ChuckleVision

ChuckleVision
ChuckleVision title card (series 3 to 21)
Genre	Physical comedy
Created by	The Chuckle Brothers
Written by	John Sayle, Rory Clark, Chuckle Brothers and others
Directed by	Martin Hughes, et al.
Starring	The 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
Production 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 (2002–2009)
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) Chuckle Time (2018)

ChuckleVision is a British television series created by Martin Hughes and the Chuckle Brothers for the BBC.^[1] It starred Barry and Paul Elliott as the Chuckle Brothers and occasionally 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 were usually independent, with the basic plot for each involving the brothers undertaking a job, task or adventure. They were often employed by a character known as "No Slacking", who, despite appearing as a different character in every episode, was always known by this name because of his catchphrase ("And remember, No Slacking!"). The character was always inconvenienced by Paul and Barry and was played by the brothers' real-life elder sibling, Jimmy Patton. Jimmy was part of a comedy act 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 slapstick.

The duo also carried out work for "Dan the Van", who was never seen on screen, apart from a single 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 glasses. Relatives of Dan the Van are sometimes seen or referred to, such as his grandmother, Lettuce the Van.

In the first two series (1987–1989), each episode focused on a certain topic, in the style of Blue Peter. These episodes had rarely been available since their original transmission, until the series was released onto DVD in Autumn 2011.

The brothers' main mode of transport was "The Chuckmobile", a quadracycle with a red-and-white striped roof. Barry was usually the driver, whilst Paul put his feet up on the front bar. Paul only pedalled the bike very occasionally throughout the entire series. The registration plate of the bike is CHUCKLE 1. In 2018, 'The Chuckmobile' was bought by entertainments company InTo Entertain, who now hire out the bike for events such as weddings, festivals and quirky occasions.

An exception to the usual format of stand-alone episodes came with Series 14, broadcast in 2001. The series employed a continuous storyline 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

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 English 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.^[2] In "Football Heroes", Paul and Barry play for Rotherham after a mix-up with two former players of the club, Paul scores an own-goal and thinking it was a genuine goal, celebrates with Barry.

Production and broadcast

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, due to dropped ratings and less interest by the BBC, with the final series airing in December of that year. Repeats occurred regularly until the end of 2012. The 2008 Christmas Special became the last episode to be broadcast on television, being shown on CBBC on Christmas Day 2013.

Following the death of Barry Elliot in 2018, all six episodes of the final series were made available on BBC iPlayer.

Episodes

Catchphrases

• Barry/Paul: "To me." "To you."
• Barry/Paul: "'Course it is, silly me." "Silly you."
• Barry and Paul: "Hellooooo"
• Barry/Paul: "Oh dear" "Oh dear, oh dear" (sometimes followed by "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear")
• Paul/Barry: "Adadadadada!" (usually said to Barry, Paul and someone else to stop him, them from doing something)
• Barry/Paul: "You're not!" "I am!" "You're not!" "I am!" "Are You?"
• Paul: "Stupid thing!" (when something he is using breaks or doesn't work)
• Barry/Paul: "It's very nice" "It is very nice" (this catchphrase varies when Paul asks Barry the question "What do you think", just after he's made or mended something)
• Paul: "Now look what you've done!" (to Barry, although it is usually Paul's fault and Barry usually responds with "Me?")
• Paul/Barry: "It isn't!" "It is!" "It isn't!" "It is!" "Is it?"
• Barry: "It's another one of those days" (to Paul when he has an accident like landing into a tree)
• Barry: "Righto-Righto-Righto (when something is on Barry's toe)

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

• No Slacking: "And remember... no slacking!"
• Get out of it: "Get out of it!"
• Get out of it: "Hey, stop doing that!"

Commercial release

References

External links

• ChuckleVision on IMDb
• ChuckleVision at BBC Online