''Tittybangbang'' is a female-led BBC
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
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, featuring
Lucy Montgomery and
Debbie Chazen
Deborah Chazen (born 1 September 1971) is an English actress. She is best known for portraying Annie in the BBC comedy '' The Smoking Room'', Big Claire in ''Mine All Mine'', and various roles in the BBC sketch show '' Tittybangbang''. Alongsid ...
. It ran between 2005 and 2007 on
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...
. The show was largely written by
Bob Mortimer
Robert Renwick Mortimer (born 23 May 1959) is an English comedian, podcast presenter and actor. He is known for his work with Vic Reeves as part of their Vic and Bob comedy double act, and more recently the '' Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishin ...
and Jill Parker and produced by their company
Pett Productions.
History
Bob Mortimer and Lisa Clark conceived the idea of ''Tittybangbang'' and involved Jill Parker. Mortimer came up with the show's name, wanting "a really memorable title like ''
Desperate Housewives
''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a to ...
''", Clark said in an interview, "it's rude, but in a comedy way".
[Interview with Lisa Clark]
''Female First'' Retrieved 9 May 2008.
The pilot aired on
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...
on 20 September 2005. The first series followed, heavily promoted by an advert in which the cast members danced and mimed to the
Pussycat Dolls
Pussycat or Pussy Cat may refer to:
* Cat, a domestic feline
Music Bands
* Pussycat (band), a Dutch country and pop group
* The Pussycats, a 1960s Norwegian rock band
* The Pussycats, a group signed to Kama Sutra Records
Albums
* '' Pussy Cats' ...
' hit single "
Don't Cha
"Don't Cha" is a song written by Busta Rhymes and CeeLo Green, and produced by the latter. The chorus is an interpolation of the song " Swass", which was written and performed by Sir Mix-a-Lot. The song was originally recorded and published by T ...
." It ran from 10 January to 14 February 2006, and was a ratings success. After the series finished, BBC Three dedicated an evening to the show, airing each episode in succession.
The second series ran from 13 November to 25 December 2006. It had a new title sequence and theme tune, consisted of seven thirty-minute episodes (including a
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
special) and matched the first series' success. Both the first and second series were shown on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...
in a series of 'Best of' specials.
In March 2007, ''Tittybangbang'' was nominated for a Golden Rose international television award. The third and final series followed, with another new title sequence, and ran from 11 November to 16 December 2007, followed by the Christmas special, on 26 December.
Filming for the series took place mostly in and around Kent.
Critical reception
Both critics and the general public formed mixed opinions, and in the press pack for the show's first series,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
Press Office said that the pilot had "polarised critical response." First impressions of the show were good, with ''
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' describing the show as 'Disturbingly funny,' ''
The Sun'' calling it 'Laughs galore,' and ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper Sunday editions, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group, Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. ...
'' describing it as 'Very funny, very horrid.' The show also received negative criticism from certain critics, with ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...
'' describing it as 'Not very funny.'
In an interview with Lucy Montgomery,
Digital Spy
Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...
said that the first series had been labelled "horrid and filthy, but funny," and Montgomery mentioned the necrophiliac pathologists specifically, saying "the necrophilia character, that's gone
rom the second seriesbecause public opinion was that that wasn't a good idea."
The BBC
Comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...
review said "the sketches might not always work, but they're mostly short and to the point," and described it as "one of the best, and certainly the most varied of recent sketch formats," noting that whilst "not as huge as other formats," it had developed a "loyal and addicted following."
Main characters
Below is a selection of some of the main characters in the series.
*The Italian Lady, an exhibitionist who does outlandish things for attention, whilst proclaiming "Don't look at me, I'm shy!". ''(Montgomery, series 1-3)''
*Maxine Bendix, an Eastern-European topless model, and later pop star, who has had a grotesque amount of cheap
plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes cranio ...
, which is prone to "just a little bit of seepage". ''(Montgomery, series 1-3)''
*Paula, Ann and Diane, goofy
ladettes who play darts; however, Paula, plagued by severe twitching and
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil
Turmoil may refer to:
* ''Turmoil'' (1984 video game), a 1984 video game released by Bug-Byte
* ''Turmoil'' (2016 video game), a 2016 indie oil tycoon video ...
, and her jealousy of club compere Tony's romantic interest in Ann, shouts "Right there!" and promptly misses the board. ''(Chazen, Montgomery, Cheshire and Way, series 1-3)''. Paula was Chazen's favourite character to perform.
*Don Peacock, a bald,
Wearside
Wearside () is a built-up area in both Tyne and Wear and County Durham, Northern England. It is named after the River Wear which flows through it and traditionally all in the County of Durham. In the 2011 census, its official name was the Sund ...
man whose fantasy is to have a "waz", a "widdle" or "a little pee pee" (
urolagnia
Urolagnia (also urophilia, and, more colloquially, a golden shower or watersports) associates sexual excitement with the sight or thought of urine or urination, and may also refer to such behaviours or acts. It is a paraphilia.
The term has o ...
) on women. ''(Montgomery, series 1-2)''
*Ruth Baxter, an
upper class
Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is ...
old aged
pensioner
A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...
who likes to fight people, using ridiculously silly methods. ''(Montgomery, series 1-2)''
*Duck and Chip Family, a
dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often child neglect or abuse and sometimes even all of the above on the part of individual parents occur continuously and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such ...
whose lives revolve around their love of "quack", or "donald", and chips. ''(Way, Botcher, Chazen and Montgomery, series 1-3)''
*Carol Booth, a stay-at-home mum who, despite protests from her daughter and partner, and competition from neighbour Michelle, resorts to desperate measures to be on
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
, particularly running from people screaming "(S)he's got a kniiife!" ''(Chazen, Tshabalala, Way and Montgomery, series 1-3)''
*Pete Wade, a spa salesman, and later estate agent, who hardly listens to anyone, interspersing their words with "yeah" and "uh huh", and tries to hit on female customers. ''(Montgomery, series 1-2)''
*Colleen, Nathalie and Melanie, a trio of TV-addicted
chavette
"Chav" (), also "charver", "scally" and "roadman" in parts of England, is a British term, usually used in a pejorative way. The term is used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear.
*
*
*
* "Chavette" is a related te ...
s who, regardless of their homeland, all speak in thick
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...
n dialects, and get into lengthy, barely comprehensible conversations about the "likkle battams" of famous faces such as
Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended ...
or
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of '' The X Factor'' and '' Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on ...
. ''(Montgomery, Chazen and Tshabalala, series 1-3)''
*Parker and Harris,
necrophiliac
Necrophilia, also known as necrophilism, necrolagnia, necrocoitus, necrochlesis, and thanatophilia, is sexual attraction towards or a sexual act involving corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its ' ...
pathologists who "can't resist a stiffy" and abandon investigatory work to sexually assault the deceased. Susan Parker was loosely based upon
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdo ...
's character in
Prime Suspect
''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, ...
.
''(Montgomery and Chazen, series 1)''
*Jackie and Nikki, two
Geordie
Geordie () is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitute ...
friends, but Jackie exploits Nikki's naivete to trick her out of money in return for teaching her how to do completely nonsensical things, such as floating in mid-air. ''(Chazen and Montgomery, series 2-3)''
*Magwash, a revered, wise man who tells tales to the regulars of a storm-blasted coastal pub in the
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland ...
, but forever slips, using the wrong (and inappropriate) words, and when interrupted, bellows a thunderclap-punctuated "SILENCE!" ''(Chazen, series 2)''
*The Vampire Slayers, suburban housewives who hunt down people they suspect to be
vampire
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
s, all the while shouting "Death to vampires!" and "Vampire, vampire, fookin' vampire!". ''(Montgomery, Chazen and Coles, series 2-3)''
*
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...
, whose tour of England and desperation to try out some traditionally English experiences is ruined by his arguing bodyguard's squabbles. ''(Montgomery, series 2-3)''
*Veronica Cooper, an aristocratic, horse-like woman, who finds pleasure in spying on overweight, working class and somewhat dumb men with her equally posh, toothy friend Christina, who is apparently "not supposed to be here!".
[That's right, she's not!] ''(Chazen and Montgomery, series 2-3)''
*Raul, a camp,
androgynous
Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression.
When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in ...
and childish
hairdresser
A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be r ...
who never appears to pick up a pair of scissors, and complains endlessly about his "sore balls". ''(Montgomery, series 3)''
*Irene, who appears in potentially controversial situations, and proceeds to let the subjects know just how much she approves of them ("good for you!"). ''(Chazen, series 3)''
*
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...
, the ex-president of
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...
lives on a housing estate, refers to himself as "the king" and spends his time lying in bed watching television, shouting "Emergency, emergency!" to summon his downtrodden wife. ''(Way and Montgomery, series 3)''
DVD releases
References
External links
*
*
* {{British Comedy Guide, tv, tittybangbang
''BBC Comedy Guide'' – ''Tittybangbang''PettProductions.co.uk
2005 British television series debuts
2007 British television series endings
2000s British television sketch shows
BBC television sketch shows
Cross-dressing in television
English-language television shows
Television shows set in the United Kingdom