Fran Katzenjammer

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Fran Katzenjammer
First appearance "Cooking the Books"
Last appearance "The Party"
Created by Dylan Moran
Portrayed by Tamsin Greig
Information
Gender Female
Age 30s
Occupation Ex-owner of Nifty Gifty, currently unemployed

Enid Francesca "Fran" Katzenjammer is a character in the sitcom Black Books played by Tamsin Greig.

Fran is Bernard Black's best, oldest and some would say only friend (and at one time drunken sexual partner, something Fran remembers and Bernard isn't allowed to). For the first series, she ran a shop, Nifty Gifty, next door to Black Books, and would often mind Bernard's shop whilst he was out. Fran's business went bankrupt, however, and since then she has been unemployed and virtually unemployable.

She is man-hungry, and constantly on the look-out for a relationship; the few she does attempt, however, have been little short of disastrous for all concerned, and her personal ad reads "30 something woman seeks man for sex and possible friendship, sense of humour irrelevant". Her most significant turn-on appears to be the voice - most particularly of an old university acquaintance who can "melt me at 20 paces" in Fran's estimation, with an absurdly deep "Hello Fran".[1]

Like Bernard, she possesses a great enthusiasm for drinking and smoking (Katzenjammer is an antiquated German word for "hangover"; literally "the howling of cats"); however, she genuinely likes Manny and unlike Bernard usually treats him well (although like Bernard this doesn't stop her from routinely exploiting his eager-to-help nature). Despite all available evidence to the contrary, she has somehow deluded herself into thinking that she's more normal than Bernard and Manny.

[edit] References

  1. ^ 'The Big Lock-Out', Black Books episode 5, series 1


Black Books
List of Black Books episodes
Characters
Bernard Black | Manny Bianco | Fran Katzenjammer
Actors
Dylan Moran | Bill Bailey | Tamsin Greig