| Genre | Situation comedy |
|---|---|
| Running time | 15 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Languages | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 4 |
| Starring | Barry Cryer Graeme Garden Alison Steadman Jeremy Hardy |
| Creators | Barry Cryer Graeme Garden |
| Writers | Barry Cryer Graeme Garden |
| Producers | Jon Naismith |
| Air dates | 24 December 2002 to 25 January 2007 |
| No. of series | 3[1] |
| No. of episodes | 18[1] |
| Audio format | Stereophonic sound |
| Opening theme | Horn Concerto No. 4 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arranged and played as a Scottish Reel. |
| Website | BBC website |
Hamish and Dougal are two characters from the long-running BBC Radio 4 "antidote to panel games", I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue played by Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden,[2] who later went on to have their own Radio 4 series, You'll Have Had Your Tea: The Doings of Hamish and Dougal.
Contents |
One of the rounds in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is Sound Charades, where a title of a book or film has to be conveyed from one team to the other by means of a story. The result of the story is usually a pun on the title in question. Cryer and Garden often tell their story as two elderly Scottish gentlemen, Hamish and Dougal (one of the characters was originally called Angus).[3][4] It is in essence a minute-long improvised sketch where each performer knows the other well enough to be able to set up joint jokes seamlessly. The duo continued with the characters, according to Garden "mainly because (fellow panellist) Tim Brooke-Taylor hated them".[4]
A prototype Hamish & Dougal first appeared in a 1979 Christmas Special of 'Clue', doing 'Wee Freak Ings Of Orient Are', with John Junkin standing in for Barry Cryer. However, the characters didn't appear fully formed until the 1995 Christmas Special, when the duo gave the clue for 'The Queen's Peach'.
Each sketch starts with the line "You'll have had your tea then, Hamish". (Un)welcome visitors who have a habit of dropping in at dinnertime are reputed to be greeted in Edinburgh with this idiom.[4] (In the north of the United Kingdom, the evening meal, typically called dinner in the south, is usually called tea; this can sometimes lead to confusion.) This is done either to deter scroungers or because the speaker is quite tight-fisted himself. The stereotype of Scottish people being careful with their money is regularly played on.[3]
In 2002, between 24 December and 27 December, daily episodes of a sitcom starring the two character were broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The official title, read out at the beginning of each show, was You'll Have Had Your Tea: The Doings of Hamish and Dougal. However, the series is generally known as just Hamish and Dougal, and this is the title on the packaging of the official CD releases.
Episodes were 15 minutes long and were extensions of the one minute sketches.[4] The main differences were the presence of a script, written by Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden, and of two other actors, regular Clue panelist Jeremy Hardy, and Alison Steadman. Steadman played Mrs Naughtie the housekeeper, while Hardy played the local laird.[1][5] The music for the series was arranged by John Garden, son of Graeme (and live performer with the Scissor Sisters),[6][7] and performed by a four-piece ceilidh band. The programmes were produced by Jon Naismith.[6]
In addition, the 2004 Hogmanay special featured guest appearances from Clue chairman Humphrey Lyttelton (as the Laird's butler Lyttelton),[8] Today programme presenter Jim Naughtie (as Mrs Naughtie's long-lost son), Sandi Toksvig (as Sandi Wedge, a very tall golf champion) and Tim Brooke-Taylor and Colin Sell (as themselves).[8]
The scripts were written very carefully, with barely a single line devoid of a joke. Often the fact that it was broadcast on radio was taken advantage of, with sound effects deliberately giving the audience the wrong impression. An example of this is the Laird asking Dougal whether he wanted a drink followed by a long drawn out sound of running water, then the laird saying "Ah that's better, now what would you like to drink?"[3]
Sexual innuendo was also heavily relied upon, as it is in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.[9] An example of this was the repeated buzzing of the pie grater the Laird bought for Mrs Naughtie. When someone comes to the door, you hear his strangulated cry as he finds a place about his person to hide it. (The joke is on the similarity between the phrase "pie grater" and the word "vibrator".)
Several episodes concluded with the laird singing a song, to the delight of the audience. This was a continuation of a running joke from Clue, in which Hardy was forced to sing, despite being a truly dreadful singer. The audience and remaining cast would usually join in the song, deliberately out of tune.
The third series started transmission in August 2006, with a special half-hour episode on Burns Night.
Fictitious place names used within the series include Ben Kingsley, Loch Krankie, and Glen Close.[10]
A book of the complete scripts from all three series plus the Hogmanay and Burns Night specials was published in hardback by Preface Publishing on 28 August 2008 entitled The Doings of Hamish and Dougal: You'll Have Had Your Tea?.[4] The book also includes comedy cooking recipes created by Garden and poems.[4]
The series has been described as "comedy genius" by the Daily Mail,[11] as "Reality- based comedy at its finest" by The Times,[12] and as "basically The Beano with added smut" by The Independent.[13] Gavin Docherty of the Daily Express said, after reading the book of scripts, "I laughed so hard my head nearly fell off".[9] Cryer described the series as "an affectionate laugh at all things Scottish. Graeme is half Scottish. I am borderline having been born in Cumbria".[9] Garden stated that in the series they were sending up the stereotypes of Scots rather than Scots themselves.[4]The Scotsman was less enthusiastic, with Robert McNeil failing to see the funny side and describing the series as one in which Cryer and Garden "put on ridiculous Scottish voices and enact quasi-racist routines, knowing they'll get away with it because the main difference between music hall and radio is you can't leap on stage and punch the protagonists very hard in the face, or even throw tomatoes".[14]
| Series | Episode | Title | First broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | The Musical Evening | 24 December 2002 |
| 2 | The Murder Mystery | 25 December 2002 | |
| 3 | Romance in the Glen | 26 December 2002 | |
| 4 | The Shooting Party | 27 December 2002 | |
| 2 | 1 | The Vampire of the Glen | 25 February 2004 |
| 2 | Fame Idol | 3 March 2004 | |
| 3 | The Fitness Club | 10 March 2004 | |
| 4 | The Poison Pen Letters | 17 March 2004 | |
| 5 | The Monster in the Loch | 24 March 2004 | |
| 6 | Trapped! | 31 March 2004 | |
| Special | 1 | Hogmanay special | 31 December 2004 |
| 3 | 1 | Gambling Fever | 24 August 2006 |
| 2 | There's Something about Mrs Naughtie | 31 August 2006 | |
| 3 | The Subsidence Adventure | 7 September 2006 | |
| 4 | Inverurie Jones and the Thimble of Doom | 14 September 2006 | |
| 5 | Look Who's Stalking | 21 September 2006 | |
| 6 | Porridge Votes | 28 September 2006 | |
| Special | 2 | Burns Night special | 25 January 2007 |