''Little Britain USA'' is an American spin-off-continuation of British sketch show, ''

Little Britain Little Britain may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little Britain'' (sketch show), a British radio and then TV show ** ''Little Britain USA'', an American spin-off * "Little Britain", a song by Dreadzone from the 1995 album '' Second Light'' ...

'', produced by and aired on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

. As in the British series,

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little Britain'' (2003–2006, 2020) and '' Come Fly ...

and

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little B ...

play the majority of the characters: originals such as

Lou and Andy Lou Todd and Andy Pipkin are fictional characters from the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little Britain'', played by David Walliams and Matt Lucas respectively. Andy's catchphrases include, "Yeah I know", "Want that one" and "(I) Don't like it", w ...

Daffyd Thomas This is a list of characters for the British television and radio sketch show '' Little Britain'' (and its American spin-off, ''Little Britain USA''). Overview ;Key : Characters that appear for only one sketch are not listed in the table A ...

Sebastian Love This is a list of characters for the British television and radio sketch show ''Little Britain'' (and its American spin-off, '' Little Britain USA''). Overview ;Key : Characters that appear for only one sketch are not listed in the table A ...

, Emily Howard,

Marjorie Dawes This is a list of characters for the British television and radio sketch show '' Little Britain'' (and its American spin-off, ''Little Britain USA''). Overview ;Key : Characters that appear for only one sketch are not listed in the table A ...

and

Vicky Pollard This is a list of characters for the British television and radio sketch show '' Little Britain'' (and its American spin-off, ''Little Britain USA''). Overview ;Key : Characters that appear for only one sketch are not listed in the table A ...

, as well as new characters not previously seen in the British series. The series is narrated by

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the Fourth Doctor, fourth incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Wh ...

. The first series started filming in March 2008 in

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...

showed the first episode of the season in the United States on September 28, 2008;

The Movie Network Crave (formerly The Movie Network or TMN) is a Canadian premium television network and streaming service owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. Launched in 1983 as the national service First Choice, early difficulties and a subsequent ...

broadcast it in Canada the same day, followed by

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

on October 3 in the UK. New

guest-star In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

s include

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American comedian, television producer, actress, author, and television personality. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series ''Star Search'' ...

Rachael Harris Rachael Elaine Harris (born January 12, 1968) is an American actress and comedian. She is known for her numerous acting roles, such as starring as Dr. Linda Martin in ''Lucifer'', her role in the ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' film series, and as a gu ...

, Bob Stephenson,

Paul Rudd Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in ...

(as the

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

Hilarie Burton Hilarie Ros Burton (born July 1, 1982) is an American actress, businesswoman, author and producer. A former host of MTV's ''Total Request Live'', she portrayed Peyton Sawyer on The WB/ CW drama ''One Tree Hill'' for six seasons (2003–2009). Pos ...

Vivica A. Fox Vivica Anjanetta Fox (born July 30, 1964) is an American actress, producer, and television host. Fox began her career on ''Soul Train'' (19821983). She eventually continued her career with roles on the daytime television soap operas ''Days of O ...

, and

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

. Michael Patrick Jann served as executive producer of the series and directed the majority of the shows.

David Schwimmer David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor, director and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom '' Friends'', for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Prime ...

directed studio-based segments of the show.

also makes an appearance in a "Fat Fighters" segment. The series was released on DVD in the UK by 2entertain in August 2009.

Ratings

* The first episode attracted 540,000 viewers in the US and 4.7 million viewers in the UK (according to

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

) * The second episode, when shown in the UK, attracted 4.23 million viewers * The third episode shown in the UK attracted 4.67 million viewers * The fourth episode shown in the UK attracted 3.65 million viewers

Season 2

On November 27, 2008 on

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

Matt Lucas announced plans for another season to air in 2009, but in July 2009, HBO announced the show would not return for a second season, but plan to work with Lucas and Walliams on other projects. In Matt Lucas's autobiography, he wrote that HBO wanted to relaunch the show but first they wanted a ninety-minute special. Lucas and Walliams were reluctant to do ninety minutes of solid sketches and a counter-offer of doing two forty-five minute specials was turned down by the network.

Reception

The show has received a generally mixed response from critics, garnering a 60% approval rating on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. ''

Mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...

'' wrote: "The sad truth is ''Little Britain'''s mix of

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...

, and

Dick Emery Richard Gilbert Emery (19 February 19152 January 1983) was an English comedian and actor. His broadcasting career began on radio in the 1950s, and his self-titled television series ran from 1963 to 1981. Life and career Richard Gilbert Emery was ...

has run its course. One-joke characters like Lou and Andy and Carol 'computer says no' Beer are being flogged to death. Walliams and Lucas have spent so much time deciding which frocks to wear, they've forgotten to write any gags. And their desperation to be outrageous is now just shockingly tedious."

Main characters

Reprised characters

(works at an American branch of FatFighters in Delaware) * Bubbles DeVere (goes on a luxury cruise to Rio de Janeiro) *

(goes to an American boot camp in Utah after being thrown out of Disney World) *

(goes to university in America) *

(becomes Prime Minister of the UK) * Carol Beer (works at an American hospital in Pennsylvania) *

(go on holiday in Mississippi) * Harvey Pincher (visits his American relatives in Ohio) * Emily Howard (goes to America, is arrested in Pittsburgh for shoplifting) *

Linda Flint This is a list of characters for the British television and radio sketch show ''Little Britain (sketch show), Little Britain'' (and its American spin-off, ''Little Britain USA''). Overview ;Key : Characters that appear for only one sketch are ...

(works at an American university, as does Martin) * Kenny Craig (deleted Scene - goes grocery shopping and hypnotises a woman to go out with him)

New characters

* Mildred - A grandmother, played by Lucas, who shares strange and often inappropriate facts about her past with her grandson, Connor (Walliams). * "Mark and Tom", aka the "Gym Buddies", two new bodybuilder characters who brag about their love lives, but reveal their homosexuality several times. In the final episode of the season, the one played by David Walliams reveals that he has had a sex-change operation. * A "sweet" little school girl called Ellie-Grace who, while sharing love sentiments with her mother before parting with her for a short time, inadvertently comes up with some vulgar ones, often sex related, like, (I love you more than transsexual porn), shocking her mother, who starts to get more stern in reaction. In their final sketch, Ellie-Grace goes for a sleepover and her mother has warned her not to utter any vulgarities. As they are parting, however, her mother accidentally comes up with one herself, traumatising Ellie-Grace. * Phyllis Church, a woman who owns a

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a British breed of toy dog of spaniel type. Four colours are recognised: Blenheim (chestnut and white), tricolour (black/white/tan), black and tan, and ruby; the coat is smooth and silky. The lifespan is usual ...

named "Mr. Doggy" (voiced by Walliams while playing Phyllis), and likes to talk to him, and imitate his replies. In each sketch, using her deep, Mr Doggy voice, commands herself to do anti-social deeds in public. These anti-social deeds involve taking off her clothes in public and standing in a trash bin, defecating in public and throwing a brick through a shop window. * Bing Gordyn - the eighth man (out of nine men) on the moon and an American counterpart of Denver Mills. Bing tries to impress people with his expedition (by donning his spacesuit or by going on about his exploits, for example), to the extent of requesting plumbers for this purpose, but always fails to impress, most likely because the moon-landing era has faded away. In his final sketch he pulls a shotgun on a student writing an essay opining that

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

staged all the moon landings. * A middle-aged British couple named George and Sandra, who appear in a series of sketches called "Forty Glorious Years". They visit America to celebrate their 40th anniversary. It seems clear, however, that their love died a long time ago - Sandra remains silent when George tries to make conversation (although she utters the word "ornithophobic" in their third appearance): they live permanently in an awkward silence, which makes George angry and verbally abusive to her. In their final sketch, they return to the UK and George insults her. * A couple go through divorce because the female has realised her homosexuality. The sketch shows her throughout packing up, and her husband discovers many secrets she has kept from him pointing to this, such as merchandise from the LGBT related television show

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene Ch ...

. He inadvertently uncovers a secret of his own, implying his own homosexuality. * Senator White, an American counterpart of Sir Norman Fry; he attempts to cover up his homosexual experiences. * A pair of hunters who shoot very small animals (such as mice or wasps) as though they were larger targets. * A pair of bank-robbers too timid to actually rob a bank. * Two couples on vacation who bump into one another and discover that both are called Steve and Wendy Ashby and live in exactly the same house.

Cast

as the Narrator

Guest starring

*Peggy Miley as Anna from Fat Fighters *Brad Grunberg as Tony from Fat Fighters *Leslie Berger as a member of Fat Fighters *

Geraldine James Geraldine James, OBE (born 6 July 1950) is an English film and television actress. Biography Early life and family James was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to a cardiologist father and an alcoholic mother, who had been a nurse. She failed her ...

as Celia Pincher * Stevie Mack as a member of Fat Fighters *John Richard Petersen as a member of Fat Fighters *

Matt Malloy Matt Malloy (born January 12, 1963) is an American actor and producer who has appeared extensively on television, film, and radio. Malloy's break-out performance was his co-starring role alongside Aaron Eckhart and Stacy Edwards in the 1997 bla ...

Nancy Lenehan Nancy Lenehan (born April 26, 1953) is an American actress who has appeared in film and television since the 1980s. She is best known for Audrey in ''Grace Under Fire'' (1993-1998), Kay Hickey in ''My Name Is Earl'' (2005-2008), and Angela in ' ...

as Kelly Pincher *Davenia McFadden as Boot Camp Overseer *

Carla Jimenez Carla Jimenez (born May 14, 1974 in Westwood, Los Angeles, California) is an American television and film actress. Career She has had roles in series such as ''Lincoln Heights (TV series), Lincoln Heights'', ''My Name Is Earl'' and ''Little Br ...

as Helen Fisher *

Matt McGrath Matthew John "Matt" McGrath (December 28, 1875 – January 29, 1941) was a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, the New York Athletic Club, and the New York City Police Department. At the time of his death at age 64, he attained the ran ...

* Amy Tipton *

Tom Bower Thomas Michael Bower (born 28 September 1946) is a British writer and former BBC journalist and television producer. He is known for his investigative journalism and for his unauthorised biographies, often of business tycoons and newspaper pr ...

as Pastor *Julie Brister as a member of Fat Fighters *Preston Corbell * Matt Walsh as Business Man at the Urinal/Senator's Press Rep *Kevin Gould as Handsome Male Student *

Robert Vaughn Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor noted for his stage, film and television work. His television roles include the spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.''; the ...

Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American-born British petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, he was the son of pio ...

*Donna Hardy as Ellie Grace's Grandma *Ethan LePhong as Darren Chow *Toshi Toda as Japanese Prime Minister Udagawa *Willie Amakye as President of Ghana * David Bowe *

James Storm James Allen Cox (born June 1, 1977) is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name James Storm. He is best known for his time in Impact Wrestling. He started his career in 1997 and after working on several independent pr ...

as Lesbian College Student

Special Guests

as Herself *

Harry Lennix Harry Joseph Lennix III (born November 16, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Terrence "Dresser" Williams in the Robert Townsend film ''The Five Heartbeats'' (1991) and as Boyd Langton in the science-fiction series ''Dollh ...

as the United States President (Possible parody of

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

) *

Ann Cusack Ann Cusack (born May 22, 1961) is an American actress. She had minor roles in ''Multiplicity'' (1996), ''A League of Their Own'' (1992), and ''The Informant!'' (2009). Additionally, she has made guest appearances in a number of television series, ...

as Mom of Little Girl *

as the First Lady *

as the French President *

as Himself *

Terry Bowden Terry Wilson Bowden (; born February 24, 1956) is an American college football coach, currently the head coach at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Bowden was previously head coach at Salem University (1983–1985), Samford University (1987 ...

as Church Member

Episodes

References

External links

Official website
* {{HBONetwork Shows 2008 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings 2000s American sketch comedy television series English-language television shows HBO original programming Little Britain American television series based on British television series Television shows filmed in North Carolina Television shows filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina de:Little Britain#Little Britain USA