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''Big Train'' is a British television
sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and i ...
created by Arthur Mathews and
Graham Linehan Graham Linehan () (born 22 May 1968) is an Irish television writer and anti-transgender activist. He created or co-created the sitcoms ''Father Ted'' (1995–1998), ''Black Books'' (2000–2004) and '' The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013). He has also ...
. The first series was broadcast on BBC Two in 1998, while the second, in which Linehan was not involved, aired in 2002.


Overview

The series starred the actors
Kevin Eldon Kevin Eldon (born 2 October 1959) is an English actor and comedian. He featured in British comedy television shows of the 1990s including ''Fist of Fun'', '' This Morning with Richard Not Judy'', '' Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge' ...
,
Mark Heap Mark Heap (born 13 May 1957) is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his roles in television comedies, including, '' Brass Eye'', '' Big Train'', ''Spaced'', '' Jam'', ''Green Wing'', ''Friday Night Dinner'', '' Upstart Crow'' and '' ...
, and
Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...
in both series one and two, with
Julia Davis Julia Charlotte L. Davis (born 25 August 1966) is an English actress, comedian, director and writer. She is known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy '' Nighty Night'' (2004–2005) and the comedies ''Hunderby'' (2012–2015) and ...
and
Amelia Bullmore Amelia Mary Bullmore (born 31 January 1964) is an English actress, screenwriter and playwright. She is known for her roles in ''Coronation Street'' (1990–1992), ''I'm Alan Partridge'' (2002), '' Ashes to Ashes'' (2008–2009), '' Twenty Twelve ...
in the first series (
Nick Frost Nicholas Jonathan Frost (born 28 March 1972) is a British actor, author, comedian, painter, producer and screenwriter. He has appeared in the ''Three Flavours Cornetto'' trilogy of films, consisting of ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz ...
also appeared in two episodes), and
Rebecca Front Rebecca Louise Front (born 16 May 1964) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for '' The Thick of It'' (2009–2012).Jennifer Lipma"Bafta for Jewish actress Rebecca Front" ...
,
Tracy-Ann Oberman Tracy-Ann Oberman (born Tracy Anne Oberman; 25 August 1966) is an English actress, playwright and narrator. She is widely known for roles including Chrissie Watts in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' (2004–2005) and Valerie Lewis or "Auntie ...
and
Catherine Tate Catherine Jane Ford (born 5 December 1969), known professionally as Catherine Tate, is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series '' The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–2007) ...
in the second series. All have starred in a variety of other comedy shows including '' I'm Alan Partridge'', ''
Look Around You ''Look Around You'' is a comedic parody of British science television shows, devised and written by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, and narrated in the first series by Nigel Lambert. The first series of eight 10-minute shorts was shown in ...
'', ''
Spaced ''Spaced'' is a British television sitcom created, written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, about the (comedic and sometimes farcical and action-packed) misadventures of Daisy Steiner and Tim Bi ...
'', ''
Smack the Pony ''Smack the Pony'' is a British sketch comedy show that was originally broadcast between 1999 and 2003 on Channel 4. The main performers on the show were Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips. There were also regular appearances from ...
'', ''
Brass Eye ''Brass Eye'' is a British satirical television series parodying current affairs news programming. A series of six episodes aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001. The series was created and presented by Chris Morris, written ...
'' and ''
Green Wing ''Green Wing'' is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show '' Smack the Pony'' – Channel 4 commissioner Caroline Leddy and producer Victoria Pile – and stars Mark H ...
.'' Catherine Tate went on to get her own show on the BBC, ''
The Catherine Tate Show ''The Catherine Tate Show'' is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Derren Litten. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. ''The Catherine Tate Show'' airs on ...
''. The first series was directed by Graham Linehan and other series contributors included David Mitchell. The pilot episode was directed by Chris Morris but was never broadcast in full. Some sketches from the pilot are scattered through the series. Apart from Pegg, all of the first series regular cast members subsequently starred in Morris' sketch comedy ''
Jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and ente ...
'' (2000). The title of the show is derived from the song run during the credits, "Big Train", which was recorded by
Max Greger Max Greger (April 2, 1926, Munich – August 15, 2015, Munich) was a German jazz musician, saxophonist, big band bandleader and conductor. He recorded over 150 records in jazz and pop music. In 1948 he founded his first sextet with acclaimed m ...
and his Orchestra. The writers were fond enough of the song to name the show after it. The song has since been adopted for a commercial for
Virgin Trains Virgin Trains (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from ...
. Both series were shot entirely on location (series one on 35mm film and series two on
DigiBeta Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, "Betacam" singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself. All ...
) and later shown to a live audience so that a
laugh track A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most common ...
could be recorded.


Comedy style and notable sketches

Following in the tradition of Monty Python, the comedy of ''Big Train'' is based on the subversion of ordinary situations by the surreal or macabre. For example, one
scene Scene (from Greek σκηνή ''skēnḗ'') may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Scene (subculture), a youth subculture from the early 2000s characterized by a distinct music and style. Groups and performers * The Scene who reco ...
features a bad-mannered man casually stabbed to death by his embarrassed wife at a dinner party. In a recurring sketch from the first series, an animated staring contest is accompanied by commentary from
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
football commentator
Barry Davies Barry George Davies MBE (born 24 October 1937) is an English retired sports commentator and television presenter. He covered a wide range of sports in a long career, primarily for the BBC. Although best known for his football commentary, D ...
and comedy actor and impressionist
Phil Cornwell Philip Cornwell (born 5 October 1957) is an English actor, comedian, impressionist and writer. He is part of the '' Dead Ringers'' television and radio series, and was the voice of Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band Gorillaz. Cornwell has co- ...
. The Stare-out Championship was based on a self-published comic book by Paul Hatcher and was animated by Chris Shepherd. The championship is portrayed as a huge event akin to the
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
and the anecdotes told by the commentators often echoed those from real sporting events, such as performance enhancing drugs, streakers and the theft of the trophy. Some other notable sketches included: *A
Ming the Merciless Ming the Merciless is a fictional character who first appeared in the ''Flash Gordon'' comic strip in 1934. He has since been the main villain of the strip and its related movie serials, television series and film adaptation. Ming is depicted as ...
-style galactic despot that struggles to subjugate planets and imprison princes while doing the housework, checking his answerphone and being hospitalised after 'slipping on the little mat that goes around the toilet'. *A romantic drama conducted entirely in French in which a woman has a relationship with a set of temporary traffic lights, much to the anguish of her human admirer. *Fat handed t***' -A man with unfeasibly large hands that is ridiculed by members of the public when engaging in any kind of detailed work, such as embroidery. *An office manager who repeatedly distracts his employees - when they demand their promised overtime payment - with magic tricks, juggling and cute animals before running from the office, hailing a taxicab and flying away aboard an airliner. *An English tourist asking two Frenchmen for directions, only to have them nonchalantly respond, in perfect English, that they can't understand her as they don't speak English. *A series of sketches in which 1970s and 1980s pop musicians were placed in unusual or surreal contexts (such as Kevin Rowland from
Dexys Midnight Runners Dexys Midnight Runners (currently officially Dexys, their former nickname, styled without an apostrophe) are an English pop rock band from Birmingham, with soul influences, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They a ...
being reanimated as
Frankenstein's Monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...
,
Daryl Hall Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock music, rock, rhythm and blues, R&B and soul music, soul singer and musician, best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Daryl ...
and John Oates acting as
social workers Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
, and Chaka Khan as a Wild West bounty hunter pursuing
The Bee Gees ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
).


Transmission details

''Big Train'' originally aired on BBC Two on Monday nights during the following periods: * Series one (6 episodes): 9 November – 14 December 1998 * Series two (6 episodes): 7 January – 11 February 2002


Reception

Despite running for two series, ''Big Train'' attracted only a limited audience. Even so, the series was well received by critics, with the first series voted "Best 'Broken Comedy' Show" at the prestigious
British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...
in 1999. ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' called the show "divine". Reviewing the DVD, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' wrote: "Like most sketch shows, ''Big Train'' is not without its misses, but as a breeding ground for comedy talent and a forefather to such modern-day hits as '' Little Britain'' and ''
That Mitchell and Webb Look ''That Mitchell and Webb Look'' is a British sketch comedy television show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb that ran from 2006 to 2010. Many of its characters and sketches were first featured in the duo's radio show ''That Mitchell and W ...
'', it remains a gem, boasting some of the finest performances Pegg, Davis and the rest have ever delivered", whilst another author of the same publication called it "one of the most original and most consistently funny sketch shows in years".


Home media

The Complete Series 1 and 2 has been released in the US and the UK. From March 2021, both series became available on Britbox.


References


External links

* * *
''Big Train''
on TV.com {{Arthur Mathews 1998 British television series debuts 2002 British television series endings 1990s British television sketch shows 2000s British television sketch shows BBC television sketch shows English-language television shows Television series by Fremantle (company) Television series created by Graham Linehan