The Catherine Tate Show
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Catherine Tate Show | |
|---|---|
 Cover of Series Two DVD |
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| Genre | Sketch comedy |
| Creator(s) | Catherine Tate and Derren Litten |
| Starring | Catherine Tate Derren Litten Mathew Horne Ella Kenion Jonathan McGuinnes Michael Brandon Bruce Mackinnon Lee Ross Niky Wardley Angela McHale Aschlin Ditta |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. of episodes | 18 (as of November 23, 2006) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Geoffrey Perkins |
| Running time | 30 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Original run | February 16, 2004 – 2006 |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Catherine Tate Show is an award-winning television sketch comedy which airs on BBC Two and is shown worldwide through BBC. Comedienne Catherine Tate writes and appears in all of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters.
Contents |
[edit] History
The first series of the show, which consisted of six episodes, aired from February to March in 2004. A DVD of this series was released in August 2005. 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. For this series a new theme tune was introduced. A DVD of series two was released in October 2006.
The third series aired from October 26 to November 30, 2006. There has been speculation that this would be the final series. However, Tate explained in an interview on This Morning that she had never said this and would like to at least do specials in the future. Furthermore, in an interview on The Paul O'Grady Show on December 18, 2006, she indicated that a fourth series was unlikely but hoped to film a special in 2007. On February 19, 2007, Tate appeared again on This Morning and stated that a forty minute Comic Relief special had been made, which aired on 16th March 2007. Several sketches were interspersed throughout the Comic Relief programme, with guests such as Tony Blair.
Tate revealed that she is considering taking the characters on the road for a UK stage tour.[1]
[edit] Main characters
This is only a list and small description of the most popular or well-known characters. A full list and descriptions can be found here:
- Lauren the Teenager - An argumentative teenage girl who gets out of awkward situations by repeating her catchphrase, "Am I bovvered?"
- Joannie "Nan" Taylor - The foul-mouthed grandmother who constantly swears at and criticises other people, including her grandson. She often uses the phrase "What a fucking liberty".
- Kate and Ellen - Two office workers who sit next to each other. While one (played by Ella Kenion) is usually keen to get on with her work, she is frequently disturbed by Tate's character, who asks her to guess answers to questions.
- The Aga Saga Woman - An upper middle class English woman who goes into a state of shock in various, seemingly harmless, situations.
- Derek Faye - Derek is a man who shows several signs of being gay but seems to be in denial about his sexuality and becomes extremely offended when people assumed he was gay.
- Janice and Ray - A Northern couple who express their disgust at restaurant meals, often due to the over-pricing or exotic nature of the food such as brie and grapes in a cheese sandwich before using their catchphrase "The dirty bastards!"
- Geordie Georgie - A frequent petitioner, who constantly tries to get her co-worker, Martin, to sponsor her with facts such as "Every 38 minutes ..." then follows her statements up with "If you don't believe me then log on to the website ...".
[edit] Catchphrases
These are some of the most well-known catchphrases from The Catherine Tate Show:
- "What a fucking liberty!" - Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- "Oh, they want shooting!" - Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- "What a load of old shit!" - Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- "'Ere he is." - Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- "Oh, fucking chill out!" - Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- "Am I bovvered?" - Lauren Cooper
- "Look, I ain't bovvered!" - Lauren Cooper
- "Are you disrespectin' me?" - Lauren Cooper
- "You'll never guess what's 'appened to me today." - Paul and Sam
- "I dunno!" - Paul and Sam
- "Have a guess!" - Kate and Ellen
- "We're all going to die!" - The Aga Saga Woman
- "What on earth are you insinuating!?" - Derek Faye
- "Gay, dear? Who, dear? Me, dear? No, dear!" - Derek Faye
- "I find you impertinent!" - Derek Faye
- "How very dare you?!" - Derek Faye
- "I've never been so insulted." - Derek Faye
- "Don't ask!" - Janice and Ray
- "What were it called?" - Janice and Ray
- "The dirty bastards!" - Janice and Ray
- "Listen to this..." - Janice and Ray
- "Mornin' Martin! How was your weekend, pet?" - Geordie Georgie
- "Did you know that every thirty-eight minutes...?" - Geordie Georgie
- "If you don't believe me then log on to the website; www...co.uk". - Geordie Georgie
- "Let's say no more about it, because I wouldn't want it to come between us pet. - Geordie Georgie
- "Morning, Neville..." - Irene and Vern
- "You'll never believe who was here." - Irene and Vern
- "Any sauce?" - Irene and Vern
- "I'm a fiery Taurean with my moon in Uranus. Careful! I'll do the jokes." - Amanda
- "I can do that!" - Helen Marsh
[edit] Characters in each series
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Series One
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Series Two
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Series Three
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[edit] Series One (2004)
The first series of the show, which consisted of six episodes, aired from February to March 2004. The show's theme tune for the first series was In These Shoes? by Kirsty MacColl.
[edit] After Series One
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.
In 2004, Catherine Tate won a British Comedy Award for "Best comedy newcomer" for her work on the first series of The Catherine Tate Show.
[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. This series secured viewing figures of 2.89 to 3.92 million, with the final episode receiving higher ratings than the episode of Extras which aired beforehand. [2].
[edit] After Series Two
In November 2005, 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 Liese. 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 bovvered? Is one's face bovvered?", 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 & Dave. In this show we met Paul and Sam's two children, who have identical characteristics to, and look like, their parents. The characters of Margaret and the enigmatic detective, who did not appear in Series Two, made appearances for the Christmas show. According to official viewing figures, over 5.66 million viewers watched the show, making it the most-watched programme at the time. [3].
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 BBC Two, from June 2006.
Following the success of Series Two, Tate launched a range of merchandise based on characters from the show in 2006. In September, 2006 The Catherine Tate Show official calandar 2007 was released. Also, on the 2 October, 2006 a book was released of the scripts of both Series One and Two, called Am I Bovvered The Catherine Tate Show Scripts.
In 2006 on 13th December, Catherine Tate won another British Comedy Award for "Best British Comedy Actress" for her work in the second series of The Catherine Tate Show.
[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.
It gained strong viewing figures for BBC Two, ranging from 4.00 to 4.92 million, becoming the top show on BBC Two each week.[4].
[edit] Charity sketches
- 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 bovvered?" 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."
- 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 as Peggy Mitchell, Kacey Ainsworth as Little Mo and Lacey Turner as Stacey Slater. The sketch saw Lauren arrive in Walford in search of revenge on Stacey, who had apparently 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?" (pronounced 'Cockeney') and "Do you know Chas & 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, "Bovvered?"
"Nan" talking to The Banker
- In the BBC's Sport Relief, Tate also did a sketch as Nan Taylor, commenting on the 1966 world cup win and the comments of Kenneth Wolstenholme.
- On March 16, 2007, Catherine Tate appeared on Comic Relief as many of her well-known characters from The Catherine Tate Show. The sketches were interspersed throughout the Comic Relief programme. Guests in sketches included David Tennant (who acted as Lauren Cooper's teacher and actually turned out to be the real Doctor), and Daniel Craig as another one of Elaine Figgis's boyfriends whom she had met through the internet. Tony Blair also made a cameo appearance in a sketch which saw Lauren Cooper on work experience at Downing Street. Upon Lauren attempting to tell Blair who the most famous person she had met was, he asked her if he was "bovvered". Geordie Georgie made an appearance with Lenny Henry when he did his own fundraising for Comic Relief and Joannie Taylor also appeared on game show Deal or No Deal hosted by Noel Edmonds.
[edit] Guest stars
[edit] Series Two
- Brian Murphy - with Irene and Vern
- Charlotte Church - with Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- Chas & Dave - with Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- Geraldine McNulty - with Paul and Sam
- Jill Halfpenny - with The Aga Saga Woman
- Michael Brandon - with Boob Job Babe
- Paul Whitehouse - with Paul and Sam
- Peter Kay - with Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- Richard Park - with Lauren Cooper
- Roger Allam - with Bernie
- Siobhan Redmond - with Gingers For Justice
- Una Stubbs - with Trudy and Ivan
[edit] Series Three
- Bonnie Langford - with Derek Faye
- Jools Holland - with Helen Marsh (the "I can do that" woman)
- Leslie Phillips - with Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- Natalie Cassidy - with Lauren Cooper
- Nick Sidi - with Derek Faye
- Patsy Palmer - with Gingers For Justice
- Paul O'Grady - with Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- Sheila Hancock - with Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- Siobhan Redmond - with Gingers For Justice
- Tom Ellis - with Ma Willow (Life at Ma's)
[edit] Charity sketches
- Daniel Craig - with Elaine Figgis
- David Tennant - with Lauren Cooper
- Lenny Henry - with Geordie Georgie
- Little Mo Slater - with Lauren Cooper
- McFly - with Lauren Cooper
- Noel Edmonds - with Joannie "Nan" Taylor
- Peggy Mitchell - with Lauren Cooper
- Simon Amstell - with Lauren Cooper
- Stacey Slater - with Lauren Cooper
- Tony Blair - with Lauren Cooper
[edit] DVD releases
| DVD Name | Release Date | Additional Information | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Catherine Tate Show -
Series One |
August 2005 | One Disc DVD set, containing all six episodes from the first series.
Special features:
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| The Catherine Tate Show -
Series Two |
October 2006 | One Disc DVD set, containing all six episodes from the second series.
Special features:
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| The Catherine Tate Comic Relief Special | April 2007 | One Disc DVD set, containing all sketches featured on Red Nose Night and more.
Exclusive to amazon.co.uk. Special features:
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[edit] See also
[edit] External links
