Behind the sofa
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"Behind the sofa" is a British pop culture phrase describing the fearful reaction of hiding behind a
sofa A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, or chesterfield, is a cushioned item of furniture for seating multiple people (although it is not uncommon for a single person to use a couch alone). It is commonly found in the form of a bench with up ...
to avoid seeing frightening parts of a
television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
me, the sofa offering a place to hide from the on-screen threat, with the implication that one wants to remain in the room to watch the rest of the programme. The phrase is most commonly associated with '' Doctor Who''. Although the phrase is sometimes employed in a serious context, its use is usually intended to be humorous or nostalgic.


Origin in ''Doctor Who''

The expression originated from popular media commentary on young children being frightened by episodes of the
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. ...
...
science-fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', particularly during the 1960s to the 1980s. The idea that young children would hide behind furniture when especially frightening scenes and monsters were being shown, as they were unwilling to miss the programme altogether, was also popularised in the media as early as 1973."Still, the Daleks are the boss space horrors, something to get the children hiding behind the sofa." The phrase is strongly associated with ''Doctor Who'' in the United Kingdom, so much so that in 1991 the
Museum of the Moving Image The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios (now Kaufman Astoria Studios), in the Astoria neighborhood in Queens, New York City. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the Amer ...
in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
named its exhibition celebrating the programme "Behind the Sofa". "Everyone remembers hiding behind the sofa," journalist Sinclair McKay wrote of the programme during its thirtieth anniversary year of 1993. "Remember hiding behind the sofa every time ''Doctor Who'' came on the television?" the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'' newspaper asked its readers in a feature article two years later. In a 2006 interview with Sky News, Prince Andrew, Duke of York said that he hid from
Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction on television, science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by write ...
s behind a
Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...
settee while watching ''Doctor Who'' as a child. ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' has presented "hiding behind the sofa whenever the Daleks appear" as a British
cultural institution A cultural institution or cultural organization is an organization within a culture/subculture that works for the preservation or promotion of culture. The term is especially used of public and charitable organizations, but its range of meaning can ...
on a par with
Bovril Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick and salty meat extract paste similar to a yeast extract, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston. It is sold in a distinctive bulbous jar, and as cubes and granules. Bovril is owned and distrib ...
and tea-time; furthermore, it appeared (without any explanation of the idiom) in
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. ...
...
reportage of the
2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign The 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump was formally launched on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower in New York City. Trump was the Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election, having won the most state ...
. Paul Parsons, author of ''The Science of Doctor Who'', explains the appeal of hiding behind the sofa as the activation of the fear response in the
amygdala The amygdala (; plural: amygdalae or amygdalas; also '; Latin from Greek, , ', 'almond', 'tonsil') is one of two almond-shaped clusters of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain's cerebrum in complex verte ...
in conjunction with reassurances of safety from the brain's
frontal lobe The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a groove be ...
. A feature in the Doctor Who Collection Blu-Rays is called Behind the Sofa, featuring actors and other people related to Doctor Who, watching and discussing Classic Series episodes.


In other popular culture

Despite the phrase being so closely associated with ''Doctor Who'', it has also found more general usage in the UK as a humorous or satirical metaphor for being in a state of fear or terror. For example, after he was sacked as the presenter of the comedy programme '' Have I Got News for You'' in 2002 due to revelations about his private life, Angus Deayton released a press statement which concluded: "I sincerely wish the show well in the future and look forward to watching this Friday's episode – from behind the sofa." Another example comes from sports coverage; in a live text commentary on a
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
match in the
2005 Ashes series The 2005 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, with the Ashes held by Australia as the most recent victors. ...
for the
Guardian Unlimited TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...
website, journalist Rob Smyth wrote of one moment during the game: "Now that Warne's gone, it's safe for
Gilo Gilo ( he, גִּלֹה) is an Israeli settlement in south-western East Jerusalem, with a population of 30,000, mostly Jewish inhabitants. Although it is located within the Jerusalem Municipality, it is widely considered a settlement, because a ...
to come out from behind the sofa: his second ball is chipped tantalisingly over the blundering Hoggard at mid-off by Gillespie."
Guardian Unlimited TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...
.
"Third Test, day four. Over-by-over: morning session"
Sunday 14 August 2005. (URL accessed 4 January 2006).
In scripted programming, a reference occurred in a 2001 episode of the BBC
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
''
Coupling A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. The primary purpose of couplings is to join two pieces of rotating equipment while permitting some degree of misalignment or end mov ...
'', where the central character Steve, while extolling the virtues of a sofa, remarks on its usefulness in avoiding
Daleks The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Wh ...
. ''Coupling'' writer
Steven Moffat Steven William Moffat (; born 18 November 1961) is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the science fiction television series ''Doct ...
went on to write for and then become executive producer of the revived series of '' Doctor Who''.


References

{{reflist


External links


Behind the Sofa
The Collaborative Doctor Who Blog
Behind the Sofa
DVD and Blu-ray review show fro
Cult TV
and
Edge Media Television Controversial TV was a television channel broadcast in the UK and Ireland, owned by independent production company Edge Media Television. History The channel launched in June 2008 after the founder, Keith Goodyer, acquired EMTV Ltd. The acqui ...
British culture Doctor Who concepts