Dead Ringers (comedy) - Content

Content

The series is known for portrayal of BBC employees such as Radio 4 newsreader Brian Perkins as a Godfather-like figure ("Who's the daddy?"), controlling all Radio 4. He sends death threats to other members of the BBC, and threatens to kill anyone who chats up Charlotte Green. In one sketch, the Dead Ringers Perkins telephoned the real Perkins, the impersonator accusing the real Perkins of not being "hard" enough. Perkins joined in, claiming that he once put colleague Peter Donaldson's feet in concrete and threw him into a canal. The Perkins character was written by Jon Holmes although he claims he was simply transcribing overheard threats from the real one.

Another character was the former director general of the BBC, Greg Dyke, portrayed with a Michael Caine-like accent by Phil Cornwell, who had previously played Caine in Stella Street. Dyke was portrayed claiming to have recommissioned Fame Academy while he was drunk at a BBC Christmas party. Dyke is portrayed as hating the Daleks: "Bring back Doctor Who? OK - but there's going to be no Daleks in it. They've crossed me too many times!"

Kirsty Wark of Newsnight opens bulletins on the programme with a line from a popular song read in an incongruously solemn newseader's tone, closing with "More on that story later" ("My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like, it's better than yours, damn right, it's better than yours. More on that story later.") Fiona Bruce and Charlotte Green (of Radio 4) are portrayed as seductive and saucy; Green confesses to a "ribald" sense of humour.

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 hands operated by rods and speaks in mixed metaphor: "Well Fiona, might I say my goose has well and truly had its chips". Sir Patrick Moore is revealed as not an astronomer but a peeping-tom and psychic around the London Eye. Movie quotes are twisted and added to everyday things. 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 The Lord of the Rings.

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

Culshaw performs prank telephone calls, impersonating among 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 as such characters, vexing shop assistants and salesmen with such pronouncements as, "I seek passage to Aldershot" which mirrors Alec Guinness's line in Star Wars "I seek passage to Alderaan." He also interviewed a bus stop of people as Parkinson. As the Doctor, he ventured into a furniture store seeking a replacement TARDIS, entering one wardrobe and re-emerging from another (to the astonishment of the shop clerk). He accompanied tourists on the London Eye while declaring they were trapped in a Sontaran "interstitial time helix".

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

The Jeremy Kyle Show is also featured, with Kyle calling the guests 'scum' and forcing them to make up. He screams at audience and guests. "HUG HIM!" then "THAT'S NOT HUGGING!" He shouts "Roll the credits... FASTER!" "Hello I'm Jeremy Kyle, and you're scum."

Radio 4 shows are mocked in the radio series. They include the Today Programme, where John Humphrys 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 as a Radio 4 children programme with little for children. It was formerly hosted by Matt Smith, noted for saying "Ace", at the end of every sentence. He is the only person that Brian Perkins fears taking on.

However, the show most mocked Radio 4's The Archers. Characters impersonated include Clarrie and Eddie Grundy, stumbling from one crisis to another, Joe Grundy and his incomprehensible yokel accent, Jack Woolley’s incomprehensible Brummie, posh Brian Aldridge, snooty Lynda Snell, and Geordie-accented Ruth "Oh noooh" Archer. Other Radio 4 programmes mocked include Letter from America, Money Box, Brain of Britain, Counterpoint, Loose Ends, You and Yours and Front Row.