Harry Enfield's Television Programme
Encyclopedia
Harry Enfield's Television Programme (also called Harry Enfield and Chums) was a British
sketch show starring Harry Enfield
and Paul Whitehouse
. It first broadcast on BBC Two
in 1990 in the 9pm slot on Thursdays nights which became the traditional time for alternative comedy
on television.
Enfield was already an established name due to his 'Loadsamoney' character (which featured in a few entertainment programmes in the late 1980s), but the series gave greater presence to his frequent collaborators Paul Whitehouse
and Kathy Burke
- so much so that, in 1994, the show was retitled Harry Enfield and Chums.
and Geoffrey Perkins
. The original series titles began with Enfield in a black suit walking towards the camera and blowing a raspberry to the music of a brass band, and ended with him taking a quick drag from a cigarette hidden behind his back. There was also a Christmas special produced for this series.
After the original series, there were a couple of radio appearances and a one-off special for the characters Smashey and Nicey. During the period between series, Enfield concentrated on straight acting parts, and Whitehouse worked on other projects.
Through repeats, the characters proved popular, and in 1994, BBC One
commissioned a new series called Harry Enfield and Chums. This series was produced with a pool of writers, rather than the cast alone. The format of the opening credits was the same, although Enfield was now joined by co-stars Whitehouse and Burke to take a collective bow to the audience. There were two Christmas specials produced for this series.
. A shady-looking man who in each sketch faces a problem or disappointment and attempts to bribe someone who has no control of the situation, including paying a station guard to bring back a missed train and a nurse to exchange his newborn daughter for a baby boy. His catchphrases were "Oh, I getcha!" and "You drive a hard bargain, don't you?", always followed by Bob offering more money to his harassed victim.
.
) who formed a running gag during the original show -- for no apparent reason he would walk into the middle of a sketch, hand something to a character (usually appropriate to the situation), be told "Thank you Fat Bloke!", and walk off. In Harry Enfield and Chums, he would sing a song (ranging from "Lord of the Dance
" to "Smack My Bitch Up
") in operatic style at the end of the closing credits, introduced by Enfield: "The show's not over until the Fat Bloke sings!" He made his first appearance in a script for The Scousers.
. Interview after interview pass with Julio gaining more and more a Geordie
accent. Probably inspired by the arrival of Faustino Asprilla
at Newcastle United in 1995.
".
's Sunday Night Project on 8th February 2009, Harry admitted the characters were based on a young Lily
and Alfie Allen
; at the time of them being toddlers, he was dating their mother.
, a stereotypical teenager who ruins his parents' lives with his refusal to do anything. He usually brings round his friend Perry, who persists on stealing food from the fridge during visits and asking for jam sandwiches. Perry is faultlessly polite to Kevin's parents, Mr and Mrs Patterson, but in one episode we see he is just as rude to his own parents as Kevin is to his.
". Lance is tone deaf but can sing Italian opera perfectly. Lee thinks he is cleverer than Lance, and he is, but not by much.
) and even his own marital status (Les: "Maureen! Can you come and help me at the bar please me love?" Regular: "You're not married, Les").
and who was aimed by Enfield to show the actor's tendency to sound the same in many of the parts he plays. The character would talk about extremely dreary things his neighbours were doing such as "do you know, he didn't call that woman back until... approximately two hours later. Would Damon Hill
have taken that long to call his mother? I'll be honest with you. I don't know. Not a lot of people know I don't know that, but I don't."
. A (supposedly) talking corpse (played by Whitehouse) who travels around with his living friend (Enfield) and often helps him get out of troublesome situations, such as in one sketch where he avoids a speeding ticket by pretending to rush Mister Dead to the mortuary. The opening ditty is a parody of the original "Mr Ed" song: "A corpse is a corpse, of course, of course, and no one can talk to a corpse of course, that is of course, unless the corpse, is the famous Mr Dead!".
, who struggles to accept his son's homosexuality
, often making tactless remarks and Freudian slip
s ("Make yourself at homo... er, at HOME!") or judgements based on stereotypes. For example, going up to a pink Mini
that he assumed was his son's car. The son's boyfriend was played by Ewen Bremner
.
). Miles Cholmondeley-Warner ("Chumley-Warner"), with his manservant Greyson (Enfield), would expound on various issues of the day and attempt to uphold the British Empire
's values. In the second series this gave way to a series of public information film
s that would advise, amongst other things, that women refrain from participating in complex conversations (as this would lead to insanity
) or that babies be given gin
to ensure a good night's sleep. The characters also appeared in a series of TV adverts for Mercury Communications
. The sketch Women! Know your limits was plagiarised by a Danish PR agency in a campaign video for the Danish Act of Succession referendum, 2009.
(later by Mark Moraghan
) and Gary Bleasdale
, Ga' Ba' and Te' are stereotypical Liverpudlians, who alternately fall out and make peace. The Scousers
often say such things as "Dey do dough, don't dey" (They do though, don't they), and "Alright! Alright! Calm down"- which is what one of them says when two of the others start arguing.
! NO!!!"). The duo appeared in a series of 1996 British Hula Hoops
advertisements that explained that if a consumer found a square Hula Hoop in a packet, he or she would win a prize, with Frank stubbornly and aggressively maintained that "Hula Hoops are round, they'll stay round, and they'll be around for ever!". Their most famous sketch involved British Formula One
legend Damon Hill
, where Harry Enfield's character initially asks for an autograph, but as their conversation develops, Hill begins to anger Enfield, ending in the inevitable, "OI! HILL! NOO!" The Self-Righteous Brothers are named after musical duo The Righteous Brothers
.
Out-of-date Fab FM DJs Dave Nice and Mike Smash, a thinly veiled parody of some older Radio 1
DJs of the time. It is believed that the characters were based primarily on Mike Read
, Simon Bates
and Tony Blackburn
, though other then-current DJs such as Alan Freeman
were also believed to have influenced the writers. Each skit would feature the pair's love of "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
" by Bachman–Turner Overdrive, seemingly the only record they ever played - although they were shown playing other records at the introduction of several sketches. The pair would also try to outdo each other with deliberate mentions of charidee (charity) work for which the pair would ostensibly claim to be keeping hush-hush.
accents and were forever informing people that "We are considerably richer than yow!" Many sketches involved the couple patronising another couple of similar age, desperate to convince the other couple (Pam's sister and her husband in one sketch) that their greater wealth meant greater happiness or social importance, and their inability to accept the successes or talents of others as being noteworthy (such as the British couple they meet on a Spanish holiday who, fluent in Spanish, are dismissed as "showing off").
kebab
-shop owner, whose mannerisms are based on a person of Enfield's acquaintance with the same career.
An upper class twit who is usually being ripped off by one of his 'jolly nice' prep-school chums. He is an exaggerated version of "posh" yet pleasant and stupid people that Enfield knew. He is a fictional Old Ardinian
with an eccentric public school-influenced dress-sense involving jeans and a school blazer
worn over a striped rugby shirt. The character was initially created by Ian Hislop
and Nick Newman
, who are both Old Ardinians and wrote the character as an antidote to contemporary portrayals of ex-public schoolboys as sharp-minded high-achieving young men, and instead chose to base the character on former school contemporaries who had plenty of money and good manners but were light of intellect. His catchphrase is "What an absolutely, thoroughly, bloody nice bloke!". He appeared in TV adverts promoting British meat on in the late nineties and early 2000s. The adverts were pulled because of the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis. The character returned again as Tim Nice-But-Balding in the second series of Harry & Paul, Episode 4, in a Dragon's Den parody sketch. He represents a city banker and it is revealed that Peter Jones is his brother.
. Enfield also claimed to have mixed more recent Conservative
politicians as Michael Howard
and Michael Portillo
together in the character, on the allegation that they were "Tory Boys who have never grown up." Became Tony Boy (a parody of Tony Blair
) after the 1997 UK General Election
.
(derived from one of Burke's stand-up skits) A pair of benefit-dependent proto-Chavs with a dubious sense of hygiene. They argue over the colour of a stain on their carpet, the name of their unborn child – Waynetta: "'Ow about 'Rothmans
'?" Wayne: "You can't call him Rothmans! Rothmans is a girl's name!" – or pizza. Waynetta (catchphrase: "I am smokin' a fag!") eventually names the child Frogmella because "it's itzotic". Later, another daughter is named Spudulika
. Enfield based them on a couple with a similar lifestyle who lived in the flat below his in his younger days.
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...
sketch show starring Harry Enfield
Harry Enfield
Henry Richard "Harry" Enfield is a BAFTA-winning English comedian, actor, writer and director.-Early life:...
and Paul Whitehouse
Paul Whitehouse
Paul Whitehouse is a Welsh actor, writer and comedian. He became known for his work with Harry Enfield and as one of the stars of the popular BBC sketch show, The Fast Show. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was in the top 50 comedy acts voted for by comedians and comedy insiders...
. It first broadcast on 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...
in 1990 in the 9pm slot on Thursdays nights which became the traditional time for alternative comedy
Alternative comedy
Alternative comedy is a term that originated in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era, and typically avoids relying on a standardised structure of a sequence of jokes with punch lines. Patton Oswalt defines it as "comedy where the...
on television.
Enfield was already an established name due to his 'Loadsamoney' character (which featured in a few entertainment programmes in the late 1980s), but the series gave greater presence to his frequent collaborators Paul Whitehouse
Paul Whitehouse
Paul Whitehouse is a Welsh actor, writer and comedian. He became known for his work with Harry Enfield and as one of the stars of the popular BBC sketch show, The Fast Show. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was in the top 50 comedy acts voted for by comedians and comedy insiders...
and Kathy Burke
Kathy Burke
Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke is an English actress, comedienne, playwright and theatre director. She is best known for her portrayals of Perry in the Harry Enfield film Kevin and Perry Go Large, and of Linda La Hughes in the British sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme...
- so much so that, in 1994, the show was retitled Harry Enfield and Chums.
History
The 1990 series was written solely by Enfield, Whitehouse, Charlie HigsonCharlie Higson
Charles Murray Higson , more commonly known as Charlie Higson - also Switch - is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer...
and Geoffrey Perkins
Geoffrey Perkins
Geoffrey Howard Perkins was a comedy producer, writer and performer, and an important figure in British comedy broadcasting. This was recognised in December 2008 when he was awarded with an Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award...
. The original series titles began with Enfield in a black suit walking towards the camera and blowing a raspberry to the music of a brass band, and ended with him taking a quick drag from a cigarette hidden behind his back. There was also a Christmas special produced for this series.
After the original series, there were a couple of radio appearances and a one-off special for the characters Smashey and Nicey. During the period between series, Enfield concentrated on straight acting parts, and Whitehouse worked on other projects.
Through repeats, the characters proved popular, and in 1994, BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
commissioned a new series called Harry Enfield and Chums. This series was produced with a pool of writers, rather than the cast alone. The format of the opening credits was the same, although Enfield was now joined by co-stars Whitehouse and Burke to take a collective bow to the audience. There were two Christmas specials produced for this series.
Big Bob Joylove
Based on the TV series about LovejoyLovejoy
Lovejoy is a TV series about the adventures of Lovejoy, a British antiques dealer and faker based in East Anglia, a less than scrupulous yet likeable rogue. The episodes were based on a series of picaresque novels by John Grant...
. A shady-looking man who in each sketch faces a problem or disappointment and attempts to bribe someone who has no control of the situation, including paying a station guard to bring back a missed train and a nurse to exchange his newborn daughter for a baby boy. His catchphrases were "Oh, I getcha!" and "You drive a hard bargain, don't you?", always followed by Bob offering more money to his harassed victim.
The Bores
Two middle-aged men prone to having achingly dull conversations at parties, revolving mostly around cars ("What are we driving at the moment?"), and laughing loudly at their own jokes.The Dutch Coppers
Two openly gay Dutch policemen who are more interested in smoking marijuana and conducting a homosexual affair with each other than doing any police work. A parody of liberal attitudes in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Fat Bloke
A fat, jolly-looking man (played by David BarberDavid Barber
David Barber is a British television actor, known for his numerous roles in ChuckleVision.- Filmography :*ChuckleVision*Steel River Blues*Merseybeat*The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc *Harry Enfield and Chums...
) who formed a running gag during the original show -- for no apparent reason he would walk into the middle of a sketch, hand something to a character (usually appropriate to the situation), be told "Thank you Fat Bloke!", and walk off. In Harry Enfield and Chums, he would sing a song (ranging from "Lord of the Dance
Lord of the Dance (hymn)
Lord of the Dance is a hymn with words written by English songwriter Sydney Carter in 1967. He adapted the tune from the American Shaker song "Simple Gifts"...
" to "Smack My Bitch Up
Smack My Bitch Up
"Smack My Bitch Up" is a song by The Prodigy, released as the band's twelfth single on 17 November 1997. It was the third and final single from the album The Fat of the Land....
") in operatic style at the end of the closing credits, introduced by Enfield: "The show's not over until the Fat Bloke sings!" He made his first appearance in a script for The Scousers.
Julio Geordio
A Colombian footballer who has recently joined Newcastle UnitedNewcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
. Interview after interview pass with Julio gaining more and more a 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...
accent. Probably inspired by the arrival of Faustino Asprilla
Faustino Asprilla
Faustino Hernán "Tino" Asprilla Hinestroza is a former Colombian football player. He was known by his supporters in his home country as The Octopus for his voracious appetite...
at Newcastle United in 1995.
Jürgen the German
A German tourist in England who can't stop apologising for his country's actions "during ze VarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
".
Harry and Lulu
A pair of toddlers played by Enfield and Burke in oversized sets. Harry deliberately hurts Lulu, or more often tricks her into hurting herself, but then plays the innocent when their mother arrives to investigate, and asks for a "big hug". On 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...
's Sunday Night Project on 8th February 2009, Harry admitted the characters were based on a young Lily
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...
and Alfie Allen
Alfie Owen-Allen
Alfie Evan Allen is an English actor. Allen recently changed his name to incorporate Owen. All of his acting roles are credited as Alfie Allen.-Personal life:...
; at the time of them being toddlers, he was dating their mother.
Kevin Patterson
He spends his entire time irritating his family by talking constantly and hyperactively. Later grew up to become Kevin the TeenagerKevin the Teenager
Kevin Patterson is a character created and played by the British comedian, Harry Enfield.-Evolution:Kevin first appeared in the "Little Brother" sketches of Harry Enfield's Television Programme as an annoyingly energetic boy who constantly vexed his older brother with his irritating catchphrases...
, a stereotypical teenager who ruins his parents' lives with his refusal to do anything. He usually brings round his friend Perry, who persists on stealing food from the fridge during visits and asking for jam sandwiches. Perry is faultlessly polite to Kevin's parents, Mr and Mrs Patterson, but in one episode we see he is just as rude to his own parents as Kevin is to his.
Lee and Lance
Two idiot mechanics (fruit and veg / fish stall holders in the later series) commenting on current affairs much in the same mode as "Pete and DudPete and Dud
Pete and Dud were characters played by the comedians and entertainers Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.The dialogue format originated in 1964 when Dudley Moore invited Peter Cook to appear in a television performance, whereupon Peter Cook scripted a conversation between two men from Dagenham in flat caps...
". Lance is tone deaf but can sing Italian opera perfectly. Lee thinks he is cleverer than Lance, and he is, but not by much.
Les the Landlord
A chronically absent-minded pub landlord who is easily confused, never manages to serve a drink and frequently mixes up his anecdotes, customer orders, money ("Now, you gave me a fiver"), the names of even his regular customers (one of whom was played regularly by Martin ClunesMartin Clunes
Alexander Martin Clunes is an English actor and comedian. Clunes is perhaps best known for his roles as Gary Strang in Men Behaving Badly, Doctor Martin Ellingham in Doc Martin and the title character in Reggie Perrin....
) and even his own marital status (Les: "Maureen! Can you come and help me at the bar please me love?" Regular: "You're not married, Les").
The Lovely Wobbly Randy Old Ladies
A deliberate contrast, on Enfield's part, to show the opposite of The Old Gits : Two lecherous old ladies who do not care who approaches them so long as the newcomer is male, and youthful. Their catchphrase is "Ooh! Young man!", which they repeat in an attempt to pass themselves off as 'nice little old ladies'.Michael Paine - A self-confessed "nosey neighbour"
Played by Whitehouse in the style of Michael CaineMichael 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 ....
and who was aimed by Enfield to show the actor's tendency to sound the same in many of the parts he plays. The character would talk about extremely dreary things his neighbours were doing such as "do you know, he didn't call that woman back until... approximately two hours later. Would Damon Hill
Damon Hill
Damon Graham Devereux Hill OBE is a retired British racing driver. In 1996 Hill won the Formula One World Championship. As the son of the late Graham Hill, he is the only son of a world champion to win the title...
have taken that long to call his mother? I'll be honest with you. I don't know. Not a lot of people know I don't know that, but I don't."
Mister Dead
Parody of Mister EdMister Ed
Originally produced in late 1960, Mister Ed is an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966....
. A (supposedly) talking corpse (played by Whitehouse) who travels around with his living friend (Enfield) and often helps him get out of troublesome situations, such as in one sketch where he avoids a speeding ticket by pretending to rush Mister Dead to the mortuary. The opening ditty is a parody of the original "Mr Ed" song: "A corpse is a corpse, of course, of course, and no one can talk to a corpse of course, that is of course, unless the corpse, is the famous Mr Dead!".
Modern Dad
An old-fashioned father, looking and sounding suspiciously like Enfield's ownEdward Enfield
Edward Enfield is an English television, radio and newspaper journalist and presenter. He is also the father of British comedian Harry Enfield and novelist Lizzie Enfield, and husband of Deirdre.-Biography:...
, who struggles to accept his son's homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, often making tactless remarks and Freudian slip
Freudian slip
A Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that is interpreted as occurring due to the interference of some unconscious , subdued, wish, conflict, or train of thought...
s ("Make yourself at homo... er, at HOME!") or judgements based on stereotypes. For example, going up to a pink Mini
Mini
The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...
that he assumed was his son's car. The son's boyfriend was played by Ewen Bremner
Ewen Bremner
-Early life:Bremner was born in Edinburgh, the son of two art teachers. He attended Davidson's Mains Primary School and Portobello High School. He originally wanted to be a circus clown, but was offered a chance in show business by television director Richard D. Brooks. One of his first notable...
.
Mr Cholmondeley-Warner
A snobbish, upper-crust 1930s television presenter (played by Jon GloverJon Glover
Jon Glover is a British actor. He has appeared in various television programmes including Play School, Survivors, the Management consultant in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Casualty, Bodger and Badger and Peak Practice....
). Miles Cholmondeley-Warner ("Chumley-Warner"), with his manservant Greyson (Enfield), would expound on various issues of the day and attempt to uphold the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
's values. In the second series this gave way to a series of public information film
Public information film
Public Information Films are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement .-Subjects:...
s that would advise, amongst other things, that women refrain from participating in complex conversations (as this would lead to insanity
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
) or that babies be given gin
Gin
Gin is a spirit which derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries . Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into two basic legal categories...
to ensure a good night's sleep. The characters also appeared in a series of TV adverts for Mercury Communications
Mercury Communications
Mercury Communications was a national telephone company in the United Kingdom. The company was formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless to challenge the monopoly of British Telecom which was privatised in 1984...
. The sketch Women! Know your limits was plagiarised by a Danish PR agency in a campaign video for the Danish Act of Succession referendum, 2009.
Mr You-Don't-Wanna-Do-It-Like-That
An infuriating know-it-all father who advised various people with both household tasks and diverse jobs, such as a football pundit. This was Enfield's take on the traditional "mother-in-law" stereotype. His catchphrase, on encountering someone, or entering a room is "Only me!" When his interfering goes wrong he tends to blame everyone but himself, using the catchphrase "Now I do not believe you wanted to do that, did you?"The Old Gits
An obnoxious pair of old men who take great delight in persecuting younger people - although they do branch out their cruelty on other groups of people, so as not to discriminate.The Palace of Righteous Justice
A superhero team who are forced to encounter everyday problems such as opening a bank account. Their members are "Law Man" (Wielder of the mighty sword of Dobber), "Fire Man" (Whose fiery balls of fire can start fires), "(Kometh the) Ice Man" and (Apparently the most powerful of all) "She Woman Cat Type Thing".The Scousers
Played by Harry Enfield, Joe McGannJoe McGann
Joseph 'Joe' McGann is an English actor. His most well known role is the lead role of Charlie Burrows, the "housekeeper" in the TV comedy series The Upper Hand . He is also known as a television reporter on the BBC's South Today programme, reporting on local events in the south of England...
(later by Mark Moraghan
Mark Moraghan
Mark Moraghan is a British actor and singer. He has appeared in many British drama series including Peak Practice and Heartbeat...
) and Gary Bleasdale
Gary Bleasdale
Gary Bleasdale is an actor and playwright, born on Merseyside England in 1962. Gary has appeared in many television programmes since 1978 when his first role was playing the lead in an episode of the final series of Z Cars. He played Kevin Dean in The Black Stuff , and in Boys From the Black Stuff,...
, Ga' Ba' and Te' are stereotypical Liverpudlians, who alternately fall out and make peace. The Scousers
The Scousers
The Scousers was a sketch from the Harry Enfield's Television Programme comedy show of the early 1990s.It featured a set of stereotyped Liverpudlian characters or Scousers, "Ga'", "Ba'" and "Te'" played by Gary Bleasdale, Harry Enfield, Joe McGann, and Mark Moraghan...
often say such things as "Dey do dough, don't dey" (They do though, don't they), and "Alright! Alright! Calm down"- which is what one of them says when two of the others start arguing.
The Self-Righteous Brothers
A pair of middle-aged opinionated men, Frank and George Doberman, who spend their time sitting in a pub, discussing celebrities they admire (always referred to by just their surnames), and then becoming angry when contemplating said celebrities doing something extremely selfish and unlikely ("Oi! ArmstrongNeil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
! NO!!!"). The duo appeared in a series of 1996 British Hula Hoops
Hula Hoops
Hula Hoops are a potato-based snack, in the shape of short, hollow cylinders. They were first introduced in 1973. Hula Hoops come in several different flavors. They are produced by KP Snacks...
advertisements that explained that if a consumer found a square Hula Hoop in a packet, he or she would win a prize, with Frank stubbornly and aggressively maintained that "Hula Hoops are round, they'll stay round, and they'll be around for ever!". Their most famous sketch involved British Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
legend Damon Hill
Damon Hill
Damon Graham Devereux Hill OBE is a retired British racing driver. In 1996 Hill won the Formula One World Championship. As the son of the late Graham Hill, he is the only son of a world champion to win the title...
, where Harry Enfield's character initially asks for an autograph, but as their conversation develops, Hill begins to anger Enfield, ending in the inevitable, "OI! HILL! NOO!" The Self-Righteous Brothers are named after musical duo The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003...
.
Smashie and Nicey
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
DJs of the time. It is believed that the characters were based primarily on Mike Read
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter.-Early life:...
, Simon Bates
Simon Bates
Simon Bates is a UK disc jockey and radio presenter. Between 1976 and 1993 he worked at BBC Radio 1, presenting the station's weekday mid-morning show for most of this period. He later became a regular presenter on Classic FM...
and Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn is an English disc jockey, who broadcast on the "pirate" stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1967. In 2002 he was the winner of the ITV reality TV programme I'm a Celebrity.....
, though other then-current DJs such as Alan Freeman
Alan Freeman
Alan Leslie "Fluff" Freeman, MBE was a British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years.-Career:...
were also believed to have influenced the writers. Each skit would feature the pair's love of "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
"You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" is a rock song written by Randy Bachman and performed by Bachman–Turner Overdrive on the album Not Fragile. It was released as a single in 1974 with an instrumental track "Free Wheelin'" as the B-side...
" by Bachman–Turner Overdrive, seemingly the only record they ever played - although they were shown playing other records at the introduction of several sketches. The pair would also try to outdo each other with deliberate mentions of charidee (charity) work for which the pair would ostensibly claim to be keeping hush-hush.
Stan and Pam Herbert
An affluent couple who spoke with exaggerated Black CountryBlack Country
The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
accents and were forever informing people that "We are considerably richer than yow!" Many sketches involved the couple patronising another couple of similar age, desperate to convince the other couple (Pam's sister and her husband in one sketch) that their greater wealth meant greater happiness or social importance, and their inability to accept the successes or talents of others as being noteworthy (such as the British couple they meet on a Spanish holiday who, fluent in Spanish, are dismissed as "showing off").
Stavros
A revival of Enfield's old character, an amiable GreekGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
kebab
Kebab
Kebab is a wide variety of meat dishes originating in Middle East and later on adopted by the Middle East, and Asia Minor, and now found worldwide. In English, kebab with no qualification generally refers more specifically to shish kebab served on the skewer...
-shop owner, whose mannerisms are based on a person of Enfield's acquaintance with the same career.
Tim Nice-But-Dim
Ardingly College
Ardingly College is a selective independent co-educational boarding and day school, founded in 1858 by Canon Nathaniel Woodard, included in the Tatler list of top public schools. The college is located in the village of Ardingly near Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England, having moved to its present...
with an eccentric public school-influenced dress-sense involving jeans and a school blazer
Blazer
A blazer is a type of jacket. The term blazer occasionally is synonymous with boating jacket and sports jacket, two different garments. A blazer resembles a suit coat cut more casually — sometimes with flap-less patch pockets and metal buttons. A blazer's cloth is usually durable , because it is an...
worn over a striped rugby shirt. The character was initially created by Ian Hislop
Ian Hislop
Ian David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye...
and Nick Newman
Nick Newman
Nick Newman is a satirical British cartoonist and comedy scriptwriter.The son of an RAF officer, Newman was born in Kuala Lumpur and schooled at Ardingly College where his satirical career began, working on revues with Ian Hislop...
, who are both Old Ardinians and wrote the character as an antidote to contemporary portrayals of ex-public schoolboys as sharp-minded high-achieving young men, and instead chose to base the character on former school contemporaries who had plenty of money and good manners but were light of intellect. His catchphrase is "What an absolutely, thoroughly, bloody nice bloke!". He appeared in TV adverts promoting British meat on in the late nineties and early 2000s. The adverts were pulled because of the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis. The character returned again as Tim Nice-But-Balding in the second series of Harry & Paul, Episode 4, in a Dragon's Den parody sketch. He represents a city banker and it is revealed that Peter Jones is his brother.
Tory Boy
A repulsive fifteen-year-old with glaringly out-of-date ideas about the world, based on a cross between a snobbish, unpopular boy who went to school with Enfield, and a younger version of William HagueWilliam 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...
. Enfield also claimed to have mixed more recent Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politicians as 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...
and Michael Portillo
Michael Portillo
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister...
together in the character, on the allegation that they were "Tory Boys who have never grown up." Became Tony Boy (a parody of 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...
) after the 1997 UK General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
.
Wayne and Waynetta Slob
Rothmans, Benson & Hedges
Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. is a Canadian manufacturer and distributor of tobacco products. It was formed by the merger of the Canadian units of Rothmans International and Benson & Hedges, owned by Philip Morris. When British American Tobacco bought Rothmans in 1999, it spun off its 60% share...
'?" Wayne: "You can't call him Rothmans! Rothmans is a girl's name!" – or pizza. Waynetta (catchphrase: "I am smokin' a fag!") eventually names the child Frogmella because "it's itzotic". Later, another daughter is named Spudulika
Spudulike
Spudulike is a United Kingdom-based fast food franchise founded in Edinburgh in 1974. Its products are baked potatoes , with a wide range of fillings. It has branches across Britain.- History :...
. Enfield based them on a couple with a similar lifestyle who lived in the flat below his in his younger days.