.gif)
Dead Ringers (comedy)
Encyclopedia
Dead Ringers is a UK
radio
and television
comedy
impressions
broadcast on BBC Radio 4
and later BBC Two
. The programme was devised by producer Bill Dare
and developed with Jon Holmes
, Andy Hurst and Simon Blackwell. It starred Jon Culshaw
, Jan Ravens
, Phil Cornwell
, Kevin Connelly
and Mark Perry
. The main writers for season 1-3 on Radio were Jon Holmes and Andy Hurst with Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain
coming on board in Series 4. Other writers have included Simon Blackwell, Jon Culshaw
, Jan Ravens
, John Finnemore
, David Mitchell
, Richard Ward, Terry Newman
, Jonathan Morris
, Colin Birch, Carl Carter
and Tony Cooke. It was revealed by star Jan Ravens
that the BBC quietly cancelled the television run in 2007 after five years of broadcast.
, Simon Lipson
and Alistair McGowan
.
On the radio, there have been ten series plus a number of specials, including one devoted to the BBC radio soap
The Archers
and one to Queen Elizabeth II
's Golden Jubilee
.
The television incarnation aired its fifth series in 2005, including a special devoted to the United Kingdom General Election on May 5 to start the six-part series, and a Christmas programme on December 23. The sixth series started on 8 May 2006 and ended on 12 June 2006 running 6 episodes. Series 7 ran from 22 February 2007 to 29 March 2007 on BBC Two at 9.30pm. There will be no further series as it has not been recommissioned.
, the parody of James Blunt
's "You're Beautiful
" is the 40th most viewed video on YouTube
.
A radio episode on Tony Blair
was broadcast on Radio 4 on 15 May 2007.
The final episode featuring David Tennant
as himself/a newly-regenerated
Tony Blair
, was broadcast on the 29 March 2007.
It was revealed in April 2009 that no further series of Dead Ringers will be produced.
employees such as Radio 4 newsreader Brian Perkins
as a Godfather
-like figure ("Who's the daddy?"), controlling all Radio 4. He sends death threats to other members of the BBC, and threatens to kill anyone who chats up Charlotte Green
. In one sketch, the Dead Ringers Perkins telephoned the real Perkins, the impersonator accusing the real Perkins of not being "hard" enough. Perkins joined in, claiming that he once put colleague Peter Donaldson
's feet in concrete
and threw him into a canal. The Perkins character was written by Jon Holmes
although he claims he was simply transcribing overheard threats from the real one.
Another character was the former director general of the BBC, Greg Dyke
, portrayed with a Michael Caine
-like accent by Phil Cornwell
, who had previously played Caine in Stella Street
. Dyke was portrayed claiming to have recommissioned Fame Academy
while he was drunk at a BBC Christmas party. Dyke is portrayed as hating the Dalek
s: "Bring back Doctor Who
? OK - but there's going to be no Dalek
s in it. They've crossed me too many times!"
Kirsty Wark
of Newsnight
opens bulletins on the programme with a line from a popular song read in an incongruously solemn newseader's tone, closing with "More on that story later" ("My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like, it's better than yours, damn right, it's better than yours. More on that story later.") Fiona Bruce
and Charlotte Green
(of Radio 4) are portrayed as seductive and saucy; Green confesses to a "ribald" sense of humour.
Broadcasts reportedly from Downing Street
parody previous BBC political editor Andrew Marr
, showing his supposed eccentric manner, interminable sentences, and jerky movements — he is shown with giant hands operated by rods and speaks in mixed metaphor: "Well Fiona, might I say my goose has well and truly had its chips". Sir Patrick Moore
is revealed as not an astronomer but a peeping-tom and psychic around the London Eye
. Movie quotes are twisted and added to everyday things. Russell Crowe in Gladiator
: "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife... and that's when I called Claims Direct!” 'Jazz' singer Jamie Cullum
is portrayed with the voice and body movements of Gollum
from The Lord of the Rings
.
One recurring gag includes celebrities being introduced in news or interviews as the "offspring" of a famous person, character or even an object from everyday entertainment or culture.
Culshaw performs prank telephone calls, impersonating among others Tom Baker
's incarnation
of the Doctor
, Alec Guinness
as Obi-Wan Kenobi
, art critic Brian Sewell
and talk show presenter Michael Parkinson
. In the TV version, he roams as such characters, vexing shop assistants and salesmen with such pronouncements as, "I seek passage to Aldershot
" which mirrors Alec Guinness's line in Star Wars
"I seek passage to Alderaan." He also interviewed a bus stop of people as Parkinson. As the Doctor, he ventured into a furniture store seeking a replacement TARDIS
, entering one wardrobe and re-emerging from another (to the astonishment of the shop clerk). He accompanied tourists on the London Eye
while declaring they were trapped in a Sontaran
"interstitial time helix".
Alan Bennett
is also another person impersonated. His sketches were monologues, each recounting an improbable tale about an incident with Thora Hird
, normally getting Peter Sallis
and the fictional Mr Pettiforth from No. 42 in the story. Past exploits have included Hird as a dominatrix
, a football hooligan, a dictator
(having plastic surgery to look like Saddam Hussein
), a Satanic
priest
ess, a May Day protestor
, and raised by Southerners.
The Jeremy Kyle Show
is also featured, with Kyle calling the guests 'scum' and forcing them to make up. He screams at audience and guests. "HUG HIM!" then "THAT'S NOT HUGGING!" He shouts "Roll the credits... FASTER!" "Hello I'm Jeremy Kyle, and you're scum."
Radio 4 shows are mocked in the radio series. They include the Today Programme
, where John Humphrys
never gets the time right, Sue MacGregor
stressing the "Mac" in her name, and Rabbi Lionel Blue on "Thought for the Day
" telling listeners "Don't worry, something will turn up, it usually does." Other shows mocked include Go 4 It
as a Radio 4 children programme with little for children. It was formerly hosted by Matt Smith
, noted for saying "Ace", at the end of every sentence. He is the only person that Brian Perkins fears taking on.
However, the show most mocked Radio 4's The Archers
. Characters impersonated include Clarrie and Eddie Grundy, stumbling from one crisis to another, Joe Grundy and his incomprehensible yokel
accent, Jack Woolley’s incomprehensible Brummie
, posh Brian Aldridge, snooty Lynda Snell, and Geordie
-accented Ruth "Oh noooh" Archer. Other Radio 4 programmes mocked include Letter from America
, Money Box, Brain of Britain
, Counterpoint
, Loose Ends
, You and Yours
and Front Row
.
, dating back to the earliest radio series, has former Prime Minister
, Tony Blair
referring to his physical characteristics and mannerisms as if he were reading from a script and forgetting to stop when he got to the stage directions ("Hello, I'm Tony Blair. Reassuring gesture, concerned brow, smug smile"). More recently, this was replaced by Blair addressing the nation in an insulting, oppressive or vaguely aggressive way. In one episode, prior to resignation as prime minister, Blair is seen regenerating into David Tennant
(the Tenth Doctor
) during an interview with Nick Robinson, after stating that the Blair legacy must go on.
Meanwhile, former Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott
, speaks in incomprehensible long sentences. On one occasion he catches fire when two sentences rub together, along with being the subject of the "Prescott-Widening Scheme" to go with a similar one for Britain's roads. When he announces that this scheme would reduce the amount of incomprehensible sentences uttered, Kirsty Wark comments that this could be the most popular thing he's ever done.
John Reid is portrayed as a Victor Meldrew
-like character, always complaining and throwing abuse at TV presenters, but is later portrayed as a tough hardman.
When David Blunkett
was Home Secretary, he was portrayed as a hard man who was "Only in this Home Secretary game for the arse-kicking". On a revamped episode of the Today show, he expressed his desire to become a Hollywood reporter and sort out Ben Affleck. After he was sacked as Home Secretary, Blunkett was in line to become the next hard man on EastEnders
, with "Dirty" Den having a premonition that he was about to die in a needlessly sensationalist way. It later emerged that Blunkett had had an affair with "Dirty" Den and then cruelly dumped him.
The late Robin Cook
is even less coherent, and it has been suggested that the famous Doctor Who theme music
was created by combining a recording of Cook explaining his views on the European Union with (for the higher-pitched sounds) his reaction to being told that all young, female
BBC employees were turned on by ugly ginger men with beards.
Clare Short
is meanwhile portrayed as an angry woman hated by the government, with an almost fixed grimace: "I was so flabbergasted when the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, announced that we were going to war that my jaw dropped by almost half a millimetre!", while Alistair Darling
's contrasting black eyebrows and white hair make him more badger
than human.
Charles Kennedy
, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, appears as a bit of a drunk, while Michael Howard
, the former head of the Conservative Party, was shown as a vampire (a reference to the "something of the night about him" comment by Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe
). In some episodes, he channelled all of his evil into his left hand, to create a "hand of evil", which would often embarrass him when he tried to express his view on something. During a time when some Conservative peers defected to the UK Independence Party, his hand of evil defected to UKIP, so he cut off his hand to remove it from the party and his body. But, as a result, his other hand became evil (and defected to the BNP).
Opposition leaders of the day were also parodied; David Cameron
is a vote grabbing popularist, who avoids the tough issues in favour of policies about coat hangers and children's clothing, and has to write down the name of his party on the palm of his hand. Menzies Campbell
meanwhile is portrayed as an old, out-of-touch grandfatherly figure ignored by his party; at one point, the Liberal Democrats
brick-up all the windows and doors to his house. He frequently complains about the poor conditions in the old people's home in which he resides and always refers to himself in the third person as "Mighty Ming", a reference to the arch-enemy of Flash Gordon
, Ming the Merciless
. He ends every speech by saying "night night" and turning off the lamp by which he is sitting.
The Queen
is also ridiculed, portrayed as someone who constantly makes announcements. She is first seen making an apology for her involvement in the Paul Burrell
affair — and is mocked by the media as being someone "who holds all the answers to all the unsolved cases without even realising it". The Queen also appears for fictional newspaper The Bung, as "an old lady who met Diana once or twice in a big house". She comments briefly on the princess and asks "Can one have one's money now?" The Queen has also fought Darth Vader
, who turned out to be Prince Philip behind the mask. The Queen also hosts "QVC Shopping Channel" with Prince Philip, who is selling a diamond tiara for nothing to any member of the Royal household. He advises them that they can take it round the "society jewellers and flog it for more money than Harry spends on hashish". She also took over Helen Mirren
's role in Prime Suspect in revenge for Mirren playing the Queen in the movie of the same title. She closed the episode with the line "One's telling you one's nicked, you slag!"
In Series 7, John Reid is portrayed as the nodding dog "Churchill", which says "oh, yes" when something is correct, and, when he was asked if he would fix the Home Office, he said "Oh, no no". There was a parody of the Apple Mac computer, where Blair was the "PC" and Cameron was the "Mac"; they both agreed that they are all the public have (for leadership), and then Campbell drives in his electric wheelchair, saying that he's a Sinclair ZX81. Gordon Brown
, initially portrayed simply as an incredibly emotionless and unexpressive man, became a fully robotic character, often malfunctioning and occasionally issuing Dalek-esque calls to "EXTERMINATE!" He is also shown as a dictatorial, Stalin-esque figure.
, which satirised many international public figures, Dead Ringers tends to concentrate on British ones. One notable exception is U.S. President George W. Bush
, whose own Bushism
s are ridiculed even further with invented words such as "Ignorify", "Astonisherate", "Climactification" and "Shockerating". At one point he refers to Condoleezza Rice as "Basmati Rice" and displays his misspeaking with the statement "I want Osama Bin Laden
capturised alive or dead or both!" His use of malapropism
s is also lampooned ruthlessly, such as when he says, "My fellow Abbytitmuses, this is your Steradent speaking..."
Sometimes, his actions are caricatured as childlike and lacking in understanding of the consequences (for example, taping over intelligence videos with episodes of Sesame Street
). One of the most famous sketches of the President involves him telling the captured Saddam Hussein
that it's now his turn to start hiding in a new game of international hide-and-seek (lampooning the Monty Python sketch of the same name). In one sketch, the show lampoons the American public by using Bush as a 'translator' for a speech that Culshaw's Tony Blair is making. Bush reduces the speech to statements such as "America good" and "Bad man obliterified!"
in Europe
and Africa
, BBC America
in the United States
, ABC
in Australia
, BBC Canada
in Canada
and UK.TV in New Zealand
, but has had to be re-edited considerably – although much of the show can be watched without contextual knowledge.
where the Cardiff Rift is seen as a way of randomly changing scene locations, the sketch also makes fun of the fact that it is seen as an adult version of Doctor Who
, the Welsh setting, along with the campness of Captain Jack Harkness
(John Barrowman
). Each character is so one dimensional they have to keep their characteristic stuck to the jacket, such as "Annoying" (Owen Harper
), "Dull and Annoying" (Ianto Jones
), "Camp and Annoying" (Jack Harkness) and, finally, Gwen is simply "Welsh".
, variously featuring Jesus's disciples
, Robert Falcon Scott
and his Antarctic explorers, and monk
s who had taken a vow of silence. In the former two, Anne Robinson
(played by Jan Ravens
) appeared from nowhere, riding her desk, and entered an apparently historical scene, which rapidly converted into the Weakest Link studio. Robinson herself was depicted as being unreasonably and sadistically cruel, throwing a snowball at doomed explorer Captain Lawrence Oates
as he leaves, while responding to his famous last words with "You'll be gone forever matey! Now shove off!" Also, Robinson appeared from nowhere when Jesus and his disciples (only eight are shown) have their last supper, in which Judas is voted off from the round (as 'the Weakest Disciple').
The radio show versions featured King Arthur
and his Knights of the Round Table, and a themed sketch that had a large number of television gameshow hosts like Chris Tarrant
, the late Richard Whiteley
and Ruby Wax
. It was called The Weakest Host and Anne berated them each, voting them all out. A Doctor Who
-themed sketch featured Anne Robinson as a possible candidate to play the Ninth Doctor
. Featuring the Dalek
s and the Cybermen
, the Daleks were voted as The Weakest Evil Creature and had to perform the Walk of Shame; "The most embarrassing part was the walk of shame, I'm sure it never used to be three flights of stairs." But possibly the most famous of these radio sketches was the ultimate showdown between Anne and Brian Perkins
, which results in Anne being declared the weakest link by the "Daddy of the BBC".
game show
Deal or No Deal, with Culshaw impersonating Noel Edmonds
and frequently mocking both the repetitive nature of the programme and fact that the show's excitement is derived entirely from the opening of boxes. Another sketch also showed Anne Robinson
, host of daytime game show The Weakest Link
, appearing in the Deal or No Deal studio and ruining Edmond's television comeback by summoning Noel's House Party
regular Mr Blobby, who destroys the studio before wrestling Edmonds to the ground, causing Edmonds to sob whilst yelling "You've ruined everything!”
On 29 October 2006 Culshaw appeared on Deal or No Deal itself, impersonating Edmonds as part of the show's first birthday special.
, Alan Rickman
and Brian Blessed
are often typecast as over-the-top, melodramatic or camp stock villains in films and TV shows. (Rickman, it has been noted, often takes roles McKellen has previously turned down.)
A common sketch will start up with a set-up of the scene (e.g. a Schwarzenegger
-esque action hero
battling armed men in an action film), then McKellen will burst onto the screen in an electric wheelchair and mock the protagonist of the sketch (often he opens with the line: "I'm Ian McKellen aka Doctor Death!"), then Rickman will appear on screen and proclaim something to the effect of "Not if I have anything to do with it, I'm Alan Rrrrrrrrickman!" (the impersonator often exaggerates Rickman's drawling voice). The two villains will forget the protagonist and proceed to insult each other, each claiming to be the better villain. Often the impersonators pick out characteristics of Rickman and McKellen that make them suitable stock villains. One memorable sketch has McKellen proclaiming: "But everybody knows I'm far more moustache-twirling and cruel than you are!" to which Rickman replies: "But I'm more stiff-necked than you and I do a great set of arrrrrrrched eyebrows!" Eventually the argument escalates to a point where they both unveil deadly weapons. McKellen sports a retractable "miniature cannon" (though it resembles a Gatling gun
more than anything else) attached to his wheelchair, whilst Rickman pulls a huge silver bazooka as if from nowhere. These weapons even appear when the two men face off for the role of 'Mr Parcy', the cad in a period drama - with Rickman referring to his gun as a 'Regency Bazookoid Blaster'. They both proceed to shoot each other until they are dead, leaving the protagonist of the sketch shell-shocked. Eventually the protagonist will proclaim something to the effect of "Where am I going to find another melodramatic villain for my last action film?", at which point Brian Blessed bursts into the room, clad in a costume resembling the costume he wore as Prince Vultan
in Flash Gordon
. Blessed always looks extremely jolly and always says only one line at the top of his voice: "HELLO! I'M BRIAN BLESSED!", to which the protagonist will react in an annoyed or aggressive manner, (e.g. 'oh sod off, fatty' in the period drama, and being shot by Schwarzenegger in the action film).
"extra" programme to complement Countdown
. The show was filled with excitable presenters such as Justin Lee Collins
and a hyped up studio audience similar to Saturday morning shows and Big Brother spin-offs on E4. The audience were asked for their reactions on the day's questions and the camera was spun everywhere with the audience cheering in the background. Comedy actress and regular impressionist Jess Robinson
featured as a blonde bimbo type, exclaiming 'I'd like to give Des; one from the top, two from the bottom and three from anywhere else!'. At the end of the sketch, another Big Brother parody was shown when the audience was asked to evict one of two letters.
Countdown is a slow and traditional show that was mercilessly compared with Channel 4's youth-orientated line-up. Des Lynam
is portrayed as the disgruntled and defeatist presenter, who seems constantly in conflict with the show which he takes every opportunity to devalue ('OK, so Dave is the best at making a word out of Strobcats..'). He is seen as dismayed by the passing of time in his current status ('...that's another 30 seconds of my life I'll never see again') and as a result is frequently in reminiscence of his past ('Do you think when I was 25 I was playing word games with Martin bloody Jarvis?'), particularly his football commentator roots ('I used to be the most important man in football, you know.') In one episode, he appears on Match of the Day determined to become the presenter again. He says he doesn't mind just covering the boring matches, "the ones with America playing".
show within Dead Ringers, where the Doctor
must live with a Cyber Family.
, Tony Blair
, James Bond
, Pierce Brosnan
and Daniel Craig
, Ozzy Osbourne
, Sir Patrick Moore, Obi-Wan Kenobi
, Victor Meldrew
and Richard Wilson, Brian Sewell
, Fourth Doctor
(Tom Baker
), Tenth Doctor
(David Tennant
), Brian Perkins
, Simon Cowell
, Master Yoda
(on radio)), Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
, David Beckham
, Chris Tarrant
, William Hague
, Simon Schama
, Russell Crowe
& Maximus Decimus Meridius, Ricky Gervais
, Michael Buerk
, Sir Trevor McDonald (on television), George Lucas
, Jeremy Clarkson
, Arnold Schwarzenegger
, Sir Alan Sugar
, David Frost
, Ross Kemp
, Eminem
, Gordon Ramsay
, Judge John Deed
, Terry Wogan
, John Humphrys
, Rolf Harris
, Charlotte Church
(on radio), Jonathan Ross
, Dale Winton
, Jon Pertwee
, Chris Eubank
, Frank Bruno
(on radio), Richard Whiteley
, Morgan Freeman
, Bono
, Homer Simpson
(on radio), John Craven, Griff Rhys Jones
, Billy Connolly
, Nick Ross
, Senator John Edwards
, Phil Spencer
, Robbie Williams
, John Motson
, Gary Lineker
(on radio), Jack Bauer
, Dermot Murnaghan
, Johnny Vegas
, Shane Richie
, Liam Gallagher
, Captain Jack Sparrow
, Jar Jar Binks
, Doctor Octopus
, José Mourinho
, Hugh Laurie
& Dr Gregory House
, James Blunt
, Alex Turner
, Noel Edmonds
, Justin Lee Collins
, Jamie Cullum
, Jamie Oliver
, Wolverine
, Ian Hislop
, Jeremy Kyle
, Wayne Rooney
, Gordon Brown
, Michael Owen
, Jack Johnson
, Captain Jack Harkness
, Pete Doherty
, Ewan McGregor
, Peter Andre
, Robin Hood
, James Nesbitt
, Michael Pike
, Anne Robinson
, Judi Dench
and M
, Cherie Blair
, Sophie Raworth
, Fiona Bruce
, Delia Smith
, Patricia Routledge
, Margaret Thatcher
, Charlotte Green
, Norah Jones
, Natasha Kaplinsky
, Kate Adie
, Clarrie Grundy
, Germaine Greer
, Clare Short
, Ann Widdecombe
, Hillary Clinton, Meryl Streep
, Ellen MacArthur
, Kirstie Allsopp
, Carol Smillie
(Smiley Carol), Linda Barker
, Nigella Lawson
, Kirsty Wark
, Frodo Baggins
, Sharon Osbourne
, Lesley Garrett
, Jessie Wallace
, Tessa Jowell
, Amanda Burton
, Thora Hird
, Sue McGregor, Barbara Windsor
, Carol Vorderman
, Gwen Stefani
, Madonna
, Caroline Quentin
, Tom Cruise
, C.J. Cregg, Condoleezza Rice
, Dido
, Dr Tanya Byron
, Julia Thorne
, Diane Sawyer
, Clarice Starling
(on radio), Trisha Goddard
, Marge Simpson
(on radio), Peggy Mitchell
, Pat Evans
, Victoria "Nana" Moon, Kat Moon
, Sophie Neveu, Katie Melua
, Rose Tyler
, Jennifer Aniston
, Bree Hodge, Nicky Hambleton-Jones
, Beyoncé Knowles
, Jessica Fletcher
, Mariella Frostrup
, Jane Fonda
, June Whitfield
, Helen Mirren
, Gwen Cooper
, Renée Zellweger
& Beatrix Potter
, Lily Allen
, Kerry Katona
, Jenny Eclair, Katie Price, Chloe O'Brian
(voice only), Victoria Wood
, David Dimbleby
, Bill Clinton
, Dick Cheney
, Charles Kennedy
, Iain Duncan Smith
, Mark Lawson
, David Starkey
, Des Lynam
, Michael Howard
, Harry Potter
, James Naughtie
, Kenneth Clarke
, Andrew Marr
, Bill Oddie
, Michael Palin
, Andrew Neil
, Adrian Chiles
, President Josiah Bartlet
, Boris Johnson
, John Simpson (on radio), Rev. Ian Paisley
, Andrew Gilligan
, Ned Sherrin
, Seventh Doctor
& Sylvester McCoy
, Sir Menzies Campbell
, Ringo Starr
, Nick Robinson
, Sir Alex Ferguson
, Alan Carr
, John Reid
, Stephen Fry
, John Prescott
, Robin Cook
, Gandalf
, David Cameron
, Magneto
and Ian McKellen
, Professor Robert Winston
, Dr Rowan Williams
, David Blunkett
, Tom Paulin
, Saddam Hussein
, Peter Mandelson
, Graham Norton
, Martin Jarvis, Trevor McDonald
(on radio), Bob Geldof
, Ken Livingstone
, Brian Blessed
, Luciano Pavarotti
, Monty Don
, Richard Briers
, Patrick Stewart
, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
, Toby Ziegler
, Donald Rumsfeld
, Adam Hart-Davis
, Hannibal Lecter
(on radio), Lord Voldemort
(on radio), Hercule Poirot
, Second Doctor
& Patrick Troughton
, Bernard Matthews
, Rocky Balboa
, Al Gore
, George Lamb
, Darth Vader
, The Duke of Edinburgh
, Saruman
and Christopher Lee
, Don Vito Corleone, Michael Caine
, Derren Brown
, Professor Snape & Alan Rickman
, Jack Nicholson
, Jamie Oliver
, Jacques Chirac
, Alistair Darling
, Jack Straw
, Marlon Brando
, Bruce Forsyth
, Osama Bin Laden
, Senator John Kerry
, Leo McGarry
, Ninth Doctor
Who & Christopher Eccleston
, Prince Charles, Gerry Adams
, Justin Hawkins
, Jon Snow
, Jimmy Hill
, Stelios Haji-Ioannou
(on radio), Alistair Cooke
(on radio), Tony Robinson
, Lord Hutton, Jimmy Savile
, Adolf Hitler
, God
, Judas Iscariot
, Russell Brand
, Jeremy Vine
, Evan Davis
, Neil Burgess a.k.a Barry Scott, Donald Duck
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
impressions
Impressionist (entertainment)
An impressionist or a mimic is a performer whose act consists of imitating the voice and mannerisms of others. The word usually refers to a professional comedian/entertainer who specializes in such performances and has developed a wide repertoire of impressions, including adding to them, often to...
broadcast on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
and later BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. The programme was devised by producer Bill Dare
Bill Dare
Bill Dare is an English producer and devisor of radio and television comedy programmes.The son of the actor and broadcaster Peter Jones, he is a graduate of the University of Manchester who subsequently became an actor, director and writer...
and developed with Jon Holmes
Jon Holmes
Jon Holmes is a seven time Sony award-winning and double Bafta winning British writer, comedian and broadcaster.-Early life:...
, Andy Hurst and Simon Blackwell. It starred Jon Culshaw
Jon Culshaw
Jonathan Peter Culshaw is an English impressionist and comedian. He was educated at St Bede's RC High School, Ormskirk and St John Rigby College, in Orrell, Wigan....
, Jan Ravens
Jan Ravens
Janet "Jan" Ravens is an English actress and impressionist, famous for her voices on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers.-Early life:...
, Phil Cornwell
Phil Cornwell
Phil Cornwell is an English comedian, actor, impressionist and writer. He is probably best known as being part of the Dead Ringers television and radio series...
, Kevin Connelly
Kevin Connelly
Kevin Connelly was born in Middlesbrough, England. He is an impressionist comedian, and after dinner speaker and is probably most famous for his role on the popular BBC television programme 'Dead Ringers'....
and Mark Perry
Mark Perry (impressionist)
Mark Perry is a British impressionist and his notable impressions include; David Dickinson, John Prescott and the late Robin Cook. Perry is known for playing various public figures in Dead Ringers and 2DTV. In 2007 he appeared in the radio comedy Bleak Expectations...
. The main writers for season 1-3 on Radio were Jon Holmes and Andy Hurst with Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain
Nev Fountain
Nev Fountain, born Steven John Fountain, is an English writer, best known for his comedy work with writing partner Tom Jamieson on the radio and television programme Dead Ringers.A native of Stamford, Fountain attended the University of Warwick...
coming on board in Series 4. Other writers have included Simon Blackwell, Jon Culshaw
Jon Culshaw
Jonathan Peter Culshaw is an English impressionist and comedian. He was educated at St Bede's RC High School, Ormskirk and St John Rigby College, in Orrell, Wigan....
, Jan Ravens
Jan Ravens
Janet "Jan" Ravens is an English actress and impressionist, famous for her voices on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers.-Early life:...
, John Finnemore
John Finnemore (writer)
John David Finnemore is a comedy writer and actor best known as a frequent guest on The Now Show and for the radio sitcom Cabin Pressure.-Education:...
, David Mitchell
David Mitchell (actor)
David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...
, Richard Ward, Terry Newman
Terry Newman
Terry Newman is an award-winning British playwright.Newman's works include What Do You Do The Night After You've Saved The Universe?, The Life and Times of a Wonder Woman, Dulcas's Women, Burke and Hare and Being Dennis Potter....
, Jonathan Morris
Jonathan Morris (author)
Jonathan Morris was born in Taunton England in 1973. He is an author principally known for writing various kinds of Doctor Who spin-off material...
, Colin Birch, Carl Carter
Carl Carter
Carl Carter is a former cornerback in the NFL. He played for the St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals, Cincinnati Bengals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Green Bay Packers. Collegiately, he played for the Texas Tech Red Raiders....
and Tony Cooke. It was revealed by star Jan Ravens
Jan Ravens
Janet "Jan" Ravens is an English actress and impressionist, famous for her voices on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers.-Early life:...
that the BBC quietly cancelled the television run in 2007 after five years of broadcast.
History
The programme aired in 2000. The cast of the first series was different from other instalments. Of the established team, only Culshaw and Ravens appeared, as did Kate RobbinsKate Robbins
Katherine Robbins is an English actress, comedienne and singer.-Biography:Robbins is a first cousin once removed of Paul McCartney and older sister of Amy Robbins . She attended Wirral Grammar School for Girls and won the Drama Prizes each year, notably with her monologue "All this glitters is not...
, Simon Lipson
Simon Lipson
Simon Lipson is an actor, writer, comedian and impressionist from England.His radio career has included being lead impressionist on BBC Radio 5 Live's The Game's Up, regular presenter and impressionist on Interesting...Very Interesting, Radio 4's Dead Ringers, a regular panelist on BBC Radio 2's...
and Alistair McGowan
Alistair McGowan
Alistair McGowan is a British impressionist, stand-up comic, actor, singer and writer best known to British audiences for The Big Impression , which was, for four years, one of BBC1's top-rating comedy programmes - winning numerous awards, including a BAFTA in 2003...
.
On the radio, there have been ten series plus a number of specials, including one devoted to the BBC radio soap
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
and one to Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
's Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was the international celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries, upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, and was intended by the Queen to be both a commemoration of her 50...
.
The television incarnation aired its fifth series in 2005, including a special devoted to the United Kingdom General Election on May 5 to start the six-part series, and a Christmas programme on December 23. The sixth series started on 8 May 2006 and ended on 12 June 2006 running 6 episodes. Series 7 ran from 22 February 2007 to 29 March 2007 on BBC Two at 9.30pm. There will be no further series as it has not been recommissioned.
, the parody of James Blunt
James Blunt
James Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...
's "You're Beautiful
You're Beautiful
"You're Beautiful" is a pop rock song co-written by British singer James Blunt, Sacha Skarbek, and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album Back to Bedlam . It was released as the third single from the album in 2005. In the UK and Australia the song reached number one and number two respectively...
" is the 40th most viewed video on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
A radio episode on Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
was broadcast on Radio 4 on 15 May 2007.
The final episode featuring David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
as himself/a newly-regenerated
Regeneration (Doctor Who)
Regeneration, in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, is a biological ability exhibited by Time Lords, a race of fictional humanoids originating on the planet Gallifrey. This process allows a Time Lord who is old or mortally wounded to undergo a transformation into a new...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, was broadcast on the 29 March 2007.
It was revealed in April 2009 that no further series of Dead Ringers will be produced.
Content
The series is known for portrayal of BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
employees such as Radio 4 newsreader Brian Perkins
Brian Perkins
Brian Perkins is a senior newsreader on BBC Radio 4.All of Perkins' relatives are New Zealanders, although they refer to England as home...
as a Godfather
The Godfather (novel)
The Godfather is a crime novel written by Italian American author Mario Puzo, originally published in 1969 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. It details the story of a fictitious Sicilian Mafia family based in New York City and headed by Don Vito Corleone, who became synonymous with the Italian Mafia...
-like figure ("Who's the daddy?"), controlling all Radio 4. He sends death threats to other members of the BBC, and threatens to kill anyone who chats up Charlotte Green
Charlotte Green
Charlotte Green is a British radio continuity announcer and news reader for BBC Radio 4. Since 1998 she has specialised in news reading, including reading the news on Radio 4 flagship Today, and reading news items on The News Quiz...
. In one sketch, the Dead Ringers Perkins telephoned the real Perkins, the impersonator accusing the real Perkins of not being "hard" enough. Perkins joined in, claiming that he once put colleague Peter Donaldson
Peter Donaldson
Peter Ian Donaldson is a main newsreader on BBC Radio 4.He was born in Cairo, Egypt and moved to Cyprus in 1952 at the time of the overthrow of King Farouk. He was a frequent listener to the BBC World Service and the BFBS....
's feet in concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
and threw him into a canal. The Perkins character was written by Jon Holmes
Jon Holmes
Jon Holmes is a seven time Sony award-winning and double Bafta winning British writer, comedian and broadcaster.-Early life:...
although he claims he was simply transcribing overheard threats from the real one.
Another character was the former director general of the BBC, Greg Dyke
Greg Dyke
Gregory "Greg" Dyke is a British media executive, journalist and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am...
, portrayed with a Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
-like accent by Phil Cornwell
Phil Cornwell
Phil Cornwell is an English comedian, actor, impressionist and writer. He is probably best known as being part of the Dead Ringers television and radio series...
, who had previously played Caine in Stella Street
Stella Street
Stella Street is a British television comedy programme, originally screened on BBC Two between 1997 and 2001. It focuses on the antics of a group of British and American celebrities who all happen to live on Stella Street in Surbiton ....
. Dyke was portrayed claiming to have recommissioned Fame Academy
Fame Academy
Fame Academy is a televised competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner received a chance to become a successful music artist. The prize consisted of a £1m recording contract with a major record company, plus the use of a luxury apartment in London and a sports car for one...
while he was drunk at a BBC Christmas party. Dyke is portrayed as hating the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s: "Bring back Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
? OK - but there's going to be no Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s in it. They've crossed me too many times!"
Kirsty Wark
Kirsty Wark
Kirsteen Anne Wark is a British journalist and television presenter best known for fronting the BBC Two's news and current affairs programme Newsnight since 1993, and its weekly arts annexe Newsnight Review which is now relaunched as "The Review Show".-Biography:Wark was born in Dumfries to Jimmy...
of Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
opens bulletins on the programme with a line from a popular song read in an incongruously solemn newseader's tone, closing with "More on that story later" ("My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like, it's better than yours, damn right, it's better than yours. More on that story later.") Fiona Bruce
Fiona Bruce
Fiona Elizabeth Bruce is a British journalist, newsreader and television presenter. Since joining the BBC in 1989, she has gone on to present many flagship programmes for the corporation including the BBC News at Six, BBC News at Ten, Crimewatch, Call My Bluff and, most recently, Antiques Roadshow...
and Charlotte Green
Charlotte Green
Charlotte Green is a British radio continuity announcer and news reader for BBC Radio 4. Since 1998 she has specialised in news reading, including reading the news on Radio 4 flagship Today, and reading news items on The News Quiz...
(of Radio 4) are portrayed as seductive and saucy; Green confesses to a "ribald" sense of humour.
Broadcasts reportedly from Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
parody previous BBC political editor Andrew Marr
Andrew Marr
Andrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....
, showing his supposed eccentric manner, interminable sentences, and jerky movements — he is shown with giant hands operated by rods and speaks in mixed metaphor: "Well Fiona, might I say my goose has well and truly had its chips". Sir Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
is revealed as not an astronomer but a peeping-tom and psychic around the London Eye
London Eye
The London Eye is a tall giant Ferris wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames, in London, England.It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people annually...
. Movie quotes are twisted and added to everyday things. Russell Crowe in Gladiator
Gladiator (2000 film)
Gladiator is a 2000 historical epic film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays the loyal Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed...
: "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife... and that's when I called Claims Direct!” 'Jazz' singer Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum is an English pop and jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Though he is primarily a vocalist/pianist he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00.- Early...
is portrayed with the voice and body movements of Gollum
Gollum
Gollum is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He was introduced in the author's fantasy novel The Hobbit, and became an important supporting character in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings....
from The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
.
One recurring gag includes celebrities being introduced in news or interviews as the "offspring" of a famous person, character or even an object from everyday entertainment or culture.
Culshaw performs prank telephone calls, impersonating among others Tom Baker
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
's incarnation
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
of the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
, Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is one of several primary characters in the Star Wars series. Along with Darth Vader, R2-D2, and C-3PO, he is one of the few major characters to appear in all six Star Wars films...
, art critic Brian Sewell
Brian Sewell
Brian Sewell is an English art critic and media personality. He writes for the London Evening Standard and is noted for artistic conservatism and his acerbic view of the Turner Prize and conceptual art...
and talk show presenter Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
. In the TV version, he roams as such characters, vexing shop assistants and salesmen with such pronouncements as, "I seek passage to Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
" which mirrors Alec Guinness's line in Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
"I seek passage to Alderaan." He also interviewed a bus stop of people as Parkinson. As the Doctor, he ventured into a furniture store seeking a replacement TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
, entering one wardrobe and re-emerging from another (to the astonishment of the shop clerk). He accompanied tourists on the London Eye
London Eye
The London Eye is a tall giant Ferris wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames, in London, England.It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people annually...
while declaring they were trapped in a Sontaran
Sontaran
The Sontarans are a fictional extraterrestrial race of humanoids from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and also seen in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. They were created by writer Robert Holmes.-Culture:...
"interstitial time helix".
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
is also another person impersonated. His sketches were monologues, each recounting an improbable tale about an incident with Thora Hird
Thora Hird
Dame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...
, normally getting Peter Sallis
Peter Sallis
Peter Sallis, OBE is an English actor and entertainer, well-known for his work on British television. Although he was born and brought up in London, his two most notable roles require him to adopt the accents and mannerisms of a Northerner.Sallis is best known for his role as the main character...
and the fictional Mr Pettiforth from No. 42 in the story. Past exploits have included Hird as a dominatrix
Dominatrix
Dominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
, a football hooligan, a dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
(having plastic surgery to look like Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
), a Satanic
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
ess, a May Day protestor
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
, and raised by Southerners.
The Jeremy Kyle Show
The Jeremy Kyle Show
The Jeremy Kyle Show is an award-winning British daytime television tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle that has been broadcast on ITV since 4 July 2005. The show is recorded and produced by Granada Television at the Granada Studios on Quay Street in Manchester city centre and broadcast each...
is also featured, with Kyle calling the guests 'scum' and forcing them to make up. He screams at audience and guests. "HUG HIM!" then "THAT'S NOT HUGGING!" He shouts "Roll the credits... FASTER!" "Hello I'm Jeremy Kyle, and you're scum."
Radio 4 shows are mocked in the radio series. They include the Today Programme
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...
, where John Humphrys
John Humphrys
Desmond John Humphrys , is a Welsh-born British author, journalist and presenter of radio and television, who has won many national broadcasting awards...
never gets the time right, Sue MacGregor
Sue MacGregor
Susan Katriona MacGregor CBE is a British writer and broadcaster.-Early life:Her parents were Scottish and emigrated to South Africa where she was brought up. Her father was a doctor, a neurologist who was in the British 14th Army in Burma in the Royal Army Medical Corps...
stressing the "Mac" in her name, and Rabbi Lionel Blue on "Thought for the Day
Thought for the Day
Thought for the Day is a daily scripted slot on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 offering "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news", broadcast at around 7.45 each Monday to Saturday morning...
" telling listeners "Don't worry, something will turn up, it usually does." Other shows mocked include Go 4 It
Go 4 It
Go4it was a children's magazine programme broadcast on Sunday evenings at 7.15pm on BBC Radio 4, and one of the few speech-based shows on British national radio aimed at younger listeners....
as a Radio 4 children programme with little for children. It was formerly hosted by Matt Smith
Matt Smith (broadcaster)
Matt Smith is a British broadcaster, and currently one of ITV Sport's main presenters.-Early life:Matt is a Modern Languages and Political Studies graduate from Sheffield City Polytechnic, where he studied from 1985-89. During that time he spent a year in Italy as part of his studies...
, noted for saying "Ace", at the end of every sentence. He is the only person that Brian Perkins fears taking on.
However, the show most mocked Radio 4's The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
. Characters impersonated include Clarrie and Eddie Grundy, stumbling from one crisis to another, Joe Grundy and his incomprehensible yokel
Yokel
Yokel is a derogatory term referring to the stereotype of unsophisticated country people.-Stereotype:In the US, it is used to describe someone living in rural areas...
accent, Jack Woolley’s incomprehensible Brummie
Brummie
Brummie is a colloquial term for the inhabitants, accent and dialect of Birmingham, England, as well as being a general adjective used to denote a connection with the city, locally called Brum...
, posh Brian Aldridge, snooty Lynda Snell, and Geordie
Geordie
Geordie is a regional nickname for a person from the Tyneside region of the north east of England, or the name of the English-language dialect spoken by its inhabitants...
-accented Ruth "Oh noooh" Archer. Other Radio 4 programmes mocked include Letter from America
Letter from America
Letter from America was a weekly 15-minute radio series on BBC Radio 4, previously called the Home Service, which ran for 2,869 shows from 24 March 1946 to 20 February 2004, making it the longest-running speech radio programme in history...
, Money Box, Brain of Britain
Brain of Britain
Brain of Britain is a BBC radio general knowledge quiz, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.-History:It began as a slot in What Do You Know? in 1953 before becoming a programme in its own right in 1967. It was chaired by Franklin Engelmann until his death in 1972.-Format:The format of the quiz is simple...
, Counterpoint
Counterpoint (radio)
Counterpoint is a BBC Radio 4 quiz. Questions are about music, from classical, jazz, pop, musicals, and all other forms of music. It was originally hosted by Ned Sherrin...
, Loose Ends
Loose Ends (radio)
Loose Ends is a British radio programme originally broadcast on Saturday mornings, and then transmitted early Saturday evenings from 1998 by BBC Radio 4. It was hosted by Ned Sherrin until he became ill in late 2006 with a reported throat infection, and later throat cancer...
, You and Yours
You and Yours
You and Yours is a British radio consumer affairs programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.-History:It began broadcasting in October 1970, its first presenter was Joan York. In the great rescheduling of April 1998 it was increased from a 25 minute programme to 55 minutes. In the 1980s it briefly ran...
and Front Row
Front Row (radio)
Front Row is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The BBC describes the programme as a "live magazine programme on the world of arts, literature, film, media and music." It is broadcast each week day between 7.15 and 7.45 and has a of highlights available for download. Shows usually include...
.
Politicians
A running gagRunning gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
, dating back to the earliest radio series, has former Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
referring to his physical characteristics and mannerisms as if he were reading from a script and forgetting to stop when he got to the stage directions ("Hello, I'm Tony Blair. Reassuring gesture, concerned brow, smug smile"). More recently, this was replaced by Blair addressing the nation in an insulting, oppressive or vaguely aggressive way. In one episode, prior to resignation as prime minister, Blair is seen regenerating into David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
(the Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
) during an interview with Nick Robinson, after stating that the Blair legacy must go on.
Meanwhile, former Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott
John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
, speaks in incomprehensible long sentences. On one occasion he catches fire when two sentences rub together, along with being the subject of the "Prescott-Widening Scheme" to go with a similar one for Britain's roads. When he announces that this scheme would reduce the amount of incomprehensible sentences uttered, Kirsty Wark comments that this could be the most popular thing he's ever done.
John Reid is portrayed as a Victor Meldrew
Victor Meldrew
Victor Meldrew was a fictional character in the popular BBC One sitcom One Foot in the Grave. Created by David Renwick and played by Richard Wilson, the character was the archetypal grumpy old man...
-like character, always complaining and throwing abuse at TV presenters, but is later portrayed as a tough hardman.
When David Blunkett
David Blunkett
David Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
was Home Secretary, he was portrayed as a hard man who was "Only in this Home Secretary game for the arse-kicking". On a revamped episode of the Today show, he expressed his desire to become a Hollywood reporter and sort out Ben Affleck. After he was sacked as Home Secretary, Blunkett was in line to become the next hard man on EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, with "Dirty" Den having a premonition that he was about to die in a needlessly sensationalist way. It later emerged that Blunkett had had an affair with "Dirty" Den and then cruelly dumped him.
The late Robin Cook
Robin Cook
Robert Finlayson Cook was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Livingston from 1983 until his death, and notably served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 to 2001....
is even less coherent, and it has been suggested that the famous Doctor Who theme music
Doctor Who theme music
The Doctor Who theme is a piece of music composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Created in 1963, it was one of the first electronic music signature tunes for television and after nearly five decades remains one of the most easily...
was created by combining a recording of Cook explaining his views on the European Union with (for the higher-pitched sounds) his reaction to being told that all young, female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
BBC employees were turned on by ugly ginger men with beards.
Clare Short
Clare Short
Clare Short is a British politician, and a member of the Labour Party. She was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010; for most of this period she was a Labour Party MP, but she resigned the party whip in 2006 and served the remainder of her term as an Independent. She...
is meanwhile portrayed as an angry woman hated by the government, with an almost fixed grimace: "I was so flabbergasted when the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, announced that we were going to war that my jaw dropped by almost half a millimetre!", while Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...
's contrasting black eyebrows and white hair make him more badger
Badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
than human.
Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....
, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, appears as a bit of a drunk, while Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
, the former head of the Conservative Party, was shown as a vampire (a reference to the "something of the night about him" comment by Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe
Ann Widdecombe
Ann Noreen Widdecombe is a former British Conservative Party politician and has been a novelist since 2000. She is a Privy Councillor and was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997 and for Maidstone and The Weald from 1997 to 2010. She was a social conservative and a member of...
). In some episodes, he channelled all of his evil into his left hand, to create a "hand of evil", which would often embarrass him when he tried to express his view on something. During a time when some Conservative peers defected to the UK Independence Party, his hand of evil defected to UKIP, so he cut off his hand to remove it from the party and his body. But, as a result, his other hand became evil (and defected to the BNP).
Opposition leaders of the day were also parodied; David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
is a vote grabbing popularist, who avoids the tough issues in favour of policies about coat hangers and children's clothing, and has to write down the name of his party on the palm of his hand. Menzies Campbell
Menzies Campbell
Sir Walter Menzies "Ming" Campbell, CBE, QC, MP is a British Liberal Democrat politician and advocate, and a retired sprinter. He is the Member of Parliament for North East Fife, and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.Campbell held the British record...
meanwhile is portrayed as an old, out-of-touch grandfatherly figure ignored by his party; at one point, the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
brick-up all the windows and doors to his house. He frequently complains about the poor conditions in the old people's home in which he resides and always refers to himself in the third person as "Mighty Ming", a reference to the arch-enemy of Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
, Ming the Merciless
Ming the Merciless
Ming the Merciless is a fictional character who first appeared in the Flash Gordon comic strip in 1934. He has since been the main villain of the strip and its related movie serials, TV shows and film adaptation.- First appearance :...
. He ends every speech by saying "night night" and turning off the lamp by which he is sitting.
The Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
is also ridiculed, portrayed as someone who constantly makes announcements. She is first seen making an apology for her involvement in the Paul Burrell
Paul Burrell
Paul Burrell, RVM is a former servant of the British Royal Household. He was a footman for Queen Elizabeth II and later butler to Diana, Princess of Wales...
affair — and is mocked by the media as being someone "who holds all the answers to all the unsolved cases without even realising it". The Queen also appears for fictional newspaper The Bung, as "an old lady who met Diana once or twice in a big house". She comments briefly on the princess and asks "Can one have one's money now?" The Queen has also fought Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
, who turned out to be Prince Philip behind the mask. The Queen also hosts "QVC Shopping Channel" with Prince Philip, who is selling a diamond tiara for nothing to any member of the Royal household. He advises them that they can take it round the "society jewellers and flog it for more money than Harry spends on hashish". She also took over Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
's role in Prime Suspect in revenge for Mirren playing the Queen in the movie of the same title. She closed the episode with the line "One's telling you one's nicked, you slag!"
In Series 7, John Reid is portrayed as the nodding dog "Churchill", which says "oh, yes" when something is correct, and, when he was asked if he would fix the Home Office, he said "Oh, no no". There was a parody of the Apple Mac computer, where Blair was the "PC" and Cameron was the "Mac"; they both agreed that they are all the public have (for leadership), and then Campbell drives in his electric wheelchair, saying that he's a Sinclair ZX81. Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, initially portrayed simply as an incredibly emotionless and unexpressive man, became a fully robotic character, often malfunctioning and occasionally issuing Dalek-esque calls to "EXTERMINATE!" He is also shown as a dictatorial, Stalin-esque figure.
George W. Bush
Unlike Spitting ImageSpitting Image
Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....
, which satirised many international public figures, Dead Ringers tends to concentrate on British ones. One notable exception is U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, whose own Bushism
Bushism
Bushisms are unconventional words, phrases, pronunciations, malapropisms, and semantic or linguistic errors that have occurred in the public speaking of former President of the United States George W. Bush and, much less notably, of his father, George H. W. Bush. The term has become part of popular...
s are ridiculed even further with invented words such as "Ignorify", "Astonisherate", "Climactification" and "Shockerating". At one point he refers to Condoleezza Rice as "Basmati Rice" and displays his misspeaking with the statement "I want Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
capturised alive or dead or both!" His use of malapropism
Malapropism
A malapropism is an act of misusing or the habitual misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results. An example is Yogi Berra's statement: "Texas has a lot of electrical votes," rather than "electoral votes".-Etymology:...
s is also lampooned ruthlessly, such as when he says, "My fellow Abbytitmuses, this is your Steradent speaking..."
Sometimes, his actions are caricatured as childlike and lacking in understanding of the consequences (for example, taping over intelligence videos with episodes of Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
). One of the most famous sketches of the President involves him telling the captured Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
that it's now his turn to start hiding in a new game of international hide-and-seek (lampooning the Monty Python sketch of the same name). In one sketch, the show lampoons the American public by using Bush as a 'translator' for a speech that Culshaw's Tony Blair is making. Bush reduces the speech to statements such as "America good" and "Bad man obliterified!"
International
Despite its emphasis on British personalities who may not be well known in other countries, Dead Ringers has been shown outside the UK on BBC PrimeBBC Prime
BBC Prime was the BBC's general entertainment TV channel in Europe and the Middle East from 30 January 1995 until 11 November 2009, when it was replaced by BBC Entertainment.-Launch:...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, BBC America
BBC America
BBC America is an American television network, owned and operated by BBC Worldwide, and available on both cable and satellite.-History:The channel launched on March 29, 1998, broadcasting comedy, drama and lifestyle programs from BBC Television and other British television broadcasters like ITV and...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, BBC Canada
BBC Canada
BBC Canada is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel. It presents programming primarily from the BBC. BBC Canada is a joint venture between Shaw Media and BBC Worldwide.-Programming:Main article: List of programs broadcast by BBC Canada...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and UK.TV in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, but has had to be re-edited considerably – although much of the show can be watched without contextual knowledge.
Song parodies
In later TV series of the show, there have been parodies of songs, parodying the song, the singer and the music videos. Some examples of these are:- Norah JonesNorah JonesNorah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
- (2004 Christmas Special) She is portrayed with a very soft voice so that no one actually takes notice of her, and she fades easily into the background, no matter how hard she tries to attract people's attention. - James BluntJames BluntJames Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...
- "It's Bloody Cold" (2005 Christmas Special): Mimics the song You're BeautifulYou're Beautiful"You're Beautiful" is a pop rock song co-written by British singer James Blunt, Sacha Skarbek, and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album Back to Bedlam . It was released as the third single from the album in 2005. In the UK and Australia the song reached number one and number two respectively...
, and is about how other singers mock James Blunt. States that his name is rhyming slang. - Arctic MonkeysArctic MonkeysArctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner , Jamie Cook , Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders...
(Series Six, Episode One): Culshaw lampoons the vocal style, before revealing the Northern comedy singer George Formby as the real secret of their success. - Katie MeluaKatie MeluaKetevan "Katie" Melua is a British-Georgian singer, songwriter and musician. She moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then to England at fourteen. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003...
(Series Six, Episode Two), spoof of Nine Million BicyclesNine Million Bicycles"Nine Million Bicycles" is a song written and produced by Mike Batt for the singer Katie Melua's second album, Piece by Piece. It was released as the album's first single in September 2005 and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Melua's first top five hit as a solo artist...
. - Gwen StefaniGwen StefaniGwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
- her song parodies the randomness of her music videos, with unicorns and random Japanese girls running, and the idea that some of the grunts heard in her songs aren't sexual but constipation due to the fact that she doesn't eat. - Jamie CullumJamie CullumJamie Cullum is an English pop and jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Though he is primarily a vocalist/pianist he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00.- Early...
(Series Six, Episode Five): Portraying him as the GollumGollumGollum is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He was introduced in the author's fantasy novel The Hobbit, and became an important supporting character in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings....
of the jazz world. - Jack JohnsonJack Johnson (musician)Jack Johnson was born May 18, 1975 is an American folk rock singer-songwriter, surfer and musician known for his work in the soft rock and acoustic genres. In 2001, he achieved commercial success after the release of his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales. He has since released four more albums, a...
(Series Six, Episode Six): This parodies the relaxed and mellow style of the singer's work, and the idea that they are similar to "nursery rhymes and the theme to Postman Pat". The parody song also says that if he were to be more mellow, he would be "clinically dead". - DidoDido (singer)Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong , known as Dido, is an English singer-songwriter.Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut album, No Angel...
- Her music is portrayed as hard to follow and depressing, and the video involves some highly comical suicides. - Beyonce KnowlesBeyoncé KnowlesBeyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
- Ravens lampoons how her music videos constantly promote her bottom as the root of her fame. She also sings about some female politicians using their bottoms to woo others. - MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
- Shown as desperate for publicity, goes through all her various incarnations. In a bid to stay popular, she claims she will do anything, even learn to sing. - Take ThatTake ThatTake That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
- An alternative version of their song "Back for GoodBack for Good"Back for Good" is a song by the British pop group Take That. It was released in 1995 as the second single from the band's third studio album, Nobody Else and achieved great success in many countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Spain and the UK where it topped...
". (Series Seven; Episode One) - Amy WinehouseAmy WinehouseAmy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
- A parody of her song "Rehab", with the first line changed from "They're trying to make me go to Rehab" to "I'm trying to get into the lav". (Series Seven; Episode Two) - Pete DohertyPete DohertyPeter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...
- A parody which he sings about his affair with Kate Moss and his drug abuse. (Series Seven; Episode Three) - Lily AllenLily AllenLily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...
- An alternative version parodying her song "Littlest ThingsLittlest Things"Littlest Things" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her debut studio album, Alright, Still. Written by Allen, Mark Ronson and Santi White, the song was released as the third single of the album on 11 December, 2006 by Regal Recordings...
", where she sings about how she is better than everyone and thinks everyone else is rubbish. (Series Seven; Episode Four) - Scissor SistersScissor SistersScissor Sisters are an American band "spawned by the scuzzy, gay nightlife scene of New York" who took their name from a sexual position between two women also known as tribadism...
- A parody of their song "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'I Don't Feel like Dancin'"I Don't Feel Like Dancin" is the first single from the second album by the American pop band Scissor Sisters, Ta-Dah. It was written with Elton John, who provides piano for the song, and was the band's first top ten single in Australia and Canada. The song was written by Elton John, Scott Hoffman...
" in which Barry Gibb from the Bee GeesBee GeesThe Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
is mentioned. (Series Seven; Episode six)
Animated content
Dead Ringers also includes animated content occasionally; this includes:- "The Back to the Jungle Book" - A cross parody of The Jungle BookThe Jungle BookThe Jungle Book is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six...
and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! - "Mr. Men/Little MissMr. MenMr. Men is a series of 49 children's books by Roger Hargreaves commencing in 1971. Two of these books were not published in English. The series features characters with names such as Mr. Tickle and Mr. Happy who have personalities based on their names...
" - This is a parody of the series of children's books, which includes many "chavChavA chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
" references, some of the characters include Little Miss ChavChavA chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
, her four unnamed children, Mr. Crack Dealer, Mr Happy-Slapper, Little Miss ASBOÅsboÅsbo can refer to:*Åsbo Northern Hundred, a hundred in Scania*Åsbo Southern Hundred, a hundred in Scania...
and Mr Drive-By Shooting, including Mr Happy (who took physical and verbal abuse from most of the characters in this, such as "Piss off you wanker!", said by Little Miss Chav). Narrated by Mark Perry. - "South Bank" - A cross between The South Bank ShowThe South Bank ShowThe South Bank Show was a television arts magazine show, originally made by London Weekend Television , presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on ITV and seen in over 60 countries worldwide — including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States...
and South ParkSouth ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
set on the South Bank in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, featuring Melvyn BraggMelvyn BraggMelvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg FRSL FRTS FBA, FRS FRSA is an English broadcaster and author best known for his work with the BBC and for presenting the The South Bank Show...
/Stan MarshStan MarshStanley Randall "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
, Alan YentobAlan YentobAlan Yentob is a British television executive and presenter who has worked throughout his career at the BBC.-Early life:...
/Kyle BroflovskiKyle BroflovskiKyle Broflovski is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
, Mark LawsonMark LawsonMark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author.-Life and career:Born in Hendon, London, Lawson was raised in Yorkshire and is a Leeds United fan. He was educated at St Columba's College in St Albans and took a degree in English at University College London, where his lecturers...
/Eric CartmanEric CartmanEric Theodore Cartman is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park. One of four main characters, along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick, he is generally referred to within the series by his last name...
and Kenneth BranaghKenneth BranaghKenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
/Kenny McCormickKenny McCormickKenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is one of the four central characters along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His oft-muffled and indiscernible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his...
. - "The Stimpsons" - A parody of The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
(lampooning the fact that the BBC had recently lost the British broadcasting rights to the show to Channel 4) in which HomerHomer SimpsonHomer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is really Captain Pugwash, Marge SimpsonMarge SimpsonMarjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is Mr BennMr BennMr Benn is a character created by David McKee who appears in several children's books, and an animated television series of the same name transmitted by the BBC in 1971 and 1972. Whether in a book, or on television, Mr Benn's adventures take on a similar pattern...
in disguise, Bart SimpsonBart SimpsonBartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is actually Charley the Cat and the sofa is Bagpuss under a blanket. It is also revealed that Lisa SimpsonLisa SimpsonLisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
is actually the robotic number 2 from the previous BBC television identsBBC television identsThe history of BBC television idents begins in the early 1950s, when the BBC first displayed a logo between programmes to identify its service. As new technology has become available, these devices have evolved from simple still black and white images to the sophisticated full colour short films...
. - A parody of Wacky RacesWacky RacesWacky Races is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. The series features 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies throughout North America, with each driver hoping to win the title of the "World's Wackiest Racer." Wacky Races ran on CBS from September...
with Jeremy ClarksonJeremy ClarksonJeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...
as Dick DastardlyDick DastardlyDick Dastardly is a fictional character and antagonist who appeared in various animated series by Hanna-Barbera Productions. Dastardly's most famous appearances are main character in the series Wacky Races and its spin-off Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines...
and Ken LivingstoneKen LivingstoneKenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
as MuttleyMuttleyMuttley is a Hanna-Barbera animated fictional character created by Iwao Takamoto and originally voiced by Don Messick. In the 2000 Wacky Races videogame he was voiced by Billy West.-Bio:...
, spoiling Penelope PitstopPenelope PitstopPenelope Pitstop is a fictional character who appeared in the Hanna-Barbera animated series Wacky Races, and starred in the spin-off The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, voiced by Janet Waldo, 1969.-Background:...
's chances of winning the race by imposing the congestion chargeLondon congestion chargeThe London congestion charge is a fee charged for some categories of motor vehicle to travel at certain times within the Congestion Charge Zone , a traffic area in London. The charge aims to reduce congestion, and raise investment funds for London's transport system...
and then stealing her car.
Robin Hood
A parody of the recent adaptation of Robin Hood, including:- A version with an iPodIPodiPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
playing church choral music, 21st century language terms and break dancing between Robin HoodRobin HoodRobin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
and the Sheriff of NottinghamSheriff of NottinghamThe Sheriff of Nottingham was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Nottingham and bringing criminals to justice. For years the post has been directly appointed by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and in modern times, with the existence of the police force, the position is...
. - The titles that show the viewers where the characters are, are shown more here, and respond to the criticism of the cast, but when Robin Hood and others are over-critical, the titles tell them they are in PeckhamPeckhamPeckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
High Road instead of Sherwood ForestSherwood ForestSherwood Forest is a Royal Forest in Nottinghamshire, England, that is famous through its historical association with the legend of Robin Hood. Continuously forested since the end of the Ice Age, Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve today encompasses 423 hectares surrounding the village of...
. - When the Sheriff of NottinghamSheriff of NottinghamThe Sheriff of Nottingham was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Nottingham and bringing criminals to justice. For years the post has been directly appointed by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and in modern times, with the existence of the police force, the position is...
imposes a 21st century tax which the peasants can't pay, he decides that Robin Hood needs to be got rid of, and one of Guy of Gisbourne's soldiers suggests an arrow amnesty to disarm Robin Hood. This is because at the time of broadcast there had recently been a nationwide knife amnesty in an attempt to reduce armed crime. - When the Sheriff of NottinghamSheriff of NottinghamThe Sheriff of Nottingham was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Nottingham and bringing criminals to justice. For years the post has been directly appointed by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and in modern times, with the existence of the police force, the position is...
decides to send soldiers into Sherwood forest, Guy of GisbourneGuy of GisbourneSir Guy of Gisbourne is a character from the Robin Hood legends of English folklore. In The Ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne , he hunts Robin for the Sheriff of Nottingham, but Robin kills him and cuts off his head...
alerts him to the recently imposed congestion charge around it of £8.06 by the Earl of LivingstoneKen LivingstoneKenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
. - Robin Hood and Little JohnLittle JohnLittle John was a legendary fellow outlaw of Robin Hood, and was said to be Robin's chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men.-Folklore:He appears in the earliest recorded Robin Hood ballads and stories...
are introduced to Friar TuckFriar TuckFriar Tuck is a companion to Robin Hood in the legends about that character. He is a common character in modern Robin Hood stories, which depict him as a jovial friar and one of Robin's Merry Men. The figure of Tuck was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th...
(in the form of Russell BrandRussell BrandRussell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...
).
Torchwood
The recent series have included various sketches devoted to TorchwoodTorchwood
Torchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...
where the Cardiff Rift is seen as a way of randomly changing scene locations, the sketch also makes fun of the fact that it is seen as an adult version of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, the Welsh setting, along with the campness of Captain Jack Harkness
Jack Harkness
Captain Jack Harkness is a fictional character played by John Barrowman in Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood. He first appeared in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Empty Child" and reappeared in the remaining episodes of the 2005 series as a companion of the ninth incarnation of the...
(John Barrowman
John Barrowman
John Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...
). Each character is so one dimensional they have to keep their characteristic stuck to the jacket, such as "Annoying" (Owen Harper
Owen Harper
Owen Harper is a fictional character played by Burn Gorman, and a regular in the BBC television series Torchwood, a spin-off from the long-running series Doctor Who. The character last appeared onscreen in the Series 2 finale, "Exit Wounds"....
), "Dull and Annoying" (Ianto Jones
Ianto Jones
Ianto Jones is a fictional character in the BBC television series Torchwood, played by Welsh actor Gareth David-Lloyd. A series regular, Ianto appears in every episode of the programme's first three series, as well as two crossover episodes of Torchwoods parent show, Doctor Who...
), "Camp and Annoying" (Jack Harkness) and, finally, Gwen is simply "Welsh".
The Weakest Link
Earlier episodes of the show featured a number of spoof episodes of the TV programme The Weakest LinkThe Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
, variously featuring Jesus's disciples
Disciple (Christianity)
In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to "the Twelve", an inner circle of men whose number perhaps represented the twelve tribes of Israel...
, Robert Falcon Scott
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
and his Antarctic explorers, and monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s who had taken a vow of silence. In the former two, Anne Robinson
Anne Robinson
Anne Josephine Robinson is an English journalist and television presenter, known for her assertive views and acerbic style of presenting. She was one of the presenters on the long-running British consumer affairs series, Watchdog, from 1993 to 2001 before returning in 2009...
(played by Jan Ravens
Jan Ravens
Janet "Jan" Ravens is an English actress and impressionist, famous for her voices on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers.-Early life:...
) appeared from nowhere, riding her desk, and entered an apparently historical scene, which rapidly converted into the Weakest Link studio. Robinson herself was depicted as being unreasonably and sadistically cruel, throwing a snowball at doomed explorer Captain Lawrence Oates
Lawrence Oates
Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates was an English Antarctic explorer, known for the manner of his death, when he walked from a tent into a blizzard, with the words "I am just going outside and may be some time"....
as he leaves, while responding to his famous last words with "You'll be gone forever matey! Now shove off!" Also, Robinson appeared from nowhere when Jesus and his disciples (only eight are shown) have their last supper, in which Judas is voted off from the round (as 'the Weakest Disciple').
The radio show versions featured King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
and his Knights of the Round Table, and a themed sketch that had a large number of television gameshow hosts like Chris Tarrant
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
, the late Richard Whiteley
Richard Whiteley
John Richard Whiteley, OBE DL , usually known as Richard Whiteley, was an English broadcaster and journalist. He was famous for his twenty-three years as host of Countdown, a letters and numbers arrangement game show broadcast most weekdays on Channel 4...
and Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax is a BAFTA nominated American comedian who made a career in the United Kingdom as part of the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s.-Early life:...
. It was called The Weakest Host and Anne berated them each, voting them all out. A Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
-themed sketch featured Anne Robinson as a possible candidate to play the Ninth Doctor
Ninth Doctor
The Ninth Doctor is the ninth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by Christopher Eccleston....
. Featuring the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s and the Cybermen
Cyberman
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs who are amongst the most persistent enemies of the Doctor in the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids originating on Earth's twin planet Mondas that began to implant more...
, the Daleks were voted as The Weakest Evil Creature and had to perform the Walk of Shame; "The most embarrassing part was the walk of shame, I'm sure it never used to be three flights of stairs." But possibly the most famous of these radio sketches was the ultimate showdown between Anne and Brian Perkins
Brian Perkins
Brian Perkins is a senior newsreader on BBC Radio 4.All of Perkins' relatives are New Zealanders, although they refer to England as home...
, which results in Anne being declared the weakest link by the "Daddy of the BBC".
Deal or No Deal
The programme also parodies the daytime Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
Deal or No Deal, with Culshaw impersonating Noel Edmonds
Noel Edmonds
Noel Ernest Edmonds, is an English broadcaster and executive, who made his name as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented many light entertainment television programmes, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show, Telly Addicts, Noel's Saturday...
and frequently mocking both the repetitive nature of the programme and fact that the show's excitement is derived entirely from the opening of boxes. Another sketch also showed Anne Robinson
Anne Robinson
Anne Josephine Robinson is an English journalist and television presenter, known for her assertive views and acerbic style of presenting. She was one of the presenters on the long-running British consumer affairs series, Watchdog, from 1993 to 2001 before returning in 2009...
, host of daytime game show The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
, appearing in the Deal or No Deal studio and ruining Edmond's television comeback by summoning Noel's House Party
Noel's House Party
Noel's House Party was a BBC television light entertainment show hosted by Noel Edmonds that was broadcast live on Saturday evenings throughout the 1990s. It was set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo. The show was broadcast during the...
regular Mr Blobby, who destroys the studio before wrestling Edmonds to the ground, causing Edmonds to sob whilst yelling "You've ruined everything!”
On 29 October 2006 Culshaw appeared on Deal or No Deal itself, impersonating Edmonds as part of the show's first birthday special.
Alan Rickman, Ian McKellen and Brian Blessed
Another running gag is a satire on the fact that Ian McKellenIan McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
and Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England...
are often typecast as over-the-top, melodramatic or camp stock villains in films and TV shows. (Rickman, it has been noted, often takes roles McKellen has previously turned down.)
A common sketch will start up with a set-up of the scene (e.g. a Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger is a German surname that means person from Schwarzenegg, which is both a town in Switzerland and a place in Land Salzburg in Austria...
-esque action hero
Action hero
An action hero is a character, usually a protagonist, in an action-adventure novel, film, television show, or game.-Further reading:*Osgerby, Bill, Anna Gough-Yates, and Marianne Wells. Action TV : Tough-Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks. London: Routledge, 2001.*Tasker, Yvonne. Action and...
battling armed men in an action film), then McKellen will burst onto the screen in an electric wheelchair and mock the protagonist of the sketch (often he opens with the line: "I'm Ian McKellen aka Doctor Death!"), then Rickman will appear on screen and proclaim something to the effect of "Not if I have anything to do with it, I'm Alan Rrrrrrrrickman!" (the impersonator often exaggerates Rickman's drawling voice). The two villains will forget the protagonist and proceed to insult each other, each claiming to be the better villain. Often the impersonators pick out characteristics of Rickman and McKellen that make them suitable stock villains. One memorable sketch has McKellen proclaiming: "But everybody knows I'm far more moustache-twirling and cruel than you are!" to which Rickman replies: "But I'm more stiff-necked than you and I do a great set of arrrrrrrched eyebrows!" Eventually the argument escalates to a point where they both unveil deadly weapons. McKellen sports a retractable "miniature cannon" (though it resembles a Gatling gun
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
more than anything else) attached to his wheelchair, whilst Rickman pulls a huge silver bazooka as if from nowhere. These weapons even appear when the two men face off for the role of 'Mr Parcy', the cad in a period drama - with Rickman referring to his gun as a 'Regency Bazookoid Blaster'. They both proceed to shoot each other until they are dead, leaving the protagonist of the sketch shell-shocked. Eventually the protagonist will proclaim something to the effect of "Where am I going to find another melodramatic villain for my last action film?", at which point Brian Blessed bursts into the room, clad in a costume resembling the costume he wore as Prince Vultan
Prince Vultan
Prince Vultan is the prince of the bird-like Hawkmen in the Flash Gordon comic strip and its adaptations. Prince Vultan starts his career as a half-villain with a lecherous side , but soon reforms into one of Flash Gordon's greatest allies...
in Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon (film)
Flash Gordon is a 1980 British/American science fiction film, based on the comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond. The film was directed by Mike Hodges and produced and presented by Dino De Laurentiis. It stars Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Topol, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Brian...
. Blessed always looks extremely jolly and always says only one line at the top of his voice: "HELLO! I'M BRIAN BLESSED!", to which the protagonist will react in an annoyed or aggressive manner, (e.g. 'oh sod off, fatty' in the period drama, and being shot by Schwarzenegger in the action film).
Countdown Extra
"Countdown Extra" was a sketch that featured a Big Brother-esqueBig Brother (UK)
Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
"extra" programme to complement Countdown
Countdown (game show)
Countdown is a British game show involving word and number puzzles. It is produced by ITV Studios and broadcast on Channel 4. It is presented by Jeff Stelling, assisted by Rachel Riley, with regular lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4, and over sixty-five...
. The show was filled with excitable presenters such as Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins, commonly known as JLC, is an award-winning English comedian and television presenter.A Bristolian, he's well known for his strong West Country accent, shaggy appearance and colourful shirts....
and a hyped up studio audience similar to Saturday morning shows and Big Brother spin-offs on E4. The audience were asked for their reactions on the day's questions and the camera was spun everywhere with the audience cheering in the background. Comedy actress and regular impressionist Jess Robinson
Jess Robinson
Jess Robinson , is an English up and coming comedy actress and impressionist.Jess started out in theatre and trained at The Arts Educational School, Tring Park as a singer. She played Little Voice in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, by Jim Cartwright, at the Courtyard Theatre...
featured as a blonde bimbo type, exclaiming 'I'd like to give Des; one from the top, two from the bottom and three from anywhere else!'. At the end of the sketch, another Big Brother parody was shown when the audience was asked to evict one of two letters.
Countdown is a slow and traditional show that was mercilessly compared with Channel 4's youth-orientated line-up. Des Lynam
Des Lynam
Desmond Michael "Des" Lynam, OBE is an Irish television and radio presenter based in the UK.He has hosted television coverage of high profile events for many years...
is portrayed as the disgruntled and defeatist presenter, who seems constantly in conflict with the show which he takes every opportunity to devalue ('OK, so Dave is the best at making a word out of Strobcats..'). He is seen as dismayed by the passing of time in his current status ('...that's another 30 seconds of my life I'll never see again') and as a result is frequently in reminiscence of his past ('Do you think when I was 25 I was playing word games with Martin bloody Jarvis?'), particularly his football commentator roots ('I used to be the most important man in football, you know.') In one episode, he appears on Match of the Day determined to become the presenter again. He says he doesn't mind just covering the boring matches, "the ones with America playing".
Living with the Enemy
Living with the Enemy was used as a fake BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
show within Dead Ringers, where the Doctor
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
must live with a Cyber Family.
Jon Culshaw
George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
, Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
and Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
, Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
, Sir Patrick Moore, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is one of several primary characters in the Star Wars series. Along with Darth Vader, R2-D2, and C-3PO, he is one of the few major characters to appear in all six Star Wars films...
, Victor Meldrew
Victor Meldrew
Victor Meldrew was a fictional character in the popular BBC One sitcom One Foot in the Grave. Created by David Renwick and played by Richard Wilson, the character was the archetypal grumpy old man...
and Richard Wilson, Brian Sewell
Brian Sewell
Brian Sewell is an English art critic and media personality. He writes for the London Evening Standard and is noted for artistic conservatism and his acerbic view of the Turner Prize and conceptual art...
, Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
(Tom Baker
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
), Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
(David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
), Brian Perkins
Brian Perkins
Brian Perkins is a senior newsreader on BBC Radio 4.All of Perkins' relatives are New Zealanders, although they refer to England as home...
, Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
, Master Yoda
Yoda
Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, appearing in the second and third original films, as well as all three prequel trilogy films. A renowned Jedi master, Yoda made his first on-screen appearance in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back where he is responsible for...
(on radio)), Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a British celebrity chef, television personality, journalist, food writer and "real food" campaigner, known for his back-to-basics philosophy...
, David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
, Chris Tarrant
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
, William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
, Simon Schama
Simon Schama
Simon Michael Schama, CBE is a British historian and art historian. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He is best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC documentary series A History of Britain...
, Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
& Maximus Decimus Meridius, Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
, Michael Buerk
Michael Buerk
Michael Duncan Buerk is a BBC journalist and newsreader, most famous for his reporting of the Ethiopian famine on 23 October 1984, which inspired the Band Aid charity record.-Early life:...
, Sir Trevor McDonald (on television), George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...
, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, Sir Alan Sugar
Alan Sugar
Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar is a British entrepreneur, media personality and political advisor. From humble origins in the East End of London, Sugar now has an estimated fortune of £770m , and was ranked 89th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2011...
, David Frost
David Frost
Sir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
, Ross Kemp
Ross Kemp
Ross James Kemp is a BAFTA award-winning British actor, author and journalist, who rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
, Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
, Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon James Ramsay, OBE is a Scottish chef, television personality and restaurateur. He has been awarded 13 Michelin stars....
, Judge John Deed
Judge John Deed
Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove...
, Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
, John Humphrys
John Humphrys
Desmond John Humphrys , is a Welsh-born British author, journalist and presenter of radio and television, who has won many national broadcasting awards...
, Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
, Charlotte Church
Charlotte Church
Charlotte Maria Church is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide including over 5 million in the United States...
(on radio), Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross (television presenter)
Jonathan Stephen Ross, OBE is an English television and radio presenter, best known for presenting the BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross from 2001 until he left the BBC in 2010. Ross began hosting a new chat show on ITV1 starting 3 September 2011...
, Dale Winton
Dale Winton
Dale Winton is an English radio DJ and television presenter.-Early life:Winton's father, Gary, was "domineering" and died when Winton was 13. Winton was brought up by his mother, actress Sheree Winton...
, Jon Pertwee
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
, Chris Eubank
Chris Eubank
Chris Eubank, Lord of the Manor of Brighton is a retired British boxer who held world titles at middleweight and super middleweight...
, Frank Bruno
Frank Bruno
Franklin Roy Bruno MBE is an English former boxer whose career highlight was winning the WBC Heavyweight championship in 1995. Altogether, he won 40 of his 45 contests...
(on radio), Richard Whiteley
Richard Whiteley
John Richard Whiteley, OBE DL , usually known as Richard Whiteley, was an English broadcaster and journalist. He was famous for his twenty-three years as host of Countdown, a letters and numbers arrangement game show broadcast most weekdays on Channel 4...
, Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
, Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
, Homer Simpson
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
(on radio), John Craven, Griff Rhys Jones
Griff Rhys Jones
Griffith "Griff" Rhys Jones is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, television presenter and personality. Jones came to national attention in the early 1980s for his work in the BBC television comedy sketch shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Mel Smith...
, Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
, Nick Ross
Nick Ross
Nick Ross is a British radio and television presenter across a wide range of factual programmes and during the 1980s and 90s he was one of the most ubiquitous of British broadcasters, but he is best known for his long-running co-hosting of the BBC TV show Crimewatch which he left on 2 July 2007...
, Senator John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
, Phil Spencer
Phil Spencer
Phil Spencer is an English media personality, journalist and businessman, who appears with Kirstie Allsopp in a variety of home-buying programs on Channel 4 including Location, Location, Location and Relocation, Relocation...
, Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
, John Motson
John Motson
John Walker Motson OBE ,AKA Motty, is an English football commentator on both television and radio as well a well known moter. He made his name as 'Moty' after he moted out the entire Huddersfield huddersfield cheerleaders team. writer.-Biography:The son of a Methodist minister, Motson was educated...
, Gary Lineker
Gary Lineker
Gary Winston Lineker, OBE , is a former English footballer, who played as a striker. He is a sports broadcaster for the BBC, Al Jazeera Sports and Eredivisie Live...
(on radio), Jack Bauer
Jack Bauer
Jack Bauer is the main protagonist of the American television series 24. His character has worked in various capacities on the show, often as a member of the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit based in Los Angeles, and working with the FBI in Washington, D.C...
, Dermot Murnaghan
Dermot Murnaghan
Dermot Murnaghan is a British journalist and television presenter.He is well known for his work as a presenter of ITV and BBC News as well as the shows Eggheads and Treasure Hunt . He co-presented BBC Breakfast from Monday to Thursday as well as regularly fronting national BBC news bulletins...
, Johnny Vegas
Johnny Vegas
Johnny Vegas is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his angry rants, portly figure, high husky voice and support of St Helens rugby league club. More recently he has moved into dramatic acting.-Early life:He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, the youngest of four children of Laurence...
, Shane Richie
Shane Richie
Shane Richie is an English actor, comedian, singer and media personality, known for his portrayal of the character Alfie Moon in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders.-Early life and career beginnings:...
, Liam Gallagher
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, the former frontman of the English rock band Oasis and currently of the band Beady Eye. Gallagher's erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press...
, Captain Jack Sparrow
Captain Jack Sparrow
Jack Sparrow is a fictional character and the central protagonist in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series created by screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, portrayed by Johnny Depp. He is first introduced in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl...
, Jar Jar Binks
Jar Jar Binks
Jar Jar Binks is a fictional character from the Star Wars Saga , and the television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. His primary role was to provide comic relief, but many reacted negatively to his character...
, Doctor Octopus
Doctor Octopus
Doctor Octopus is a fictional character, a supervillain that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics since 1963. A highly intelligent mad scientist, Doctor Octopus is one of Spider-Man's greatest foes...
, José Mourinho
José Mourinho
José Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho is a Portuguese football manager and the current manager of Real Madrid. He is commonly known as "The Special One".Mourinho is regarded by some players, coaches and critics as the best ever coach in football....
, Hugh Laurie
Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
& Dr Gregory House
Gregory House
Gregory House, M.D., or simply referred to as House, is a fictional antihero and title character of the American television series House, played by Hugh Laurie. He is the Chief of Diagnostic Medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, where he leads a team of diagnosticians...
, James Blunt
James Blunt
James Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...
, Alex Turner
Alex Turner (musician)
Alexander David Turner is an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist and main songwriter of the English rock band Arctic Monkeys...
, Noel Edmonds
Noel Edmonds
Noel Ernest Edmonds, is an English broadcaster and executive, who made his name as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented many light entertainment television programmes, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show, Telly Addicts, Noel's Saturday...
, Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins, commonly known as JLC, is an award-winning English comedian and television presenter.A Bristolian, he's well known for his strong West Country accent, shaggy appearance and colourful shirts....
, Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum is an English pop and jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Though he is primarily a vocalist/pianist he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00.- Early...
, Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver
James "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...
, Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
, Ian Hislop
Ian Hislop
Ian David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye...
, Jeremy Kyle
Jeremy Kyle
Jeremy Kyle is an English radio and television presenter, best known for his British daytime television chat show on ITV, The Jeremy Kyle Show. Kyle is also the host of an American talk show of the same name that premiered on 19 September 2011.-Radio career:From 1986 to 1995, Kyle worked as a...
, Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team...
, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, Michael Owen
Michael Owen
Michael James Owen is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United.The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997...
, Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (musician)
Jack Johnson was born May 18, 1975 is an American folk rock singer-songwriter, surfer and musician known for his work in the soft rock and acoustic genres. In 2001, he achieved commercial success after the release of his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales. He has since released four more albums, a...
, Captain Jack Harkness
Jack Harkness
Captain Jack Harkness is a fictional character played by John Barrowman in Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood. He first appeared in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Empty Child" and reappeared in the remaining episodes of the 2005 series as a companion of the ninth incarnation of the...
, Pete Doherty
Pete Doherty
Peter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...
, Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
, Peter Andre
Peter André
Peter James Andrea , better known by the stage name as Peter Andre, is an English-born Australian musician, singer-songwriter, television personality and businessman. As a recording artist, he has achieving four top 10 UK albums and ten top 10 singles.-Early life:Andre was born at Northwick Park...
, Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
, James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
, Michael Pike
Jan Ravens
Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, Anne Robinson
Anne Robinson
Anne Josephine Robinson is an English journalist and television presenter, known for her assertive views and acerbic style of presenting. She was one of the presenters on the long-running British consumer affairs series, Watchdog, from 1993 to 2001 before returning in 2009...
, Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
and M
M (James Bond)
M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
, Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair , known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a British barrister working in the legal system of England and Wales. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the couple have three sons and one daughter...
, Sophie Raworth
Sophie Raworth
Sophie Jane Raworth is an English newsreader and journalist who works for British broadcaster the BBC. She is the main presenter of the BBC News at One, presenting Tuesday to Friday, and regularly appears on the BBC News at Six and occasionally on BBC News at Ten.-Early life:Born in Surrey to a...
, Fiona Bruce
Fiona Bruce
Fiona Elizabeth Bruce is a British journalist, newsreader and television presenter. Since joining the BBC in 1989, she has gone on to present many flagship programmes for the corporation including the BBC News at Six, BBC News at Ten, Crimewatch, Call My Bluff and, most recently, Antiques Roadshow...
, Delia Smith
Delia Smith
Delia Smith CBE is an English cook and television presenter, known for teaching basic cookery skills. She is the UK's best-selling cookery author, with more than 21 million copies sold....
, Patricia Routledge
Patricia Routledge
Katherine Patricia Routledge, CBE is an English character comedy actress and singer. She is best known for her role as character Hyacinth Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances and Hetty Wainthropp in the British television series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates...
, Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, Charlotte Green
Charlotte Green
Charlotte Green is a British radio continuity announcer and news reader for BBC Radio 4. Since 1998 she has specialised in news reading, including reading the news on Radio 4 flagship Today, and reading news items on The News Quiz...
, Norah Jones
Norah Jones
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
, Natasha Kaplinsky
Natasha Kaplinsky
Natasha Margaret Kaplinsky is a British newsreader and television presenter, currently employed by ITV having previously worked for Channel 5, Sky News and the BBC...
, Kate Adie
Kate Adie
Kathryn "Kate" Adie , OBE , is a British journalist. Her most high-profile role was that of chief news correspondent for BBC News, during which time she became well known for reporting from war zones around the world...
, Clarrie Grundy
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
, Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
, Clare Short
Clare Short
Clare Short is a British politician, and a member of the Labour Party. She was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010; for most of this period she was a Labour Party MP, but she resigned the party whip in 2006 and served the remainder of her term as an Independent. She...
, Ann Widdecombe
Ann Widdecombe
Ann Noreen Widdecombe is a former British Conservative Party politician and has been a novelist since 2000. She is a Privy Councillor and was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997 and for Maidstone and The Weald from 1997 to 2010. She was a social conservative and a member of...
, Hillary Clinton, Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, Ellen MacArthur
Ellen MacArthur
Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur, DBE is an English sailor, up until 2009, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in West Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. She is best known as a solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005 she broke the world record for the fastest solo...
, Kirstie Allsopp
Kirstie Allsopp
Kirstie Mary Allsopp is a British TV presenter known for the Channel 4 property programmes: Location, Location, Location; Relocation, Relocation; Location Revisited; The Property Chain; Kirstie's Homemade Home and Kirstie's Handmade Britain...
, Carol Smillie
Carol Smillie
Carol Patricia Smillie is a Scottish television personality, model and actress. Smillie is well-known for presenting the award winning BBC series Changing Rooms, which won her a National Television Award for Most Popular Factual Programme in 1998.She became the hostess of the British version of...
(Smiley Carol), Linda Barker
Linda Barker
Linda Barker is an English interior designer and television presenter.-Education:Barker studied Fine Arts at the Surrey Institute of Art & Design in Farnham. She then did odd jobs in various areas including fashion, before settling into a career as an interior designer...
, Nigella Lawson
Nigella Lawson
Nigella Lucy Lawson is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. Lawson is the daughter of Nigel Lawson, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Vanessa Salmon, whose family owned the J. Lyons and Co. empire...
, Kirsty Wark
Kirsty Wark
Kirsteen Anne Wark is a British journalist and television presenter best known for fronting the BBC Two's news and current affairs programme Newsnight since 1993, and its weekly arts annexe Newsnight Review which is now relaunched as "The Review Show".-Biography:Wark was born in Dumfries to Jimmy...
, Frodo Baggins
Frodo Baggins
Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.He is the main protagonist of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He was a hobbit of the Shire who inherited Sauron's Ring from Bilbo Baggins and undertook the quest to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom...
, Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Rachel Osbourne is an English television host, author, music manager, businesswoman and promoter as well as the wife of heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne....
, Lesley Garrett
Lesley Garrett
Lesley Garrett CBE is an English musician, broadcaster and media personality.- Early life :Garrett was born in the town of Thorne near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, into a musical family. She attended Thorne Grammar School, where she performed in school plays and musicals. As she grew up she...
, Jessie Wallace
Jessie Wallace
Jessie Wallace is an English actress best known for her portrayal as Kat Moon in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Early life:...
, Tessa Jowell
Tessa Jowell
Tessa Jowell is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Dulwich and West Norwood since 1992. Formerly a member of both the Blair and Brown Cabinets, she is currently the Shadow Minister for the Olympics and Shadow Minister for London.-Early life:Tessa Jane...
, Amanda Burton
Amanda Burton
Amanda Burton is an award-winning actress from Northern Ireland. Burton is best known for her high-profile television roles as Karen Fisher in Waterloo Road , Sam Ryan in the BBC crime drama series Silent Witness, Clare Blake in The Commander, Beth Glover in Peak Practice, and Heather Black in the...
, Thora Hird
Thora Hird
Dame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...
, Sue McGregor, Barbara Windsor
Barbara Windsor
Barbara Ann Windsor, MBE , better known by her stage name Barbara Windsor, is an English actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders....
, Carol Vorderman
Carol Vorderman
Carol Jean Vorderman MBE is a British media personality, best known for co-hosting the popular game show Countdown for 26 years from 1982 to 2008. In September 2011 she became a co-anchor of the ITV1 panel show Loose Women....
, Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Caroline Quentin
Caroline Quentin
Caroline Jones known by her stage name Caroline Quentin, is an English actress. Quentin became known for her television appearances in Men Behaving Badly, playing Dorothy, and playing Maddy Magellan in Jonathan Creek for three years.-Early life:...
, Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
, C.J. Cregg, Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
, Dido
Dido (singer)
Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong , known as Dido, is an English singer-songwriter.Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut album, No Angel...
, Dr Tanya Byron
Tanya Byron
Tanya Byron is a British psychologist, writer and media personality, best known for her work as a child therapist on television shows Little Angels and The House of Tiny Tearaways...
, Julia Thorne
Julia Thorne
Julia Stimson Thorne was a writer and the first wife of U.S. Senator John Kerry.-Early life:Thorne was born in New York City. She was the daughter of Alice Smith Barry and Landon Ketchum Thorne, Jr. Her brothers are Landon Ketchum Thorne III of Beaufort, South Carolina and her twin brother David...
, Diane Sawyer
Diane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....
, Clarice Starling
Clarice Starling
Clarice M. Starling is a fictional character and the protagonist in the novels The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal by Thomas Harris....
(on radio), Trisha Goddard
Trisha Goddard
Patricia "Trisha" Goddard is a British television presenter and actress best known for her morning talk show, Trisha Goddard, which is broadcast on a mid morning slot on Channel 5 in the UK. In Australia she is known as a long time presenter of Play School.-Background:Goddard was born in London,...
, Marge Simpson
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
(on radio), Peggy Mitchell
Peggy Mitchell
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Peggy was initially played by Jo Warne when she first appeared on 30 April 1991, featuring in the series on a recurring basis over several weeks. Peggy was reintroduced in 1994, recast and was then played by...
, Pat Evans
Pat Evans
Patricia Louise "Pat" Evans is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She has been played by Pam St. Clement since 12 June 1986, just over a year after the show first aired...
, Victoria "Nana" Moon, Kat Moon
Kat Moon
Kathleen "Kat" Moon is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Jessie Wallace. She was also played by Kate Peck in a flashback in 2001. She appeared in the show from September 2000 to November 2004, then returned in May 2005...
, Sophie Neveu, Katie Melua
Katie Melua
Ketevan "Katie" Melua is a British-Georgian singer, songwriter and musician. She moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then to England at fourteen. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003...
, Rose Tyler
Rose Tyler
Rose Marion Tyler is a fictional character portrayed by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was created by series producer Russell T Davies...
, Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...
, Bree Hodge, Nicky Hambleton-Jones
Nicky Hambleton-Jones
Nicky Hambleton-Jones is a South African fashion stylist and former television presenter, best known for hosting the Channel 4 makeover show 10 Years Younger.-Biography:...
, Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
, Jessica Fletcher
Jessica Fletcher
Jessica Fletcher is a fictional character portrayed by veteran Tony-winning actress Angela Lansbury on the American television series Murder, She Wrote...
, Mariella Frostrup
Mariella Frostrup
Mariella Frostrup is a Norwegian-born journalist and television presenter, well known on British TV and radio, mainly for arts programmes. Her 'gravelly' voice was once voted the sexiest female voice on TV, and research to find 'the perfect voice' has indicated that Frostrup's voice is one of the...
, Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
, June Whitfield
June Whitfield
June Rosemary Whitfield, CBE is an English actress, well known in the United Kingdom since the 1950s for roles in radio and television comedy series....
, Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
, Gwen Cooper
Gwen Cooper
Gwen Cooper is a fictional character in the BBC television programme Torchwood, a spin-off to the long-running show Doctor Who, portrayed by Welsh actress Eve Myles. The series' lead female character, Gwen has featured in every episode of the sci-fi programme to date as well as two crossover...
, Renée Zellweger
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...
& Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist best known for her imaginative children’s books featuring animals such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit which celebrated the British landscape and country life.Born into a privileged Unitarian...
, Lily Allen
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...
, Kerry Katona
Kerry Katona
Kerry Jayne Elizabeth Katona is an English media personality and singer best known for her television work, predominantly in light entertainment and reality shows. She has also been a pop singer with girl group Atomic Kitten, a magazine columnist, an actress, and the author of ghostwritten books...
, Jenny Eclair, Katie Price, Chloe O'Brian
Chloe O'Brian
Chloe O'Brian is a fictional character played by actress Mary Lynn Rajskub on the US television series 24. An analyst at CTU Los Angeles , she is Jack Bauer's most trusted colleague, often doing unconventional and unauthorized favors for him, even at personal risk to herself...
(voice only), Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood CBE is a British comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. Wood has written and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live stand-up comedy act is interspersed with her own compositions, which she accompanies on piano...
Kevin Connelly
Sven-Göran ErikssonSven-Göran Eriksson
Sven-Göran Eriksson , in Sweden commonly referred to just by his nickname Svennis, is a Swedish ex-football manager. From October 2010 to October 2011 he managed Football League Championship side Leicester City....
, David Dimbleby
David Dimbleby
David Dimbleby is a British BBC TV commentator and a presenter of current affairs and political programmes, most notably the BBC's flagship political show Question Time, and more recently, art, architectural history and history series...
, Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
, Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....
, Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith
George Iain Duncan Smith is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and was previously leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to October 2003...
, Mark Lawson
Mark Lawson
Mark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author.-Life and career:Born in Hendon, London, Lawson was raised in Yorkshire and is a Leeds United fan. He was educated at St Columba's College in St Albans and took a degree in English at University College London, where his lecturers...
, David Starkey
David Starkey
David Starkey, CBE, FSA is a British constitutional historian, and a radio and television presenter.He was born the only child of Quaker parents, and attended Kendal Grammar School before entering Cambridge through a scholarship. There he specialised in Tudor history, writing a thesis on King...
, Des Lynam
Des Lynam
Desmond Michael "Des" Lynam, OBE is an Irish television and radio presenter based in the UK.He has hosted television coverage of high profile events for many years...
, Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
, Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
, James Naughtie
James Naughtie
James Naughtie is a British radio presenter and radio news presenter for the BBC. Since 1994 he has been one of the main presenters of Radio 4's Today programme.- Biography :...
, Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Harry "Ken" Clarke, QC, MP is a British Conservative politician, currently Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He was first elected to Parliament in 1970; and appointed a minister in Edward Heath's government, in 1972, and is one of...
, Andrew Marr
Andrew Marr
Andrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....
, Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
, Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
, Andrew Neil
Andrew Neil
Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster.He currently works for the BBC, presenting the live political programmes The Daily Politics and This Week...
, Adrian Chiles
Adrian Chiles
Adrian Chiles is a British television and radio presenter, currently working for ITV Sport presenting football coverage....
, President Josiah Bartlet
Josiah Bartlet
Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet is a fictional character played by Martin Sheen on the television serial drama The West Wing. He is President of the United States for the entire series until the last episode, when his successor is inaugurated...
, Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
, John Simpson (on radio), Rev. Ian Paisley
Ian Paisley
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...
, Andrew Gilligan
Andrew Gilligan
Andrew Paul Gilligan is a British journalist best known for a 2003 report on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme in which he said a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction had been 'sexed up', a claim that ultimately led to a public inquiry that criticised Gilligan...
, Ned Sherrin
Ned Sherrin
Edward George "Ned" Sherrin CBE was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC...
, Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
& Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to...
, Sir Menzies Campbell
Menzies Campbell
Sir Walter Menzies "Ming" Campbell, CBE, QC, MP is a British Liberal Democrat politician and advocate, and a retired sprinter. He is the Member of Parliament for North East Fife, and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.Campbell held the British record...
, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, Nick Robinson
Nick Robinson
Nicholas Anthony "Nick" Robinson is a British journalist and political editor for the BBC. Robinson was interested in politics from a young age, and went on to study a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree at Oxford University, where he was also President of the Oxford University Conservative...
, Sir Alex Ferguson
Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE is a Scottish association football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United, where he has been in charge since 1986...
, Alan Carr
Alan Carr
Alan Carr is an English comedian and television personality. Born in Weymouth, he was raised in Northampton before moving to Manchester during his early 20's....
, John Reid
John Reid (politician)
John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan, PC is a British politician, who served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament and cabinet minister under Tony Blair, most notably as Defence Secretary and then Home Secretary...
, Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
Mark Perry
David DickinsonDavid Dickinson
David Dickinson is an English antiques expert, television presenter and entrepreneur.-Biography:...
, John Prescott
John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
, Robin Cook
Robin Cook
Robert Finlayson Cook was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Livingston from 1983 until his death, and notably served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 to 2001....
, Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
, David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
, Magneto
Magneto (comics)
Magneto is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the central villain of the X-Men comic, as well as the TV show and the films. The character first appears in X-Men #1 , and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby...
and Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, Professor Robert Winston
Robert Winston
Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...
, Dr Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams
Rowan Douglas Williams FRSL, FBA, FLSW is an Anglican bishop, poet and theologian. He is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he has held since early 2003.Williams was previously Bishop of Monmouth and...
, David Blunkett
David Blunkett
David Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
, Tom Paulin
Tom Paulin
Thomas Neilson Paulin is a Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literature. He lives in England, where he is the GM Young Lecturer in English Literature at Hertford College, Oxford.- Life and work :...
, Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
, Peter Mandelson
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, PC is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and was a European Commissioner...
, Graham Norton
Graham Norton
Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton , is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist...
, Martin Jarvis, Trevor McDonald
Trevor McDonald
Sir Trevor McDonald OBE is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist. He had a long career as a news presenter with ITN...
(on radio), Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
, Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
, Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England...
, Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
, Monty Don
Monty Don
Montagu Denis Wyatt Don is a British television presenter, writer and speaker on horticulture, best known for presenting the BBC television series Gardeners' World.-Early life:...
, Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
, Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is a successful homestyle consultant best known for his appearances on the BBC television programme Changing Rooms...
, Toby Ziegler
Toby Ziegler
Tobias Zachary 'Toby' Ziegler is played by Richard Schiff on the television serial drama The West Wing. For most of the series' duration he is White House Communications Director.-Creation and development:...
, Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
, Adam Hart-Davis
Adam Hart-Davis
Adam John Hart-Davis is an English scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster, well-known in the UK for presenting the BBC television series Local Heroes and What the Romans Did for Us, the latter spawning several spin-off series involving the Victorians, the Tudors, the Stuarts,...
, Hannibal Lecter
Hannibal Lecter
Hannibal Lecter M.D. is a fictional character in a series of horror novels by Thomas Harris and in the films adapted from them.Lecter was introduced in the 1981 thriller novel Red Dragon as a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer...
(on radio), Lord Voldemort
Lord Voldemort
Lord Voldemort is the main antagonist of the Harry Potter series written by British author J. K. Rowling. Voldemort first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was released in 1997...
(on radio), Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.Poirot has been portrayed on...
, Second Doctor
Second Doctor
The Second Doctor is the second incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by character actor Patrick Troughton....
& Patrick Troughton
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
, Bernard Matthews
Bernard Matthews
Bernard Matthews Farms Ltd is a British farming and food products business, which specialises in the farming of turkeys. Founded by Bernard Matthews in 1950, as Bernard Matthews Foods Ltd, the company is headquartered in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and has 56 farms throughout Norfolk, Suffolk and...
, Rocky Balboa
Rocky Balboa (character)
Robert "Rocky" Balboa, Sr. is a fictional character and the main protagonist portrayed by Sylvester Stallone who has appeared in the Rocky series from 1976 to 2006. During the series, he wins the Heavyweight Championship of the World twice....
, Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
, George Lamb
George Lamb (presenter)
George Martin Lamb is a Scottish-born British radio and TV presenter. He is the son of actor Larry Lamb.-Career:Lamb's radio career peaked with presenting his own daytime show on BBC Radio 6 Music for two years from October 2007 to November 2009, before being moved the early weekend mornings for 6...
Phil Cornwell
Greg DykeGreg Dyke
Gregory "Greg" Dyke is a British media executive, journalist and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am...
, Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
, The Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke of Edinburgh is a British royal title, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family only four times times since its creation in 1726...
, Saruman
Saruman
Saruman the White is a fictional character and a major antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar to challenge Sauron, the main antagonist of the tale, but later on aims at gaining...
and Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
, Don Vito Corleone, Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
, Derren Brown
Derren Brown
Derren Victor Brown is a British illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat...
, Professor Snape & Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
, Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver
James "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...
, Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
, Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...
, Jack Straw
Jack Straw (politician)
John Whitaker Straw is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Blackburn since 1979. He served as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001, Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2006 and Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons from 2006 to 2007 under Tony Blair...
, Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
, Bruce Forsyth
Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, CBE , commonly known as Bruce Forsyth, or Brucie, is an English TV personality...
, Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
, Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, Leo McGarry
Leo McGarry
Leo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character played by John Spencer on the television serial drama The West Wing. The role earned Spencer the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. McGarry's character, the former United States Secretary of Labor, begins the series as the White...
, Ninth Doctor
Ninth Doctor
The Ninth Doctor is the ninth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by Christopher Eccleston....
Who & Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
, Prince Charles, Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
, Justin Hawkins
Justin Hawkins
Justin David Hawkins is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist of The Darkness, alongside his brother, guitarist Dan Hawkins...
, Jon Snow
Jon Snow
Jon Snow is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.-Early life:...
, Jimmy Hill
Jimmy Hill
James William Thomas "Jimmy" Hill OBE is an English association football personality. His career has taken in virtually every role in football, including player, union leader, coach, manager, director, chairman, television executive, presenter, analyst and match official.-Early life:Hill was born...
, Stelios Haji-Ioannou
Stelios Haji-Ioannou
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou , born 14 February 1967) is a British entrepreneur of Greek Cypriot origin, currently a resident of Monaco. He is the scion of a wealthy, shipowning family, but is best known for setting up easyJet, a highly successful and profitable low-cost airline, with start-up funds...
(on radio), Alistair Cooke
Alistair Cooke
Alfred Alistair Cooke KBE was a British/American journalist, television personality and broadcaster. Outside his journalistic output, which included Letter from America and Alistair Cooke's America, he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS Masterpiece Theater from 1971 to 1992...
(on radio), Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...
, Lord Hutton, Jimmy Savile
Jimmy Savile
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, OBE, KCSG was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops...
, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
, Russell Brand
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...
, Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Guy Vine is a British author, journalist and news presenter for the BBC. He is known for his direct interview style and exclusive reporting from war-torn areas throughout Africa...
, Evan Davis
Evan Davis (journalist)
Evan Harold Davis is a British economist, journalist and presenter for the BBC. In October 2001, Davis took over from Peter Jay as the BBC's economics editor. He left this post in April 2008 to become a presenter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme...
, Neil Burgess a.k.a Barry Scott, Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...