 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
Little Britain is a BBC radio and television sketch show written by Matt Lucas and David Walliams. The original series debuted on BBC Radio 4 in 2001, running for two short series of five and four half-hour episodes respectively. In 2002, the show began as a television series on the BBC's digital-only channel BBC THREE, running to 6 episodes. Most of the TV material was adapted from the original radio sketches, but there were also some original sketches featuring new recurring characters. Due to the success of the series, the first series was repeated on the mainstream channel BBC TWO. Although reactions to the series were mixed, many critics were enthusiastic, and the show has been recommissioned for another series. Interestingly, unlike many radio-based successes which have crossed over to television, it is understood that a new radio series of the programme is also planned.
A compilation of sketches from the first radio series has been released on CD. Radio 4 began a rerun of all 9 episodes in February 2004. Unusually, this overlapped with a rerun on digital radio channel BBC 7 of the first 5 that began in mid-March. In June - July BBC 7 broadcast the remaining 4.
The format of the show is based around short sketches featuring familiar characters, linked by voiceovers from Tom Baker (most famous as Doctor Who). These voiceovers take a wry look at Britain, with comically absurd statements on the nature of Britain (e.g. "Britain ... we've had running water for over 10 years and we invented the cat"; "unlike other countries Britain has people of two genders, male and female"). Regular characters include a mad Scottish hotelier with a flute; Dafydd, a gay man in a fictional small Welsh village who takes offence at any suggestion that he might not be the "only gay in the village"; the overweight, bigoted leader of Fat Fighters, a group to help people lose weight; and a caricatured schoolmaster who teaches at Kelsey Grammar (a reference to the actor Kelsey Grammer), an old-style British grammar school.
A number of characters have recurred throughout the series, including:
Marjorie Dawes runs a branch of diet group Fat Fighters. he group includes Paul, Meera (the British-Indian that Marjoria calls Mary), Jenny and Sue. One diet used by Fat Fighters is the Half the Calories diet. This involves cutting food in half. Because it is in half, it has half the calories, and because it's half the calories, you can have twice as much. Unfortunately, the diet doesn't seem to work for anyone, least of all Marjorie, although she does claim to be at her target weight, despite being over 15 stone. Marjorie originally appeared in the BBC TWO pannel game Shooting Stars in the late-1990s as the mother of baby percussionist and score-keeper George Dawes.
Ray McClooney is the chef (and the TV shows the owner) at the Aberdoon Stookhoose somewhere in Scotland. He likes speaking in riddle and rhyme and also plays his flute whenever possible, infuriating customers and staff.
Daffyd Thomas claims to be the only gay man living in the small Welsh mining village of Llandewi Breffi, despite plentiful evindence otherwise. He himself, however, often displays homophobic, or least stereotyping tendencies. He can often be found in his local, The Scarecrow and Mrs King, sipping Bacardi and Coke and reading his copy of Gay Times.
Dame Sally Malcolme is a famous romantic novelist who likes nothing better than lounging on her couch eating truffles while her aide, Miss Grace, types up what she is dictating. Unfortunately, Dame Sally's novels often fall short of the required length, so normally end with 'blah blah blah', the entire Bible being read aloud by one character, or with whatever is on the radio at the time.
Emily/Edward Howard is a not very convincing transvestite and demands to be treated as a lady. But often slips back into his/her normal voice.
Andy and Lou are best friends. Lou is kind and generous and helps his disabled friend Andy, who can actually walk. Andy is moody and contrary.
Kenny Craig is a stage hypnotist who uses his powers for silly reasons, like beating his mum at Scrabble.
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
