About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Dead Ringers (comedy)

Encyclopedia : D : DE : DEA : Dead Ringers (comedy)

-->
Dead Ringers is a UK radio and television comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and BBC2. The programme was devised by Bill Dare and developed with Jon Holmes, Andy Hurst and Simon Blackwell. It stars Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Phil Cornwell, Kevin Connelly and Mark Perry. The principal writers are Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain. The other writers are John Finnemore, David Mitchell, Simon Blackwell, Richard Ward, Colin Birch, Carl Carter, Tony Cooke, Jon Culshaw and Jan Ravens.

Contents

History

300px
Enlarge
300px

The programme was first aired in 2000. The cast of the first series was different from that of the other instalments. Of the now-established team, only Culshaw and Ravens appeared, as did Kate Robbins, Simon Lipson and, most notably, Alistair McGowan. On radio there have been ten series plus a number of specials, including one devoted entirely to the BBC radio soap The Archers and one to Queen Elizabeth II's golden jubilee. The television incarnation of the show aired its fifth season in 2005, including a special devoted to the United Kingdom General Election on May 5 to start the six-part series, and a Christmas programme on December 23. The 6th series started on the May 8 2006 and ended on the 12 June 2006 running 6 episodes.

Content

The series is well known for its portrayal of fellow BBC employees, such as Radio 4 newsreader Brian Perkins as a gangster ("Who's the daddy?") and former Director General of the BBC Greg Dyke as a character with an accent similar to that of Michael Caine. Greg Dyke is portrayed under varying circumstances - one of the most amusing being after the BBC Christmas Party - Dyke has proclaimed he hopes he hasn't done anything horribly stupid, then reveals he has commissioned another series of Fame Academy - following this up with "I am never going to drink again!". Dyke is also portrayed as harbouring personal hatred against the Daleks - "Bring back Doctor Who? OK - but there's going to be no Daleks in it. They've crossed me too many times!"

Newsreader Kirsty Wark (of Newsnight) regularly opens bulletins on the programme with a line from a popular song, read flatly:

Fiona Bruce and Charlotte Green (of Radio 4) are portrayed as seductive and saucy: Broadcasts reportedly from Downing Street parody previous BBC political editor Andrew Marr, showing his supposed eccentric manner, interminable sentences, and jerky movements — he is shown with giant artificial hands operated by puppet rods and speaks in metaphor: "Well Fiona, might I say my goose has well and truly had its chips". Sir Patrick Moore is revealed not to be an astronomer but actually a peeping-tom and psychic around the London Eye. Famous movie quotes are often twisted and added to everyday things. For example, Russell Crowe in Gladiator: "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife... and that's when I called Claims Direct!". Jazz singer Jamie Cullum is portrayed with the voice and body movements of Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

One recurring gag includes celebrities being the offspring of a famous person, character or even an object from everyday entertainment or culture:

Culshaw regularly performs prank telephone calls, impersonating (among many others) Tom Baker's incarnation of The Doctor, Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, art critic Brian Sewell and talk show presenter Michael Parkinson. In the TV version, he roams in public as such characters, vexing shop assistants and used-car salesmen alike, with such pronouncements as, "I seek passage to Aldershot" which mirrors Alec Guiness's line in Star Wars "I seek passage to Alderaan." As Parkinson he proceeded to interview a bus stop full of people.

Politicians

A former running gag, dating back to the earliest radio series of Dead Ringers, has Prime Minister, Tony Blair, referring to his physical characteristics and mannerisms while speaking: Recently, however, this is often replaced by Blair addressing the nation in an insulting, oppressive or vaguely aggressive: Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, speaks in nonsensical, incomprehensible and, above all, long sentences:

On one occasion he catches fire when two of his incomprehensible sentences rub together, along with being the subject of the "Prescott-Widening Scheme" to go with a similar one for Britain's roads. When he announces this scheme would reduce the amount of incomprehensible sentences uttered, Kirsty Wark comments that this could be the most popular thing he's ever done. Also, Dr John Reid is portrayed as a Victor Meldrew-like character, always complaining and throwing abuse at TV presenters, but is later portrayed as a tough hardman.

The late Robin Cook is even less coherent, and it has been suggested that the famous Doctor Who theme music was created by combining a recording of Cook explaining his views on the European Union with (for the higher-pitched sounds) his reaction to being told that all young, female BBC employees were turned on by ugly ginger men with beards. Clare Short is meanwhile portrayed as an angry woman hated by government with an almost fixed grimace: "I was so flabberghasted when the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, announced that we were going to war that my jaw dropped by almost half a millimetre!", while Alistair Darling's contrasting black eyebrows and white hair make him more badger than human. Charles Kennedy, former leader of the Liberal Democrats appears as a bit of a drunk, while Michael Howard, the former head of the Conservative Party, was shown as a vampire (a reference to the "something of the night about him" comment by Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe).

The current opposition leaders are also parodied; David Cameron is a vote-grabbing popularist, who avoids the tough issues in favour of policies about coat hangers and childrens clothing, and has to write down the name of his party on the palm of his hand. Menzies Campbell meanwhile is portrayed as an old, out-of-touch grandfatherly figure ignored by his party; at one point, the Liberal Democrats brick-up all the windows and doors to his house. He ends every speech by saying "Night night" and turning off the lamp by which he is sitting.

The Queen is also ridiculed, portrayed as someone who constantly makes announcements. She is first seen making an apology for her involvement in the Paul Burrell affair — and is mocked by the media as being someone "who holds all the answers to all the unsolved cases without even realising it". The Queen also appears for fictional newspaper The Bung, as "an old lady who met Diana once or twice in a big house". She comments briefly on the princess and states, "Can one have one's money now?" The Queen has also fought Darth Vader, who turned out to be Prince Philip behind the mask. The Queen also hosts QVC Shopping Channel with Prince Philip, who is selling a diamond tiara for nothing to any member of the Royal household. He advises them that they can take it round the "society jewellers and flog it for more money than Harry spends on hashish".

George W. Bush

Unlike Spitting Image, which satirised many international public figures, Dead Ringers tends to concentrate on British ones. One notable exception is U.S. President George W. Bush, whose own Bushisms are ridiculed even further with invented words such as:

His use of malapropisms is also lampooned ruthlessly: [link] Sometimes, his actions are caricatured as childlike and lacking in understanding of the consequences (for example, taping over intelligence videos with episodes of Sesame Street.)[link]. One of the most famous skits of the President involves him telling the captured Saddam Hussein that it's now his turn to start hiding in a new game of international hide-and-seek. In one sketch, the show lampoons the American public by using Bush as a 'translator' for a speech that Culshaw's Tony Blair is making. Bush reduces the speech to statements such as "America good".

Animated Content

Dead Ringers also includes animated content occasionally, this includes:

Song Parodies

In later TV series of the show, there have been parodies of songs, parodying the song, the singer and music videos. Some examples of these are:

International

Despite its emphasis on British personalities who may not be well known in other countries, Dead Ringers has been shown outside the UK on BBC Prime in Europe and Africa, BBC America in the United States, ABC in Australia, BBC Canada in Canada and UK.TV in New Zealand, but has had to be re-edited considerably — although much of the show can be watched without contextual knowledge.

The Weakest Link

Earlier episodes of the show featured a number of spoof episodes of the TV programme The Weakest Link, variously featuring Jesus' disciples, Robert Falcon Scott and his Antarctic explorers, and monks who had taken a vow of silence. In the former two, Anne Robinson (played by Jan Ravens) appeared from nowhere, riding her desk, and entered an apparently historical scene, which rapidly converted into the Weakest Link studio. Robinson herself was depicted as being unreasonably and sadistically cruel, throwing a snowball at doomed explorer Captain Lawrence Oates as he leaves, while responding to his famous last words with "You'll be gone forever matey! Now shove off!"

Deal or no Deal

The programme has also recently begun parodying the TV show Deal or no Deal?. Some notable lines from this include: A recent sketch also portrayed Anne Robinson summoning Mr Blobby (who used to feature on Noel's House Party), when she mentioned 'Crinkly Bottom' (the fictional locale of Noel's House Party) three times, leaving Edmonds lying on the floor moaning, "You ruined everything!"

The performers

The actors behind some impressions include:

See also

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: