"Brand Spanking New Show" (2000) TV series

Director:

Dewi Humphreys

Writers:

Jane Bussmann (writer)
Kevin Cecil (writer)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

11 September 2000 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Actor Playing Multiple Roles | Sketch Comedy

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Samantha Bond	...	Miss Moneypence in 'Rodney Bond' / ... (12 episodes, 2000)
Julia St. John	...	Various Roles (11 episodes, 2000)
Tom Wisdom		(5 episodes, 2000)

Also Known As:

Harry Enfield's Brand Spanking New Show (UK) (complete title) (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

UK:30 min (12 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Sky One Productions

It may be new but not original.

This show has some potential but it's downfall lies with unoriginal characters that don't work.

I believe the 'inspiration' for some of the characters came from other shows. Examples include 'Strange Bob', a football commentator who hears voices in his head. This is obviously copied from the 'Small kids in the park, jumpers for goal posts' man from the Fast Show who babbels unrelated talk all the time. The character just doesn't work with Enfield sounding like that kid at school who tried to be funny by repeating a joke that was just told.

Then theres the guy in the restaurant who insults his partner and says "What? What did I say?" at the end. This is obviously taken from Goodness Gracious Me who has 'Mr Cheque Please', a man insults dates in restaurants and says "Cheque please" after he realises what he's done.

Another character I believe has been stolen is again from the Fast Show. This is the guy who always tells outrageous stories and says "Which was nice" at the end. Hazza obviously took this idea and put it into that guy at the pub who always tells how he fondled some female celebrity to make her feel better. This character was hilarious at first but got really uninteresting after a while.

Having said this, some characters are genuinely funny, such as the pharmacist who always embarrasses his customers by obnoxiously announcing their problems to everyone. A classic example is when a man comes in and buys some viagra whereupon the pharmacist shouts "Here you are sir, some viagra for your droopy cock!".

Overall though, the show doesn't seem to work. The lack of one off sketches increases the chance of boring viewers as we sit through watching each character, knowing exactly what the jist of the sketch will be. Although repeating one's self is inevitable with character based sketch comedy, it's upto the writers to produce different situations and punchlines each time so that the viewer doesn't end up short changed. Unfortunatly Harry Enfield and his crew fail to do this.