"Big Impression" (1999) TV series

Directors:

Gareth Carrivick
Angela De Chastelai Smith

Writers:

Ronni Ancona (writer)
Simon Blackwell (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | unknown

Release Date:

2 September 1999 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Comedy impressions.

Awards:

5 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Julian Dutton	...	Various Roles (18 episodes, 1999-2001)
Jan Ravens	...	Various Roles (12 episodes, 2000-2002)

Also Known As:

Alistair McGowan's Big Impression (UK) (complete title)
The Big Impression (UK) (new title)

Runtime:

20 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M

Company:

Vera Productions Ltd.

Quotes:

McGowan as Louis Theroux: Hi, I'm Louis, Louis Theroux from the BBC.
McGowan as Louis Theroux: And maybe I could do that with you?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Annually Retentive: (#1.2)" (2006)

Amazing and Funny

Alastair McGowan is just incredible and puts all other impressionists in the shade. It's an indication of how good he is that when I switched on his programme one evening and he was doing a parody of the 1970s series Rising Damp. In this version Miss Jones was Catherine Zeta Jones, needless to say played by Ronni Ancona. He'd got Leonard Rossiter's voice to perfection and I thought at first Ronni had been Forrest Gumped into old footage of Leonard Rossiter but then I saw that it was actually Alastair. The parody of Some Like It Hot called Some Like A Dress with Eddie Izzard and Lily Savage playing the Jack Lemmon-Tony Curtis roles was great. The most recent series has an ongoing series within a series called Sex and Man City which features the cast of Sex and the City dating Manchester City soccer players like Kevin Keegan (and this of course features a voiceover by Carrie). A recent programme which had a dig at Ian "Private Pike" Lavender being nowadays in Eastenders was brilliant. This was the last sketch in the show and having the words "You Have Been Watching" appeared on the screen before the end credits rolled was inspired. Ronni, Alastair and the rest of the cast copied perfectly the body langauage and gestures of the cast of Dad's Army to perfection. And there was also the James Bond parody which shows that although John Cleese might try to create a new image as Q he'll never live down Basil Fawlty. Mr McGowan and Miss Ancona, I hope you read this review. You're both brilliant and you're a credit to Scotland. Just one small point, the show is called Alastair McGowan's Big Impression. Doesn't Ronni deserve some credit in the title?