Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
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| Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps | |
|---|---|
 The "Two Pints" title from the first series. |
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| Genre | Sitcom |
| Creator(s) | Susan Nickson |
| Starring | Ralf Little Will Mellor Sheridan Smith Natalie Casey Kathryn Drysdale Beverley Callard Hayley Bishop Lee Oakes |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 6 (plus 1 standalone special) |
| No. of episodes | 55 (as of April 30, 2006) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC Two (Series 1) BBC Choice (Series 2) BBC Three (Series 3-6) |
| Original run | 2001 – Present |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (commonly shortened to Two Pints) is a BBC sitcom written by Susan Nickson. It is set in the town of Runcorn in Cheshire, England and revolves around the lives of five twentysomethings.
The title was inspired by the 1980 hit "Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please" by Splodgenessabounds.
Contents |
[edit] Broadcast
The executive producer of the show, Stephen Crum, began the show after seeing writer Susan Nickson's work on Channel 4's Lloyd's Bank Film Challenge, entitled "Life's A Cunt". Aged just fourteen, Nickson was asked by McCrum to come and work with him after a few years; consequently, Nickson began working on Two Pints in her early twenties.
McCrum tried to persuade the producers of the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks to get Will Mellor and Natalie Casey to work with him, when the two acted on that programme. Casey had to go through several auditions to get the part. McCrum had wanted to work with Sheridan Smith since she began performing at a very young age. Smith auditioned for the part but was turned down; however, she was later cast for the first series, and has been part of the cast ever since. Ralf Little was cast soon after completing work on another BBC sitcom The Royle Family, on which he had also acted with Smith. Although initially reluctant, he agreed to audition when he realised that Two Pints would be very different to The Royle Family. Kathryn Drysdale was brought in after producers saw her perform at her drama school, after performing a certain piece of drama work. After the notice of her, she was then brought in to work on the show.
The show's pilot starred Little and Mellor, though the characters of Janet, Louise and Donna were portrayed by other actresses. Smith, Casey and Drysdale were then cast to be in the first series, and have been acting in the show ever since. Both Ralf and Sheridan, and Will and Natalie play couples Jonny and Janet, and Gaz and Donna. Both couples played couples on-screen in the past. Ralf and Sheridan starred as a couple in The Royle Family, and Will and Natalie portrayed a couple in Hollyoaks. Sheridan stated how lucky she was to work with Ralf after starring together before, as playing such a close couple would have been awkward for them both. Will stated in a past interview how he sees Natalie Casey as a younger sister to him, and mentions that he feels awkward during kissing scenes because of this. Sheridan also classes Natalie as the "mummy" in the show, due to her problem solving and knowledge.
BBC Two broadcast the first series, then the now-defunct BBC Choice screened series two. BBC Choice was rebranded as BBC Three shortly before it screened series three, and has shown the first run of each new series ever since. The channel currently broadcasts repeats of the show on an almost-nightly basis, covering all six present series. Back-to-back episodes are broadcast around 11pm, with a repeat of the two episodes that broadcast the same night, at around 1am-2am. BBC Two also repeat the show, though only once, and is shown every Thursday. UKTV G2 is another channel that show repeats of the sitcom, and occasionally alongside UKTV Gold. With UKTV hardly ever broadcasting in a 16:9 format, the picture can look odd at times, sometimes disturbing viewing pleasure, especially when watching on a widescreen television. UKTV G2 started showing later episodes in 2006 after only broadcasting the first few series. To mark this, the channel displayed "NEW" underneath it's on-screen logo, leading to many people believing that the rights to show new episodes have gone to UKTV.
After series four, in which Jonny was shot by armed police, there was a text and phone vote for the viewers to determine if Jonny should die or not. Series five began with a funeral, which was then revealed to be Flo's, rather than Jonny's.
In 2007, after much speculation, a seventh series was commissioned, as it to be broadcast the first quarter of 2007 on BBC Three, and rumoured to be of thirteen episodes. Broadcast dates have yet to be confirmed. The speculation began after the showing of the series six finale, which led many people to believe the characters have been killed off (read below for more information). However, after many interviews and rumours, a seventh series was confirmed. In an interview, Ralf Little stated in the future he would be doing "more Two Pints", and commentary on the series six DVD seemed to hint at the fact the show hasn't finished. Will Mellor hinted on television interviews, one being Loose Women, and more or less confirming it on The New Paul O'Grady Show, after saying statements like "we'll keep on making it".
[edit] Characters
[edit] Jonny Keogh
Played by Ralf Little: Jonny is a sweet devoting husband to Janet. He loves daytime television, eating cat food (he just can't resist those meaty chunks in jelly), desiccated coconut, Liverpool FC and carpets. He has an abnormal fetish for biscuits, especially Jammie Dodgers, but hates bourbons and rich tea biscuits. Likes egg butties too.
[edit] Janet Keogh née Smith
Played by Sheridan Smith: Janet Keogh (born Smith) is the more homely girl of the group who loves "things that go bleep bleep", alcoholic vimto, fags and - unlike Jonny - rich tea biscuits. She is a fan of Coronation Street. Janet originally worked in Sayers Bakery, until she beat Donna for the position of manager at The Archer, shortly before it was closed down by Health and Safety Inspectors. In 2005, Janet gave birth to her a first child, Corinthian McVitie Keogh (Jonny thought of the name).
[edit] Gaz Wilkinson
Played by Will Mellor: Gaz is a typical bloke who likes football, Manchester City FC, beer, sex, Hollyoaks and Monarch of the Glen. He is an avid collector of porn and believes life's greatest pleasure is urinating in a dark alley. Gaz is terrified of sheep, and has two sisters (Julie and Tasha) and a half-brother called "Munch" (who he only found out about in series three). His favourite books include The Lust of the Mohicans, Pleasure Island, Moby Dick and Macbiff. Gaz is a mechanic at Brindley Autos, which was previously owned by his dad until Donna bought it off him when he announced he was selling it.
[edit] Donna Henshaw
Played by Natalie Casey: The gobby one of the gang who is known to be a bit of a goer. She loves people who can make socks talk, The Carpenters, popping bubble wrap and her friends, not to mention a bit of night time action. She dislikes vegetarian students and thin people who diet. Donna also has a younger estranged brother called Dion who Gaz thought was a "little bastard", and a sister called Katie. Donna was employed by O'Connor's Plastics selling buckets until she was fired after stealing and then crashing a company van.
[edit] Louise Brooks
Played by Kathryn Drysdale: Louise, who recently graduated, is desperate to find the perfect man. She loves horoscopes, Coronation Street, collecting Sylvanian Families, balloon animals, Steps and the Disney Shop. She dislikes old people and fears getting old. She is overly childish, naive, insensitive and annoying which proves quite a turnoff to most men she meets.
[edit] Floella "Flo" Henshaw
Played by Beverley Callard: Flo Henshaw, the thinking man's strumpet, loves sex, sex and more sex. She also likes to stand in front of the window naked and the word "valves". When she was a girl she used to amuse herself by painting giant penises on toilet doors. She was killed after being run over by a truck, and her funeral took part at the beginning of series five, from which the grief made Donna extremely horny, to a point she would have even done it with the Vicar.
[edit] "Munch" Wilkinson
Played by Lee Oakes: Munch is Gaz's half brother he never knew about. He's a bit of a yoghurt (according to Gaz of all people) and is not allowed to hang around people too much. He'd love to find a girlfriend but has to make do with the girl with sick on her every Friday night, even though he'd like a bit of Donna. His fixation for Donna stems from the time he stumbled across her waiting for Gaz in her kinky nurse's outfit one night. Later, Donna and Munch became sort of friends, much to Gaz's distaste as he felt Munch was invading his life. He was not seen during series six.
[edit] Kelly the Barmaid
Played by Hayley Bishop: Kelly worked at Runcorn's local Sayers Bakery and at The Archer with Janet before it was closed down. Everyone thinks she is rather weird and she is always desperate for sex with anyone, mainly old men at The Archer. Kelly also enjoys climaxing in public while speaking to her friends.
[edit] David Fish
Played by Jonathon Dutton: In series three Louise gets a secret admirer who turns out to be a geeky guy from school who's turned into a rather good looking bloke with a strange "Australian" accent, which may have something to do with the fact he's been living in Melbourne for the last eight years.
[edit] Kate
Played by Alison Mac: Kate was a temporary barmaid at The Archer, was Jonny's new girlfriend after splitting from Janet at the beginning of Series 4. Classed as the "ideal girlfriend" doing anything for her partner, she and Jonny constantly performed various sexual acts on each other, including being fingered in a Daewoo and having sex in Gaz's pornography cupboard. None of the others were fond on her, and she decided to leave with Jonny when she was put off by them when Gaz planned to have sex with her. Jonny decided to stay and dumped her. She actually turned out to be quite a controlling person towards the end of her and Jonny's relationship and was quite a "clingy" person in the end.
[edit] Locations
Many of the places featured on Two Pints are actual real places:
- The Archer is a real pub. However in real life it's called The Waterloo and is only used for the exterior shots (the interior scenes are filmed in a London studio). The Waterloo can be found at 88 High Street in the Old Town area of Runcorn, near the canal.
- Sayer's Bakery where Janet works is also real, being located at 30 Church Street, Runcorn Old Town.
- Gaz's workshop (Brindley Autos) can be found on Brindley Street in the northwest of the town under one of the rail bridge's arches.
- The Castle ruins featured in the opening title sequence are those of Halton Castle, in the east of the town.
- The exterior of Gaz's flat is real too. It can be found opposite the indoor market near Alcock Street and the bus station in the Old Town.
- Janet and Jonny's house can be found at 9 Clarks Terrace, in the Weston Point area of Runcorn.
[edit] Episodes
As of 30 April 2006 there have been fifty five episodes over six series since 2001.
[edit] Series seven (2007)
The BBC have confirmed that a seventh series has been commissioned, and is due to air sometime between March to April. It has been rumoured that thirteen episodes are to be broadcast, although no broadcast dates have been announced. It was reported in the weekly news on 18 January 2007, that the cast of Two Pints started recording in February. According to a local Runcorn newspaper, The Waterloo (The Archer) will be used in the new series, therefore meaning The Archer could reopen in series seven, as it was closed by health inspectors in the series six finale. The cast have been seen recording in Runcorn this week beginning 5 March 2007, although they have not been recording at The Archer as of yet[citation needed].
[edit] DVD
Series one to six are available on DVD. Series six was released 4 September 2006 [1] [2]. Before, there was a conflict with the release dates (Play.com stated 4 September and Amazon.co.uk stated 11 September). All six series were released as one DVD box set on 16 October 2006 [3] [4].
For several weeks, Amazon.co.uk stated that the sixth series will also be available as a DVD double pack with series five on 16 October 2006. However, as of 16 October 2006, this DVD set is stated as "unavailable" [5] and as of this date, no other UK supplies have show any page for this product so it could possibly be an error by Amazon.
[edit] Trivia
- The Archer and The Mayhew (the other pub only featured in the first series) are named after the script editor, Paul Mayhew-Archer. The Mayhew is also a real pub, like The Archer and is known in real life as The Wellington Inn, found on Wellington Street also in the Old Town.
