Dead Ringers (series)

Dead Ringers
File:Dead Ringers.jpg Crimewatch on Dead Ringers
Created by	Bill Dare
Starring	Jon Culshaw Jan Ravens Phil Cornwell Kevin Connelly Mark Perry
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	55 (Radio) 42 (TV)
Production
Executive producer	Jon Plowman
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC Radio 4 BBC Two
Release	7 January 2000 (Radio) 18 November 2002 (TV) – 20 October 2005 (Radio) 12 June 2006 (TV)

Dead Ringers is a UK radio and television comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and BBC2. The programme was devised by Bill Dare and developed with Jon Holmes, Andy Hurst and Simon Blackwell. It stars Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Phil Cornwell, Kevin Connelly and Mark Perry. The principal writers are Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain. The other writers are John Finnemore, David Mitchell, Simon Blackwell, Richard Ward, Colin Birch, Carl Carter, Tony Cooke, Jon Culshaw and Jan Ravens. The producer is Bill Dare.

History

The programme was first aired in 2000. The cast of the first series was different from that of the other instalments. Of the now-established team, only Culshaw and Ravens appeared, as did Kate Robbins, Simon Lipson and, most notably, Alistair McGowan. On radio there have been ten series plus a number of specials, including one devoted entirely to the BBC radio soap The Archers and one to Queen Elizabeth II's golden jubilee. The television incarnation of the show aired its fifth season in 2005, including a special devoted to the United Kingdom General Election on May 5 to start the six-part series, and a Christmas programme on December 23. The 6th series started on the May 8 2006 and ended on the 12 June 2006 running 6 episodes.

Content

The series is well known for its portrayal of fellow BBC employees, such as Radio 4 newsreader Brian Perkins as a Godfather-like figure ("Who's the daddy?"), controlling all of Radio 4. He often sends death threats to other members of the BBC, and threatens to kill anyone who tries to chat-up his love interest Charlotte Green. In one sketch, the Dead Ringers Brian telephoned the real Brian, where his alternative version accused him of not being hard enough. Later, the real Brian joined in, claiming that he put Peter Donaldson’s feet in some concrete and threw him into a canal.

Another character was the former Director General of the BBC Greg Dyke who had an accent similar to that of Michael Caine. Greg Dyke is portrayed under varying circumstances - one of the most amusing being after the BBC Christmas Party - Dyke has proclaimed he hopes he hasn't done anything horribly stupid, then reveals he has commissioned another series of Fame Academy - following this up with "I am never going to drink again!". Dyke is also portrayed as harbouring personal hatred against the Daleks - "Bring back Doctor Who? OK - but there's going to be no Daleks in it. They've crossed me too many times!"

Newsreader Kirsty Wark (of Newsnight) regularly opens bulletins on the programme with a line from a popular song, read flatly. Fiona Bruce and Charlotte Green (of Radio 4) are portrayed as seductive and saucy.

Broadcasts reportedly from Downing Street parody previous BBC political editor Andrew Marr, showing his supposed eccentric manner, interminable sentences, and jerky movements — he is shown with giant artificial hands operated by puppet rods and speaks in metaphor: "Well Fiona, might I say my goose has well and truly had its chips". Sir Patrick Moore is revealed not to be an astronomer but actually a peeping-tom and psychic around the London Eye. Famous movie quotes are often twisted and added to everyday things. For example, Russell Crowe in Gladiator: "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife... and that's when I called Claims Direct!". Jazz singer Jamie Cullum is portrayed with the voice and body movements of Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

One recurring gag includes celebrities being introduced in news reports or interviews as the "offspring" of a famous person, character or even an object from everyday entertainment or culture.

Culshaw regularly performs prank telephone calls, impersonating (among many others) Tom Baker's incarnation of The Doctor, Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, art critic Brian Sewell and talk show presenter Michael Parkinson. In the TV version, he roams in public as such characters, vexing shop assistants and used-car salesmen alike, with such pronouncements as, "I seek passage to Aldershot" which mirrors Alec Guinness's line in Star Wars "I seek passage to Alderaan." As Parkinson he proceeded to interview a bus stop full of people.

Alan Bennett is also another person impersonated. His sketches were monologues, each one recounting an improbable tale about an incident with him and the late Thora Hird, normally getting Peter Sallis and the fictional Mr. Petiforth from No. 42 included in the story. Past exploits have included Thora being a dominatrix, a football hooligan, a dictator (later having plastic surgery to look like Saddam Hussain), a Satanic priestess, a May Day protestor, and in one tale she was raised by Southerners.

In the radio series, several Radio 4 shows are mocked. They include the Today Programme, where John Humphreys never gets the time right, Sue MacGregor stressing the "Mac" in her name, and Rabbi Lionel Blue on Thought for the Day telling listeners "Don't worry, something will turn up, it usually does." Other shows mocked include Go 4 it!, Radio 4's children programme that seemed to offer very little that children would be interested, such as poetry and book readings. It was formally hosted by Matt Smith, most noted for saying "Ace," at the end of every sentence. He is the only person that even Brian Perkins fears of taking on.

However, the show most famously mocked is Radio 4's soap opera, The Archers. Characters normally impersonated include Clarrie and Eddie Grundy, stumbling from one crisis to another, Joe Grundy and his incomprehensive yokel accent, Jack Woolley's equally incomprehensive Brummie, posh Brian Aldridge, snooty Lynda Snell, and Ruth "Oh noooooo" Archer.

Other Radio 4 programme mocked include Letter from America, Money Box, Brain of Britain, Counterpoint, Loose Ends, You and Yours and Front Row.

Politicians

A former running gag, dating back to the earliest radio series of Dead Ringers, has Prime Minister, Tony Blair [1], referring to his physical characteristics and mannerisms while speaking. Recently, however, this is often replaced by Blair addressing the nation in an insulting, oppressive or vaguely aggressive:

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, speaks in nonsensical, incomprehensible and, above all, long sentences. On one occasion he catches fire when two of his incomprehensible sentences rub together, along with being the subject of the "Prescott-Widening Scheme" to go with a similar one for Britain's roads. When he announces this scheme would reduce the amount of incomprehensible sentences uttered, Kirsty Wark comments that this could be the most popular thing he's ever done. Also, Dr John Reid is portrayed as a Victor Meldrew-like character, always complaining and throwing abuse at TV presenters, but is later portrayed as a tough hardman. When [David Blunkett] was Home Secretary he was portrayed as a hard man who was, 'Only in this Home Secretary Game for the Arse-kicking]. On a revamped episode of the Today Show he expressed his desire to become a Hollywood reporter and sort out Ben Affleck. After he was sacked as Home Secretary, Blunkett was in line to become the next hard man on Eastenders, with "Dirty" Den having a premonition that he was about to die in a needlessly sensationalist way. It later emerged that Blunkett had had an affair with "Dirty" Den and then cruelly dumped him.

The late Robin Cook is even less coherent, and it has been suggested that the famous Doctor Who theme music was created by combining a recording of Cook explaining his views on the European Union with (for the higher-pitched sounds) his reaction to being told that all young, female BBC employees were turned on by ugly ginger men with beards. Clare Short is meanwhile portrayed as an angry woman hated by government with an almost fixed grimace: "I was so flabbergasted when the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, announced that we were going to war that my jaw dropped by almost half a millimetre!", while Alistair Darling's contrasting black eyebrows and white hair make him more badger than human. Charles Kennedy, former leader of the Liberal Democrats appears as a bit of a drunk, while Michael Howard, the former head of the Conservative Party, was shown as a vampire (a reference to the "something of the night about him" comment by Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe). In some episodes, he channelled all of his evil into his left hand, to create a "Hand of evil", which would often embarrass him when he tried to express his view on something. During a time when some Conservative MPs defected to the UK Independence Party, his hand of evil defected to UKIP, so he cut off his hand to remove it from the party and his body. But as a result, his other hand became evil.

The current opposition leaders are also parodied; David Cameron is a vote-grabbing popularist, who avoids the tough issues in favour of policies about coat hangers and children's clothing, and has to write down the name of his party on the palm of his hand. Menzies Campbell meanwhile is portrayed as an old, out-of-touch grandfatherly figure ignored by his party; at one point, the Liberal Democrats brick-up all the windows and doors to his house. He ends every speech by saying "Night night" and turning off the lamp by which he is sitting.

The Queen is also ridiculed, portrayed as someone who constantly makes announcements. She is first seen making an apology for her involvement in the Paul Burrell affair — and is mocked by the media as being someone "who holds all the answers to all the unsolved cases without even realising it". The Queen also appears for fictional newspaper The Bung, as "an old lady who met Diana once or twice in a big house". She comments briefly on the princess and states, "Can one have one's money now?" The Queen has also fought Darth Vader, who turned out to be Prince Philip behind the mask. The Queen also hosts QVC Shopping Channel with Prince Philip, who is selling a diamond tiara for nothing to any member of the Royal household. He advises them that they can take it round the "society jewellers and flog it for more money than Harry spends on hashish".

George W. Bush

Unlike Spitting Image, which satirised many international public figures, Dead Ringers tends to concentrate on British ones. One notable exception is U.S. President George W. Bush, whose own Bushisms are ridiculed even further with invented words such as, "Ignorify"[2], "Astonisherate" and "Climactification". His use of malapropisms is also lampooned ruthlessly.

Sometimes, his actions are caricatured as childlike and lacking in understanding of the consequences (for example, taping over intelligence videos with episodes of Sesame Street.)[3]. One of the most famous skits of the President involves him telling the captured Saddam Hussein that it's now his turn to start hiding in a new game of international hide-and-seek. In one sketch, the show lampoons the American public by using Bush as a 'translator' for a speech that Culshaw's Tony Blair is making. Bush reduces the speech to statements such as "America good" and "Bad man obliterified!".

Animated Content

Dead Ringers also includes animated content occasionally, this includes:

• The Back to the Jungle Book - A cross parody of the Jungle Book and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!
• Mr Men / Little Miss - This is a parody of a series of children's books, which includes many "chav" references, some of the characters include Little Miss Chav, Mr Crack Dealer, Mr Happy-Slapper, Little Miss Asbo and Mr Drive-by Shooting, including Mr Happy (who took physical and verbal abuse from most of the characters in this). Narrated by Mark Perry. [4]
• South Bank - A cross between The South Bank Show and South Park set on the South Bank in London, featuring Melvin Bragg/Stan Marsh, Alan Yentob/Kyle Broflovski, Mark Lawson/Eric Cartman and Kenneth Branagh/Kenny McCormick.

Song Parodies

In later TV series of the show, there have been parodies of songs, parodying the song, the singer and music videos. Some examples of these are:

• Norah Jones - (2004 Christmas Special) She is portrayed with a very soft voice that no one actually takes notice of her and fades easily into the background no matter how hard she tries to attract people's attention.
• It's Bloody Cold - James Blunt (2005 Christmas Special): Mimicks the song "You're Beautiful", and is about how other singers mock James Blunt. [5]
• Arctic Monkeys (Series Six, Episode One): Culshaw lampoons the vocal style, before revealing the Northern comedy singer George Formby as the real secret of their success. [6]
• Katie Melua (Series Six, Episode Two) [7]
• Gwen Stefani - her song parodies the randomness of her music videos, with unicorns and random Japanese girls running and that some of the grunts heard in her songs aren't sexual but constipation due to the fact she doesn't eat.
• Jamie Cullum (Series Six, Episode Five): Portraying him as the Gollum of the jazz world. [8]
• Jack Johnson (Series Six, Episode Six): This parodies the relaxed and mellow style of the singer's work, and that they are similar to "nursery rhymes and the theme to Postman Pat". The parody song also says that if he was to be more mellow, he would be "clinically dead."
• Dido - Her music is portrayed as hard to follow and depressing, and the video involves some highly comical suicides.
• Madonna - Shown as desperate for publicity, goes through all her various incarnations. In a bid to stay popular she claims she will do anything, even learn to sing.

International

Despite its emphasis on British personalities who may not be well known in other countries, Dead Ringers has been shown outside the UK on BBC Prime in Europe and Africa, BBC America in the United States, ABC in Australia, BBC Canada in Canada and UK.TV in New Zealand, but has had to be re-edited considerably — although much of the show can be watched without contextual knowledge.

The Weakest Link

Earlier episodes of the show featured a number of spoof episodes of the TV programme The Weakest Link, variously featuring Jesus' disciples, Robert Falcon Scott and his Antarctic explorers, and monks who had taken a vow of silence. In the former two, Anne Robinson (played by Jan Ravens) appeared from nowhere, riding her desk, and entered an apparently historical scene, which rapidly converted into the Weakest Link studio. Robinson herself was depicted as being unreasonably and sadistically cruel, throwing a snowball at doomed explorer Captain Lawrence Oates as he leaves, while responding to his famous last words with "You'll be gone forever matey! Now shove off!"

The Radio Show versions featured King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and a themed sketch that had a large number of Television gameshow hosts like Chris Tarrant, the late Richard Whiteley and Ruby Wax. It was called The Weakest Host and Anne each berated them, voting them all out. A Doctor Who themed sketch featured Anne Robinson as a possible candidate to play the Ninth Doctor. Featuring the Daleks and the Cybermen, the Daleks were voted as The Weakest Evil Creature and had to perform the Walk of Shame, which resulted in a fall down three flights of stairs. But possibly the most famous of these radio sketches was the ultimate showdown between Anne and Brian Perkins, which results in Anne being declared the weakest link by the "Daddy of the BBC." [9]

Deal or No Deal

The programme also parodies the daytime Channel 4 game show Deal or No Deal, with Culshaw impersonating Noel Edmonds and frequently mocking both the repetitive nature of the programme and fact that the show's excitement is derived from the opening of boxes. Another sketch also showed Anne Robinson, host of daytime game show The Weakest Link, appearing in the Deal or No Deal studio and ruining Edmond's television comeback by summoning Noel's House Party regular Mr Blobby, who destroys the studio before wrestling Edmonds to the ground. [10]

Alan Rickman, Ian McKellen and Brian Blessed

Another running gag is a satire on the fact that Ian McKellen, Alan Rickman and Brian Blessed are often typecast as over-the-top, melodramatic or camp stock villains in films and TV shows (Rickman, it has been noted, often takes roles McKellen has previously turned down).

A common sketch will start up with a set up of the scene (i.e. a Schwarzenegger-esque action hero battling armed men in an action film), then McKellen will busrt onto the screen in an electric wheelchair and mock the protagonist of the sketch (often he opens with the line: "I'm Ian McKellen aka Doctor Death!"), then Rickman will appear on screen and proclaim something to the effect of "Not if I have anything to do with it, I'm Alan Rrrrrrrrickman!" (the impersonator often exaggerates Rickman's drawling voice). The two villains will forget the protagonist and proceed to insult each other, each claiming to be the better villain (often the impersonators pick out characteristics of Rickman and McKellen that make them suitable stock villains. One memorable sketch has McKellen proclaiming: "But everybody knows I'm far more moustache-twirling and cruel than you are!" to which Rickman replies: "But I'm more stiff-necked than you and I do a great set of arched eyebrows!"). Eventually the argument escalates to a point where they both unveil deadly weapons. McKellen sports a retractable "miniature cannon" (though it resembles a gatling gun more than anything else) attached to his wheelchair whilst Rickman pulls a huge silver bazooka as if from nowhere. They both shoot each other until they are dead, leaving the protagonist of the sketch shell shocked. Eventually the protagonist will proclaim something to the effect of: "Where am I going to find another melodramatic villain for my last action film?" and Brian Blessed will burts into the room, clad in a costume resembling the costume he wore in Blackadder. Blessed always looks extremely jolly and always says only one line at the top of his voice: "HELLO! I'M BRIAN BLESSED!".

Countdown Extra

Countdown Extra was a sketch that featured an Big Brother-esque "extra" programme to compliment Countdown. The show was complete with excitable presenters such as Justin Lee Collins and a hyped up studio audience similar to Saturday morning shows and Big Brother spin-offs on E4. The audience were asked for their reactions on the days questions and the camera was spun everywhere with the audience cheering in the background. [11]

Countdown is a slow and traditional show which was mercilessly compared with Channel 4's youth-orientated lineup.

The Theme Tune

The Dead Ringers theme tune was composed by John Whitehall.

The performers

The actors behind some impressions include:

• Jon Culshaw: George W. Bush [12] [13] [14], Tony Blair [15] [16] [17] [18] [19], James Bond [20] [21] and Pierce Brosnan, Ozzy Osbourne [22] [23] [24] [25] [26], Sir Patrick Moore, Obi-Wan Kenobi [27] [28] [29] [30], Victor Meldrew and Richard Wilson, Brian Sewell [31], Fourth Doctor Who [32] [33] [34] and Tom Baker, Tenth Doctor Who [35] [36] [37] & David Tennant, Brian Perkins [38] [39], Simon Cowell [40], Master Yoda (on radio)), Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall [41], David Beckham, Chris Tarrant, William Hague [42], Simon Schama, Russell Crowe & Maximus Decimus Meridius [43], Ricky Gervais, Michael Buerk, Sir Trevor McDonald (on television), George Lucas [44], Jeremy Clarkson, Arnold Schwarzenegger [45], Sir Alan Sugar, David Frost [46] [47] [48], Ross Kemp, Eminem, Gordon Ramsay, Judge John Deed, Terry Wogan, John Humphrys [49], Rolf Harris [50], Charlotte Church (on radio), Jonathan Ross, Dale Winton [51], Jon Pertwee, Chris Eubank, Frank Bruno (on radio), Richard Whiteley [52], Morgan Freeman, Katie Price, Bono, Homer Simpson (on radio), John Craven, Griff Rhys-Jones, Billy Connolly, Nick Ross [53], Senator John Edwards, Phil Spencer, Robbie Williams, Gary Lineker (on radio), Jack Bauer (on radio), Dermot Murnaghan [54],British Politician Dr John Reid, Johnny Vegas, Mariella Frostrup, Shane Richie, Liam Gallagher, Captain Jack Sparrow, Jar Jar Binks, Doctor Octopus, José Mourinho [55] [56], Hugh Laurie [57] & Dr Gregory House [58] [59], James Blunt [60], Alex Turner [61], Noel Edmonds [62] [63] [64] [65], Justin Lee Collins, Jamie Cullum [66], Jamie Oliver, Wolverine [67], Ian Hislop, Jeremy Kyle [68], Wayne Rooney [69], Gordon Brown [70]

• Jan Ravens: Queen Elizabeth II, Anne Robinson [71] [72], Judi Dench [73] and M [74], Cherie Blair, Sophie Raworth, Fiona Bruce [75], Delia Smith,Patricia Routledge, Margaret Thatcher, Charlotte Green, Norah Jones, Natasha Kaplinsky, Kate Adie, Clarrie Grundy, Germaine Greer, Clare Short, Ann Widdecombe, Hillary Clinton, Meryl Streep, Ellen MacArthur [76] [77], Kirstie Allsopp, Carol Smillie, Linda Barker [78], Nigella Lawson [79], Kirsty Wark [80], Frodo Baggins, Sharon Osbourne [81], Lesley Garrett, Jessie Wallace, Tessa Jowell, Amanda Burton, Thora Hird, Sue McGregor, Barbara Windsor, Carol Vorderman [82], Gwen Stefani, Madonna, Caroline Quentin, Tom Cruise, C.J. Cregg, Condoleezza Rice, Dido, Dr Tanya Byron, Julia Thorne, Diane Sawyer, Clarice Starling (on radio), Trisha Goddard [83], Marge Simpson (on radio), Peggy Mitchell [84], Pat Evans, Victoria "Nana" Moon, Kat Moon, Sophie Neveu, Katie Melua, Rose Tyler, Jennifer Aniston, Bree Van De Kamp [85], Nicky Hambleton-Jones [86], Beyonce Knowles, Jessica Fletcher

• Kevin Connelly: Sven-Göran Eriksson [87] [88] [89] [90], David Dimbleby, Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Charles Kennedy, Iain Duncan Smith, Mark Lawson [91], David Starkey, Des Lynam, Michael Howard, Harry Potter [92] [93], James Naughtie, Kenneth Clarke, Andrew Marr, Bill Oddie, Michael Palin, Andrew Neil, Adrian Chiles, President Josiah Bartlet [94], Boris Johnson, John Simpson (on radio), David Cameron, Rev. Ian Paisley, Andrew Gilligan, Ned Sherrin [95], Seventh Doctor Who [96]& Sylvester McCoy, Sir Menzies Campbell, Ringo Starr, Nick Robinson [97], Sir Alex Ferguson

• Mark Perry: David Dickinson [98], John Prescott, Robin Cook, Gandalf [99] [100], Magneto and Sir Ian McKellen [101] [102], Professor Robert Winston, Dr Rowan Williams, David Blunkett, Tom Paulin, Saddam Hussein, Peter Mandelson, Graham Norton, Martin Jarvis, Trevor McDonald (on radio), Bob Geldof, Ken Livingstone, Brian Blessed [103] [104], Luciano Pavarotti, Monty Don, Richard Briers, Patrick Stewart,Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Toby Ziegler, Donald Rumsfeld, Adam Hart-Davis, Hannibal Lecter (on radio), Lord Voldemort (On Radio), Hercule Poirot, Second Doctor [105]& Patrick Troughton, David Cameron

• Phil Cornwell: Greg Dyke, Darth Vader [106] [107], The Duke of Edinburgh, Saruman [108] and Christopher Lee, Don Vito Corleone, Michael Caine, Derren Brown, Professor Snape & Alan Rickman [109] [110] [111], Jack Nicholson [112], Jamie Oliver, Jacques Chirac, Alistair Darling, Jack Straw, Marlon Brando, Bruce Forsyth, Osama Bin Laden, Senator John Kerry, Leo McGarry, Ninth Doctor Who [113]& Christopher Eccleston [114], Prince Charles, Gerry Adams, Justin Hawkins, Jon Snow, Jimmy Hill, Stelios Haji-Ioannou (on radio), Alistair Cooke (on radio) [115], Tony Robinson, Lord Hutton, Jimmy Savile, Adolf Hitler, God, Judas Iscariot [116]

See also

• UK topics

External links

• Dead Ringers at the Internet Movie Database.
• Dead Ringers at tv.com
• Various Dead Ringers video clips on The Link Portal
• BBC Radio 4: Dead Ringers
• Dead Ringers on BBC TV
• Jon Culshaw's Doctor Who impressions