''Ideal'' is a British
dark comedy television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed ...
originally broadcast on TV channel
BBC Three, created by
Graham Duff
Graham Duff (born 13 April 1964) is an English writer, actor and producer. He was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, and lives in Brighton. He graduated from the University of Brighton. His work for TV and radio is typified by intricate plotting ...
and produced by
BBC Comedy North and
Baby Cow Productions. It stars
Johnny Vegas as small-time
cannabis dealer Moz.
''Ideal'' is set in
Salford,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tamesid ...
, chosen because Duff was familiar with the area, having done many stand-up gigs there during his youth. Most of the series takes place in Moz's
flat and revolves around the eclectic array of characters who visit Moz to buy cannabis, socialise or both. The closing theme is "Song of the Oss" from the album ''Nuada: Music Inspired By the Film the Wicker Man'' composed by British band
Candidate. The series features a number of tracks by Californian hip hop group
Ugly Duckling and
Pizzicato Five.
''Ideal'' was broadcast on BBC Three in the UK, on entertainment channel
3e in Ireland and on
ABC2 in Australia. First broadcast in 2005, seven series have been shown; the most recent ended on 30 June 2011. After the seventh series, ''Ideal'' was cancelled by the BBC. Following the announcement, writer and creator Graham Duff wrote to fans "As some of you may have heard, the BBC have decided against commissioning an 8th series of Ideal. The reason given was that the new channel controller wanted to make a clean sweep. It is a source of both pride and frustration that, at the point of cancellation, Ideal was attracting its biggest ever audiences, its highest profile guest stars and its best ever reviews. And the show is now being screened in more countries than ever before – from America to Finland and beyond".
Characters
* Moz (
Johnny Vegas): a small-time cannabis dealer who has been dealing for a number of years from his flat in
Salford which he used to share with his girlfriend Nicki but now shares with his new girlfriend Jenny. He deals only in the many varieties of
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in variou ...
and sees himself as 'providing a crucial service to the community". Moz rarely sets foot outside the front door of his apartment and seems to have no concept of keeping the flat tidy.
* Nicki (
Nicola Reynolds): Moz's girlfriend for the first four series. She and Moz have a love/hate relationship, with Nicki constantly nagging Moz about the state of the flat. Nicki can be very assertive and openly opposed to several of Moz's more distinctive shortcomings.
* Cartoon Head aka
Golova Sharzh (
James Foster, series one /
David Sant, series two): a man who never speaks and always wears a mask resembling a cartoon mouse.
* Craig / Steve (
Seymour Leon Mace): the irritating loner Craig wasn't originally one of Moz's regular clients but after someone has recommended Moz as a good dealer to him, he keeps pestering Moz to let him visit the flat.
* 'Psycho' Paul Nevin (Ryan Pope): originally a rival dealer to Moz, Psycho Paul now works with Cartoon Head.
* PC Phil Collins (
Tom Goodman-Hill): Moz's mate and also his chief supplier. PC is a
police constable for the
Greater Manchester Police. He supplies Moz with weed which has been seized from other dealers during raids. PC is a useful contact for Moz, tipping him off as to what the latest police activity is - information which proves vital when the
CID plan to raid the flat.
* Troy (
Tony Burgess, also co-writer): Moz's half-brother.
* Kuldip (
Ronny Jhutti): a former close friend of Moz. A relatively successful DJ (which Troy resents), he has a regular slot as a DJ at the local nightclub. He often boasts to Moz about the number of
white label records he has in his box.
* Judith (
Joanna Neary): moves in across the hall from Moz at the start of series two. She is a timid, demure
necrophiliac who is constantly saying "sorry". She soon becomes the dealer's potential love interest; they are mutually attracted but he is disgusted at the idea of her having sex with dead bodies.
* Jenny (
Sinead Matthews
Sinead Matthews (born ) is an English actress whose credits include film, television and stage. Her notable TV roles include Marcia Williams in '' The Crown''.
She was born in Coventry, England, and attended Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School ...
): a dim-witted young adult who becomes Moz's girlfriend near the end of series four.
* Felix (Des O'Malley): the teenage father of Jenny's baby.
* Stemroach (
David Bradley): the sinister gangland boss who employs Cartoon Head and Psycho Paul as his henchmen.
* Brian (
Graham Duff
Graham Duff (born 13 April 1964) is an English writer, actor and producer. He was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, and lives in Brighton. He graduated from the University of Brighton. His work for TV and radio is typified by intricate plotting ...
, who is also creator and writer of the show); a very camp and flamboyant homosexual.
* Colin (
Ben Crompton): a bouncy, childlike petty criminal who is usually on
probation, as he frequently reminds people.
* Carmel (
Hanne Steen
Hanne is a feminine given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Hanne Blank (born 1969), American historian, writer, editor and public speaker
* Hanne Budtz (1915–2004), Danish politician and lawyer
* Hanne Darboven (born 1941), German ...
): a Spanish escort.
* Sangita (
Sunetra Sarker): one of Moz's regular customers for a period.
* Yasuko (
Haruka Kuroda): a bubbly and naive Japanese woman with a cleaning
compulsion.
* Derrick (
Alfie Joey): another regular customer whose obsession with vegetables Moz finds very boring.
* China (
Natalie Gumede): along with her friend Asia, is one of Moz's regular clients.
* Asia (
Rebecca Atkinson): friend of China's, who finds Moz to be repulsive.
* Silicon Valets (pronounced "Silicon Valleys"): Lee and Jason together are Silicon Valets, a pop group of indeterminate quality and style, who drop by to buy drugs and brag about their success.
:* Jason (
Tim Fallows): a member of the same
boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Ma ...
as Lee.
* Kim and Miko (Jessica Peh and
Haruka Abe): Friends of Yasuko who are members of a Japanese
girl band.
* Tanya (
Emma Fryer): Colin's sister and also baby Sanjeev's health visitor.
* Alan (Peter Slater): the foreman of the builders who renovate Moz's flat after the fire.
* Marco (
Andrew Lawrence): Alan's assistant builder.
* Reverend Jeff "Fist" Fistwick (Graham Duff; uncredited and in a mask): His flat is usually dark and unlit and Fist seems to spend a lot of time watching people come and go, seemingly with sinister intent.
* Chen (
Hon Ping Tan
Hon or HON may refer to:
People
* Han (Chinese surname), Han (surname) (Chinese: 韩/韓), also romanized Hon
* Louis Hon (1924–2008), French footballer
* Priscilla Hon (born 1998), Australian tennis player
Other uses
* Hon (Baltimore), ...
): a member of the Low Triad, initially working for Min Yin Low.
* Tony (
Dan Li): also a member of the Low Triad, initially working for Min Yin Low.
* Keith (
Mick Miller): Moz's long lost stepfather.
* Xavier (
Michael Kofi): a member of Psycho Paul's gang. He is infatuated by how comfortable one of Moz's chairs is.
* Dawn (
Julia Davis): Jenny's mum who has
cataracts.
* Jake/Dinos (
Dylan Edwards) & (Sam Fletcher): Conjoined Twins.
* Carol (
Jo Enright): Keith's blind girlfriend.
* Tilly (
Janeane Garofalo): Moz's new neighbour in flat 6.
* Mr. Rupani (
Vincent Ebrahim): Moz's landlord, as well as the landlord of the other flats in the block.
* Jess (
Elinor Crawley
Elinor Crawley (born 8 November 1991) is a Welsh actress. She is best known for her role as Thyri in the television series ''Vikings'' and for portraying Cecily of York in '' The White Queen''.
Early life and education
Crawley was diagnosed w ...
): Nicki's sister/daughter.
* Amanda with the weird eyes: An
unseen character (save for one scene in the final episode of series one, in which she is only seen from the back).
Guest stars
Guest stars have included
Graham Fellows (as Dr Persil),
Sean Lock (as Natalie/Nathaniel, Brian's
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
partner),
Mark Radcliffe,
Jason Manford (as Jack),
Mark E Smith (as
Jesus Christ),
Paul Weller,
Kara Tointon,
Barry Adamson (as Brian's hitman boyfriend),
Alan Yentob (as himself) and
Rula Lenska (as the Red King).
Series overview
Episodes
Each series of ''Ideal'' has a different coloured title sequence.
Series 1 was
sepia;
the Christmas special was
red;
Series 2 was
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
;
Series 3 was
green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
;
Series 4 was
purple;
Series 5 was red;
Series 6 was
yellow
Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In ...
and Series 7 is
bondi blue.
Series 1 (2005)
Series 2 (2006)
Series 3 (2007)
Series 4 (2008)
Series 5 (2009)
Series 6 (2010)
Series 7 (2011)
Awards and nominations
In November 2006, ''Ideal'' received the award for Best Comedy Programme at the
Royal Television Society North West Comedy Awards.
DVD release
A
box set of series one (excluding the Christmas special episode) was released in the UK on 7 November 2005. It includes the following extras:
* Making of ''Ideal''
* Out-takes
* Deleted scenes
* Commentaries from Johnny Vegas (Moz), Graham Duff (creator, writer, Brian and Reverend Fistwick) and
Henry Normal (executive producer).
The second series (including the Christmas special) was released on DVD on 19 February 2007, the third series on 9 June 2008, the fourth series on 13 April 2009, and the fifth series on 19 July 2010. The sixth series was released on 11 October 2010. The seventh and final series was released on 25 July 2011.
Film
A film based on the TV series was planned. The last update was this in June 2012.
Baby Cow executive Henry Normal told Chortle: "It's going to be set in the same place, with many of the same characters. We even bought the physical set from the BBC, our co-producers on the TV series. We are aiming for it to be quite a dark psychological comedy-thriller".
As of 2019, there has been no word of the film being in production.
See also
* ''
Top Buzzer
''Top Buzzer'' is a British sitcom written by Johnny Vaughan and Ed Allen, styled as television's first ever "dope opera". It was shown on MTV in 2004 and later repeated on Five. It revolves around two small-time cannabis dealers, Lee (Stephe ...
''
* ''
Weeds''
References
External links
*
*
*
''Ideal'' soundtrack music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ideal (Tv Series)
2005 British television series debuts
2011 British television series endings
2000s British black comedy television series
2000s British comedy-drama television series
2010s British black comedy television series
2010s British comedy-drama television series
BBC black comedy television shows
BBC television sitcoms
English-language television shows
Television series about illegal drug trade
Television series about cannabis
Television shows set in Manchester