The BFI called Hill "the first British comedian to attain fame through television" and that he was "a major star for over forty years".

[3] The show was also exported to over 100 countries around the world, a global appeal which the BFI attributed to "Hill's emphasis on visual humour transcending language barriers".

[7] After leaving Taunton's School in Southampton, Hill worked at Woolworths and as a milkman, a bridge operator, a driver and a drummer before becoming assistant stage manager with a touring revue.

He served as a mechanic, truck driver and searchlight operator in Normandy after September 1944,[9] and transferred to the Combined Services Entertainment division before the end of the war.

[12] His first job in theatre was as Reg Varney's straight man, with Hill beating a then unknown Peter Sellers to the role.

It was a topical show; for example, a March 1964 episode featured James Bond, 007, in "From Moscow with Love", and his version of The Beatles.

[13] Hill's audio recordings include "Gather in the Mushrooms" (1961), "Pepys' Diary" (1961), "Transistor Radio" (1961), "Harvest of Love" (1963) and "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)", which was the UK Christmas number one single in 1971.

In the early 1950s, he appeared as a guest on various BBC variety shows where he developed his parodic sketches, and in 1954 he was voted television personality of the year.

It had a music hall-derived format, combining live on-stage comedy and filmed segments, which included his comic characters such as Fred Scuttle, and its humour relied on slapstick, innuendo and parody.

[2] Short, bald Jackie Wright was a frequent supporting player who in many sketches had to put up with Hill slapping him on the top of his head.

[17] "To this day, The Benny Hill Show, as watched by 21.1 million people in 1977, and which over the years won its star a BAFTA, the Golden Rose of Montreux, and a Variety Club of Great Britain ITV Personality of the Year award, remains the sole programme that spoke directly to the dream experience of the hot-blooded adolescent.

This was perhaps why Thames could sell the show to so many foreign markets, from France, Spain and West Germany to the remotest jungle clearing in Brazil – deep up the Amazon River, photos of Hill were to be found in mud huts."

The tune used in all the chases, Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax", is so strongly associated with the show that it is commonly referred to as "The Benny Hill Theme".

"[15] A writer in The Independent newspaper, though, opined that Elton's charge was "like watching an elderly uncle being kicked to death by young thugs".

[19] GQ magazine stated, "Pompous and portentous as this is, blaming Hill for rape statistics is like pointing a finger at concert pianists for causing elephant poaching.

[20] A spokesman for the Broadcasting Standards Council commented that "the convention is becoming increasingly offensive ]...] It's not as funny as it was to have half-naked girls chased across the screen by a dirty old man.

[22] John Howard Davies, the head of Light Entertainment at Thames Television, was cited by the British press as the man who sacked Hill when the company decided not to renew his contract.

However, Hill managed to record only one special called Greetings from New York (with regular cast members such as Henry McGee, Bob Todd and Sue Upton), with the show becoming billed as "his final TV appearance" when released on DVD.

Hill died on the same day a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television, for which he was to have made a series of specials.

[27] "My father was mad about Benny Hill, Monty Python and The Avengers, Bond movies and the Peter Sellers films, so that's what I grew up watching.

Burgess, whose novels were often comic, relished language, wordplay and dialect, and admired the verbal and comedic skill that underlay Hill's success.

[37] Hill was a Francophile and enjoyed visits to France, particularly Marseille, where, until the 1980s, he could go to outdoor cafes anonymously, travelling on public transport and socialising with local women.

The programme featured an audience that comprised a cross-section of young adults who had little or no knowledge of Hill, to discover whether his comedy was valid to a generation that enjoyed the likes of Little Britain, The Catherine Tate Show and Borat.

In November 2021, That's TV announced that The Benny Hill Show would feature in its Christmas schedule, alongside other ITV programmes, such as Beadle's About and Kenny Everett's New Year Specials.