Monkey (also known as The Monkey, ITV Digital Monkey Monkeh Dina or PG Tips Monkey, and often pronounced in imitation of

Johnny Vegas Michael Joseph Pennington (born 5 September 1970), better known as Johnny Vegas, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He is known for his thick Lancashire accent, husky voice, overweight appearance, angry comedic rants, and us ...

Lancashire accent The Lancashire dialect or (colloquially, Lanky) refers to the Northern English vernacular speech of the English county of Lancashire. The region is notable for its tradition of poetry written in the dialect. Scope of Lancashire dialect La ...

), is an animated

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

advertising character A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Ma ...

in the form of a

knitted Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...

sock monkey A sock monkey is a stuffed toy made from socks fashioned in the likeness of a monkey. These stuffed animals are a mixture of folk art and kitsch in the cultures of the United States and Canada. The typical sock monkey is brown and white with ex ...

. He was first produced by The

Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...

via their UK

Creature Shop Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based out of Burbank, California, United States. History Jim Henson's Creature Shop was originally ...

, puppeteered by

Nigel Plaskitt Nigel Plaskitt (born 27 July 1950) is an English actor, puppeteer, producer, and stage and television director. Career His voice and puppetry talents have appeared on television shows such as ''Pipkins'' (for which he provided the narration, a ...

and Susan Beattie and voiced by comedian

Ben Miller Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English actor, comedian, and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. Miller is also known for playing the lead role of DI Richard Poole in the first two serie ...

. Monkey has appeared in

advertising campaigns An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conce ...

in the United Kingdom for both the defunct television company

ITV Digital ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners o ...

and the

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...

brand

PG Tips PG Tips is a brand of tea in the United Kingdom manufactured by Ekaterra. Brand name In the 1930s, Brooke Bond launched PG Tips in the tea market in the United Kingdom under the name ''Pre-Gestee'' - a variant of the original name "Digestive Tea. ...

, as well as being occasionally featured in TV programmes. Monkey is notable as one of a small number of advertising characters to eclipse the popularity of the product they advertise and also to be reused to advertise a completely different product.

ITV Digital

A series of high-profile

adverts Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

for ITV Digital featured the laid-back, droll and composed Monkey (in a variety of T-shirts) playing the

straight man The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the ...

to the comedian

's womaniser of a character "Al". Monkey was one of the few positive public relations successes of ITV Digital. Purchasers of ITV Digital were sent a free soft toy Monkey with their subscription. For a period during the advertising campaign and after ITV Digital's bankruptcy, the original promotional Monkey toys were in high demand and short supply. One sold for £150 at the bankruptcy auction and they were selling for several hundred pounds on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

, where customers could also find replica Monkey knitting patterns delivered by email selling for several pounds. Later,

The Gadget Shop The Gadget Shop (stylised gadgetshop) was a national British high-street chain of stores, predominantly selling gadgets, toys and lighting products, founded by Jonathan Elvidge in 1991. At its height, it was one of the leading UK novelty gadget r ...

purchased the remaining promotional toys from ITV Digital's liquidators and sold them through their retail stores. These saw a boost in popularity after an appearance in the second series of award-winning British sitcom

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series of ...

Legal dispute

As Monkey was created and owned by advertising agency

Mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given childbirth, birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the cas ...

rather than by ITV Digital itself, he was the subject of a legal dispute as both claimed the rights to the character. This prevented his use for some time, despite many organisations being keen to acquire the rights. The dispute was eventually resolved by both parties agreeing to donate the

intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

for Monkey to Comic Relief. Following the resolution of the dispute, Monkey appeared in a few TV shows, with the

BBC #REDIRECT 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 ex ...

using him for 2001's

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

, as well as making a guest appearance at the

2002 BRIT Awards Brit Awards 2002 was the 22nd edition of the Brit Awards, an annual pop music awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. It was organised by the British Phonographic Industry and took place on 20 February 2002 at Earls Court in London. first present ...

. In both cases Monkey appeared without Johnny Vegas. In 2003, the BBC commissioned a variety show to be hosted by Monkey. A pilot was filmed titled "Watch with Monkey" and featured

Dawn French Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show ''French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunde ...

and the

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (UOGB) is a British musical ensemble founded in 1985 by George Hinchliffe and Kitty Lux as a bit of fun. The orchestra features ukuleles of various sizes and registers from soprano to bass. The UOGB is b ...

. The pilot has never been televised.

PG Tips

In January 2007, Monkey and Vegas reprised their

double act A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...

in a new series of advertisements for

tea. The first advertisement was named "The Return" and the adverts make reference to PG Tips' popular series of adverts featuring live chimps which ran between 1956 and 2002, as well as to ITV Digital going out of business (on which low audience figures, piracy issues and an ultimately unaffordable multi-million pound deal with the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

led to the broadcaster suffering massive losses, forcing it to enter administration in March 2002). PG launched a website selling the newly branded "PG Monkey" merchandise with profits being donated to Comic Relief, who still own the intellectual property rights. The online shop has since closed but during promotions PG Tips have given away free mini-Monkeys packaged with their tea.

Mini movie

Monkey also appeared in a short advertising film which was shown in cinemas at the beginning of selected showings of '' Horton Hears a Who'', ''

The Spiderwick Chronicles ''The Spiderwick Chronicles'' is a series of children's fantasy books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. They chronicle the adventures of the Grace children, twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory, after they move into the Spid ...

'', '' Hannah Montana 3D'' and '' The Game Plan''. The film was released on 21 March 2008. The film is called ''A Tale of Two Continents'' and has Monkey portraying various historical figures as he attempts to make the perfect cup of tea in the Kenya tea farms and then safely take it across the world to England for

The Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

. The film was also given away on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

with special packs of PG Tips tea.

Characteristics

Early life

In ''Monkey - Hero of Our Time'', Monkey writes that his "parents owned a toy shop"; however, this was forced into closure in '1982'. He said " my parents were clearing away and throwing out what was left of the stock, my mother came across me, stuck behind a pile of empty cardboard boxes" and " e took me home and painstakingly restored me back to my former glory - cleaning me, re-stuffing me and sewing me up. Her love for me was so great that I amazingly found myself able to move and speak." Soon afterwards he claimed that his first words to her were "Put the kettle on, eh Mum? I'm parched.".

Personality and habits

Monkey is sometimes portrayed as being quite cowardly; for example his refusal to take responsibility for dropping a

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

bowl dating back to 3000 BC, despite being filmed doing so. He is also prone to

miser A miser is a person who is reluctant to spend, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities, in order to hoard money or other possessions. Although the word is sometimes used loosely to characterise anyone who ...

liness, having admitted that he re-uses discarded plasters he finds in

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

s.''A Tale of Two continents'' Monkey hoards both his and Al's wages, deliberately neglecting to inform the naive Al of the fact that they are in fact paid for their work, stating "I don't bother Al with details" and that his money is "safely invested in a

portfolio Portfolio may refer to: Objects * Portfolio (briefcase), a type of briefcase Collections * Portfolio (finance), a collection of assets held by an institution or a private individual * Artist's portfolio, a sample of an artist's work or a ...

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

s".''PG Tips ad- Monkey and Al interview'' Despite his turbulent relationship with Al, the two share the same bed. Monkey is shown to be very passionate about

, his favourite serving method being "three stirs clockwise, two stirs back, one and three quarters

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

s".''PG Tips Monkey ad#1 The Return'' He vehemently insists that

tea bag A tea bag, or the compound teabag, is a small, porous, sealed bag or packet, typically containing tea leaves or the leaves of other herbs, which is immersed in water to steep and make an infusion. Originally used only for tea ('' Camellia si ...

s should precede

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

when brewing. His exact

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

is never clarified; Monkey himself denies being a

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

(the CHimp logo on his tea-shirt puns on CH sounding like the Chinese word for

), and his response to Al's idea that he may be "half monkey-half chimp" is limited to "speak for yourself". Though he claims to be a "ladies' monkey", he is caught by Al surfing dating sites, giving exaggerated descriptions of his physical appearance.''ITV Digital Monkey ad#5 Monkey and Al go Interactive'' He is sometimes shown wearing a woman's nightcap,''ITV Digital Monkey Ad #11 - Drilling'' a

sheath dress In fashion, a sheath dress is a fitted, straight cut dress, often nipped at the waistline with no waist seam. When constructing the dress, the bodice and skirt are joined together by combining the skirt darts into one dart: this aligns the skirt ...

''PG Tips Range - PG Tips Rainforest Alliance advert'' and a

ballet tutu A tutu is a dress worn as a costume in a classical ballet performance, often with attached bodice. It may be made of tarlatan, muslin, silk, tulle, gauze, or nylon. Modern tutus have two basic types: the Romantic tutu is soft and bell-shaped, re ...

.''PG Tips Monkey advert#4- Spoons'' He gets distressed if tea is made in the wrong order.

References

External links

Official PG Tips WebsiteKit containing Sirdar pattern and yarn for knitting Monkey"BBC show for ITV Digital monkey (November 2003)"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monkey (Advertising Character) ITV (TV network) Advertising characters Male characters in advertising British comedy puppets Advertising in the United Kingdom Comic Relief Primate mascots Fictional monkeys