Little Britain is a character-based BBC radio
and television sketch show written by and starring Matt Lucas and David
Walliams. Its title is an amalgamation of the terms 'Little England' and 'Great
Britain'. It made its debut on BBC Radio 4 in 2001, running for two short series
of five and four half-hour episodes respectively. In 2003, it transferred to
television, with an eight-episode series on the BBC's digital-only channel BBC
Three. Two more series, of six episodes each, have followed since. The programme
returned for a 2006 Christmas special and Lucas and Walliams continue to deny
press speculation that the third series would be the last. The BBC regards the
series so far as a success.
The format of the show is a compilation of
short sketches featuring familiar characters, linked by narration from Tom Baker
(most famous as the Fourth Doctor on Doctor Who). The voiceovers take a wry look
at Britain, with comically absurd statements on the nation's character, such as,
"Britain ... We've had running water for over 10 years and we invented the cat"
or, "Unlike other countries, Britain has people of two genders: male and
female."
In 2003, the show began as a television series on channel
BBC Three, running to 8 episodes. Most of the TV material was adapted from the
original radio sketches, but there were also some original sketches featuring
new recurring characters. Due to the success of the series, the first series was
repeated on the mainstream channel BBC Two. Although reactions to the series
were mixed, many critics were enthusiastic, and the show was commissioned for
another series. Interestingly, unlike many radio-based successes which have
crossed over to television, it is understood that a new radio series of the
programme is also planned.
A second TV series featuring several new characters began on BBC 3 on October
19, 2004, and due to the show's popularity the scheduled repeat run was
"promoted" to BBC One, starting on December 3, 2004, guaranteeing higher
ratings. However, the repeat showing did not feature material from the original
run deemed too offensive for the BBC 1 audience.
A compilation
of sketches from the first radio series was released on CD, later followed by
the complete first series. Radio 4 began a rerun of all 9 episodes in February
2004. Unusually, this overlapped with a rerun on digital radio channel BBC 7 of
the first 5 that began in mid-March. In June–July 2004 BBC 7 broadcast the
remaining 4.
A DVD of the first TV series was released in December 2004 in the UK, as well as
a book: The Complete Scripts and Stuff: Series One. In January 2005 a half-hour
episode was specially commissioned and released on DVD in aid of the Comic
Relief charity fundraising event. The episode featured cameos from Elton John,
Robbie Williams, Simon Callow, Trisha Goddard and George Michael and was
broadcast on 11 March 2005. It was reported that a request by Prime Minister
Tony Blair to appear in one of the sketches was turned down, with Walliams and
Lucas stating that they did not want to be seen as supporting any particular
political party in the run-up to the general election. The 2005/2006 Tour is a
stage show of Little Britain sketches playing at venues throughout the UK,
tickets sold out almost instantly.
On the October 10, 2005, waxworks of Lou and Andy were unveiled at Madame
Tussaud's in London, after having been announced in July 2005, and cost in
excess of £100,000 each. On the same day, a DVD of the second TV series was
released.
A third series began on Thursday 17 November
2005 on BBC One, and ended six weeks later. After its transmission, it was
unclear whether there would be another, as so many sketches were given dramatic
twists and "wrapped up". Lucas and Walliams were reportedly in talks for a
fourth series with the BBC. Furthermore, they admitted in an interview they
preferred to "kill off" certain characters in order to make way for new ones.
The show is aired in the United States by BBC America, in Canada by BBC Canada
and in Australia by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
David Walliams
David Walliams (born David Williams, August 20, 1971) is an English comedy
actor, best known for his partnership with Matt Lucas in the sketch show Little
Britain. He and Lucas have also appeared as grotesque caricatures of various
rock musicians in the series Rock Profile, and in the spoof documentary series
Sir Bernard's Stately Homes. Raised in Surrey,
Walliams was educated at Bristol
University, where he was in the year below Simon Pegg. Although he can act in
quite a camp manner, Walliams maintains that he is straight and has been linked
to a number of women in the British tabloids.
Born to Peter (a London Transport engineer) and
Kathleen Williams (a lab technician), Walliams was raised in Banstead in the
county of Surrey. He has an older sister, Julie, and three nephews, Ben, Joe and
Freddie.
Walliams lives in
Belsize Park,
Camden, North West
London in a house called "Supernova Heights" - Noel Gallagher's former home,
which he bought for £3.25M from Davinia Taylor and her ex-husband.
Walliams is a professional name, for Equity purposes. This was sent up in Rock
Profile, in which Robbie Williams is always referred to as 'Robbie Walliams'.
His first known TV appearance was as Lesley
Luncheonmeat on Sky One's show Games
World in 1993. He appeared alongside
Alex Verrey, who played Big Boy Barry, every Tuesday evening.
One of David's earliest TV appearances was as "The Lift" on the first series of
the CBBC gameshow Incredible Games in 1994.
Walliams appeared alongside comedy partner Matt
Lucas in the video of the Fat Les song Vindaloo, the unofficial anthem for the
England national football team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
Among the characters played by Walliams in Little Britain are Emily Howard the
"rubbish transvestite", mad Scottish hotel owner Ray McCooney and Sebastian, and
a camp aide to the Prime Minister on whom he has a huge crush.
Together with The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss, he wrote and appeared in
Doctor Who parodies The Pitch of Fear, The Web of Caves and The Kidnappers for
BBC2's "Doctor Who Night" in 1999. He later performed in the Big Finish
Productions Doctor Who audio play Phantasmagoria, written by Gatiss.
In 2003 he appeared in an episode of EastEnders. He also appeared in the first
episode of 'Agatha Christie's Marple'.
On 23rd July 2006, the 'Swimming Pool' scene
featuring Lou & Andy (Little Britain) was hailed as the Greatest Comedy Sketch
of all time in a Channel 4 poll, on the show The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches.
In 2006 he made an appearance in the movie, A
Cock and Bull Story.
Also in 2006, he presented a documentary on James
Bond. It was entitled David Walliams: My Life with James Bond.
In November 2007, he returned to non-comedic
television, garnering excellent reviews for his portrayal of a suave
and dangerous manipulator in Stephen Poliakoff's Capturing Mary.
Walliams has been cast as
comedian Frankie Howerd in the forthcoming BBC4 TV film 'Rather You
Than Me'. He has also signed a with HarperCollins to publish
two children's books, the
first of which will be released in autumn 2008.
On 4 July 2006,
Walliams successfully swam the English
Channel to raise money for Sport Relief.
He successfully completed the swim in 10 hours
and 34 minutes to cover the 35 km (22 miles) stretch of sea, the equivalent of
700 lengths of an Olympic standard swimming pool. This placed his effort within
the top 50 recorded times for an unaided Channel crossing, in the process of
which he raised over £1,000,000 in donations.
It took nine months of training to prepare for
the swim. The training had to coincide with Walliams' and Lucas's Little Britain
tour so every morning before performing he had to complete several hours of
training before performing on stage in the evening, a schedule worthy of a
professional sportsman. Walliams first swam from Portsmouth to the Isle Of Wight
in around 2 hours and he also completed an eight hour swim off the coast of
Croatia before embarking on the cross-channel attempt. Walliams has insisted
that prior to his challenge he had never seriously taken part in any sport.
In late-July 2006, Walliams was considered one
of two favourites to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award for this
considerable physical achievement.
In early August 2006, the word he was a
favourite for BBC Sports Personality of the Year got out and he moved from 20/1
in the top five to 7/2 favourite.
On 6 November 2006 he won The Mirror's
Pride of Britain Award for the Most Influential Public Figure as he raised
more than £1 million swimming the channel for Sport Relief.
Although initially tipped as a contender
for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year poll for 2006, he failed to
make the final shortlist of 10 contenders following the nominations stage
which closed on 15th November. Though nominations were invited from the
public, the opinion of Sports Editors was also used in deciding the eventual
shortlist. It is unknown whether Walliams would have been nominated had only
the public nominations been considered. Instead, Walliams was given a
special award during the ceremony for his achievement.
In July 2006, Walliams also became a Patron
of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).
On 7 March 2008,
Walliams along with James Cracknell swam the 12 mile straight of
Gibraltar, from Spain to Morocco for Sport Relief. He successfully
completed the swim in just over 4 and half hours.
The swim was the last leg of Cracknell's 10-day
trip from the UK to Africa in which he rowed the Channel and cycled
through France to Spain.
Matt Lucas
Matt
Richard Lucas, (born March 5th 1974 in London), is an English comedy actor. He is perhaps best known for his acclaimed
work with David Walliams in the television sketch show Little Britain and spoof
interview series Rock Profile, and for his portrayal of the scorekeeping baby,
George Dawes, in the Reeves and Mortimer comedy panel game Shooting Stars.
He studied drama at the University of Bristol
and is a former member of both the National Youth Music Theatre and the National
Youth Theatre.
Lucas was born in London and raised in a Jewish background in Stanmore,
Middlesex. He was educated at the prestigious Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School,
alongside other well known personalities, including Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G).
He began his career in comedy on the London
stand-up comedy circuit at the age of eighteen as Sir Bernard Chumley, legendary
actor and raconteur — a character who was to appear later in Little Britain.
Lucas' association with Reeves and Mortimer began in 1992, when he was spotted
by Bob Mortimer on stage. In 1994, Lucas appeared in The Smell of Reeves and
Mortimer. The second series of the show featured Lucas in several sketches. He
went on to star with them in Shooting Stars. He quickly rose to fame as George
Dawes, the giant baby, who would deliver a string of meaningless gags (often in
character) and insults before delivering the score, while sitting at and playing
a drum kit. This was especially funny as many of the parts were introduced not
in the style of a baby, but of a grown man — indeed, often, he would come on
dressed as a specific adult such as Elton John. He also appeared as Marjorie
Dawes, George's mother, who also appears in Little Britain. He also appeared in
the Reeves & Mortimer BBC series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), and Catterick
in a variety of roles.
His music video appearances include; the Damien
Hirst-directed video for Blur's "Country House" (as a psychoanalyst), Jesusland
by Ben Folds in 2005, I'm with Stupid by the Pet Shop Boys and Vindaloo by Fat
Les, the unofficial anthem for the England national football team for the 1998
FIFA World Cup.
Lucas has had alopecia since an early age, which in interviews he has
inconsistently attributed to various events. Lucas is openly gay, and based the
character Daffyd Thomas on himself, recalling how he felt he was "the only gay
in the village" only to find out that everyone accepted his sexuality and wasn't
shocked by it.
On 17 December 2006, he and his long-term
partner TV producer Kevin McGee formed a Civil Partnership in
London. The ceremony was kept fairly formal, with male guests
wearing suits but the evening reception had the guests dressed in
pantomime costumes.
In 2005 he took his first role in a television drama, a supporting part as a
Venetian Duke in the BBC historical serial Casanova, written by Russell T.
Davies.
Since 2006, Lucas has been the voice of the radio and television character Digit
Al, devised as part of a public information campaign on digital switchover.
In 2007 he released "I'm Gonna Be (500
Miles)", originally by The Proclaimers, with Peter Kay as a charity single
for Comic Relief. He performed the single as Little Britain character Andy
Pipkin, along with Kay playing as Brian Potter. After being available for
less than 48 hours on iTunes alone, the track entered the UK Top 40 at
number 3. On March 25th It went to number one.
Matt made an appearance in Kath and Kim and
Neighbours (the latter
alongside David Walliams as Little Britain Lou and Andy, as well as a cameo
role in the forthcoming BBC sitcom Gavin and Stacey.
David & Matt
The
Mirror has a
pretty good article on the two:
They are, they admit, like
an old married couple. For 13 years, Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and
David Walliams have huddled together over a table creating comic
characters. But they admit they have one secret daily ritual – they
are addicted to ITV’s Loose Women.
Despite the fact they are
currently hard at work writing the American version of Little
Britain – and the new edition of their DVD game, The Only Game In
The Village, is just out – Matt and David always break off from work
to catch their favourite show.
“We work in the kitchen at
my house or in a room at David’s,” explains Matt, 33. “It’s like it
always was, just the two of us huddled around a computer writing
more than we film. We try and write two or three sketches a day,
break off for lunch, have an M&S ready meal and watch a bit of Loose
Women. We always watch it.”
“I like a bit of Loose
Women,” agrees David, 36, “but it does slightly annoy me. They
natter on, then when it comes to the interviews they only have time
for a couple of questions and they’re off.”
The pair may think along
similar lines with their comedy,, but in real life are quite
different. Matt is a football-obsessed homebody who likes nothing
better than walking his dog with his partner, TV producer Kevin
McGee, whom he married last year.
David, meanwhile, clearly
enjoys his bachelor lifestyle to the full. He is often seen around
town with a new woman, but admits he would like to settle down.
“I am determined to enjoy
my life,” David laughs over a lunch in London’s Soho. “It’s exciting
meeting people and going out. I’m single and if I stay in all night
I am never going to meet anyone. I’d like to settle down, but you
can’t force it.”
Matt, is clearly amused by
his friend’s celebrity antics. “I always get the Mirror in the
morning so I can check what David is up to,” he grins. “I am very
happy and have a blissful domesticated life. David is young free and
single, so I don’t see why he can’t go out and have a bit of fun.”
The pair first met in 1990
when they joined the National Youth Theatre, bonding over a love of
British comedy.
“I did a Jimmy Savile
impression,” recalls Matt, “and David did a Frankie Howerd. We
swapped impressions and found we shared a great love of comedy, such
as Kenneth Williams and Monty Python.
“David went off writing for
kids TV
shows like Ant and Dec while I was doing a little bit of stand-up.
But we have been writing together since October 1994.
“I had two dreams back at
the National Youth Theatre. One was to work with David, the other
was to work with Vic and Bob, and both came true very quickly.”
Although they dreamed of
their own TV show, Matt and David are still staggered by the huge
success of Little Britain with its spin-off tour and tons of
merchandise.
“I thought the appeal would
be limited to gay men and students,” says David. “I didn’t expect it
to be that successful.”
The second edition of their
The Only Game In The Village family DVD game has just been released
featuring all the characters from Little Britain.
“It’s a bit cleaner than
the programme,” explains David. “It’s for the family to play, so
it’s toned down a bit.”
The pair are currently hard
at work on their new series for American cable station HBO. In it,
favourite Little Britain characters will get a taste of life on the
other side of the Atlantic.
“All the new characters are
American,” explains David, “but Bubbles, Dafydd, Sebastian, Vicky
and Emily will all have sketches for them set in America.”
Last year, David swam the
English Channel for Sport Relief, raising thousands of pounds for
the charity. And now he wants to set himself one more big sporting
challenge before he turns 40.
“I want to do it before I’m
too old,” he says. “Something nobody thinks you can do.”
Matt chips in, “I had my
doubts about whether David did the swim or not. You can’t believe
anything you see on television nowadays. No, what he did was really
amazing. Obviously, it is quicker to get the train. And where he
went wrong is that he should have kept the money!”
In the future, the pair
have their eyes set on writing a musical. But they are sure they
will always work together, in some way.
“I can never see a day
where I don’t want to work with David,” reveals Matt. “But I know
there will come a point where we have to stretch other muscles.
That’s not a rejection of each other, just an extension.
“I don’t know if we will
still be working together in our sixties, but the main thing is I
hope we will still be friends. I don’t want to be doing Vicky
Pollard when I’m 55. There will be something wrong about that!”
Stirling Gallacher: Prime Minister's
wife/Margaret
Nigel Havers: Leader of the Opposition
Sally Rogers: Various
David Foxxe: Various
Yuki Kushida: Gita (spa therapist at
Hill Grange)
Patricia Kane: Elderly resident of
Llandewi Breffi
Guest appearances:
Since its debut on television, Little Britain has featured guest appearances
from celebrities and television personalities, the most prominent of these
being Anthony Head as the Prime Minister.
Jennie Bond (Peter André sketch,
series 1)
Ronnie Corbett (Bubbles sketch, 2006
Christmas Special)
Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee (Deleted
Scene - Peter Andre sketch, series 1)
Keith Harris (Deleted Scene - Peter
Andre sketch, series 1)
Elton John (Daffyd sketch, Comic
Relief special)
Derek Martin (Marjorie Dawes sketch,
series 3)
George Michael (Lou and Andy sketch,
Comic Relief special)
Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan (Lou
and Andy sketch, series 3)
David Soul (Hospitalized girl's
parents sketch, series 1)
Mollie Sugden (Liz and Clive sketch,
series 1)
Robbie Williams (Emily and Florence
sketch, Comic Relief special)
Simon Callow, Christian Coulson, Mark
Gatiss, Nigel Havers, Indira Varma , Jamie Theakston, Siobhan Hayes, Dawn
French and Peter Kay have also made a guest appearance in the show.
Little Britain is a character-based BBC radio
and television sketch show written by and starring Matt Lucas and David
Walliams. Its title is an amalgamation of the terms 'Little England' and 'Great
Britain'. It made its debut on BBC Radio 4 in 2001, running for two short series
of five and four half-hour episodes respectively. In 2003, it transferred to
television, with an eight-episode series on the BBC's digital-only channel BBC
Three. Two more series, of six episodes each, have followed since. The programme
returned for a 2006 Christmas special and Lucas and Walliams continue to deny
press speculation that the third series would be the last. The BBC regards the
series so far as a success.
Walliams has been cast as
comedian Frankie Howerd in the forthcoming BBC4 TV film 'Rather You
Than Me'. He has also signed a with HarperCollins to publish
Matt
Richard Lucas, (born March 5th 1974 in London), is an English comedy actor. He is perhaps best known for his acclaimed
work with David Walliams in the television sketch show Little Britain and spoof
interview series Rock Profile, and for his portrayal of the scorekeeping baby,
George Dawes, in the Reeves and Mortimer comedy panel game Shooting Stars.