| Filthy Rich & Catflap | |
|---|---|
Series title card |
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| Format | Comedy (sitcom) |
| Created by | Ben Elton |
| Starring | Nigel Planer Rik Mayall Adrian Edmondson |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 35 minutes (approximate) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC2 |
| Original run | 7 January 1987 – 11 February 1987 |
Filthy Rich & Catflap was a BBC sitcom produced in 1986 and broadcast early the next year.
The series featured former The Young Ones stars Nigel Planer, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson as its three title characters respectively. It was written by Ben Elton (with additional material credited to Mayall), and produced and directed by Paul Jackson (who also helmed The Young Ones), with film sequences directed by Ed Bye. The show's music was written by Peter Brewis. One series of six half-hour episodes was produced (although the notion of a second series is played upon in the final episode, and the continuity announcer on the last instalment says "...and Filthy Rich and Catflap will return next year").
Although the series gained respectable viewing figures, it did not quite capture the imagination in the way its father programme, The Young Ones, did. While some parts of the show are of their time (particularly the topical satire aimed at Margaret Thatcher and her government) the main theme of the cult of celebrity and the pursuit of it by the talentless remains topical. Lise Mayer, who co-wrote The Young Ones with Elton and Mayall, has hinted that the reason the series was so short lived was the rivalry between Mayall and Elton, who had previously written as equals on The Young Ones.
The show also included constant references to various celebrities (most of them of the light entertainment variety); Jimmy Tarbuck was always referred to as "Tarby", while other celebrities, such as Leslie Crowther were referred to as "Lessie Crowthery" and Terry Wogan as "Terry Wogany". Richie (Rik Mayall's character) liked to think that he was friends with these 'B-list' celebrities, despite never having met any of them.
The style of humour - relying heavily on fart jokes, broad satire, violent slapstick and vulgarity in general - was very similar to that which Edmondson and Mayall would continue in the far more successful Bottom (1991-1995), which the pair wrote jointly. Indeed, Filthy Rich & Catflap and Bottom both share the same basic premise (Mayall and Edmondson as antagnostic, squalid, and usually destitute flatmates named "Richie and Eddie"), although the former's political references and frequent breaking of the fourth wall (in the form of asides to the studio audience, and references to the script) are more characteristic of The Young Ones.
The series enjoyed a resurgence of interest in 2004 when it was officially released on DVD by independent DVD production company Playback. The VHS and DVD versions were cut for musical rights. These included Richie singing "Where Is Love", "Morning Has Broken" and "Consider Yourself"; and Eddie singing "Roxanne", "You've Got To Pick a Pocket or Two" and "Message in a Bottle".
Filthy Rich & Catflap received a six day repeat on UKTV G2 in the UK in 2006. However, the episodes were heavily cut with edits that made the plot nonsensical. The first episode was missing the very first scene. The new incarnation of UKTV G2, Dave, also ran the episodes with the same edits in 2008.
Contents |
During the run of the series Richie kills several milkmen, Eddie blackmails Richie with a paternity suit scam, Ralph gets sent to prison and hanged, Richie is blackmailed by the Nolan Sisters, they spoof newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch and feature bodyguards wearing Federation Stormtrooper uniforms that previously featured in the sci-fi show Blake's 7. Richie appeared as a guest on a panel game called Ooer!! Sounds a Bit Rude!! which bore more than a passing resemblance to the BBC quiz show Blankety Blank. Richie finally becomes famous by slandering everyone in showbiz and becoming the only person censors deem clean enough to host every show on television (precisely everybody, from the "A-list" names down to the entire cast of Grange Hill). This leads to a memorable song-and-dance routine from Richie, celebrating the fact that, in his words, he's "Made it!"
As well as the Nolans, other people appearing as "themselves" included Midge Ure and Anne Diamond (then an anchor woman for breakfast TV station TV-am; it was rare then for the BBC to mention rival channels). The show also featured cameos by Barbara Windsor, Lynda Bellingham, Jools Holland and a then-unknown David Baddiel. Contemporaries from the alternative comedy scene who also appeared included Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Helen Lederer, Gareth Hale, Norman Pace, Arthur Smith (the first milkman to be murdered), Mel Smith playing the fictional head of light entertainment at the BBC 'Jumbo Whiffy', Chris Barrie, Lee Cornes, Andy de la Tour, John Bird and Harry Enfield. Most of these people had previously appeared in The Young Ones.
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