthy Rich and Catflap, followed by Bottom with Rick Mail, |
| 0:53.6 | plus your band The Bad Shepherds, |
| 0:55.9 | a winning appearance on Master Chef, EastEnders, and now a remarkable reinvention as a |
| 1:02.0 | twitcher on Sam and Aide Go Birding on Channel 5. |
| 1:06.5 | Welcome, Adrian Edmondson. |
| 1:08.7 | What took you so long to appear on our show? |
| 1:11.7 | I don't know, because I've listened to every single episode of it. Have you really? I have, yeah, I'm a big fan. And I'm, you know, I'm a pensioner. I've got teenage grandchildren. You become old, don't you? It just sort of happens. You don't look old. Well. Who have you picked and why? I have picked Sandy Denny, who is, I think, the most important English folk singer of our era. |
| 1:32.7 | I don't know what our era is, post-water now. |
... |
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