THE UNFORGETTABLE: KENNY EVERETT
10.00-10.30pm, 31 March 2000, ITV

Zany, innovative, irreverent, hilarious - Kenny Everett did it all 'in the best possible taste'.

The Unforgettable: Kenny Everett traces his rise from seasick pirate radio DJ to primetime television star - exploring the insecurity and sexual angst that were to trouble him for much of his life.

Kenny Everett was born Maurice Cole, on Christmas Day 1944, into a Roman Catholic Liverpool family.

It soon emerged that he was naturally inquisitive, and in a bid to prevent him dismantling all the household appliances, his father bought him a tape recorder. It was the beginning of a creative process that was to spawn such comic characters as Sid Snot, Gizzard Puke and Cupid Stunt.

He spent two years training to be a missionary, but ended up joining pirate radio where his manic shows quickly won him a huge following. He was snapped up by the BBC - only to be sacked after making a jibe at the expense of the transport minister's wife when she passed her driving test.

He bounced back by setting up a home studio from where he produced shows that were syndicated to independent radio stations all over the country. His friend Chris Tarrant remembers: 'He'd just do the shows, then post them off - I thought what a great life.'

A chance encounter at a party hosted by The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein was also to lead Kenny into marriage. Lee Everett-Alkin, then known as medium Crystal Clear, failed to predict how their initial meeting would end.

'There was a white, thin stick insect talking to George Harrison. If you'd have told me then that I'd have married that stick insect I'd have laughed,' she says. 'I saw him as a little gay friend - then I realised he was courting me. One night we were stoned, and we became lovers. He rang everybody he knew to tell them he was cured!'

A typically chaotic and eccentric wedding was followed by 17 mostly happy years together, although Kenny had known from an early age that he was homosexual. His sister Kate explains: 'He would have been worried about what my parents thought. They were so normal and proud and private. It was a long time before he told them.'

Kenny finally came out, and revealed he was living with a new boyfriend Nikolai Grishanovich in a ménàge a trois with Nikolai's boyfriend Pepe. He travelled to Australia to be reunited with his parents, who were far more accepting than he had feared.

Meanwhile, after several successful years on television, he was growing disillusioned. The furore over his notorious 'let's bomb Russia' speech to Young Conservatives was still haunting him, and he returned to radio, the medium he loved best.

But tragedy was looming. Nikolai was diagnosed as HIV-positive, developed AIDS and died. Then, Kenny found out he too was HIV-positive as well. In time he developed full-blown AIDS.

'For a timid little guy he was very brave about death,' says Chris Tarrant. It's a sentiment echoed by Cleo Rocos who recalls a final farewell dinner with Kenny. 'He didn't feel sorry for himself,' she says.

Kenny died, aged 50, in 1995. After renewing his ties with the Catholic Church he was given the requiem mass he always thought he couldn't have.

'He would have loved the funeral, it was right up his street,' says Lee.

The executive producer of The Unforgettable is Elaine Bedell and the series producer is Karen Steyn. The Unforgettable: Kenny Everett is produced and directed by Charles Boyd.

For further information contact: dutyoffice@carltontv.co.uk.

'The Unforgettable' is a Watchmaker Production
in association with Carlton.

Design And Credit For This Page Goes To Carlton TV.