My Hero (TV series)

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My Hero
James Dreyfus as Thermoman and Emily Joyce as Janet Dawkins with Ollie and Cassie
Genre	live action/sitcom British comedy British sitcom science fiction sitcom
Creator(s)	Paul Mendelson
Starring	Ardal O'Hanlon (Series 1-5) James Dreyfus (Series 6) Emily Joyce Hugh Dennis Geraldine McNulty Lou Hirsch Philip Whitchurch Lill Roughley Tim Wylton
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	51 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Geoffrey Perkins Marcus Mortimer Sophie Clarke-Jervoise
Running time	30 mins
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Original run	February 4, 2000 – September 10, 2006
Links
Official website

My Hero was a British comedy television series, about a not-very-bright superhero named Thermoman from the planet Ultron. He is the alter ego of George Monday/George Sunday (played by James Dreyfus, formerly Ardal O'Hanlon), who has a romantic relationship with Janet Dawkins (played by Emily Joyce); they later marry and have two children, Ollie and Cassie.

The series debuted in February 2000 on BBC One, and had six series, with a total of fifty-one regular episodes as of 2007, including an additional Christmas special, broadcast in December 2000.

In 2002, the third series was released on DVD, including actor biographies and out-takes. In the UK, re-runs air on UKTV Gold; in the United States, it is shown regularly on select PBS stations and on BBC America. The first series was released on Region 1 DVD in the U.S. on January 16, 2007.

The sixth and final series, beginning in July 2006, saw James Dreyfus taking over from Ardal O'Hanlon in the lead role, as George loses his former human identity in a game of poker. This move proved unpopular with the series, which was suffering from plummeting ratings and ultimately being relegated to a Sunday afternoon slot. The series was cancelled in September 2006 due to the bad ratings, possibly due to the Big Brother finals and other competitive programmes. ^[1]

Contents 1 Characters 1.1 George Sunday/George Monday/Thermoman 1.2 Janet Dawkins 1.3 Ollie Sunday 1.4 Cassie Sunday 1.5 Piers Crispin 1.6 Arnie 1.7 Mrs. Raven 1.8 Mr. and Mrs. Dawkins 1.9 Tyler 1.10 Avril 2 Episode list 3 References 4 External links 4.1 Official 4.2 Unofficial

[edit] Characters

[edit] George Sunday/George Monday/Thermoman

George Eamonn Sunday (Ardal O'Hanlon) is a former Irish shopkeeper who is the alter ego of Thermoman, a world-famous superhero from the planet Ultron. His title came from his father Seamus, the Original Thermoman, who is currently retired. He owns a health food store, but tries to avoid attracting customers in order to avoid attention. Only his closest friends know his true identity. He appears to be an idiot is because he is unfamiliar with Earth culture.

From 2006, in his new body, he uses the pseudonym George Monday (James Dreyfus), posing as a doctor in Northolt Health Centre hired by Dr. Piers Crispin. Janet introduces Monday to friends and parents as her friend and lodger. However, they believe she is having a relationship with him, believing at first she murdered her husband, George Sunday, though in later episodes they believe Sunday left her. The health shop closed down, sometime before he lost his previous body.

He is capable of:

• Both heating and freezing with his 'thermo-breath'
• Super strength
• Invulnerability
• Flight
• Super speed
• Smelling natural disasters and crimes in progress anywhere in the world
• Erasing the memories of others by putting his finger to their foreheads and giving it a thermoblast (although Tyler seems to be immune to this)
• Total erasure by staring at the person he wants to erase the memory of (with a side effect of them losing their hair)
• Mind control – only be used in extreme circumstances
• Knowing lottery numbers before they happen (however, the rules of Ultron prevent him using this for personal gain)
• Operating the TV (turning it on and off, even rewinding it) using his finger, and knowing what's on the news before watching it
• Projecting a "thergle", an Ultronian chastity belt. When you get turned on, the most offputting thing in the world appears before you, to turn you off again (in Janet's case, her mother)
• X-ray vision
• Resurrecting dead animals and people
• Time travel through the time tunnels of Tartarus (following an incident where he changed his own history, he has ceased to use these, and may never do so again)
• The ability to transform into a flying rhinoceros.

On multiple occasions, he has also mail-ordered additional powers on a trial basis from Superhero Monthly:

• Miracle Spit – makes plants grow quickly
• Interspecies Interpreter – allows him to communicate with any animal on Earth except dung beetles ("Why would you want to? They live in dung.". This was used in season 3's "Pet Rescue", and again in season 6, episode 3, "My Kingdom for a Cat".
• Zip-it! – a safer way of silencing people than welding people's mouths shut, it instead uses a zipper (used on Tyler and Arnie), and was shown in the same episode as Miracle Spit.

[edit] Janet Dawkins

Janet Charlotte Dawkins-Sunday (Emily Joyce) is the voice of sanity, a nurse in the Northolt Health Centre. She was born in 1969 or 1970. (There is a discrepancy: in the first series episode "The Party's Over," the episode is set in 2000 and she is turning 30. In the fourth series episode "Time and Time Again," George visits Janet on her 9th birthday, which is shown to have taken place in 1978, hinting she is 35 by the fifth season.) She first meets Thermoman when he rescues her from certain death after falling into the Grand Canyon whilst on holiday. Although she loves George/Thermoman, she is frequently exasperated and confused by his behaviour.

Alternate timelines seen in season 4, episode 10, "Time and Time Again":

• A timeline in which Janet didn't fall from that tree when she was 7 - all that is known about this timeline is that she is as bald as Tyler.
• A timeline in which Janet didn't fall from that tree when she was 7 AND got a note to visit a doctor about that scalp problem before it was too late - Janet is married to Piers with ten children.
• A timeline in which Janet fell from the tree and Arnie got "familiar" with Ella's past self - much the same as the prime timeline, except for Arnold Dawkins, Janet's half-brother.

[edit] Ollie Sunday

Apollo "Ollie" Sunday (voice by Finlay Stroud) is the son of George and Janet, and was born at the end of series 2. The moment he was born, he spoke perfect English. He also has superhuman powers, although they are somewhat limited. He takes more of a back seat in series 5, as he fights the sibling rivalry wars with his sister Cassie. The name "Apollo" was chosen by Ollie himself during a conversation with Tyler, and was meant to symbolise the link between two "heavenly bodies" (either Apollo 11 or Battlestar Galactica).

By Series 5, Ollie know virtually all Earth languages (although George considered Flemish as a dialect).

[edit] Cassie Sunday

Cassandra "Cassie" Sunday (voice by Madeline Mortimer) is the newest member of the Sunday family, born at the beginning of the fifth series, and named herself Cassandra. Her only superpower is that she can see into the future. This proved to be of little use, as she once thought that population of the whole Northern Hemisphere was dead when they were really asleep. She didn't know about sleep, as she hadn't slept before. This led to chaos as everyone flocked to Australia, in the Southern Hemisphere, as they were still awake/alive.

Considering that Xil in the season 2 episode Girlfriend has super-strength and other powers, either precognition is a family trait or Ultronian females gain their power at a later age than males. However in Season 4 The First Husband's club at the end it was believed that Cassie's second power was mind control for when she turned Janet to her Slave.

[edit] Piers Crispin

Dr. Piers Crispin (Hugh Dennis) is Janet's boss and "Britain's favourite TV doctor," though he is not a good doctor (in the episode "Shock, Horror!", he accidentally revealed to Janet that he faked his A-Level results to get into medical school) and is more concerned with his television career. To boost his image, he has tried things such as releasing his own health drink (which was really just diluted mouthwash, which he took off the market, due to an "unhealthy" experience with a gangster), sponsoring a tiger cub in Bangladesh (because it was cheaper than sponsoring a child and the tiger was more photogenic), writing a book (which Mrs. Raven suggested a patient read as a means to put them to sleep), supporting a healthy eating campaign in schools, and even appearing on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!. His catchphrase in the early series was "I am always here".

In Series 2, Episode 6, "Pregnant", George describes him, after Janet did some rescuing and he was left to listen to Piers talk with him, Ella and Stanley for an unspecified amount of time, as the most boring person he has ever encountered, worse even than Zargons (their national sport is growing cress).

Season 4, Episode 10, "Time and Time Again", he promotes cigarettes as good for you (initially believed by Janet and Mrs. Raven to be an April Fool's Joke), also, alcohol, sweets and nuclear power, before someone reads his report and proves it to be false (when Janet read in the news that "Dr. Crispin is either stupid or corrupt" she said he was both. In an alternate timeline, Piers is a competent doctor, married to Janet with the children; this happiness is a sham as he is seeing Mrs. Raven behind Janet's back (which convinced George to restore things to what they should be).

In Season 5, Episode "Cassie Come Home", we learn he originally wanted to be a clarinetist but his father was determined that he would go into medicine (he even kept calling him "Dr. Crispin") and refused to allow music in the house for four years to stop Piers' desires to be a musician.

In Series 6, Episode 5, "Not for Prophet", he tells Sophie Raworth that he is still a virgin at age 43 (he told Janet that he was a virgin in Series 3, Episode 10, "A Day to Remember", which she told Mrs. Raven, which she told the Daily Mirror).

In Series 6, Episode 8, "Believe", we find out why he cheats and schemes, it's because of being bullied at school, being locked in a cellar by his father, and his unfeeling mother celebrating his brother's latest scout badge and ignoring him. When George reminded him of this, it destroyed his self confidence, until Mrs Raven used electric shocks and then the threat of smashing his award brought him back to his usual arrogant self.

[edit] Arnie

Arnie Kowalski (Lou Hirsch) is George's cousin and confidant. Originally a superhero himself, Polarman, he lost his powers because he began charging for his services. In one episode, he got his powers back from the Ultron Council, and became the new hero in town, as it were, making George feel redundant. He had them taken away again, when he was caught stealing from the people he saved, and even for stealing the Crown Jewels because he felt like it. In Series 1, he lived in New York, where he owned a café, but moved to Las Vegas in Series 2, where he owned a casino and to Northolt in Series 3, where he has remained ever since. He is currently in a relationship with Mrs. Raven.

He has been known throughout the series to have been very helpful and resourceful to Thermoman, on matters such as:

• Contacts on Ultron

• Unknown knowledge to George on Earth or Ultron

• Advice to help George when in need

Ultronian Technology

Examples of his attempts to become rich are:

• Trying to start up a website for George's health shop with Tyler that did well (for a day); then Tyler accidentally destroyed the website and his laptop

• He made 80 pounds per week in six months while filming a sitcom called The Filth Channel for Ultron recording his activities with Mrs. Raven, but when George took Thermowatch off the air, he may have done the same to the Filth Channel.

• He started a therapy to help George get his invincibility back when he learned the truth about his powers and he made 60 pounds the first time but Janet got him to reduce the price.

• Due to a contact Piers made with Tyler when he started up a talk show and Arnie was Tyler's agent, he got 5,000 pounds.

• When the S.A.T.S table league was started up, he advertised for Thermoman products such as Loo Rolls but when George got to the first spot all he could sell were voodoo dolls of Thermoman since it was the 14th spot that got him rich and Thermoman took all the alcohol and tobacco from the world. But when George was reduced to the bottom of the table all he could sell were Thermo Fattie Dolls then he stopped selling.

• He set up an Ultronian computer for George with a charge of 60 pounds but Janet had him destroy it.

• He pretended to be George's lawyer to stop Scotland Yard from arresting him but although he failed George had him remain as his lawyer and made a deal with him on his salary.

[edit] Mrs. Raven

Mrs. Raven (Geraldine McNulty) is the sadistic and misanthropic receptionist in Northolt Health Centre. She has a romantic relationship with Arnie, has triplets from a previous relationship, and despises them to no end. In Series 1, Episode 1, she took them to see an exorcist. Mrs. Raven often says snide comments about people while they are present (similar to Anne Robinson) and seems to pride herself on scaring away potential patients. She often gets the better of her boss, Dr. Piers Crispin, usually through blackmail or similar methods. Arnie has been staying with her since Season 3, although since (revealed in "Space Virus") the words she likes to hear from Arnie are "Ow, that hurts", we don't want to know what she does to Arnie but we also learn that kissing the husband (George) of her friend is one of the most terrible things she could do. According to Dr. Crispin, she was never a child. There is evidence that her triplets are cannibals as when she discovered "George's feet" (believing that Janet has murdered her husband), she fed them to her triplets. Also, in "Night Fever", she predicted that she could see her psychotic mother in her triplets in the future and told Janet her family throughout generations have always been nasty and like her mother in ways.

She has been known to aid Dr. Crispin in his schemes; if it works, she most likely wants a cut of the profits; if it doesn't work, she gets some amusement out of Dr Crispin's humiliation. Examples include:

• She has a camcorder ready to film Stanley Dawkins' pregnancy for a live show. Dr. Crispin then delivers a 2-ounce gallstone, earning a front page story in The Sun Newspaper with the title "They think it's gall over" (a play on the 1966 world cup phrase "They think it's all over, it IS now"). She photocopies this story for the patients to read.

• She sells cigarettes to patients while Dr. Crispin is promoting them as being good for you, then offers a cigarette to Dr. Crispin after a newspaper denounces him as an alien with evil superpowers. Also she participated in charging the drinks for the Crispin Diet but her friend, a mob boss, was told by Janet that the drink had side effects as a lie and Dr. Crispin had a nasty beat up and Mrs. Raven called up the news and ambulance to come over and Dr. Crispin withdrew all the drinks after this.

• She sells her homemade booze to Dr. Crispin for his cousin Deon's stag night and has arranged for a stripper, i.e., herself. Mrs. Raven earns enough to pay off her £5000 tax and she got amusement from Piers being "lynched" (gaffer taped to a lamppost, stark naked, with gaffer tape covering certain parts) after selling him out to Deon Crispin and his friends.

In Season 4, Episode 10, "Time and Time Again", in an alternate timeline, Mrs. Raven is nice. She gives children toys and does some physiotherapy to patients in her spare time (however, she was also having an affair with the married Dr. Crispin).

Despite her nasty behaviour towards Dr. Crispin, she reveals in Season 6, Episode 8 "Believe" that insulting Dr. Crispin is one of two things that get her out of bed (the other being that her triplets keep their stash of explosives under her bed; when George destroys Dr. Crispin's self-confidence, she uses methods similar to those used in George Orwell's "1984" to restore him to his arrogant self, such as electric shocks and when that failed, she showed Piers his "Room 101" ande threatened his award with a hammer.

Dr. Crispin compares her to the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz in a few episodes.

[edit] Mr. and Mrs. Dawkins

Stanley Dawkins (Tim Wylton) and Ella Dawkins (Lill Roughley) are Janet's parents. Mrs. Dawkins is a typical mother-in-law and has always thought Janet should have married Dr. Crispin. She dislikes George, believing him to be an idiot and loser. Janet's father Stanley humourously complains all the time about his wife and is rather suspicious of George and all other men who are anywhere near his daughter. He seems to be a bit more tolerant of George, as he's had a few good times with him (mainly due to the fact that he irritates Ella, making him a lesser target).

They find each other more attractive when they're both intoxicated, as revealed in Series 6, Episode 7, "Top of the Table", this might explain how Janet was conceived to a married couple like Ella and Stanley (the kind that find each other irritating and only attractive to each other when alcohol is in their system).

[edit] Tyler

Tyler (Philip Whitchurch) is Janet and George's crazy neighbour. Janet believes that his brain was fried by hallucinogens in the 1960s) He knows George's real identity, but often seems to have his own even more bizarre ideas and theories about the universe. For instance, he often claims that Gandalf, Frodo, and other fictional characters are staying in his flat. George initially denied Tyler's claims that he is Thermoman, but from Series 2 onwards, he just accepted that Tyler knows (mainly because no one would believe him), and gave him a job as his assistant in his health shop, replacing his original assistant from Series 1, Avril. From Season 5 onwards, he is often left to look after the kids, but more often than not, they end up looking after him. Tyler often refers to George as "Master", and occasionally calls Janet "Mistress" as well (a possible reference to K-9). In Series 2, Episode 3, "Girlfriend", it is revealed that he can speak Ultronian, and in Series 5, Episode 5, "Nothing to Hide", he reveals that he knows Leonardo da Vinci who we learn is an Ultronian.

He is the only human who is resistant to George's memory-erasing thermoblast. George attempted this twice, to no effect (Season 1, Episode 1, "My Hero" and Episode 4, "Thermoman's Greatest Challenge"). This is possibly due to the fact that Tyler is "outside reality" as we know it; in Series 4, Episode 4, "All in the Mind", when George gains telepathy (the ancient power of mascara) and reads Tyler's mind, all he hears is a gentle blowing wind).

In Series 5, Episode 9, "Big Bother", when Martin gives Tyler some pills from Piers claiming to be an expert, he stops believing he sees Gandalf for a time, because he thinks that he is Gandalf (including white robes and false beard, and asks Thermoman to join the fellowship to journey into Mordor, thinking that Ella is the Balrog of Morgoth and that Mrs. Raven is an "Hideous Orc"). Later Cue Martin, his long lost cousin, gave him some pills and although he was back to normal he began thinking he was gay and in a divorce.

In Series 6, Episode 8, "Believe", it is revealed, much to the surprise of Janet, that Tyler is 32. In the same episode he thought he was more attractive with a wig (which he originally thought was a cat), but his attempts to "go on the pull" resulted in three restraining orders and a lifelong ban from Somerfield supermarkets. He also kept an Anne Robinson head which was put in the selection by mistake (George's head exploded due to a failsafe to prevent Ultronians from getting too "big headed").

Tyler has a Scouse accent.

[edit] Avril

Avril (Moya Brady) was George's nervous assistant in his health shop in Series 1. Tyler took her job from Series 2 onwards. She had a crush on George and blamed his quirks and constant visits to the toilet (which is really to change into Thermoman) on poor treatment from Janet. She also had constant breakdowns and would shake when doing so. Her character is never seen or referred to again after Season 1.

[edit] Episode list

Main article: List of My Hero Episodes

[edit] References

1. ^ [http://www.downthetubes.net/tv/my_hero/ "MY HERO NO MORE" Down the tubes - reported September 25, 2006, retrieved September 30, 2006

[edit] External links

[edit] Official

• My Hero at the BBC Comedy Guide.
• My Hero at Big Bear Films home page
• My Hero at BBC America.

[edit] Unofficial

• My Hero at the Internet Movie Database
• British TV Comedy Guide
• My Hero episode guide and forum at TV.com
• My Hero at the British Sitcom Guide
• My Hero News, episode guide and interviews at downthetubes.net