Smashie and Nicey are comedy characters who first appeared in the early 1990s TV sketch show Harry Enfield's Television Programme. They were played by the comedians Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield respectively.
They are parodies of a certain style of ageing celebrity BBC Radio 1 disc jockey who started out with the station in the 1960s and stayed there until the mid-1990s. The characters incorporated the personalities, character traits and lifestyles of several different real-life DJs. The characters reference such DJs as Tony Blackburn, Dave Lee Travis, Simon Bates, Alan Freeman, Mike Read, Peter Powell, Noel Edmonds and Jimmy Savile.
Enfield's parody of Radio 1's increasing irrelevance to the youth audience it supposedly catered for was a factor in Matthew Bannister's decision to terminate the employment of many older presenters when he became controller of Radio 1 in 1993.
The characters had their own TV special in 1994, following which Enfield retired them, reflecting the changes at Radio 1. However, they returned for Comic Relief in 1997. Whitehouse and Enfield also reprised their roles to present a special edition of Pick of the Pops in 2007, commemorating the 40th birthday of Radio 2 following the death of Alan Freeman.[1] They have been called "one of the great comic creations of our time".[2]
- ^ Plunkett, John (26 June 2007). "Smashie and Nicey return for Radio 2". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ^ Rampton, James (20 September 1994). "The Paul Whitehouse Experience". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2011.