Little Britain (TV series)

Little Britain
Genre	Sketch comedy
Created by	David Walliams Matt Lucas
Written by	David Walliams Matt Lucas
Starring	David Walliams Matt Lucas Anthony Head Ruth Jones Charu Bala Chokshi Stirling Gallacher Joann Condon Paul Putner Sally Rogers
Narrated by	Tom Baker
Composer	David Arnold
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	3 (original), 1 (USA)
No. of episodes	44 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	BBC
Original release
Network	BBC Radio 4
Release	3 August 2000 (2000-08-03) – 5 March 2002 (2002-03-05)
Network	BBC Three (2003–2004) BBC One (2005–2006)[N 1]
Release	9 February 2003 (2003-02-09) – 30 December 2006 (2006-12-30)
Related
Little Britain USA Rock Profile Come Fly with Me
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Little Britain is a British sketch comedy series that began as a radio show in 2000 and ran as a television series between 2003 and 2006. It was written and performed by David Walliams and Matt Lucas. Financed by the BBC, the radio series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, with the initial two television series premiering on BBC Three and the third and final series on BBC One.

The programme consists of sketches involving exaggerated parodies of British people from various walks of life. Each sketch was introduced by a voice-over narration (Tom Baker) suggesting that the programme was a guide – aimed at non-British people – to British society. Despite the narrator's description of "great British institutions", the comedy arises from the British audience's self-deprecating understanding of themselves or people known to them. Recurring characters included Andy Pipkin, who falsely presented himself as requiring the use of a wheelchair to gain the attention of his carer Lou Todd; Daffyd Thomas, who claims to be "the only gay in the village" despite much evidence to the contrary; and Vicky Pollard, presented as a working-class "chav" engaging in anti-social behaviour.

The programme's title was inspired by both Great Britain and the phrase Little Englander, referring to narrow-mindedness and complacent insularity.^[1] It is also the name of a London street described by Washington Irving as "a stronghold of true John Bullism". The radio show was trailed as "exploring British life in Britain as it is lived by Britons today in Britain".^[2] It spawned a live show, which toured internationally between 2005 and 2007, various specials for the Comic Relief charity marathons, and the HBO-produced Little Britain USA spin-off in 2008. Walliams and Lucas followed Little Britain with another sketch show, Come Fly with Me.

The series was popular and received high viewing figures, receiving 9.5 million viewers following its move to BBC One in 2005.^[3] Despite the series's popularity, commentators expressed concern on the impact that the show had on the large numbers of children who watched it, despite being aired after the watershed and on the heavy use of toilet humour, particularly in the second and third series. Criticism was also raised regarding the perceived derogatory manner in which Little Britain depicted racial and ethnic minority groups. In 2017, Lucas stated that he had agreed with the latter criticism. In June 2020, the show was pulled from various UK streaming services due to its use of blackface. In March 2022, the BBC made Little Britain available to view on BBC iPlayer again, with some of the more controversial characters being cut from the original release.^[4]

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