Little Britain

Little Britain is a BBC radio and television sketch show written by and starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams. The original series debuted on BBC Radio 4 in 2001, running for two short series of five and four half-hour episodes respectively. In 2003, the show began as a television series on the BBC's digital-only channel BBC 3, 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 2. Although reactions to the series were mixed, many critics were enthusiastic, and the show was recommissioned 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 1, 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.

Infrequent characters

The following characters, from both Series 1 and 2, appeared relatively infrequently, and are therefore not part of the main sketch roll.

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Viv (Lucas) is a jewellery shop owner who is robbed but she has a huge crush on the robbers. She describes them by saying "Oh he was GAAAWGEOUS! Phowarr!" Viv was heard much more frequently on the radio series.

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Liz (Walliams) and Clive (Lucas) are an old couple who spend a lot of time eating dinner in their local Chinese restaurant. Liz claims she was once a bridesmaid for Mollie Sugden, something that she can't stop talking about to other people in the restaurant (much to her husband Clive's dismay), even as she insists that she doesn't like to 'go on about it'. In the last episode of season one, Sugden herself came to the restaurant, and said that Liz wasn't a bridesmaid at her wedding. Liz threw a knife into her back.

Related Topics:
Bridesmaid - Mollie Sugden

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Gary (Lucas) and Jason (Walliams) are two mates who visit Gary's grandmother, on whom Jason has a crush. They have a falling out after Gary discovers Jason sucking his grandmother's toes.

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Des Kaye (Walliams) is a rejected children's TV host who works in a DIY store. Often seen with his crocodile puppet (called Croc O Dile) and shouts "Wickie Woo".

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Edward Grant (Walliams) is a schoolteacher married to his ex-pupil Samantha. He claims that they share an ordinary marriage just like any other, but he often treats her like a school pupil e.g. "The bell is a signal for me, not for you" upon the doorbell being rung and many other similar teacher-like commands.

Related Topics:
Schoolteacher - Marriage - School pupil - Signal - Doorbell

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Denver Mills (Walliams) is a former Olympic silver medallist in the 200m and now acts as a guest speaker, although his speeches are often politically incorrect. People sometimes call him Dennis.

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Sir Bernard Chumley (Lucas) is a faded actor who looks after his sister Kitty, who is disabled after an accident. Bernard insists that he didn't push her. The character of Chumley is probably the oldest Little Britain character, having appeared in a live-stage show in the early 90s (where Walliams and Lucas met for the first time), his own six-part television series in the late 90s, and a cameo in Shooting Stars.

Related Topics:
Little Britain - Shooting Stars

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Peter Andre (Walliams) is a royal correspondent who gets the sack after first making bizarre and inaccurate claims about the Royal Family (such as Prince Charles being a magician) and then declaring his love for Princess Anne. The character is a reference to the singer.

Related Topics:
Royal Family - Prince Charles - Princess Anne - Singer

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April (Walliams) and Neville (Lucas) are two supposedly First Aid experts. Neville is the young boy with little experience, while April guides him through different problems, but uses a variety of mints instead of medical procedures to treat patients.

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Boris (Walliams) is an immigrant Russian babysitter who teaches a child about communism, while at the same time proving to be an effective babysitter (He taught the baby its first words: "Comrade Stalin salutes you"). He appears in two continuous sketches, in one episode only.

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Doug (Lucas) is a Scottish drugs counsellor who, having had a past life with drugs, give out helpful (yet abusive) advice to others. In one episode, his mother comes to one of his meetings (she had previously mistaken it for a pottery club), but announces that she doesn't know about his drug experiences.

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Matthew Waterhouse (Walliams) is an inventor who comes up with very silly ideas for musicals, board games, impersonators and cereals, with a sketch on each subject. An example of one of his ideas is "Sugar Poofs: Real gay men frosted with sugar." The character's name is a reference to the actor who played the character of Adric in the television science-fiction series Doctor Who in the early 1980s.

Related Topics:
Adric - Doctor Who - 1980s

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Sandra Patterson (Walliams) is a mother who is determined for her son Ralph to get into acting. She seems to be nice, but behind-the-scenes she is horrible to him.

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Latymer Crown (Lucas) is a masseur who tries to get his clients to calm down in strange ways, usually by describing scenes of graphic carnage, or singing "Go to sleep" at piercing volumes.

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Janet (Walliams) can't get over the death of her husband Ivor, and connects everything her sister Eileen (Lucas) says to him. ("'Yeah!' That's the word Ivor used to use when he wanted to answer in the affirmative! When he wanted to respond in a casual manner as opposed to the more formal 'Yes'!")

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