''Spanish Archer'' was a
talent show
A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...
of the 1990s, hosted by
Rhodri Williams
Rhodri Ogwen Williams (born 10 May 1968) is a Welsh sports journalist from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. He is currently employed by Qatar's Al-Kass Sports Channel and anchors the network's English-speaking studio.
TV career
Williams was a ...
and occasionally
Ruth Madoc
Ruth Madoc (born Margaret Ruth Llewellyn Baker; 16 April 1943 – 9 December 2022) was a British actress who had a career on stage and screen spanning over 60 years. She was best known for her role as Gladys Pugh in the BBC television comedy '' ...
.{{when, date=May 2014 It was produced by
L!VE TV
L!VE TV was a British television station that was operated by Mirror Group Newspapers on cable television from 12 June 1995 until 5 November 1999. It was later revived for Sky from 2003. In 2006, L!VE TV's name was changed to Babeworld to r ...
and filmed at the station's headquarters at
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...
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 ...
.
The title for the show derives from the phrase meaning rejection, where "Spanish Archer" would be said to translate to "El Bow", hence "Given the elbow". The TV show deliberately took this in a very literal manner, and expanded the joke as far as it possibly could.
Content
The show would begin with Willams arriving on the set of a cartoon Spanish village, dressed in a
Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...
style outfit, complete with toy bow and arrow, and declaring "I am El Bow, I am the Spanish Archer". The contradictions of the supposedly
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
character, such as the costume, and Williams’ undisguised
Welsh accent, were played for laughs.
After a few
joke
A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laughter, laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with ...
s with the
studio audience
A studio audience is an audience present for the recording of all or part of a television program or radio program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack (as opposed to canned ...
, El Bow would open a door in the set, where the audience would be introduced to a character named Pedro Paella who wore a sombrero, an obviously fake
moustache
A moustache (; en-US, mustache, ) is a strip of facial hair grown above the upper lip. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history.
Etymology
The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Italian ''mustaccio'' ...
, and rode a toy
donkey. After some witty
banter
Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focu ...
, Paella would use an inflatable toy
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
to mime to a
backing track
A backing track is an audio recording on audiotape, CD or a digital recording medium or a MIDI recording of synthesized instruments, sometimes of purely rhythmic accompaniment, often of a rhythm section or other accompaniment parts that live musi ...
of
Flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...
music, while singing a comedy introduction to the first act. The tune of the song would always be the same. Pedro Paella appeared in 85 episodes before being succeeded by Terry Tenerife, played by
Neville Wilding, later of
The Fall.
The acts would then be given one minute to perform, at which point El Bow would appear in the background, loading his toy
bow and arrow, and pointing them at a cut-out of a
bull
A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions,
includin ...
, inviting the audience to decide whether the act should continue. If the audience wanted to see more, El Bow would vacate the stage until the end, at which point, the performer would be presented with a prize of a
Seville orange
Bitter orange, Seville orange, bigarade orange, or marmalade orange is the citrus tree ''Citrus'' × ''aurantium'' and its fruit. It is native to Southeast Asia and has been spread by humans to many parts of the world. It is probably a cross bet ...
.
If the audience did not want to see more, El Bow would loose the arrow, and a large polystyrene
elbow
The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the me ...
would swing onto the set, ushering the act off-stage. As things were redressed for the next act, three
Flamenco dancers
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...
would appear for as long as was necessary.
Typically, the half-hour show would see 4–6 acts, and at the end of the programme, El Bow would invite all the acts who successfully avoided the elbow back onto the stage, and the audience asked to pick a favourite. The winning act would be given a prize of a
straw donkey. Unlike most talent shows, winners did not get to appear again, and there was no
grand final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...
, each episode being entirely self-contained.
On occasions, the role of El Bow would be taken by
Ruth Madoc
Ruth Madoc (born Margaret Ruth Llewellyn Baker; 16 April 1943 – 9 December 2022) was a British actress who had a career on stage and screen spanning over 60 years. She was best known for her role as Gladys Pugh in the BBC television comedy '' ...
. Like Williams, Madoc would exaggerate her natural Welsh accent, despite the character being supposedly
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
.
Acts
Generally speaking, acts would be from the British
Working men's club
Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class ...
or
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...
circuits, or members of the public eager to join in or show their talents. Most were happy to play along with the show’s deliberately chaotic and self-mocking premise.
Acts were not limited, meaning the show featured a variety of
musical,
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
, and speciality acts. The only condition was that the act must be suitable for pre-
watershed transmission.
Reception
Spanish Archer was heavily criticised, along with other L!ve TV shows such as
Topless Darts and
Britain's Bounciest Weather, as being an extreme example of
dumbed-down
Dumbing down is the deliberate oversimplification of Intellectualism, intellectual content in education, literature, and film, cinema, news, video games, and culture. Originated in 1933, the term "dumbing down" was movie-business slang, used by sc ...
or
tabloid television. Despite that it gained a huge cult following.
Catchphrases
* "If you’re good, and if you’re class; where do I shove my arrows?",
udience"Gracias!"
* "We were good, we wanted more, and so you win..."
udience"The donkey of straw!"
British reality television series