{"id":4711,"date":"2021-12-24T14:37:07","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T14:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=4711"},"modified":"2024-02-08T09:16:08","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T09:16:08","slug":"media-tv-phoenix-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=4711","title":{"rendered":"MEDiA: Phoenix Nights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Peter Kay as Brian Potter, svengali and impresario. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A recent bout of insomnia found me watching the entirety of series one and two of Phoenix Nights<\/em>. Having only seen snippets before, watching the whole thing proved to be great fun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Patrick McGuiness and Peter Kay, as Paddy and Max. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I won\u2019t bother synopsising it all. Suffice to say Kay\u2019s Potter character is a wheelchair bound club owner\/manager, looking to run an family friendly old time variety type club, in Bolton. The comedy comes from the characters themselves, the awful acts, and the scrapes one and all get into, entertaining the public and battling Potter\u2019s nemesis, rival nightclub owner, Den Perry (Ted Robbins).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quiz night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I like this series for many reasons. Chiefly because it\u2019s funny. But also because, as they say, it\u2019s got heart. It\u2019s also nice because it foregrounds a good few characters often glossed over in modern TV, such as the disabled, elderly, and other peripheral and\/or \u2018loser\u2019 types. They, like all involved, are treated both savagely and even occasionally tenderly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clinton Baptiste, medium \u2026 to rare. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pretty much all the acts are some shade of awful. From the racist folkies (\u2018send the buggers back!\u2019), to the staff who come to the rescue in Talent Night, when dastardly Den Perry sabotages proceedings. And every episode ends with Potter and co auditioning cringe-worthy hopefuls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A standout for unadulterated appallingness is Clinton Baptiste, the clairvoyant who \u2018didn\u2019t see that coming\u2019. With his bleached mullet, camp accent – \u2018y\u2019alright!\u2019 – and ability to misread everything and everyone to maximum offence effect, he\u2019s really something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The incredible \u2018family friendly\u2019 bouncy castle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I always love knob gags and farting. And whilst there\u2019s a little of the latter, there\u2019s not too much of the former. Except in the episode where they put in a \u2018family friendly\u2019 fundraiser, built around fun for kids and their parents. An unbelievable X-rated bouncy castle is the centrepiece. Whorra lorra laffs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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DJ Ray Avon acts as Kamikaze quiz-meister.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The cast is filled with characters we\u2019ve all seen or encountered, simultaneously utterly ridiculous and yet tragically real. Bouncers Max and Paddy typify a very real breed. As does DJ\/sparky, Ray Von, and MC\/comedian\/fall guy, Jerry St Clair (Dave Spikey), the latter one of the best developed characters after Potter himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Potter mucks in as Elton on Talent Night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s occasionally laugh out loud. Indeed, several segments had me guffawing uncontrollably. But for the most part it\u2019s gently humorous. Many of the scenarios are just plain dumb. But there are also touching moments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rumours of specials a third series, and even a movie, are out there on the net. I believe a couple of one-offs might\u2019ve come to pass? There was a single series spin-off; Max & Paddy\u2019s something or other (a fugitive\u2019s road trip, poss\u2019?) But there\u2019s not really enough. A real pity, as it was a good series. There ought to be much more of it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent bout of insomnia found me watching the entirety of series one and two of Phoenix Nights. Having only seen snippets before, watching the whole thing proved to be great fun. I won\u2019t bother synopsising it all. Suffice to say Kay\u2019s Potter character is a wheelchair bound club owner\/manager, looking to run an family … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “MEDiA: Phoenix Nights”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-1dZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4711"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11473,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711\/revisions\/11473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}