Gimme Gimme Gimme
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gimme Gimme Gimme | |
|---|---|
 Part of the Gimme Gimme Gimme title sequence. |
|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Creator(s) | Jonathan Harvey |
| Developer(s) | Jonathan Harvey Kathy Burke |
| Starring | Kathy Burke James Dreyfus Brian Bovell Beth Goddard Rosalind Knight |
| Opening theme | "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" |
| Ending theme | "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | John Plowman Peter Bennet-Jones Mark Chapman |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC1 |
| Original run | January 8, 1999 – December 14, 2001 |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Gimme Gimme Gimme is a BBC television comedy by Tiger Aspect Productions that ran for three series between 1999 and 2001. It was written by Jonathan Harvey. The theme song for this comedy was ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)".
[edit] Premise
Gimme Gimme Gimme stars comedienne and director Kathy Burke as loudmouthed Londoner Linda La Hughes. Linda is characterised by her red perm, white glasses, and lycra clad figure. While being boorish and unattractive Linda is convinced she is a "stunner", and is diagnosed with reversed-body dysmorphic disorder in series three. Linda shares a flat with homosexual actor Tom Farrell, played by James Dreyfus. Tom is melodramatic yet fails in his desire to get acting roles. He believes himself to be truly gifted in the art of acting, and often blames his agents or society itself when he does not succeed to gain a role. He did appear in one episode of EastEnders and often brags about it, delaying for as long as he can the fact that he was in one scene, had one line and did nothing but buy a cagoule from a stall. He also appeared in Daylight Robbery as an extra standing in a queue in the background. He had one line but it was cut due to timekeeping. He insists that the entire series was ruined due to the axing of his line.
Although they appear to loathe each other Tom and Linda are beholden to each other due to the simple fact that nobody else can stand them. They are in many ways very alike, selfish, unsuccessful, and physically and personally unattractive. The hapless duo live in a Kentish Town flat rented from elderly ex-prostitute Beryl Merit (Rosalind Knight). Other regular characters are Jez (Brian Bovell), a man who both Tom and Linda lust after, and his wife Suze (Beth Goddard), a horny couple. Another returning character is Sugar Walls (Elaine Lordan), Linda's superstar sister.
Guest appearances have been made by Simon Shepherd, Su Pollard and Rose Keegan. When Su Pollard (playing Heidi Honeycombe) made her appearance, it led to a pun where Linda greeted her with the words "Heidi! Hi!" (a reference to Pollard playing Peggy Ollerenshaw in Hi-de-Hi!).
Much of Gimme Gimme Gimme's humour springs from its lubricious innuendo subplot, which springs from the mouths of both Tom and Linda. Often accused of being crass and tasteless, the show should be taken at face value, the characters being too theatrical and over-the-top to be taken seriously.
At the end of series three, Tom left the flat having finally got his big break in TV soap opera Crossroads. The last episode ended with Linda taking off her hair (revealing it to be a wig) and sitting in flat alone.
