Dough (Bottom episode)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bottom episode | |
|---|---|
| “Dough” | |
| Episode no. | Series Three Episode 004 |
| Guest star(s) | Nick Scott |
| Writer(s) | Ade Edmondson & Rik Mayall |
| Producer | Jon Plowman |
| Director | Bob Spiers |
| Original broadcast | January 27th, 1995 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| “Break” | “Finger” |
Dough is the fourth episode of the third series of British television sitcom, Bottom. It was first broadcast on January 27th, 1995.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Eddie and Richie forge money but now they must stop printing and pay up £5000 to "Skullcrusher" Henderson.
[edit] Plot
Richie is sitting home bored one day, and Eddie hasn't been seen for a week. Richie's attempts to get into Eddie's room only get him burned, injured and stabbed, and just as he's about to give up all hope, Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog show up. They quickly reject Richie's attempts at conversation with them and head to Eddie's room. Having had enough of this, Richie barges his way into Eddie's room, and discovers what Eddie's been up to; he's been forging money. Eddie gives Spudgun and Hedgehog thousands of pounds in forged money, and gives Richie a "very rare" £15 note. Richie then informs Eddie that the notes bear absolutely no resemblance to real money, and instead resemble pornographic doodles. Eddie then reveals that his plan is make sure people are so shocked by the extremely perverse images that they'll never notice how unconvincing the forgeries are.
The four head down the local pub to try out their plan on landlord Dick Head. The plan initially seems to work, but when Dick retreats to the backroom to "take a closer look," he actually gets on the phone to his friend "Skullcrusher" Henderson, the (literally) biggest forger in London. Once the others have downed their expensive drinks, Dick politely informs them that Skullcrusher takes a very dim view of competing forgers, and unless they pay him £5,000 by the end of the night, they'll get their skulls crushed. The group initially panics, then Eddie spots a poster for that night's pub quiz, which has a £5,000 prize - but also a £200 entry fee, which they meet by giving their gold teeth to Dick.
In an effort to cheat in the quiz, Richie hides an edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in the toilet. Eddie takes a rather more proactive approach and sabotages the other team's buzzers to administer near-lethal electric shocks when pressed. Eventually their team is the only one left (as the others are attending to the dying and wounded), and Dick asks them what the capital of Germany is, simultaneously mentioning that it's Berlin. The team still doesn't get it however, and while Eddie asks Dick about the time that Dick played for Queens Park Rangers (which ended rather disastrously when he scored an own goal and got punched by Les Ferdinand) Richie attempts to look up the answer. A man with a rather severe case of piles has used the necessary volume of the encyclopedia as toilet paper, and even Richie's attempt at beating up the man goes wrong. Upon emerging from the toilet, Richie advises Eddie to pass, and Dick simply gives up and declares them the winners. Skullcrusher shows up at that moment, and Richie and Eddie hand over their winnings - which Skullcrusher instantly throws away, as it's money that Skullcrusher himself has forged. Skullcrusher's forgeries aren't much better than Eddie's (featuring Danny La Rue instead of the Queen); however, he proceeds to demonstrate how he became London's biggest forger by crushing Richie and Eddie's skulls.
[edit] Notes
[edit] Breaking the fourth wall
- While Eddie is repeatedly smashing Richie's head on the bar to extract his gold teeth, he smiles and raises a thumb to the camera indicating to the audience that he's enjoying this.
- When Eddie presses the buzzer to find out what it does, a University Challenge style announcement says "Hitler, Hammersmith", and the camera zooms in to him as he looks around confused. This can also be taken a nod to the famous Bambi episode of The Young Ones, in which Edmonson and co. appear on University Challenge.
- While fixing the buzzer under the CID table, Eddie comes up panting for air, worriedly looking at the camera.
[edit] Consistency Errors
- Richie, Eddie, Spudgun and Hedgehog go to the pub with forged money. Richie asks for Absinthe, but the pub does not sell it, so the landlord, Dick, recommends Pernod, which Richie settles for. Later in the episode, Richie says "And they say Toulouse Lautrec used to drink this?" (Lautrec being a famous Absinthe drinker), and a moment later says "I've just had half a pint of Absinthe". With this being a script error, it may have been deliberate to indicate Richie's general stupidity. Of note is that the liquid in the glass is clearly not the green colour of Absinthe.
- Spudgun says "That's exactly the same £5000 we need to pay Dick". They owe the money to "Skullcrusher" Henderson, not Dick.
- When Richie smashes Eddie's face to extract gold teeth, Eddie complains "Wrong side". He reveals a moment later, though, that he has no gold teeth at all.
- When Eddie begins to shake Richie's head emptying the teeth he smashed on the bar you can see Spudgun in the background tryin to hide his smile with his hand and as Eddie says there we are Dick Spudgun goes back to character.
- Dick announces that the first team to score 10 "gets the 5,000 quid". Later, after scoring only 1 point (by answering "Pass"!) Richie enquires "So that's it, we get the five grand?" and Dick agrees, throwing it over.
- After several quizzers have suffered electric shocks, a nurse exclaims "We need more bandages!". It is hard to imagine how an electric shock would be treated with a bandage.
- When the confusion of the electric shocks ensues, the passage of time is shown by the wall clock advancing two hours (from 8:30 to 10:30). Despite this long duration, only then is the last ambulance leaving (although in Digger Eddie did state it took five hours for the ambulance to arrive on that occasion).
- After paying Richie and Eddie the £5000 winnings, Dick closes the bar early, ringing the bell just as "Skullcrusher" enters. If the bar had closed on time, "Skullcrusher" would have been early.
[edit] Continuity and Production Errors
- Eddie is about to set Richie's groin on fire in an early scene. Just before he ignites his jeans, a flammable substance has been smeared onto them, and is clearly noticeable.
- As Eddie, Spudgun and Hedgehog scurry into Eddie's room, Richie attempts to follow them. As the door slams in his face, the whole set wall wobbles.
- The smashed-out teeth gag is clearly deliberately over the top, but it is worth noting that whilst both main characters lose a considerable number of teeth, when they next open their mouths all their teeth a clearly still in place.
- Also concerning the teeth gag, when Eddie complains "Wrong side" you can see the fake teeth in his mouth ready to be spat out.
- Richie seems to be drinking absinthe, even though Dick said that he didn't sell any absinthe.
- All the bottles in Dicks bar are props or empty and the glass of pernod is already poured. This is all quite understandable, but Dick could never have poured a full glass of Pernod that fast.
[edit] Cast
| Cast | Characters |
| Rik Mayall | Richie |
| Ade Edmondson | Eddie |
| Lee Cornes | Dick Head |
| Steven O'Donnell | Spudgun |
| Christopher Ryan | Dave Hedgehog |
| Nick Scott | "Skullcrusher" Henderson |
