The Catherine Tate Show

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The Catherine Tate Show
Image:Catherine tate.jpg
Cover of Series One DVD
Genre Sketch comedy
Running time 30 mins
Creator(s) Catherine Tate and Derren Litten
Executive producer(s) Geoffrey Perkins
Starring Catherine Tate
Derren Litten
Mathew Horne
Ella Kenion
Jonathan McGuinnes
Michael Brandon
Bruce Mackinnon
Lee Ross
Niky Wardley
Country of origin UK
Original channel BBC
Original run February 16, 2004–2006
No. of episodes 18 (as of November 23, 2006)
Official website
IMDb profile

The Catherine Tate Show is an award-winning television sketch comedy which airs on BBC Two. Comedienne Catherine Tate writes and appears in all of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters.

The first series of the show, which consisted of six episodes, aired from February to March 2004. A DVD of this series was released in August 2005 (which included the 2005 Comic Relief special). The show's theme tune for the first series was In These Shoes? by Kirsty MacColl.

A second series aired from July to August 2005, and a 40-minute Christmas special was aired on December 20, 2005. A DVD was released in October 2006 of the second series which included the 2005 Christmas special.

The third series aired from October 26, 2006 and ended on November 30. Although it has been reported that the third series would be the last, Catherine explained in a television interview that she had never said this and would like to at least do specials in the future.

Contents

[edit] Series One (2004)

[edit] Main characters

Characters who appeared regularly in Series One included:

  • Lauren Cooper the Teenager (listed in the Series One DVD as "Fly Girl") - In the first series, Lauren was a comprehensive school student with a bad attitude. She frequently responded to unfavourable situations by asking in speed-pyke, "Am I bovvered? Am I bovvered though? Do I look bovvered?" If insulted, she would ask, "Are you disrespecting me? Are you disrespecting my family?" or "Are you calling me a pikey? Are you calling my mum poor? Are you calling my dad a wino?" Sketches throughout the series saw Lauren arguing with authority figures such as train inspectors and teachers, as well as her friends. Lauren was one of the most popular characters with fans, and would arguably go on to be the most recognisable from the show. She shared some characteristics with Vicky Pollard from Little Britain.
  • Joannie "Nan" Taylor - the foul-mouthed grandmother (listed in the Series One DVD as "Old Woman") - This sketch involved an old woman who was frequently visited by her well-mannered grandson. The visits usually started off well enough, with the grandmother showing how grateful she was that her grandson had come to see her. However, things usually took a turn for the worse after she started to make unfavourable comments about her neighbours, family, or home help visitors. One episode saw the grandson take her to a pound shop.
  • Kate and Ellen - The office workers (listed in the Series One DVD as "How Much/How Many") - This sketch followed two office workers who sat next to each other. While one (played by Ella Kenion) was usually keen to get on with her work, she was frequently disturbed by the other, Tate. She continually made conversation about her lifestyle, inviting her co-worker to "Have a guess!" on such delicate situations as how much weight she had lost, how many miles she could run, and how much money she paid for her holiday. While the sensible worker was reluctant to go along with the game, she was pressured into making a "wild guess", which almost always resulted in Tate's character becoming insulted and offensive. Towards the end of the series, the nice worker would occasionally guess correctly. This upset Tate's character who reacted in ways such as calling her co-worker a lesbian. The name of the office is written on the set as 'Callas & Sait' which although has been suggested is perhaps a reference to the callousness versus saintliness of the characters, actually refers to the surnames of two production staff on the show. In the script book, Tate's character is named as Kate and the "nice" worker as Ellen.
  • Paul and Sam - the Essex couple - A happily married yet slightly simple couple, who found everyday situations surprisingly hilarious. Catherine revealed in an interview that these characters are based on people that she knows, but that they are not aware of this despite enjoying the sketch.
  • Bernie - the incompetent nurse - An Irish nurse who bordered on being sacked in the hospital where she works in every episode. She frequently made inappropriate remarks to her patients, flirted with most of the male staff, took a critically ill patient on a wild night out, and mixed up the records of patients who are dead and alive.
  • Bunty Carmichael - the over-aged majorette - A woman who insisted on being allowed to perform in a children's majorettes team, as there was no upper age limit. Her obsession with the club resulted in the owner contacting the police and obtaining a restraining order.
  • Elaine Figgis - the bride of a killer (listed in the Series One DVD as "Death Row Wife") - A woman who appeared in a documentary, following her engagement and eventual marriage to a convicted killer on Death Row in the US.
  • Margaret - the jumpy woman (listed in the Series One DVD as "Frightened Woman") - A woman who screamed with terror at quiet, everyday noises. Catherine later revealed that she based this character on her mother.
  • The enigmatic cop - A detective who came up with bizarre theories at crime scenes, to the surprise and frustration of her assistant, Whittaker.
  • The Aga Saga Woman - An upper middle class English woman who goes into a state of shock in various, seemingly harmless, situations. For example she received a phone call from her husband's European personal assistant and had to tell her children that "daddy hasn't been able to find any good brie" on his business trip to France, they feared that they'd be laughed upon at the Parisian picnic at school because they didn't have the correct cheese. She also panicked at the thought of having to use a dishwasher or go shopping herself; instead she called on her housekeeper. The title of the sketch is a pun on the stereotype of the pretentious middle classes having an Aga oven at home. The Aga Saga Woman is named as "Mrs Montgomery" in Series Two but in Series Three this is retconned to "Mrs Taylor - Thomas"

[edit] Minor characters

  • The help desk worker - A woman who worked at a help desk in a shopping centre. When shoppers asked for her assistance, she would misunderstand them or mistakenly believe that they were trying to engage in friendly conversation with her.
  • Karen and Ben - the new parents - A couple who would do anything to stop their newborn baby from waking up, including refusing to leave their car to attend a birthday dinner. They frequently argued, but switched to happy singing if their child started to cry.
  • The airhead - An American woman who started every sentence with the words "and I'm like..."
  • The Drunk Estate Agent - An estate agent who made only one appearance. She arrived at a property drunk and offended both the owner and prospective buyers, accusing one man of being homosexual ("You know what they say about a man who likes a bit of chrome in his kitchen, he likes a bit of cock up his arse") before she passed out.
  • The backhander woman - An at-first peaceful looking woman who suddenly switched voice tone and personality when she advised complete strangers to violently attack people who were irritating or confusing them and give them "one swift backhander" to teach them a lesson. She then would switch back to complete politeness.
  • Sandra Grahame - the last hit woman - A businesswoman who started a game of 'last hit' at the office. When a colleague was involved in a car accident as a result of the game, she was more interested in whether she has won or not.
  • Jill - the tragic clown - A trainee clown who constantly interrupted her classes in circus skills to talk about a horrific car accident she claimed to have been involved in. She painted a child's face to look like a crash victim, and complained that different sounds reminded her of glass shattering and brakes squealing. Her sketches were interspersed with those of the "last hit" woman throughout the course of one episode, suggesting that she may have been the driver who ran over Sandra's coworker.

[edit] Comic Relief 2005

Tate made an appearance during the BBC's Comic Relief telethon in March 2005, in the guise of Lauren the Teenager. In a section of the show which saw fans of McFly asking questions to the group, Lauren decided to ask, "Why are you so rubbish?" When told by Simon Amstell, who was hosting the segment, that only positive questions were allowed, Lauren used a variety of her catch phrases, including "Am I bothered?" and "Are you calling me stupid?"

Lauren was then "ordered" to ask a more positive question to the group, and confused them with Busted, asking "Are you gutted that Charlie left?"

When told to leave the set, on her way she asked Danny from McFly to sign her knee, walking away promptly saying "You can't even spell."

[edit] Best Of (2005)

In the months preceding the launch of the second series, BBC Two aired three 'Best Of' episodes, featuring a variety of the funniest clips from the six episodes of Series One, including Lauren the teenager and the foul-mouthed grandmother. Meanwhile, repeats of all six episodes of the first series aired on UKTV G2.

[edit] Series Two (2005)

The second series began airing in July 2005. Following Tate's Comic Relief appearance, and news of her non-existent feud with David Schwimmer, it received slightly more publicity than Series One in the run-up to the first episode. BBC Two also promoted the series by running trailers showing Lauren arguing with a furry dog in the shape of the channel's logo.

This series was far more successful than the first, partly due to a successful lead-in from Ricky Gervais' newest sitcom, Extras. The first episode attracted 3.39 million viewers, but the final episode received higher ratings than the episode of Extras which aired beforehand.

A number of celebrities agreed to make appearances for series two, including Peter Kay, Jill Halfpenny, Una Stubbs, Brian Murphy, Paul Whitehouse and Michael Brandon.

For the second series, the opening sequence was completely revamped, and a new theme tune introduced. The series was released on DVD on October 30th in the UK.

[edit] Main characters

  • Lauren - who became more offensive than ever before. One notable change was that Lauren began to become insulting without being provoked, while in the past, her catchphrase of "Am I bothered?" was only used after she believed that she had been wronged in some way. She was now in Year 11 and, according to one of her teachers, in grave danger of leaving school with no GCSEs.
  • Nan Taylor - who spent less time in her living room. She made a disastrous visit to the doctor, and spent two weeks in hospital. True to form, she did not suffer in silence, complaining about her fellow patients and accusing a nurse of stealing from her. In one sketch Peter Kay guest starred as one of Nan's friends; he referred to homosexuality as a disability, which the grandson didn't take too kindly to.
  • Paul and Sam - who showed little change from series one. In episode five, we were introduced to Sam's parents, who share many of the same characteristics as their daughter. Paul Whitehouse guest starred as her father and My Hero's Geraldine McNulty guest starred as her mum. In the Christmas special, it is later revealed they have two children who behave in a similar manner.
  • Kate and Ellen - The office workers - in this series, the nice office worker became more aware of material that the loud worker would use for her "Have a guess!" games, and often knew the correct answer before being asked. Unfortunately, this irritated Tate's character even more than usual, and during the course of this series she poured a drink over her fellow worker's head, trashed her desk and spat in her hair.
  • Derek Faye - A man who showed several signs of being gay (combining mannerisms of famous gay British comedians such as Kenneth Williams and Frankie Howerd), but seemed to be in denial about his sexuality and became extremely offended when people assumed he was gay. As well as behaving in an extremely effeminate way, he spoke with a feminine voice. His catchphrase was "How very dare you!", along with the overuse of the word "dear". This can be seen in another catchphrase; when asked about his sexuality he replied "Who, dear? Me, dear? Gay, dear? No, dear." He was sometimes seen with a male companion called Leonard Mincing.
  • Allie - an extremely tactless woman, who unintentionally offended people after being introduced to them at parties. Afterwards, she would become embarrassed and try to look for an escape from the conversation as quickly as possible. In an interview, Tate said that this character was partly based on herself.
  • Janice and Ray - a Northern couple who expressed their disgust at meals they had been presented with at restaurants. Their disgust was based on the perceived over-pricing or the exotic nature of the food eg Brie and grapes in a cheese sandwich. After complaining about the food and prices, they used their catchphrase: "The dirty bastards!" (sometimes "The evil dirty robbing bastards!")
  • Sheila Carter - An uptight, snobbish Scottish woman who disapproved of the behaviour of everybody around her, before farting loudly and unashamedly. She would usually then go on to blame anyone around her for this.
  • Amanda - a perky waitress at the fictional BBJ's restaurant: "I'm Amanda, but my friends call me Zebedee!" After annoying diners with her loud and childish behaviour, she would into dance routines with her fellow workers after she took each order. This caused the diners to run off.
  • Irene and Vern - the stereotypically Jewish owners of a mobile snack bar. In their sketches they were visited by a regular customer, Neville (played by Brian Murphy) whom Irene tried to convince that she and Vern have been visited by celebrities, including Madonna and former Russian premier Gorbachev.
  • Trudy and Ivan - the owners of an extremely successful wig emporium. When they invited a production crew into their workplace to make a documentary about them, they struggled to keep the names of their clients a secret: "If that jiffy bag doesn't get to Wembley Arena by 8pm, it'll be the first time "Candle In The Wind" has been sung in a crash helmet."
  • The unprofessional croupier - who took the ball away from the roulette wheel when the noise started to annoy her: "It was probably red". In another sketch, a man gambled a lot of money on red, and she announced the ball landed on red. However, she then said it was black - as the colours "sort of merge" while the wheel is spinning.

[edit] Minor characters

  • Bernie - who made only two appearances in this series. In one episode, she was nearly sacked after being hypnotised, while in her next appearance she returned to her usual man-eating ways.
  • Elaine Figgis - Elaine appeared for one episode, and was still using the Internet to find potential lovers. Unfortunately, her new boyfriend, Mohammad, ended up conning her and taking her savings.
  • The Aga Saga Woman - who went into a state of shock and terror after a Northern nanny showed up to look after her children. Jill Halfpenny guest starred as the Northern nanny.
  • Moo Shepherd - a dog trainer who resorted to strange and desperate methods to achieve success. Unfortunately, her dog Lady Penelope ended up coming last at an important contest.
  • DI Angie Barker - a single mother who brought her children with her to an unpleasant crime scene.
  • Victoria Russell - a drunk bride who insulted her new husband and his family in a memorable wedding speech. She appeared several times in one episode.
  • Sandra - a woman who lived in a world where "gingers" are ostracised from society and was sent to "Russet Lodge" (a refuge for redheads) under police protection. She appeared several times in one episode, and her appearance preceded the "Gingers For Justice" sketches in series three.

[edit] After Series Two

In November 2005, Tate appeared as Lauren in a special sketch for the BBC's annual Children in Need telethon. The segment was a crossover with EastEnders, featuring Barbara Windsor (Peggy Mitchell), Kacey Ainsworth (Little Mo) and Lacey Turner (Stacey Slater).

The sketch saw Lauren arrive in Walford in search of revenge on Stacey, who had stolen her boyfriend. When she made an appearance in the Queen Vic, Peggy found herself getting increasingly frustrated with the visitor, who asked, "Are you a Cockney? Are you a Cockney sparrow?" ('Cockney' was pronounced 'Cockeney') and "Do you know Chas and Dave? Are you their mum?" repeatedly. Peggy also used some of Lauren's catchphrases without realising, such as "Are you disrespecting my family?" and "Are you calling me a pikey?" Lauren eventually left the pub after mixing some famous lines from the soap, including "Hello princess" and "Rickaay!" with her usual catchphrase, "Bothered?"

Also in November, Tate was a guest at the 77th Royal Variety Performance and once again appeared in the guise of Lauren, accompanied by her friends Ryan and Lisa. After Lauren embarrassed herself in front of the audience, Ryan pointed out that the Queen was laughing at her. Looking up at the Royal Box, she asked "Are you disrespecting me?" and mimicked the Queen's accent, asking, "Is one bothered? Is one's face bothered?", before adding, "Who is looking after the corgis?" The Queen was seen laughing (at least politely) at this joke, and Prince Phillip also appeared to take this in good humour. There were, however, reports in The Sun Newspaper that the Prince was extremely unimpressed by the performance.

A Christmas show was aired on 20 December 2005. It featured appearances from celebrity guests Richard Park, Charlotte Church and Chas and Dave. In this show we met Paul and Sam's two children, who have identical characteristics to, and look like, their parents. According to official overnights figures, over 5.3 million viewers watched the show, making it the most-watched programme at the time. The characters of Margaret and the enigmatic detective, who did not appear in Series 2, made reappearances for the Christmas show.

The second series started airing on UKTV G2 in January 2006. Series one continued on UKTV Gold. The second series was also being screened on BBC America, and repeated on BBC2, from June 2006.

Following the success of Series Two, Tate launched a range of merchandise based on characters from the show in 2006.

In the BBC's Sport Relief she also did a sketch as Nan Taylor, commenting on the 1966 world cup win and the comments of Kenneth Wolstenholme.

[edit] Series Three (2006)

The third series started on 26 October 2006. Prior to the launch of the series, it had been reported that BBC One controller Peter Fincham hoped to lure Tate to the channel; however, she decided to stay with BBC Two, where she would not be as pressured to secure high ratings.

[edit] Main characters

Main characters who played a leading role in series three included:

  • Geordie Georgie - A frequent petitioner, who constantly tried to get her co-worker, Martin, to sponsor her with facts such as "Every 38 minutes ..." then followed her statements up with "If you don't believe me then log on to the website ...". The scenes for this sketch followed the same pattern. Georgie would come into the office and start singing (with Martin joining in) and, after talking abusively about his family, would request to borrow something on his desk, for example "can I borrow your nice bright red biro?" She then described her latest fund-raising effort and asked him to sponsor her. He always offered a modest donation then made at least one small increase, but after several futile attempts to get him to donate yet more money, she said "Let's say no more about it because I wouldn't want it to come between us pet." then attacked him in a manner that has something to do with the cause she was championing (for example, she sprayed him all over with cleaning fluid after he refused to pay out as much as she'd like for sufferers of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). She also tried to raise money for victims of sexual harassment, domestic violence, alcoholism and sex addiction as well as for dwarves, but claimed she "Couldn't be less interested" when Martin asked her to donate to a fundraiser of his own. Catherine stated on This Morning that Georgie was her favourite new character.
  • Lauren - who spent the summer holidays working at Billy's Burger Bar. She had a new rival for Ryan's affections, played by EastEnders actress Natalie Cassidy, and believed that Ryan wanted to marry her. As a sixth-former her attitude at school was the same as before, although she had succeeded in learning the chemical symbols of many of the chemical elements (in that sketch she said "Am I Bovvered" in an imitation of Stephen Hawking's voice). She refused to speak French for an oral exam but knew enough of the language to insult her French Teacher (even making a few references to 'Allo 'Allo!, specifically to the character of Officer Crabtree). Lauren was due to marry Ryan in the final episode, but was jilted at the altar because he was embarrassed when she sang a very off - key version of Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On to the guests (In the 2005 Christmas Special, her singing was similar to this).
  • Joannie "Nan" Taylor - in this series Leslie Phillips played another of Nan's friends, who was himself very much like her (saying "What a fucking liberty" when Nan visited him in hospital and left him a present he did not like) and Sheila Hancock appeared as her sister June, who lived in Spain and was equally as foul mouthed as Nan. We found out that most of their family were London gangland career criminals and mass murderers, with nicknames such as "Clown Face" and "Wallopnuts". Nan also made a characteristic appearance on The Paul O'Grady Show.
  • The Taylor-Thomas Family (The Aga Saga Woman) - who sent everyone at her children's school sports day into a panic when she found out the eggs being used in the egg and spoon race were not organic, and became terrified at the prospect of having to use a hired car while her Land Rover was being repaired. She and her children were disturbed when they took a wrong turn and ended up driving in Tottenham (pronounced by them as "Totten-ham") where they were traumatised when they saw the shop Iceland, saw that nobody was wearing Brogues and when someone cleaned their windscreen at the traffic lights. On another occasion they evacuated a picnic after one of the children accidentally consumed a gooseberry and cinnamon yoghurt that was twenty-four hours past its sell by date. She seemed to believe that encounters with lower-middle class or anything less than perfect would prove fatal, a trait which she had evidently passed on to her children, apparent due to catchphrases such as "We're all going to die!" and "Please don't kill us!"
  • Derek Faye - Derek still battled with the problem of everyone he met assuming he is gay. He became particularly offended when, while on holiday in Spain with his male companion Leonard, a taxi driver offered to take them to a Hawaiian-themed gay bar called "Homolulu". Bonnie Langford appeared in one of his sketches.
  • Janice and Ray - who continued to complain about restaurant food and prices. Ray was no longer played by Derren Litten (who did not work on this series) but continued to use the same phrases: "Famous last words", "Listen to this". Their catchphrase became slightly modified to fit the situation, for example "The evil, dirty, raw fish-guzzling bastards!" when complaining about being offered sushi, or "The dirty, robbing, lactose intolerant bastards!" after telling the story of being served coffee with milk substitute.
  • Irene and Vern - showed little change from Series Two. Irene tried to convince her regular customer Neville that her and Vern had met ABBA, Condoleezza Rice and even Henry VIII of England who, according to Irene, did not die over 400 years ago but was renting a bunglow in Hemel Hempstead and was seen by her on a bike ride with Anne Of Cleves. Vern, who normally has no lines, was given a speaking part for the first time (simply telling Irene to "Shut up")
  • Bernie - four of whose siblings (Brenda, Bridie, Seamus and Paddy), all identical to Bernie and even more over the top in their behaviour, caused havoc when they came over from Ireland to visit her during her shift at the hospital. It was discovered that Bernie shuns medical terms for intimate bodily parts because she confuses them with the names of another sister and brother, Virginia (vagina) and Clint (don't ask).

[edit] Minor characters

These characters have appeared several times in only one episode of the series:

  • Ulster Mum - A gritty, hard-faced Northern Irish woman who, to the amazement of her son John (Kevin Trainor), was delighted for him and herself when he came out as gay. Even though he didn't want any attention or mistreatment, his mum obsessed over his sexuality, inviting him to give her fashion advice, look at pictures of men in magazines while he was trying to watch football, visit one of her friends, and go on a gay parade. Her phrase that she used frequently was; "Have you heard about our John? He's a gay man now."
  • Life at Ma's - A parody of Life on Mars which featured Tate as Ma Willow, overbearing owner of the boarding house "Ma's" during the 1950s, who took in time - travelling policeman, Sam Speed, after he was hit by a car. Unfortunately, he often broke the conventions of that time period (such as being a non-smoking, politically-correct vegetarian).
  • Helen Marsh - the "I can do that" woman - A woman who claimed "I can do that!" when her friends and colleagues were in search of people with specific skills. For instance, in one episode, her colleague needed someone to practise tennis with, and Helen happily accepted to assist her. However, she was abysmal at tennis and hit the balls way out of the court into a group of trees. In another sketch, she claimed she could speak seven languages for a conference, and proceeded to "translate" into nonsensical sounds that were based on linguistic stereotypes. Three more examples include the themes of drumming, curling, and salsa dancing.
  • Laura Powers - A bungling spy who was called in to assist the American government with a top secret mission involving terrorists (in a direct parody of thriller series 24), but was so inept at trying to use a computer keyboard that she caused a communications failure which blew the entire exercise (literally, as the terrorists blew up their hostages). It appeared that she knew nothing of computers.
  • Snack Food Woman - A woman who, while out and about with different people, frequently excused herself to go and buy a bag of snacks (such as Nik Naks, Monster Munch or Mini Cheddars) only to return and find that some horrible disaster happened while she was away (including her boyfriend being killed in a building collapse and a friend who died in a drive-by shooting) before surveying the scene with mild surprise whilst munching on her crisps.
  • Elaine Figgis - who has given up on finding love online. Instead she attempted to have a baby with the aid of a sperm donor, but unfortunately her missed periods turned out to be the start of the menopause.
  • Gingers For Justice - who returned with Sandra taking a stand against the public and the public deciding that gingers are allowed back in to civilisation, with guest star Patsy Palmer.
  • Paul and Sam - made two appearances in the last episode, still very excitable over the slightest thing. They did not seem concerned when the living room ceiling collapsed, more preoccupied with the fact that Sam had found a missing earring.

In series three, guest stars along with the sketch they appeared in were as follows:

[edit] External links

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