Fry's English Delight, Series 5, Episode 2

In this second episode, Stephen Fry explores Intonation. The rollercoaster of language, it is responsible both for the uppy/downy of Welsh and the monotone of the Dalek. It's the hidden punctuation of speech, carrying meaning not present in the written word. David Blunkett surprises us with song and reveals how important intonation is to him, RADA lets us observe an intonation class, and Stephen plays with the intonation of the football results in order to better the record of his Norwich City team. Joining Stephen is speech coach Dr Geoff Lindsey. Have you experienced HRT? No, not what you are thinking. It's High Rise Terminal, or what Stephen calls 'Australian Question Intonation', ie the ending of every sentence with a question, even when it isn't one? Together, Stephen and Geoff try and work out how it works, why it annoys and how the intonation at the end of a sentence can affect meaning.