ChuckleVision

ChuckleVision

ChuckleVision title card
Genre Physical comedy
Created by The Chuckle Brothers
Written by John Sayle, Rory Clark, Chuckle Brothers[1] and others.
Directed by BBC[2]
Starring Chuckle Brothers
Theme music composer Dave Cooke
Opening theme "ChuckleVision"
Composer(s) Dave Cooke
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 21
No. of episodes 292 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s) Martin Hughes
Location(s) Rotherham, England (series 3–21)
Running time 20 minutes (1987–1989, 1991–2001)
15 minutes (1989–1990, 2002–2009)
30 minutes (2008)
Production company(s) BBC
Release
Original network BBC One (1987–2009)
CBBC (2002–2011)
Picture format 4:3 (1987–2000)
16:9 (2000–2009)
Original release 26 September 1987 (1987-09-26) – 18 December 2009 (2009-12-18)
Chronology
Related shows To Me... To You... (1996–1998)

ChuckleVision is a British children's television series created by John Sayle and the Chuckle Brothers for the BBC. It starred Barry and Paul Elliott as The Chuckle Brothers and their older brothers, Jimmy and Brian Elliott (known professionally as the Patton Brothers). It ran for 292 episodes over twenty-one series from 1987 to 2009.

Plot

Episodes of ChuckleVision are usually independent, with the basic plot for each involving the brothers undertaking a job, task or adventure. They are often employed by a character known as "No Slacking", who despite appearing as a different character in every episode, is always known by this name owing to the catchphrase he says to the brothers ("And remember, No Slacking!"). The character is always inconvenienced by Paul and Barry and is played by the brothers' real-life elder sibling, Jimmy Patton. Jimmy was part of a comedy act called The Patton Brothers with his brother Brian, who also appeared in various episodes, mostly playing a villain with the catchphrase "Getoutofit!". A large amount of the comedy is based on slapstick and usually the jobs Paul and Barry carry out can be somewhat surreal or put them in surreal circumstances.

The duo have also carried out work for a "Dan the Van" who has never been seen on screen. The only exception was in one episode where the Chuckle Brothers take it upon themselves to make sure he arrives to a special meeting. Dan's face cannot be seen as he is completely covered in bandages and is wearing dark sunglasses. Relatives of Dan the Van are sometimes seen or referred to, such as his grandmother Lettuce the Van.

The format of the first two series (1987–1989) consisted of each episode focusing on a certain topic, a sort of humorous Blue Peter. These episodes had rarely been viewed by the public eye since their original transmission, until the series was released onto DVD in Autumn 2011.

The brothers' main mode of transport is "The Chuckmobile", a quadracycle with a red-and-white striped roof. Barry is usually designated to driving, whilst Paul puts his feet up on the front bar. Paul has only pedalled the bike very occasionally throughout the entire series. The registration plate of the bike is Chuckle 1.

An exception to the usual format of stand-alone episodes came with Series 14, broadcast in 2002. The series employed a continuous story line throughout each episode, involving the brothers’ hunt for a missing ruby. They continued a similar trend in the next two series, with two 3-part stories in Series 15, entitled "The Purple Pimple" and "Magnetic Distraction". A two part story called "Incredible Shrinking Barry" appears in Series 16. From Series 17, this trend was not repeated.

Characters

Character Actor Episodes Years
Paul Chuckle Paul Elliott 292 episodes 1987–2009
Barry Chuckle Barry Elliott 292 episodes 1987–2009
No Slacking Jimmy Patton 47 episodes 1990–2009
Getoutofit Brian Patton 21 episodes 1995–2008

Paul is the dominant sibling of the two and often due to his blind confidence the two end up in bother. When Paul realises he has made a mistake, he often blames Barry and tends to make Barry do the work whilst taking the credit for himself. Neither brother is particularly bright.

Paul and Barry both possess northern England accents and have a number of catchphrases, some of which involve one brother replying to the other brother's line. Thus "To me" receives the reply "To you", and "Silly you" is met with "'Course it is, silly me". The line "Oh dear" is regularly followed by "Oh dear, oh dear", and sometimes by "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear" when something goes wrong. This could possibly have been inspired by the BBC comedy Hi-de-Hi!, in which the character Spike used to say "oh dear, oh dear, oh dear" when something bad had happened.

There are often references made to Rotherham United F.C., whom the brothers support in real life.[3] In "Football Heroes", Paul and Barry play for Rotherham and Paul scores an own-goal and thinking it was a genuine goal, celebrates with Barry.

Production

The main writer throughout the series' run was John Sayle, who wrote the majority of episodes in each series. Episodes have also been written by Russell T Davies and The Chuckle Brothers themselves. From Series 14 onwards, the run time of each episode was reduced from twenty minutes to fifteen. Series 12 and 13 were also re-edited to match the new run times.

From Series 14 onwards, outtakes were shown during the credits of each episode.

For Series 4, a new theme tune was produced in stereophonic sound. This remained from then on, but was shortened from Series 17.

From Series 13 onwards, all episodes were shot in widescreen.

The series ended its twenty-two year run at the end of 2009, with the final series airing over Christmas that year. Repeats occurred regularly until the end of 2011. The 2008 Christmas Special became the last episode to be broadcast on television, it was shown over Christmas 2013.

Catchphrases

Done by Jimmy and Brian when they star in the shows:

DVD releases

A BBC VHS was released in February 1995 entitled "Goofy Golfers" which featured three episodes from the fourth series, however it is now out of production.[4] Delta Music has since released two DVDs of the first two series. These were released in October 2011 and October 2012.

TV series

DVD Title Discs Year Ep. No, DVD releases Notes
Region 2
The Complete Series 1 4 1987-1988 13 24 October 2011 Includes Christmas Special
The Complete Series 2 4 1988-1989 13 29 October 2012

In 2014, composer Dave Cooke released 'Volume 1.' of ChuckleVision soundtracks and cues. These were released as a digital download. Volumes 2, 3 and 4 followed.

Stage Productions

There have been four DVD releases of the brothers on stage: Pirates of the River Rother, Spooky Goings On, Indiana Chuckles and the Kingdom of the Mythical Sulk and The Chuckle Brothers In Trouble. All these feature live performances of the brothers, one filmed at Blackpool, one at Scarborough, one at Darlington, and the other at York. The Chuckle Brothers In Trouble DVD filmed at York was a "rehearsal" performance. There is also a box set of Pirates of the River Rother and Spooky Goings On, released in 2008.

References

  1. ↑ "ChuckleVision" (1987) - Full cast and crew
  2. ↑ "ChuckleVision" (1987) - Full cast and crew
  3. ↑ "The Chuckle Brothers". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 10/12/2012. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  4. ↑ ChuckleVision - Goofy Golfers, retrieved 2015-10-09

External links

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