The Catherine Tate Show - Series Two (2005)

Series Two (2005)

The second series aired from 21 July to 25 August 2005. Following Tate's Comic Relief appearance with McFly, and speculation of her non-existent feud with David Schwimmer, it received slightly more publicity than series one in the run-up to the first episode. BBC Two also promoted the series by running trailers showing Lauren arguing with a furry dog in the shape of the channel's logo.

This series was far more successful with viewing figures than the first, securing ratings of 2.89 to 3.92 million, with the final episode receiving higher viewing figures than the episode of Extras which aired beforehand. Celebrities such as Peter Kay and Jill Halfpenny made guest appearances in series two. The series also had new theme music composed by Howard Goodall. For the opening, various characters are in an open field. The camera closes in on Lauren Cooper, zooms into her eye, then zooms out of Sheila Carter's eye. The camera pans to the right, where Bernie enters. The camera zooms into her eye, then zooms out of Nan's eye, where she is seen laughing. The end of the sequence shows the main title The Catherine Tate Show. The zooming is the same for both series two and three although Shelia Carter does not appear in series three (in the 2007 Christmas Special, Sheila is replaced by Geordie Georgie).

The second series began airing in Australia on 4 April 2007 on ABC TV. Prior to this the BBC-owned Australian cable channel UK.TV had aired the complete series starting in 2004. The re-runs of the series were shown starting from 6 May 2007.

In November 2005, Tate was a guest at the 77th Royal Variety Performance, and appeared in the guise of teenager Lauren Cooper, accompanied by Lauren's friends, Ryan and Liese. After Lauren embarrassed herself in front of the audience, Ryan pointed out that the Queen was laughing at her. Looking up at the Royal Box, she asked "Are you disrespecting me?" and mimicked the Queen's accent, asking, "Is one bovvered? Is one's face bovvered?", before adding, "Who is looking after the corgis?" The Queen was seen laughing at this joke, and Prince Phillip also appeared to take this in good humour. There were, however, reports that the Prince was extremely unimpressed by the performance and complained to the show's executive producer. She also appeared as Lauren in a special sketch for the BBC's annual Children in Need telethon. The segment was a crossover with EastEnders (see charity sketches for details).

A Christmas show was aired on 20 December 2005. It featured appearances from celebrity guests Richard Park, Charlotte Church and Chas & Dave. During the show, Paul and Sam's two children were seen for the first time. They physically resembled, and had identical characteristics to their parents. The characters of Margaret and the enigmatic detective, who did not appear in series two, made appearances in the Christmas special. According to BARB's official viewing figures, over 5.66 million viewers watched the show, making it the most-watched programme at the time and the most watched programme on BBC Two the week it was aired. The show was also nominated for the People's Choice Award at the British Comedy Awards in 2005, but did not win after it was announced that the show had received less votes than Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. In an investigation, it was revealed in May 2008 that The Catherine Tate Show was the true winner of the British Comedy Award, and that Ant and Dec were wrongly awarded; Tate had actually received more votes from the public. A report by independent law firm, Olswang, said "Robbie Williams was invited to present an award. It was understood that he would be happy if the recipients were Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly. In order to ensure his attendance, this assurance was given"; however, it is not known if Williams' comments led to the wrong announcement. It was also exposed that the second half of the ceremony was not broadcast live but with a delay of half-an-hour, yet viewers were still encouraged to vote for the People's Choice Award, even though the votes had been counted and the trophy presented half-an-hour before.

The second series started airing on UKTV G2 in January 2006. Series one continued on UKTV Gold. The second series was also being screened on BBC America, and repeated on BBC Two, from June 2006. Following the success of series two, Tate launched a range of merchandise based on characters from the show in 2006. In September 2006 The Catherine Tate Show official calendar 2007 was released. Also, on 2 October 2006 a book was released of the scripts of both series one and two, called Am I Bovvered The Catherine Tate Show Scripts.

On 13 December 2006, Tate won another British Comedy Award for "Best TV Comedy Actress" for her work in the second series of The Catherine Tate Show.