Absolutely

1989 - United Kingdom

Absolutely drew together a new breed of relatively unknown (mainly Scottish) comics and pretty much gave them free licence to create a collection of surreal and silly sketches and songs. Like Monty Python years before the performers were also the writers and the sketches stretched from the sublime to the ridiculous, but unlike Python, Absolutely featured a number of recurring characters who have since become cult figures. Morwenna Banks (now an established actress, writer and director) often played a whining St Trinian's type schoolgirl sitting on a large table or desk (to make her appear small) and the sketches she appeared in often ended in her exclaiming "It is, it's twue!"; Jack Docherty was the extreme Scottish nationalist and playwright MacGlashan ("All English are pooves"); John Sparkes developed the character of a grumpy old man called Bert, complete with Zimmer frame; Stoneybridge Town Council (played by the entire cast) were originally created to lampoon the (then) trend of small-town self-promotional travelogue videos, but soon became a parody of all local councils. Other members of the cast included Moray Hunter, Peter Baikie and Gordon Kennedy. 

After the show finished in 1993 a spin-off appeared; Mr. Don and Mr. George (6 episodes) and a pilot appeared on BBC2 for a series called Mac, a sitcom based around MacGlashan and his long-suffering brother Finley. 

Published on November 26th, 2018. Noel Onely.

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