I saw it LIVE on the night. It was deeply distressing. We didn’t know what had happened until the very end of the ITN News which followed, and Tommy’s death had been confirmed/announced by that time (Trevor McDonald on duty, IIRC).
Some time later, a club* manager somewhere was sacked after he played-out the incident on the multi screens all over his club not realizing that the VCR in his office (he was watching and rewinding and rewatching over and over again to analyze something with a colleague) had the switch flicked to “output all screens”. Bemused, angry and distressed club goers created hell inside the premises. It was all over the tabloids at the time.
* it may have been a big pub or even a gym. But some such busy public premises.
It must have been awful to watch as James points out. I wonder if the ITN update did follow after though (as others have previously recollected) or whether there was a programme in between Live From Her Majesty’s and the news? Given Cooper wasn’t taken to hospital until the end of Tarby’s show, was there really such a quick update on his demise?
I've seen the tragic incident as well on YouTube. During it, Tommy didn't look 100%, and when he collapsed, the audience didn't realise what was happening.
I've seen the tragic incident as well on YouTube. During it, Tommy didn't look 100%, and when he collapsed, the audience didn't realise what was happening.
It's often ignored how much Tommy improvised during his shows, and I think a few people like to reiterate how hilarious the audience thought it was when he died for sheer shock value. The fact that he fell down once his assistant put a big cloak on him could've easily been a setup for a physical gag. Then take into account how it sounded like he was snoring, I'm sure most of the audience would've assumed he was falling asleep instead of having a heart attack. It was only for the fact that Tommy's son and Jimmy Tarbuck knew his poor health meant he would've been unable to voluntarily fall the way he did, that action was quickly taken to cut to a break. And add to the fact that the audience don't get the camera's point of view where we can tell by his face that he's clearly not joking, I think it's really easy to wrongly blame the audience for being so "heartless".
I watched it once online. It was horrible and deeply distressing. I bitterly regretted watching it and I couldn’t ever watch it again. I wouldn’t recommend anybody else watch it either.
I've seen it a couple of times (not counting the original broadcast) and it's a an extremely sad and horrible bit of footage, but I can't say I found it distressing or that it affected me in any way. Maybe I'm just hardened to such things or the fact I knew what was coming took away any shock factor. To be honest I didn't find it a particularly distressing bit of footage, there's no drama or anything else that is normally included when a heart attack is portrayed on TV. Certainly not the worst way to go and definitely not the worst death shown on TV
I am glad I've seen it but am a bit uneasy with its availability. But it happened in public so it's never going to be the private event it normally is so difficult to keep the genie in the bottle. It depends largely on what the motive is of someone to see it
I certainly didn't think it was right to be included in a channel 5 clip show a couple of years ago, it should be a thing people choose to watch if they so wish. I'm surprised they were able to, LWT were very protective of it at one point , maybe that's why they have featured the incident in subsequent programmes but not the death itself?
As I discovered earlier today, even just searching Google for Tommy Cooper brings up a website result and right under are 3 videos suggestions, and the clip of his death is the 3rd suggestion. I would have imagined Google/YouTube wouldn't want something like that on YouTube let alone be suggesting it for people to watch. Maybe algorithms are at play for it but the fact the video is even online I think is tasteless and they really should remove it.
I believe the scheduled ITN News immediately followed the show. However, the news about Tommy was at the very end of the bulletin.
The Wikipedia entry on him says it was the lead item on the news and his death was announced the following morning. Although that is contradicted by one of its sources - a 2009 interview with Jimmy Tarbuck - saying the ‘nightly news’ came live from the theatre straight afterwards and that was when it was announced he’d died.
I can’t argue either way, although I would find it surprising if confirmation of his death had been publicly announced quite that quickly.
I can only find the TV listings for the following week (which was Easter Sunday 1984), but assuming it was the same the previous week, the ITN News followed Tarby’s show as James’s marvellous memory recollects.
I very much doubt that the news would have been 'live at the theatre'. There's no way they'd be able to have organised that at such short notice, especially on a Sunday night. I know there was an OB there but that's a very different set up to doing a news contribution and those at the theatre probably wouldn't have been up for it anyway.
Wikipedia says his collapse was mentioned on the news but the death not till the morning which sounds more plausible. His death was declared at hospital and he wasn't taken there until the following ad break so that would have been 20 minutes before the news bulletin
Friends, I can assure you, the announcement of Tommy's death was at the end of the news bulletin that followed the Live show. The same night.
I recall the family watching the show and just assuming Tommy's fall was part of the act, until the curtain was closed and a hand appeared from behind it (which we thought was actually part of the act), as Tommy was half behind the curtain but his legs still on the audience side of the curtain and visible. The hand that appeared was trying to move the curtain to ensure that Tommy was fully covered, but it made for a funny thing to see as the camera was still trained on his spotlight and the shot was in relative close-up.
They went to a break and my father remarked "there's something wrong". When they came back from the break, we were still half expecting Tommy to continue onward with a perhaps elaborate act. But he didn't. And, oddly, we thought, the incident wasn't mentioned at all by Tarby for the remainder of the show.
Then followed ITN News and, at the very end, just before the close, I'm sure it was Trevor who said "and we end with some sad news.......". And I distinctly recall my entire family gasping at that moment, as we were all still gathered in the living room, as we were earlier when watching Tommy.
The news bulletin certainly wasn't at the theatre. It was from ITN's usual blue weekend set, back in the days when Trevor was an occasional newscaster as well as foreign correspondent.