Herr Otto Flick
Encyclopedia
Herr Otto Flick is a fictional character
in the BBC
sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!
, which ran from 1982 to 1992. He was played by the actors Richard Gibson
and David Janson
. On The Return of 'Allo 'Allo!
it was revealed that the character was based on a combination of Joseph Goebbels
and Arnold Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark
, and that Gibson had wished to incorporate all manner of grotesqueries from these characters into his depiction of Flick but had only been allowed a limp.
Herr Flick is an officer of the Gestapo
, the Nazi secret police during World War II
. On the rare occasions he wears uniform, he is shown to be an SS-Sturmbannführer (Major
). He is portrayed as unemotional (his voice never changes in relation to how he feels, even once while in pain he rather calmly stated "I am suspended by the Clappers') and he seems hurt only when he finds Private Helga Geerhart
kissing the Italian Captain Alberto Bertorelli
. Apart from this, the only emotion he ever shows is anger.
He is the godson of Heinrich Himmler
, the head of the SS and Gestapo
. He explains in one episode that he is an orphan and was raised by nuns when he was little. He has stated that he originally didn't want to join the Gestapo, but Himmler convinced him. Over the course of the programme he receives several letters from Himmler, usually admonishing him for his actions, such as failing to find the portrait of the Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies by Van Klomp
. When he is arrested by General Von Klinkerhoffen (once for pretending to be Helga's replacement and the other time for dressing up as a member of the French Resistance), Himmler comes to his rescue by sending a telegram to the General requesting Otto's release.
He is assisted by Engelbert Von Smallhausen
, a junior officer of the Gestapo who is not too intelligent. Whenever Von Smallhausen makes a statement that is either stupid or does not agree with Flick's thinking, he always hits Von Smallhausen on the head with whatever object he can find at the time.
Herr Flick is in love with Helga, a fact which he does not often show. When she comes to see him he always says "You may kiss me." She then proceeds to kiss him passionately, while he stands quite still, with his facial expression not changing. He is excessively domineering, not just to her, but to Von Smallhausen as well.
His secret HQ's address is Rue de Gangoine 32. In his dungeon, Herr Flick has many disguises. He and Von Smallhausen are often shown in disguise, trying to gain entry to somewhere he is not supposed to be such as the château. He often adds the word 'Gestapo' as an adjective to various gadgets and items he uses. Examples include: "My powerful Gestapo binoculars", "My Gestapo staff car", and "The Gestapo Dance".
Herr Flick has a fondness for using experimental truth sera made from assorted exotic animals such as the Self-inflating Peruvian Marsh Frog or the Patagonian Fruit Bat. These sera often have interesting physical side effects on his victims.
There is also an extensive collection of Gestapo gramophone records dealing with such subjects as "How to fool French peasants into believing you are English in one easy lesson" - "Faw F-Faw Faw-Faw-Faw..."
He plays the violin extremely well and his favourite animal is the rat
(because it is small, shifty and disgusting) this is apparently why he tolerates Von Smallhausen as he compares him to a rat. He owns a homing pigeon named Boris.
At the start of series 9 he has plastic surgery so when the allies invade he will not be recognised.
In France, the word "flic" is a derogatory term used towards the police. Herr Flick is also said to be a reference to 'hair flick', the typical gesture with which Hitler adjusted his coiffure. Due to it also sounding like the word "stick" it was used in a telephone gag on the show when Herr Flick answered the phone he stated "Flick the Gestapo" and after a pause - and a look of shock upon his face - repeated "I said Flick the Gestapo" (as opposed to "fuck the Gestapo") while pronouncing his name more clearly.
A website located at www.askflick.com allows users to ask Herr Flick anything.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the BBC
BBC
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...
sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo! is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC One from 1982 to 1992 comprising eighty-five episodes. It is a parody of another BBC programme, the wartime drama Secret Army, and was created by David Croft, who also wrote the theme music, and Jeremy Lloyd. Lloyd and Croft wrote the first 6...
, which ran from 1982 to 1992. He was played by the actors Richard Gibson
Richard Gibson
Richard Gibson is an English actor, probably best known for his role as the archetypal Gestapo Officer Herr Otto Flick in the BBC hit sitcom series, Allo 'Allo!.-Career:...
and David Janson
David Janson
David Janson is an English actor whose stage debut was in Oliver! in 1962. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963 in A Midsummer Night's Dream and appeared as the young boy in The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night.Janson became well known for his role as Jimmy Harker in the 1960s British...
. On The Return of 'Allo 'Allo!
The Return of 'Allo 'Allo!
The Return of 'Allo 'Allo! is a one-off special episode of the sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!The Return of 'Allo 'Allo! was broadcast LIVE on BBC1 on 28 April 2007 at 9pm. The storyline involves René writing his memoirs after the war. The new scenes are interspersed with clips from the original series and...
it was revealed that the character was based on a combination of Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
and Arnold Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
, and that Gibson had wished to incorporate all manner of grotesqueries from these characters into his depiction of Flick but had only been allowed a limp.
Herr Flick is an officer of the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, the Nazi secret police during World War II
World 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...
. On the rare occasions he wears uniform, he is shown to be an SS-Sturmbannführer (Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
). He is portrayed as unemotional (his voice never changes in relation to how he feels, even once while in pain he rather calmly stated "I am suspended by the Clappers') and he seems hurt only when he finds Private Helga Geerhart
Private Helga Geerhart
Private Helga Geerhart is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992. She was played by the actress Kim Hartman....
kissing the Italian Captain Alberto Bertorelli
Captain Alberto Bertorelli
Captain Alberto Bertorelli is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992. He was played by Gavin Richards at first, later being replaced by Roger Kitter for season 7 .-Character overview:Bertorelli was, as a result of Nazi Germany's alliance with Italy and...
. Apart from this, the only emotion he ever shows is anger.
He is the godson of Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, the head of the SS and Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
. He explains in one episode that he is an orphan and was raised by nuns when he was little. He has stated that he originally didn't want to join the Gestapo, but Himmler convinced him. Over the course of the programme he receives several letters from Himmler, usually admonishing him for his actions, such as failing to find the portrait of the Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies by Van Klomp
The Fallen Madonna
The Fallen Madonna, usually referred to as The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies by the fictional painter Van Klomp was a portrait of a bare breasted woman which provided a recurring theme of the long-running BBC One television comedy series Allo 'Allo! , written by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd...
. When he is arrested by General Von Klinkerhoffen (once for pretending to be Helga's replacement and the other time for dressing up as a member of the French Resistance), Himmler comes to his rescue by sending a telegram to the General requesting Otto's release.
He is assisted by Engelbert Von Smallhausen
Herr Engelbert Von Smallhausen
Herr Engelbert Von Smallhausen is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992. He was played by the actor John Louis Mansi...
, a junior officer of the Gestapo who is not too intelligent. Whenever Von Smallhausen makes a statement that is either stupid or does not agree with Flick's thinking, he always hits Von Smallhausen on the head with whatever object he can find at the time.
Herr Flick is in love with Helga, a fact which he does not often show. When she comes to see him he always says "You may kiss me." She then proceeds to kiss him passionately, while he stands quite still, with his facial expression not changing. He is excessively domineering, not just to her, but to Von Smallhausen as well.
His secret HQ's address is Rue de Gangoine 32. In his dungeon, Herr Flick has many disguises. He and Von Smallhausen are often shown in disguise, trying to gain entry to somewhere he is not supposed to be such as the château. He often adds the word 'Gestapo' as an adjective to various gadgets and items he uses. Examples include: "My powerful Gestapo binoculars", "My Gestapo staff car", and "The Gestapo Dance".
Herr Flick has a fondness for using experimental truth sera made from assorted exotic animals such as the Self-inflating Peruvian Marsh Frog or the Patagonian Fruit Bat. These sera often have interesting physical side effects on his victims.
There is also an extensive collection of Gestapo gramophone records dealing with such subjects as "How to fool French peasants into believing you are English in one easy lesson" - "Faw F-Faw Faw-Faw-Faw..."
He plays the violin extremely well and his favourite animal is the rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
(because it is small, shifty and disgusting) this is apparently why he tolerates Von Smallhausen as he compares him to a rat. He owns a homing pigeon named Boris.
At the start of series 9 he has plastic surgery so when the allies invade he will not be recognised.
In France, the word "flic" is a derogatory term used towards the police. Herr Flick is also said to be a reference to 'hair flick', the typical gesture with which Hitler adjusted his coiffure. Due to it also sounding like the word "stick" it was used in a telephone gag on the show when Herr Flick answered the phone he stated "Flick the Gestapo" and after a pause - and a look of shock upon his face - repeated "I said Flick the Gestapo" (as opposed to "fuck the Gestapo") while pronouncing his name more clearly.
A website located at www.askflick.com allows users to ask Herr Flick anything.