''Smack the Pony'' is a British

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...

show that was originally broadcast between 1999 and 2003 on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. The main performers on the show were

Fiona Allen Fiona Allen (born 13 March 1965) is an English comedian and actress, most known for her work on Channel 4's ''Smack the Pony'' between 1999 and 2003. Career Allen has appeared in many sketch shows, including ''We Know Where You Live'' (Channel ...

Doon Mackichan Sarah Doon Mackichan (; born August 1962) is a British actress, comedian and writer. She co-created, wrote and performed in the double Emmy award winning '' Smack the Pony''. She frequently collaborates with Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan, h ...

and Sally Phillips. There were also regular appearances from

Sarah Alexander Sarah Alexander (''née'' Smith; 3 January 1971) is an English actress. She has appeared in British series including '' Armstrong and Miller'', ''Smack the Pony'', ''Coupling'', '' The Worst Week of My Life'', ''Green Wing'', '' Marley's Ghost ...

Darren Boyd Darren John Boyd (born 30 January 1971) is a British actor who starred in the Sky 1 series ''Spy'', for which he won a BAFTA Award. His work in television and film spans comedy and drama. Early life Boyd began acting at age 17 in amateur thea ...

and

Cavan Clerkin Cavan Clerkin (born 1973) is a British actor and filmmaker from Hackney, London. Career Clerkin has appeared in various TV shows including ''Smack the Pony'', ''The Inbetweeners'' and ''The IT Crowd'', and feature films '' Gangster No. 1'', ' ...

. The show's theme tune was a version of the

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dram ...

song "In the Middle of Nowhere", sung by

Jackie Clune Jackie Clune (born 13 December 1965) is a British actress and writer. She became established through her Edinburgh Fringe one-woman cabaret shows and her 1995 Karen Carpenter tribute act before graduating to mainstream acting. Early life Jacki ...

. In addition to the three principal cast members, the show was written by many writers, the core of which went on to write ''

Green Wing ''Green Wing'' is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show '' Smack the Pony'' – Channel 4 commissioner Caroline Leddy and producer Victoria Pile – and stars Mark H ...

'' and ''

Campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-li ...

''. Among the show's regular themes were unsuccessful relationships, competition in the workplace and latent lesbianism, but sketches would also dip into the surreal. Two regular strands involved a series of different women making

dating agency A dating agency, also known as a marriage bureau, marriage agency, matrimonial bureau or matrimonial agency, is a business which provides matchmaking services to potential couples, with a view toward romance and/or marriage between them. Variat ...

videos about their general likes and dislikes, and a musical parody that would close the show.

History

The show was created by Victoria Pile after being commissioned by Caroline Leddy of

and

Peter Fincham Peter Arthur Fincham (born 26 July 1956) is a British television producer and executive. From 2008 until 2016, he was the Director of Television for the ITV network. He was also formerly the Controller of BBC One, the primary television channe ...

at Talkback, who believed that audiences would welcome a female orientated sketch show. The show's title was intended as a spoof of the kind of stories that would feature in annuals aimed at young girls. Originally "Spot the Pony", it was changed at Kevin Lygo's suggestion to "Smack the Pony" which some people mistakenly assumed was some kind of sexual euphemism. A pilot was filmed featuring Sally Phillips,

and

Amanda Holden Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English actress, media personality, and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent show competition ''Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the ''Heart Brea ...

. When a full series was commissioned Holden dropped out and

took her place. Holden still appeared in four episodes of the first series. Other contributors making regular appearances were

and

, while

Miranda Hart Miranda Katherine Hart Dyke (born 14 December 1972) is an English actress and writer. Following drama training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Hart began writing material for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and making appearances in va ...

also appeared in a first series episode. In Germany, the first transmission of the show aired on

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

, where the theme tune was changed to Texas' 2001 version of "

I Don't Want a Lover "I Don't Want a Lover" is the debut single of Scottish band Texas, taken from their first album, ''Southside'' (1989). The music starts with blues slide guitar followed by a throbbing rhythm section before the vocals break in. It was released o ...

", and featured a different title sequence. Deliberately silly and avoiding repetitive catchphrases, the show's surreal humour proved popular and the series had a regular audience of around 2.5 million viewers in the UK. In 2003 the show's leads announced that they would not be continuing with the format, preferring to quit while the show was a success rather than risk diminishing the quality of the material. The trio reunited for a skit in aid of

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

for

Red Nose Day 2017 ''Red Nose Day 2017'' was a fund-raising event organised by Comic Relief, broadcast live on BBC One and BBC Two from the evening of 24 March 2017 to early the following morning. This 2017 edition of Red Nose Day was part of the "Make Your Laug ...

Selected characters

Most of the characters in the programme are non-

recurring Recurring means occurring repeatedly and can refer to several different things: Mathematics and finance *Recurring expense, an ongoing (continual) expenditure *Repeating decimal, or recurring decimal, a real number in the decimal numeral syste ...

. Dating Agency Videos – A part of almost every episode, we see different women or often sisters/couples looking for a partner/partners. This was at first represented by a title screen featuring a picture of the person, and their name and age. This then was replaced by that of a website page. Irritating Flatmate – An irritating nurse who shares a flat with two of her colleagues. She emphasises everything, which often leads to her flatmates' doing something behind her back, such as adding soap and cleaning chemicals to her yoghurt. The Fake Diabetic – A woman who fakes diabetic hypoglycemia so she can have special offers and free items at shops and supermarkets, and which the staff treats seriously. This skit only happened from series 3 onwards. The Oblivious Women – Consists of three women (in different sketches) who are completely oblivious to very obvious things. Sketches included a dog-walking woman being asked to sign a petition so that owners could walk their dogs near the pond. She says that she is not a dog person and is actually phobic. The petitioner and woman look down causing the woman to realise she is walking a dog and then scream. Others included a woman not realising she was pregnant until being asked to sign a petition affecting children. Singing Match – In this sketch, a woman sings along to a tune on the radio, only to be outshone completely by her co-worker who takes over in the following verse. During the rest of the song, her singing becomes more and more intense and extreme as she tries to get back at the other singer, and she ends up screaming and excusing herself with a paper cut on her finger. This particular sketch was voted number 22 in the 2005 Channel 4 programme ''50 Greatest Comedy Sketches'', chosen by members of the public. It was written by Marie Findley of the

Mediæval Bæbes The Mediæval Bæbes are a British musical ensemble founded in 1996 by Dorothy Carter and Katharine Blake. It included some of Blake's colleagues from the band Miranda Sex Garden, as well as other friends who shared her love of medieval music. ...

and was also based on their antics. Competitive rivals – This involves the four women who try to 'outdo' each other by subtly showing off bigger and better items such as water bottles and gifts. Naked man – This recurring skit appears in a few first series episodes. The female cast members are going about their daily business when a totally naked man walks across the screen, gets off from bus etc. and causes the women to faint, then they pick themselves up. High-heeled woman – This sketch was spread over all the series, and had a woman performing sports (such as a relay race or surfing) wearing inappropriate high-heeled shoes. An alternate version of this skit is a woman swimming or shopping in a wedding dress. The "Vet" – The sketch featured more prominently from the second series. It featured a vet who had difficulty recognising animals, who would then recommend silly and unusual diagnoses to the animals, such as telling a woman her kitten needed glasses. The Ex – Another sketch that featured more in the second series. A woman clings to the leg of her ex-boyfriend constantly (at work, a nightclub, and even clinging to his leg at his wedding etc.), telling him that she's still in love with him, and hopes to reconcile (unsuccessfully, however).

List of episodes

Series 1 (1999)

*Episode 1: 19 March 1999 *Episode 2: 26 March 1999 *Episode 3: 2 April 1999 *Episode 4: 9 April 1999 *Episode 5: 16 April 1999 *Episode 6: 23 April 1999 *Episode 7: 30 April 1999

Series 2 (2000)

*Episode 1: 14 April 2000 *Episode 2: 21 April 2000 *Episode 3: 28 April 2000 *Episode 4: 5 May 2000 *Episode 5: 12 May 2000 *Episode 6: 19 May 2000 *Episode 7: 26 May 2000

Series 3 (2002)

*Episode 1: 11 January 2002 *Episode 2: 18 January 2002 *Episode 3: 25 January 2002 *Episode 4: 1 February 2002 *Episode 5: 8 February 2002 *Episode 6: 15 February 2002 *Episode 7: 22 February 2002

Specials (2002-2003)

*Special 1: 26 December 2002 *Special 2: 3 January 2003

Awards

In 1999 and 2000, the first two series of ''Smack the Pony'' won the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for the 'Best Popular Arts Show', and all three series were nominated for

Bafta awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

. Two sketches from the show made it onto Channel 4's ''50 Greatest Comedy Sketches'', the first being ''Saying Goodbye'' at number 39 and ''Singing Match'' at number 22.

Video, DVD & Streaming

In Britain, a VHS and DVD of ''The Best of Smack the Pony'' were released in 2002 and 2003 respectively. The complete first and second series were released on DVD in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

(dubbed in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

but with alternative English soundtrack) in January and June 2006 respectively. Seasons 1-3 plus the Christmas Specials are available in the UK iTunes store and

All 4 All 4 is a video on demand service from the Channel Four Television Corporation, free of charge for most content and funded by advertising. The service is available in the UK and Ireland; viewers are not required to have a TV licence—requir ...

. The complete series 1–3 have been released on DVD in Scandinavia by Pan Vision and Finnkino in 2008. It features original soundtrack with Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and Danish subtitles but excludes the specials. The series is currently available in the United States on Hulu.com as of at least 2012.

Russian version

Russian TNT-TV hosts a localised version of the show titled ''Women's League'' (russian: Женская Лига, ''Zhenskaya Liga'').Women's League at TNT-TV (Russia) website
/ref> The show features some recurring themes from the original, as well as the original content.

References

External links

* * {{InternationalEmmyAward Popular Arts Programming 1999 British television series debuts 2003 British television series endings 1990s British television sketch shows 2000s British television sketch shows Channel 4 sketch shows English-language television shows Television shows shot at Elstree Film Studios Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows set in Hertfordshire