ChuckleVision

ChuckleVision
ChuckleVision title card
Genre	Situation Comedy
Created by	The Chuckle Brothers
Written by	John Sayle and Chuckle Brothers[1]
Directed by	BBC[2]
Starring	The Chuckle Brothers The Patton Brothers
Theme music composer	Dave Cooke
Opening theme	"ChuckleVision"
Composer(s)	Dave Cooke
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	21
No. of episodes	292 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Martin Hughes
Location(s)	Rotherham, England
Running time	176x 20 minutes (1987-1989, 1991-2001) 115x 15 minutes (1989-1990, 2002-2009) 1x 30 minutes(2008)
Production company(s)	British Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One (1987–2009) CBBC (2002–2011)
Picture format	4:3(1987-2001), 16:9 (2002-2009)
Original run	26 September 1987 (1987-09-26) – 18 December 2009 (2009-12-18)
Chronology
Related shows	To Me... To You... (1996-1998)

ChuckleVision is a British comedy television series created and written by John Sayle, Barry Elliot and Paul Elliot for the BBC. It ran for 292 episodes over twenty-one series, running from 1987 to 2009.

Plot

Episodes of ChuckleVision are usually independent. The basic plot to each show is the brothers undertaking a job, task or adventure. They are often employed by a character known as No Slacking, who is always played by one of their real life brothers, Jimmy or Brian Patton, who are also a comedy double act. No Slacking is meant to be a different character in every episode he appears in; however, he is always known by this name owing to the catchphrase he always says to get the bumbling brothers to work properly. No Slacking usually appears several times in each series, although in recent years this number has been reduced to once or twice a series. In each episode his life is either ruined or otherwise inconvenienced by Paul and Barry. A large amount of the comedy is based on slapstick.

On occasion, the jobs they carry out can be somewhat surreal or put them in surreal circumstances, this was very much enforced in the recent years of ChuckleVision. Once, they babysat for a boy who got out of his bed, leaving a football on his pillow, leading them to believe that his head had come off. Another episode involves Barry being able to see an invisible leprechaun which Paul cannot see.

The duo also often carry out jobs and tasks given to them by "Dan the Van", who is never seen, except in one episode where the Chuckle brothers take it upon themselves to make sure he arrives to a special meeting, However, Dan the Van's face cannot be seen, as he is covered in bandages all over, and wearing dark shades. In other episodes we hear of, or sometimes see, relatives of Dan the Van, for example Grandmother Lettuce the Van appears in Chuckle and the Pea and his niece can be seen in Dim Waiters.

The format of the first two series (1987–1989) consisted of each episode focusing on a certain topic, a sort of humorous Blue Peter. These episodes had rarely, if ever, been seen by the public eye since their original transmission, until the series was released onto DVD in Autumn 2011. The opening title sequence was different too, with rings coming from the centre of the picture flashing in dark blue, mid-blue and light blue in a psychedelic fashion with yellow lettering "ChuckleVision" on a red rectangle repeatedly jump-zooming in and out and tilting from side to side as it does this, while the original mono version of the ChuckleVision theme tune plays. These opening titles are then followed by clips of the programme

The brothers’ main mode of transport is "The Chuckmobile". It is a quadracycle with a red-and-white striped roof. Barry is usually relegated to driving, whilst Paul puts his feet up on the front bar. Paul only pedals as well as Barry twice in the whole series, in Safari Park Keepers, when they are running away from lions and - though it is not shown very well - Paul also pedals at the end of Plumb Crazy, when the pair have wrecked Mrs Blenkinsop's garden, and drive away before she comes back. The registration plate is Chuckle 1.

An exception to the usual format of stand-alone episodes came with the fourteenth series, broadcast in 2002. This used a continuous storyline involving the brothers’ hunt for a missing ruby. They continued a similar trend in the next two series, with two 3-part stories in Series 15, entitled The Purple Pimple and Magnetic Barry. A two part story called Incredible Shrinking Barry appears in Series 16. From Series 17 onwards, this trend hasn’t been repeated.

Characters

Paul is the dominant of the two; it's often due to his blind confidence that the two end up in bother. When he realises he has made a mistake, he often blames Barry and also tends to make Barry do the hard work and takes the credit for himself. Neither brother is particularly bright, however Paul appears at times to possess more common sense than Barry, and Barry seems to have more overall intelligence and is more aware of the fact their work is not appreciated by other people. Normally when a third party character is on screen the two brothers display an equal lack of intelligence. However, by the end, poetic justice is usually done and if either brother is to come out on top at the end of the episode, it will invariably be Barry. However, this war between the brothers only happens in about half the episodes. The classic episodes of the show often ended with the brothers running away from some angered third party they had been trying to help.

Paul and Barry both have iconic northern accents and have a number of catchphrases, some of which involve one brother replying to the other brother's line. Thus "To me" receives the reply "To you", and "'Course it is, silly me" is met with "Silly you". The line "Oh dear" is regularly followed by "Oh dear, oh dear", and sometimes by "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear" when something goes wrong. This was inspired by the BBC comedy Hi-de-Hi!, in which the character Spike used to say "oh dear, oh dear, oh dear" when something bad had happened.^{[citation needed]}

There are often references made to Rotherham United F.C., whom the brothers support in real life. ^[3]In "Football Heroes", Paul and Barry play for Rotherham and Paul scores an own-goal and thinking it was a genuine goal, celebrates with Barry.

Production

Series 14 saw ChuckleVision feature a continuous storyline for the first time in its history. The main writer is John Sayle, who writes the majority of each series, however the series has featured episodes written by Russell T Davis and The Chuckle Brothers themselves. Also, around Series 14 the length of episode was reduced from 20 minutes to just 15, with the BBC editing series 12 and 13 to fit with 'ChuckleZone'.

In the 8th episode of Series 4, entitled Bowl-derdash, the theme tune was changed from mono to NICAM stereo. This theme tune has remained ever since, but was shortened in the seventeenth series and also edited for the shortened versions of Series 12 and 13. All the episodes in the fourteenth series display the BBC logo on the title scene and the unedited versions of series thirteen display the BBC logo on the side of the title scene, but none of the episodes from other series show this logo. Since the 2002 series during the end credits, outtakes and goofs are usually shown instead of stills.

A 3D movie was also in production and was set to possibly be released in late 2012, however it has since been confirmed that the funding for this is no longer available.^[4] Series twenty and twenty-one only featured six episodes due to Paul and Barry having other commitments. The series was axed in 2009, due to falling ratings. ^{[citation needed]}

Catchphrases

• Barry/Paul: "To me." "To you."
• Barry/Paul: "'Course it is, silly me." "Silly you."
• Barry and Paul: "Hellooooo"
• Barry/Paul: "Oh dear" "Oh dear, oh dear" (sometimes followed by "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear")
• Paul: "Adadadadada!" (usually said to Barry to stop him from doing something)
• Paul: "Stupid thing!" (when something he is using breaks or doesn't work)
• Paul: "Leg it!" (usually said to Barry to get away from someone chasing them)
• Paul: "Now look what you've done!" (to Barry, although it is usually Paul's fault)
• Paul/Barry: "It isn't!" "It is!" "It isn't!" "It is!" "Is it?"

Done by Jimmy and Brian when they star in the shows:

• Get out of it: "Geroutofit!"
• No Slacking: "And remember... no slacking!"

DVD releases

Delta Music released three DVDs in 2011. There has been one VHS released entitled "Goofy Golfers" featuring three episodes.

TV Series

Stage Productions

There have been four DVD releases of the brothers on stage: Pirates of the River Rother, Spooky Going's On, Indiana Chuckles and the Kingdom of the Mythical Sulk and The Chuckle Brothers In Trouble. All these feature live performances of the brothers, one filmed at Blackpool, one at Scarborough, one at Darlington, and the other at York. The Chuckle Brothers In Trouble DVD filmed at York was a "rehearsal" performance. There is also a box set of Pirates of the River Rother and Spooky Goings On released in 2008, and an annual is due to be released in 2012 (another was published in small amounts, supposedly, in 1995).

References

External links

• Chuckle Brothers Official Site [CURRENTLY OFFLINE]
• Unofficial ChuckleVision Facebook Page
• ChuckleVision at the Internet Movie Database
• ChuckleVision at BBC Online