The Catherine Tate Show
The Catherine Tate Show is an award-winning television sketch show which airs on BBC Two. Comedienne Catherine Tate writes and appears in all of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters.
The first series of the show, which consisted of six episodes, aired from February 2004 to March 2004. A DVD release of this series is currently planned for August 2005.
A second series is currently airing on Thursday nights on BBC Two.
Series One (2004)
Characters who regularly appeared in Series One included:
Lauren the Teenager - Lauren is a comprehensive school student with a bad attitude. She frequently responds to unfavourable situations by continually asking, "Am I bothered? Am I bothered though?" If insulted, she asks, "Are you disrespecting me? Are you disrespecting me and my family?" Sketches throughout the series saw Lauren arguing with authority figures such as train inspectors, teachers, as well as her friends.
Lauren is one of the most popular characters with fans, as well as arguably being the most recognisable from the show.
Nan Taylor- The foul-mouthed grandmother - This sketch involves an old woman who is frequently visited by her well-mannered grandson. The visits usually start off well enough, with the grandmother showing how grateful she is that her grandson has come to see her. However, things usually take a turn for the worse after she starts to make unfavourable comments about her neighbours, family, and home help visitors. One episode saw the grandson take her to a pound shop.
The office workers - This sketch follows two office workers who sit next to each other. While one is usually keen to get on with her work, she is frequently disturbed by the other, who is played by Tate. Tate continually makes conversation about her lifestyle, inviting her co-worker to "Have a guess!" on such delicate situations as how much weight she has lost, how many miles she can run, and how much money she paid for her holiday. While the sensible worker is reluctant to go along with the game, she is pressured into making a "wild guess", which almost always results in Tate's character becoming insulted and offensive.
Paul and Sam- The London couple - A happily married, yet slightly simple, couple, who find unfunny situations surprisingly hilarious.
Bernie- The incompetent nurse - An Irish nurse who borders on being sacked in every episode. She frequently makes inappropriate remarks to her patients, takes critically ill members of the public on wild nights out, and mixes up the records of patients who are dead and alive.
Bunte- The over-aged majorette - A woman who insists on being allowed to perform in a children's majorettes team, as there is no age limit. Her obsession with the club results in the owner contacting the police and obtaining a restraining order.
Elaine Figgis- The bride of a killer - A woman who appears in a documentary, following her engagement and eventual marriage to a convicted killer on death row in the US.
The jumpy woman - A woman who squeals with terror at the simplest of everyday situations.
The help desk worker - A woman who works at a help desk in a shopping centre. When shoppers ask for her assistance, she usually misunderstands them or mistakingly believes that they are trying to engage in friendly conversation with her.
Other characters include:
The airhead - An American woman who starts every sentence with the words 'and I'm like...'
The middle class mother - A woman who goes into a state of shock as she tells her children that 'daddy hasn't been able to find any good brie' on his business trip to France, thereby jeopardising the school picnic.
Comic Relief 2005
Tate made an appearance during the BBC's Comic Relief telethon in March 2005, in the guise of Lauren the Teenager. In a section of the show which saw fans of McFly asking questions to the group, Lauren decided to ask, "Why are you so rubbish?" When told by Simon Amstell, who was hosting the segment, that only positive questions were allowed, Lauren used a variety of her catchphrases, including, "Am I bothered?" and "Are you calling me stupid?"
Lauren was then 'ordered' to ask a more positive question to the group, and confused them with Busted, asking, "Are you gutted that Charlie left?"
Best Of (2005)
In the months preceding the launch of the second series, BBC Two aired three 'Best Of' episodes, featuring a variety of the funniest clips from the six episodes of Series One, including Lauren the teenager and the foul-mouthed gran. Meanwhile, repeats of all six episodes of the first series aired on UKTV G2
Series Two (2005)
The second series began airing in July 2005. Following Tate's Comic Relief appearance, and news of her non-existent feud with David Schwimmer, it received slightly more publicity than Series One in the run-up to the first episode. BBC Two also promoted the series by running trailers showing Lauren arguing with a furry dog in the shape of the channel's logo. The programme had a successful lead-in from Ricky Gervais' newest sitcom, Extras, and the first episode attracted 3.39 million viewers.
For the second series, the opening sequence was completely revamped, and Kirsty MacColl's "In These Shoes" was no longer used as the theme tune.
Many of the most popular sketches from Series One returned for the second series, including Gran, the London couple, Bernie the Irish nurse, "Have a guess!" and Lauren. Following on from her Comic Relief appearance, one notable change in Lauren is that she has started to become insulting without being provoked, while in the past, her catchphrase of "Am I bothered?" was only used after Lauren believed that she had been wronged in some way.
New characters include:
Derek - a man who shows several signs of being gay, but becomes extremely insulted and offended when confronted with this. In the first episode, he continually complained, "How very dare you!" and asked, "Who, dear? Me, dear? No, dear!" which are likely to become his catchphrases as this series progresses.
Allie - an extremely tactless woman, who unintentionally offends people after being introduced to them. Afterwards, she becomes embarrassed and tries to look for an escape from the conversation as quickly as possible. In an interview, Tate said that this character was partly based on herself.
Another new character, who is so far unnamed, is an old woman who disapproves of the behaviour of everybody around her, but then becomes embarrassing herself by passing wind loudly.