René François Artois
Encyclopedia
René François Artois is a fictional character
, the main character in the BBC
sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!
, which ran from 1982 to 1992. The character was played by the actor Gorden Kaye
. In the 2009 stage production of 'Allo 'Allo! the part was played by Jeffrey Holland
.
town of Nouvion during World War II
. He leads an extremely complex life, where the day to day problems of the ongoing war and his home life bring numerous consequences. René and his twin brother René (who is actually the same person) were both originally Nancy boys.
Café René is regularly frequented by the German forces. René has to be polite to them (as they are winning the war); but also has to be careful not to be seen as a collaborator. The fact that the café's cabaret is performed by his tone-deaf wife, Edith
, goes some way towards protecting his claim that he remains impartial as possible. Actually, René's waitresses, Yvette
and Maria
, are responsible for entertaining the Germans upstairs with the flying helmet, egg whisk and wet celery. The local commandant, Colonel Von Strohm, and his assistant Captain Hans Geering
are two of the most frequent visitors to the café. In a war where money means very little; René trades the girls' services for wartime luxuries such as butter
, sugar
, paraffin
and gasoline
.
As if not having one lot of foreigners in the café was enough; René has also being forced by the local pro-Charles de Gaulle
Resistance
to hide shot-down British
airmen, and help them escape to England. The leader of the Resistance, Michelle Dubois
, is responsible for devising the plans to help the airmen escape; but also for ammunition convoy hijacks and bombing railway lines. René, his wife, and his staff are therefore forced to help in any way necessary to achieve this; but also to man the Resistance's secret radio, which is hidden under René's mother-in-law's bed.
Meanwhile, the Colonel has uncovered some very valuable local artifacts, which he is hoping to sell after the war. As the Gestapo
are also looking for these items (silver, a cuckoo clock and The Fallen Madonna
with the Big Boobies), René is forced into hiding the painting in his café on behalf of the Colonel. When the Colonel finds out about René helping British airmen to escape, he threatens to have René shot; in which case, René responds by saying that he will tell the Gestapo the whereabouts of the paintings. Naturally, this brings about an agreement between the Colonel and René, who each turn a blind-eye to the dodgy activities of the other. One more complication is that René has to spend almost the entire series posing as his own twin brother after he was ordered to be executed by General von Klinkerhoffen in an early episode. Von Strohm had the execution detail's bullets swapped for blanks, but in order to keep up the pretence René had to spend the rest of his life pretending to be his brother, who also happened to be called René.
Despite being a middle-aged man, René seems to be a magnet of attraction for quite a few of the local women. He is secretly trying to keep his love affair with his waitress Yvette secret from his wife; and his affair with his other waitress Maria, a secret from Yvette. As René himself says, "simple plots are always the best!"
The character of René is portrayed as a coward who is trying to save his own skin. The elaborate plots formed by the Resistance, often bring about talk of him quitting the Resistance. The thought of wearing disguises and sneaking around the local occupied château is something which René does not look forward to, and often refuses to do so. For this, René is often rebuked by his wife or Michelle and more often than not is forced to carry out the work of the Resistance anyway. Whilst on the other side of the fence, René is constantly being interrogated by the Colonel, the General or the Gestapo. This is usually for links to the painting or increased Resistance activity. When it came to the crunch, René would always try and escape or go into hiding before he was arrested for interrogation. Despite all this René is constantly referred to as "the bravest man in all France" by everyone else.
When it comes to René's love life, it is a different matter. Although he is often caught in the arms of another woman by his wife; he responds to his wife with the line "You stupid woman!" This would be followed by a convoluted explanation, which Edith would always believe. Similarly, he always speaks to his mother-in-law with the line "Shut up, you silly old bat!"
As René has often been quoted to say, "And I can get back to running my café, and making as much money out of this war as possible!" At the end of series 5 he states that at the end of the war they were bound to be on the 'winning side' as they were on everyone's side.
(though the medal really stands for "Mad Bloody Frog"); and a statue of him is placed in the town square. Unfortunately, the painting of The Fallen Madonna goes missing shortly before the end of the war.
The painting is eventually found many years later when Lt. Gruber, Helga and Von Strohm return to the town and accidentally knock the arm off the stone statue - inside which is hidden the painting. René (now an old man) takes the painting, then drives away with Yvette, telling Edith, "You stupid woman! Can you not see - I am eloping!"
The character of René also appeared in The Best of 'Allo 'Allo!
This episode was mainly made up of archive footage; but also featured new scenes in which René and Edith re-affirmed their love for each other.
René's latest appearance is in the "Return of 'Allo 'Allo!, which features a stage play including him and some other characters. This is accompanied by several archive clips from the series, and interviews with the cast and crew about the history of 'Allo 'Allo.
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...
, the main character 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. The character was played by the actor Gorden Kaye
Gorden Kaye
Gorden Kaye is a BAFTA-nominated English comic actor, best known for playing René Artois in the British TV comedy Allo 'Allo!.-Early life:...
. In the 2009 stage production of 'Allo 'Allo! the part was played by Jeffrey Holland
Jeffrey Holland
Jeffrey Holland is an English actor well known for roles in television sitcoms, as well as BBC Radio comedy, including Week Ending.-Early life and career:...
.
Personality
Artois (usually referred to as René, but codenamed Nighthawk by the Resistance) is the owner of the Café René in the occupied FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
town of Nouvion 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...
. He leads an extremely complex life, where the day to day problems of the ongoing war and his home life bring numerous consequences. René and his twin brother René (who is actually the same person) were both originally Nancy boys.
Café René is regularly frequented by the German forces. René has to be polite to them (as they are winning the war); but also has to be careful not to be seen as a collaborator. The fact that the café's cabaret is performed by his tone-deaf wife, Edith
Edith Melba Artois
Edith Melba Artois , also referred to as Madame Edith, is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992. The character was played by the late Carmen Silvera.-Personality:...
, goes some way towards protecting his claim that he remains impartial as possible. Actually, René's waitresses, Yvette
Yvette Carte-Blanche
Yvette Carte-Blanche is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992. She was played by the actress Vicki Michelle....
and Maria
Maria Recamier
Maria Recamier is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, which ran from 1982 to 1992. She was played by the actress Francesca Gonshaw....
, are responsible for entertaining the Germans upstairs with the flying helmet, egg whisk and wet celery. The local commandant, Colonel Von Strohm, and his assistant Captain Hans Geering
Captain Hans Geering
Captain Hans Geering is a fictional character from the British sitcom series Allo 'Allo!. He was played by actor Sam Kelly.- First episode :Hans is Colonel Kurt Von Strohm's assistant and usually comes with him to the café...
are two of the most frequent visitors to the café. In a war where money means very little; René trades the girls' services for wartime luxuries such as butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
, sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
, paraffin
Paraffin
In chemistry, paraffin is a term that can be used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to a mixture of alkanes that falls within the 20 ≤ n ≤ 40 range; they are found in the solid state at room temperature and begin to enter the...
and gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
.
As if not having one lot of foreigners in the café was enough; René has also being forced by the local pro-Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
to hide shot-down British
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...
airmen, and help them escape to England. The leader of the Resistance, Michelle Dubois
Michelle Dubois
Michelle Dubois is a fictional character in the situation comedy Allo 'Allo!. The part was played by the actress Kirsten Cooke.She is a tall, thin, dark-haired young woman who usually dresses in the unofficial "uniform" of the Gaullist French Resistance, a tan trench coat and black beret...
, is responsible for devising the plans to help the airmen escape; but also for ammunition convoy hijacks and bombing railway lines. René, his wife, and his staff are therefore forced to help in any way necessary to achieve this; but also to man the Resistance's secret radio, which is hidden under René's mother-in-law's bed.
Meanwhile, the Colonel has uncovered some very valuable local artifacts, which he is hoping to sell after the war. As 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...
are also looking for these items (silver, a cuckoo clock and The Fallen Madonna
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...
with the Big Boobies), René is forced into hiding the painting in his café on behalf of the Colonel. When the Colonel finds out about René helping British airmen to escape, he threatens to have René shot; in which case, René responds by saying that he will tell the Gestapo the whereabouts of the paintings. Naturally, this brings about an agreement between the Colonel and René, who each turn a blind-eye to the dodgy activities of the other. One more complication is that René has to spend almost the entire series posing as his own twin brother after he was ordered to be executed by General von Klinkerhoffen in an early episode. Von Strohm had the execution detail's bullets swapped for blanks, but in order to keep up the pretence René had to spend the rest of his life pretending to be his brother, who also happened to be called René.
Despite being a middle-aged man, René seems to be a magnet of attraction for quite a few of the local women. He is secretly trying to keep his love affair with his waitress Yvette secret from his wife; and his affair with his other waitress Maria, a secret from Yvette. As René himself says, "simple plots are always the best!"
The character of René is portrayed as a coward who is trying to save his own skin. The elaborate plots formed by the Resistance, often bring about talk of him quitting the Resistance. The thought of wearing disguises and sneaking around the local occupied château is something which René does not look forward to, and often refuses to do so. For this, René is often rebuked by his wife or Michelle and more often than not is forced to carry out the work of the Resistance anyway. Whilst on the other side of the fence, René is constantly being interrogated by the Colonel, the General or the Gestapo. This is usually for links to the painting or increased Resistance activity. When it came to the crunch, René would always try and escape or go into hiding before he was arrested for interrogation. Despite all this René is constantly referred to as "the bravest man in all France" by everyone else.
When it comes to René's love life, it is a different matter. Although he is often caught in the arms of another woman by his wife; he responds to his wife with the line "You stupid woman!" This would be followed by a convoluted explanation, which Edith would always believe. Similarly, he always speaks to his mother-in-law with the line "Shut up, you silly old bat!"
As René has often been quoted to say, "And I can get back to running my café, and making as much money out of this war as possible!" At the end of series 5 he states that at the end of the war they were bound to be on the 'winning side' as they were on everyone's side.
Character development
As the main character in the show, René is usually at the fore-front of any plots involving the paintings, love affairs or British airmen.Last appearance
The Last Episode brings about the end of the war. René is awarded the Magnificent Brother of France medal by the AlliesAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
(though the medal really stands for "Mad Bloody Frog"); and a statue of him is placed in the town square. Unfortunately, the painting of The Fallen Madonna goes missing shortly before the end of the war.
The painting is eventually found many years later when Lt. Gruber, Helga and Von Strohm return to the town and accidentally knock the arm off the stone statue - inside which is hidden the painting. René (now an old man) takes the painting, then drives away with Yvette, telling Edith, "You stupid woman! Can you not see - I am eloping!"
The character of René also appeared in The Best of 'Allo 'Allo!
The Best of 'Allo 'Allo!
The Best of 'Allo 'Allo! was broadcast on August 17, 1994, two years after the ending of the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the broadcast of the first series...
This episode was mainly made up of archive footage; but also featured new scenes in which René and Edith re-affirmed their love for each other.
René's latest appearance is in the "Return of 'Allo 'Allo!, which features a stage play including him and some other characters. This is accompanied by several archive clips from the series, and interviews with the cast and crew about the history of 'Allo 'Allo.