The Catherine Tate Show
Categories: BBC television programmes | British television comedy
The Catherine Tate Show is an award-winning television sketch show which airs on BBC Two. Comedienne Catherine Tate writes and appears in all of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters.
The first series of the show, which consisted of six episodes, aired from February 2004 to March 2004. A DVD of this series was released in August 2005.
A second series aired from July 2005 to August 2005.
Contents |
Series One (2004)
Characters who regularly appeared in Series One included:
Lauren the Teenager - Lauren is a comprehensive school student with a bad attitude. She frequently responds to unfavourable situations by continually asking, "Am I bothered? Am I bothered though?" If insulted, she asks, "Are you disrespecting me? Are you disrespecting me and my family?" Sketches throughout the series saw Lauren arguing with authority figures such as train inspectors, teachers, as well as her friends.
Lauren is one of the most popular characters with fans, as well as arguably being the most recognisable from the show, partially due to the familiar parallels with Vicky Pollard from Little Britain.
Nan Taylor- The foul-mouthed grandmother - This sketch involves an old woman who is frequently visited by her well-mannered grandson. The visits usually start off well enough, with the grandmother showing how grateful she is that her grandson has come to see her. However, things usually take a turn for the worse after she starts to make unfavourable comments about her neighbours, family, and home help visitors. One episode saw the grandson take her to a pound shop.
The office workers - This sketch follows two office workers who sit next to each other. While one is usually keen to get on with her work, she is frequently disturbed by the other, who is played by Tate. Tate continually makes conversation about her lifestyle, inviting her co-worker to "Have a guess!" on such delicate situations as how much weight she has lost, how many miles she can run, and how much money she paid for her holiday. While the sensible worker is reluctant to go along with the game, she is pressured into making a "wild guess", which almost always results in Tate's character becoming insulted and offensive.
Paul and Sam- The Essex couple - A happily married, yet slightly simple, couple, who find everyday situations surprisingly hilarious.
Bernie- The incompetent nurse - An Irish nurse who borders on being sacked in every episode. She frequently makes inappropriate remarks to her patients, takes critically ill members of the public on wild nights out, and mixes up the records of patients who are dead and alive.
Bunty- The over-aged majorette - A woman who insists on being allowed to perform in a children's majorettes team, as there is no age limit. Her obsession with the club results in the owner contacting the police and obtaining a restraining order.
Elaine Figgis- The bride of a killer - A woman who appears in a documentary, following her engagement and eventual marriage to a convicted killer on death row in the US.
Margaret - The jumpy woman - A woman who squeals with terror at the simplest of everyday situations.
The help desk worker - A woman who works at a help desk in a shopping centre. When shoppers ask for her assistance, she usually misunderstands them or mistakingly believes that they are trying to engage in friendly conversation with her.
The new parents - A couple who will do anything to stop their newborn baby from waking up, including refusing to leave their car to attend a birthday dinner. They frequently argue, but switch to happy singing if their child starts to cry.
The enigmatic cop - A detective who comes up with bizarre theories at crime scenes, to the surprise and frustration of her assistant, Whittaker.
Other characters include:
The airhead - An American woman who starts every sentence with the words 'and I'm like...'
The middle class mother - A woman who goes into a state of shock as she tells her children that 'daddy hasn't been able to find any good brie' on his business trip to France, thereby jeopardising the school picnic.
The backhander woman - A woman who advises complete strangers to give people who are irritating them "one swift backhander" to teach them a lesson. She then switches back to complete politeness.
The last hit woman - A businesswoman who starts a game of 'last hit' at the office. When a colleague is involved in a car accident as a result of the game, she is more interested in whether she has won or not.
Comic Relief 2005
Tate made an appearance during the BBC's Comic Relief telethon in March 2005, in the guise of Lauren the Teenager. In a section of the show which saw fans of McFly asking questions to the group, Lauren decided to ask, "Why are you so rubbish?" When told by Simon Amstell, who was hosting the segment, that only positive questions were allowed, Lauren used a variety of her catchphrases, including, "Am I bothered?" and "Are you calling me stupid?"
Lauren was then 'ordered' to ask a more positive question to the group, and confused them with Busted, asking, "Are you gutted that Charlie left?"
Best Of (2005)
In the months preceding the launch of the second series, BBC Two aired three 'Best Of' episodes, featuring a variety of the funniest clips from the six episodes of Series One, including Lauren the teenager and the foul-mouthed gran. Meanwhile, repeats of all six episodes of the first series aired on UKTV G2
Series Two (2005)
The second series began airing in July 2005. Following Tate's Comic Relief appearance, and news 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 succesful than the first, partly due to a successful lead-in from Ricky Gervais' newest sitcom, Extras. The first episode attracted 3.39 million viewers, but the final episode received higher ratings than the episode of Extras which aired beforehand.
A number of celebrities agreed to make appearances for series two, including Peter Kay, Jill Halfpenny, Una Stubbs, Brian Murphy, Paul Whitehouse and Michael Brandon.
For the second series, the opening sequence was completely revamped, and Kirsty MacColl's "In These Shoes" was no longer used as the theme tune.
Returning characters included:
Lauren - who became more offensive than ever before. One notable change was that Lauren started to become insulting without being provoked, while in the past, her catchphrase of "Am I bothered?" was only used after she believed that she had been wronged in some way.
Nan Taylor - who spent less time in her living room this year. She made a disastrous visit to the doctors, and had a two-week stint in hospital. True to form, she did not suffer in silence, complaining about her fellow patients and accusing a nurse of stealing from her.
Paul and Sam - who showed little change from series one. In one episode, we were introduced to Sam's parents, who shared many of the same characteristics as their daughter.
The office workers - In this series, the nice office worker was more aware of material that her colleague would use for her "Have a guess!" games, and often knew the correct answer before being asked. Unfortunately, this seemed to irritate the nasty worker even more than usual, and throughout the course of the series she poured a drink over her fellow worker's head, trashed her desk and spat in her hair.
Bernie - who only made two appearances in this series. In one episode, she was nearly sacked after being hypnotised, while in her next appearance she returned to her usual man-eating ways.
Elaine Figgis - Elaine appeared for one episode, and was still using the internet to find potential lovers. Unfortunately, a new boyfriend ended up conning her and took her savings.
The middle class mother - who went into a state of shock and terror after a Northern nanny showed up to look after her children.
New characters included:
Derek - a man who shows several signs of being gay, but becomes extremely insulted and offended when confronted with this. His catchphrase is, "How very dare you!" as well as the overuse of the word "dear".
Allie - an extremely tactless woman, who unintentionally offends people after being introduced to them at parties. Afterwards, she becomes embarrassed and tries to look for an escape from the conversation as quickly as possible. In an interview, Tate said that this character was partly based on herself.
The unhappy Northern couple - who express their disgust at meals they have had in restaurants. After complaining about the food and prices, they use their catchphrase of, "The dirty b******s!"
The austere woman - who disapproves of the behaviour of everybody around her, before passing wind loudly and unashamedly.
Amanda - a perky waitress at the fictional BBJ's restaurant; "I'm Amanda, but my friends call me Zebedee!" After annoying diners with her loud and childish behaviour, she breaks into dance routines with her fellow workers after she takes each order.
Irene and Vern - the owners of a layby cafe, who try to convince a regular customer, played by Brian Murphy, that they have been visited by celebrities, including Madonna.
Moo Shepherd - a dog trainer who resorts to strange and desperate methods to achieve success. Unfortunately, her dog Lady Penelope ends up coming last at an important contest.
DI Angie Baxter - a single mother who brought her children with her to an unpleasant crime scene.
Trudy and Ivan - the owners of an extremely successful wig emporium. When they invite a production crew into their workplace to make a documentary about them, they struggle to keep the names of their clients a secret; "If that jiffy bag doesn't get to Wembley Arena by 8pm, it'll be the first time Candle In The Wind has been sung in a crash helmet."
Victoria - a drunken bride who insults her husband and his family in a memorable wedding speech.
The unprofessional croupier - who takes the ball away from the roulette wheel when the noise starts to annoy her; "It was probably red". In another sketch, she became confused about which colour the ball had landed on, to the horror of one man who had just placed a huge bet.