Hamish and Dougal
Horn Concerto No. 4 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arranged and played as a Scottish Reel. | |
| Website | BBC website |
|---|---|
Hamish and Dougal are two characters from the long-running BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, played by Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden,[2] who later went on to have their own Radio 4 series, You'll Have Had Your Tea: The Doings of Hamish and Dougal. The series is occasionally broadcast on the BBC's repeat station, Radio 4 Extra.
History
The fictional characters Hamish and Dougal originated in one of the rounds of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue called
The spin-off show was named in reference to the fact that the characters' sketches on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue began with a variant of the line "You'll have had your tea then, Hamish". This refers to an idiom used in Edinburgh,[4] where a visitor who has dropped in at "tea" (a colloquial term for an evening meal) is informed that the host does not intend to feed them. The stereotype of Scottish people being careful with their money is regularly played on in the series.[3]
Episodes were 15 minutes long and were extensions of the one-minute sketches.
The show relied heavily on sexual innuendo,
Fictitious place-names used within the series include Ben Kingsley, Loch Krankie, and Glen Close.[11]
A book of the complete scripts from all three series plus the
Critical reception
The series has been described as "reality-based comedy at its finest" by The Times,[12] and as "basically The Beano with added smut" by The Independent.[13] Gavin Docherty of the Daily Express said, after reading the book of scripts, "I laughed so hard my head nearly fell off".[9]
The Scotsman gave the series a negative review, with Robert McNeil describing the series as one in which "two clapped-out has-beens (except they never-weres) put on ridiculous Scottish voices and enact quasi-racist routines".[10] Cryer has denied that the show is anti-Scottish saying the series was "an affectionate laugh at all things Scottish. Graeme is half Scottish. I am borderline, having been born in Cumbria."[9] Garden stated that in the series they were sending up the stereotypes of Scots rather than Scots themselves (which makes it all right).[4]
Episode list
| Series | Episode | Title | First broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | The Musical Evening | 24 December 2002 |
| 2 | The Murder Mystery | 25 December 2002 | |
| 3 | Romance in the Glen | 26 December 2002 | |
| 4 | The Shooting Party | 27 December 2002 | |
| 2 | 1 | The Vampire of the Glen | 25 February 2004 |
| 2 | Fame Idol | 3 March 2004 | |
| 3 | The Fitness Club | 10 March 2004 | |
| 4 | The Poison Pen Letters | 17 March 2004 | |
| 5 | The Monster in the Loch | 24 March 2004 | |
| 6 | Trapped! | 31 March 2004 | |
| Special | 1 | Hogmanay special | 31 December 2004 |
| 3 | 1 | Gambling Fever | 24 August 2006 |
| 2 | There's Something about Mrs Naughtie | 31 August 2006 | |
| 3 | The Subsidence Adventure | 7 September 2006 | |
| 4 | Inverurie Jones and the Thimble of Doom | 14 September 2006 | |
| 5 | Look Who's Stalking | 21 September 2006 | |
| 6 | Porridge Votes | 28 September 2006 | |
| Special | 2 | Burns Night special |
25 January 2007 |
References
- ^ a b c "Hamish And Dougal: You'll Have Had Your Tea", The British Comedy Guide, retrieved 2010-07-04
- ^
Brown, Allan (31 August 2008). "Dougal, where's yer troosers?". London: Times Online.
- ^ a b White, Roland (2006) "Radio Waves: Roland White: Acute accent", The Times, 20 August 2006, retrieved 2010-07-04
- ^ Yorkshire Post, 6 October 2008, retrieved 2010-07-04
- ^ Daoust, Phil (2004) "Radio: Pick of the day", The Guardian, 25 February 2004, retrieved 2010-07-04
- ^ a b "Season 3 Special - Hamish and Dougal's Burns Night Special", The British Comedy Guide, retrieved 2010-07-04
- ^ Morris, Sophie (2008) "Graeme Garden: My Life in Media", The Independent, 8 September 2008, p. 16
- ^ a b "Hamish and Dougal - I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - The Doings of Hamish & Dougal 3 Archived 23 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine", BBC, retrieved 2010-07-04
- ^ a b c Docherty, Gavin (2008) "What a hoot. . . and the joke's not on us", Daily Express, 4 October 2008
- ^ a b McNeil, Robert (31 March 2004). "Battles of life and death and the war on lame comedy". The Scotsman. p. 16. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
- ^ Devine, Cate (2003) "Uncle Baz just can't help it", The Herald, 17 November 2003, retrieved 2010-07-04
- ^ Campling, Chris "Radio Choice: Hamish and Dougal's Burns Night Special", The Times, 25 January 2007, p. 23
- ^ Hanks, Robert (2004) "The Week in Radio", The Independent, 3 March 2004, p. 14
Further reading
- ISBN 978-1-84809-024-8.