Sean visits the BFI celebrating the comedy legend that was Phil Silvers aka SGT BILKO.

Celebrating Phil Silvers as Bilko and beyond at the BFI, London with Cathy Silvers and Graeme Garden - August 28th 2014.

Wow what an amazing night last was. 700 Bilko-philes met at a sold out BFI on the South Bank for an evenings celebration of the great man. Phil's daughter Cathy Silvers was there and I had the very great honour to meet her. I have been a Phil Silvers fan (particularly in his Bilko guise) whilst at drama school in the mid 80s, so much so that I had dedicated dozens of VHS tapes to the recording of the series from late night BBC 2. I had a Bilko book and a list of all the episodes, so I set to work. I managed to grab 113 episodes of the 142 made, until the BBC stopped showing it, not bad going! I showed Cathy my list and she signed my 30 year old reference book, very special! Two comedy legends were also in attendance on the night, 'Goodie', Graeme Garden OBE and Barry Cryer OBE, (both of whom were clearly big fans), making up the celebrity discussion panel. A wonderful night organised by the BFI to celebrate all things Phil Silvers and the release of the entire Bilko series on DVD for the very first time. Many thanks to Steve Everitt and Mick Clews from the UK Phil Silvers Appreciation Society for all their hard work.