| Soupy Norman | |
|---|---|
| Format | Comedy |
| Created by | Barry Murphy & Mark Doherty |
| Starring | Aneta Zając, Mateusz Janicki, Wojciech Dąbrowski, Andrzej Buszewicz, Ewa Skibińska, Aleksandra Zienkiewicz |
| Voices of | Sue Collins, Mark Doherty, Tara Flynn, Barry Murphy, Luke Murphy, Mario Rosenstock. |
| Country of origin | Republic of Ireland (Poland) |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 10 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Radio Telefís Éireann |
| Original run | 24 May 2007 – 24 July 2007 (Special on 24 December 2007) |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Soupy Norman was a nine-part Irish television programme broadcast by RTÉ. It was aired weekly on Thursday nights at 23:05 on the RTÉ Two channel, in ten-minute segments. The series ran from 24 May to 24 July 2007 . The show is a comedic re-dubbing of the Polish soap opera Pierwsza miłość (First Love), which has been running on Polsat television since 2004.
The series is written and edited by Barry Murphy and Mark Doherty, with additional voices provided by Tara Flynn, Sue Collins, Luke Murphy and Mario Rosenstock. Where the original soap opera dealt with a girl leaving her family behind to go to college, the re-dubbed version of the programme explores the culture shock of a dysfunctional Cork family in Dublin. The series' surreal humour led to a cult following, with its episodes being popular on YouTube.
A special episode entitled "The Late Late Soupy Norman Tribute" which featured dubbed clips from RTÉ's The Late Late Show as well as clips from previous episodes of Soupy Norman as well as including a new scene of the show. This was broadcast on Christmas Eve 2007..
A pilot sketch for the series initially aired on Armando Iannucci’s show Time Trumpet on BBC 2.
The main story of the show concerns Esther, a young girl from Buttevant, County Cork, who travels up to Dublin to study in college. There she encounters strong discrimination, for being a "culchie". She lives with Susan Costigan, "a woman with red hair", her daughter Kylie, her son Nathan (who becomes possessed by voices in the episode "Omen"), and her husband. Kylie becomes Esther's friend, and they are seen robbing items (such as a dog) in the episode "Margarita".
The series' other main characters are Esther's father, named Jack, and her grandfather, known as Daddy, who live in Buttevant. The grandfather is an extreme authority figure, as seen in the first episode "Buttevant", and constantly berates Jack, calling him a "great big disappointment". The two of them are mostly seen drinking vinegar (Jack thinking it was whisky), and being visited by Soupy Norman, the title character. Soupy is always inebriated, and only ever delivers rambling, nonsensical rantings to the two men. In one episode, he asks to marry Esther's sister. He refers to Esther as "that culchie bitch". The Soupy Norman sequences are always taken from the same scene from First Love, and are repeated every episode.
The series has a subplot of Sean, a Dublin youth, trying to make a living in the city. He does this by applying for increasingly strange jobs, such as a builder, walking a dog with "canine leg disorder", running the "Red Car Bar" nightclub, and helping Satanic spirits.
In the final episode, "Straz", a character called Soupy Dave is contracted to kill Jack by his wife, using a number of surreal techniques.
1. "Buttevant" (Aired 24 May 2007): Esther travels up to Dublin on her pet donkey, and is amazed by the ordinary things in the city, such as buses and weathergirls. A woman (who has had previous jobs as a nun and an ice cream) tells Ester to find representation in Dublin. Esther visits an agent, who claims was a representative of Mother Teresa. It is later revealed he is a robber.
Meanwhile, in Buttevant, Jack and Grandad are wistful about Esther leaving for Dublin. Grandad belittles Jack, telling him he'll sit in "the bold chair" if he didn't shut up. Grandad has sent Soupy Norman to see how Esther is doing in Dublin. When he arrives back in Buttevant, all he can say to the two men is "Dublin....beans...Dublin, what are you lookin' at?!"
Esther is sad about being away from her family, but has brought a picture of "an old woman outside the village" with her, to remind her of home, "especially after midnight".
2. "Margarita" (Aired 31 May 2007) : Esther calls Jack, and asks him to come up to Dublin to visit her. Esther has been staying with Mrs. Gleeson, "a woman with red hair", and her daughter, Kylie. Kylie brings Esther along when she is out stealing, and Esther asks if they can steal a dog.
The Dublin youth has gotten a job as a dog-walker, and his first dog is called Margarita. It is revealed Margarita can't walk, as she has "canine leg disorder", so he'll have to carry her. Esther and Kylie steal Margarita off him, and he confesses this to his roommate, who is a priest.
Jack travels up to Dublin, where he meets Mr. and Mrs. Gleeson. He is entranced by "that thing (Mrs. Gleeson) does with her eyes", which is simply moving them around. He travels back to Buttevant, and Grandad orders a pizza for them both. Meanwhile, Esther shoots Margarita, as she cannot sell her to anyone.
It is revealed Grandad ordered the pizza from Soupy Norman, who now owns a pizza business. When he arrives, however, he refuses to give it to them, as they owe him money, and he put his schlong in the last one he gave to them.
When he leaves, Jack and Grandad begin a farting contest.
3. "Taxi" (Aired 6 June 2007) : Jack and Grandad attempt to call a taxi, in order to go to the pub. However, they are left waiting an entire day for it to arrive (when the taxi company said "twenty" they meant hours). While they waiting, they are visited by Soupy Dave, a dodgy salesman, who attempts to sell them many types of fish (including a whale).
Meanwhile, in Dublin, the youth is brought to the dole office by a taxi driver, as he is mistaken for a Romanian immigrant.
After Dave is kicked out, Grandad tells Jack the story of how he met his wife, who is also called Esther, while working as a taxi driver in Dublin. It is shown that after a few minutes, Young Grandad proposes to her within minutes, and go off to buy a house.
Afterwards, very late at night, Soupy Norman arrives. He is their taxi driver. He refuses to take Grandad, as Soupy claims "he smells of cabbage and wee". He thens says the fare for the trip is €150. As Soupy stumbles back outside, Jack says to Grandad "You know, he's been off the booze for over a year ....that's nearly 12 months. I'll get the jackets."
4. "Doctors" (Aired 13 June 2007) : After Grandad starts talking to his eggs (calling it soup), Jack suggests he go see a doctor. Grandad refuses, calling Jack a "disappointment. That you would tell me out loud my brain is broken!" He then proceeds to call the dog "Scaly" and tells it to "go back to your tank".
Meanwhile, in Dublin, Kylie is being forced to paint her head a different color by her father. Mr. Gleeson eventually leaves the house and moves to Italy, as "the colors in (his family's) and my head don't match".
Jack visits a friend, who is married to a boy 31 years younger than her for advice on Grandad. She advises Jack to bring his dad to Soupy Norman, saying he'll "make (Grandad) better, or put him to sleep".
Up in Dublin, Mrs. Gleeson is looking for medical solutions to stop her husband from leaving for Italy. She is given "green hands, purple feet, blue eyes, and white face". Her reply is simple: "bollocks...".
Back in Buttevant, Soupy's service, "Norman's Head Doctors", arrives at the house. Soupy stumbles inside, drunk as usual. After Jack helps him off the floor, Soupy runs off, saying he'll "report (Jack) to some organisation I belong to".
Jack decides the best thing to do is "go to the scratcher", and then adds "I'll warm up our thongs".
5. Niteklub
6. Prodigirl
7. Omen
8. Straz
9. The Late Late Soupy Norman Tribute