The Steam Video Company

The Steam Video Company was a 1984 comedy series produced by Thames Television for ITV written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick.

The six episode series was a low budget spoof of the horror genre, intermingled with spoofs on contemporary television programmes, such as Nationwide. The programmes starred the same repertory cast of comic actors in a variety of roles. The cast included: William Franklyn, Barry Cryer, Anna Dawson, Bob Todd, Madeline Smith and Jimmy Mulville. The title is thought to be a reference to 'the golden age of steam railways', with the 'steam video' apparently a spoof on the multitude of low-budget horror and exploitation films available during the early days of the British home video boom.

The Steam Video Company contains examples of:
"Waiter: There's a queue outside for the alphabet soup.
 * Paper Thin Disguise
 * Throw the Pin
 * Visual Pun: From the third episode, we get this exchange.

Chef: Bring them in!

(waiter brings gigantic Q over)

Chef: Oh, jolly good. (puts it in a saucepan -- music starts) Ah! It was a Q for a song!"