''Big Train'' is a British television
sketch show created by
Arthur Mathews and
Graham Linehan. The first series was broadcast on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
in 1998, while the second, in which Linehan was not involved, aired in 2002.
Overview
The series starred the actors
Kevin Eldon,
Mark Heap, and
Simon Pegg in both series one and two, with
Julia Davis and
Amelia Bullmore in the first series (
Nick Frost also appeared in two episodes), and
Rebecca Front,
Tracy-Ann Oberman and
Catherine Tate in the second series. All have starred in a variety of other comedy shows including ''
I'm Alan Partridge
''I'm Alan Partridge'' is a British sitcom written by Steve Coogan, Peter Baynham and Armando Iannucci. Coogan stars as Alan Partridge, a tactless and inept radio DJ and television presenter who has been left by his wife and dropped from the BB ...
'', ''
Look Around You'', ''
Spaced'', ''
Smack the Pony'', ''
Brass Eye'' and ''
Green Wing.'' Catherine Tate went on to get her own show on the BBC, ''
The Catherine Tate Show''. 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'' (2000).
The title of the show is derived from the song run during the credits, "Big Train", which was recorded by
Max Greger and his Orchestra. The