Orville the Duck
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Orville the Duck is the puppet of ventriloquist Keith Harris and was named after Orville Wright (one of the Wright Brothers). Orville is a green duckling who wears nothing but a nappy with a large safety pin on the front.
Orville appeared on BBC television from 1982 to 1990 on The Keith Harris Show, which featured assorted puppets such as Orville the Duck and Cuddles the Monkey. Orville's high point was Keith Harris' and Orville's hit single named "Orville's Song" — "I wish I could fly, right up to the sky, but I can't..." First charting in December 1982, this single reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart the following month, and sold over 400,000 copies.
After enjoying success Harris' bubble burst when their show was ended in 1990. Harris ended up performing to groups of up to 5,000 a night at Butlins holiday resort.
Orville has been steadily making a comeback after a 2004 advertisement for Surf washing powder. The advert featured Harris and Orville being launched into the sky and due to the advert's success it is rumoured that ITV's bosses are in talks with Keith to bring Orville back to TV in a new variety show. "Orville's Song" has been re-released as "I Wish I Could Fly" and there are now dance and disco versions also. Keith has expanded beyond his target audience with a show aimed at adults featuring Cuddles and Orville entitled "Duck off".
Orville and Keith had a short appearance on the sketch comedy series Little Britain as themselves in of a group of entertainers waiting to meet the royal family. They were interrupted by a man with a pathetic sock puppet who claimed he was Keith Harris and his sock was Orville. The real Keith was naturally annoyed at this and the fake Keith, after a few attempts at claiming to be various other public figures, was thrown out. The sketch was part of a series about a former BBC news presenter's desperate attempts to meet the royals, whom he idolised. The sketches did not make the TV version of the show, but are included in the deleted scenes portion of the DVD.
In the television series Little Britain, Orville was portrayed as an out-of-work actor shopping at a supermarket, played by Matt Lucas, dressed as an oversized version of Orville, and had a regularly-pitched voice. Matt and David wrote the sketch not long before shooting, and required Keith Harris's permission. Keith was on Five's reality show The Farm at the time.
Keith and Orville made an appearance in Banzai. Keith operated a petrol pump blindfolded and Orville was supposed to inform him when a prescribed amount of petrol had been pumped. Their opponents were Roger DeCourcey and Nookie Bear. Viewers were asked to bet on which pair would pump the amount of petrol closest to that prescribed.
In 2005, both Keith and Orville, appeared in the Five reality TV show, The Farm and went on to win it. They also appeared in the video for Tony Christie's "Is This the Way to Amarillo", which was re-released in that year.
