Come to the Cabaret - Episode 1

Wilkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome! Our master of ceremonies, Paul O'Grady, celebrates the magic of cabaret, from its Parisian origins to its present-day resurgance. Debussy, Woody Allen and Christine Keeler all began in cabaret. As did Paul O Grady, who recounts tales from his own eight year residency as Lily Savage and takes a trip back to South London's Royal Vauxhall Tavern to see how it has changed. "It's a social commentary about what's going on. Doesn't matter if it's taboo, you have to bring it up. Cabaret should never be safe. Even if it ends in a police raid. I've been in the wagon many a time to the police station - full Lily regalia, handbag on me knee." Paul explores the birth of cabaret in Paris in the 1880s, with the world famous Le Chat Noir. He encounters the colourful characters who entertained and hurled insults at the punters; from Paris to the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich, and all across Europe; even taking a pit stop in a 1912 London den of iniquity - the Cave of the Golden Calf. Across the Atlantic, we take a look at Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and co, who defied the Prohibition era to entertain at one of New York's most celebrated night spots - the Cotton Club. However there was only one city that defined decadence during the inter-war years - Berlin. We meet the dancers, divas, comedians, Jewish MCs and the punters who pushed sexual, social and political boundaries in the cabarets and nightclubs of Weimar Berlin as the Nazi party came to political prominence and finally crushed the cabaret circuit. But cabaret refuses to die and we follow it to war-time London and glimpse ahead to the current resurgence with MC Dusty Limits and former cabaret performer Paloma Faith.