''The Scousers'' was a regular series of sketches from the

Harry Enfield's Television Programme ''Harry Enfield & Chums'' (originally titled ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'') is a British sketch show starring Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse and Kathy Burke. It first broadcast on BBC2 in 1990 in the 9 pm slot on Thursday night ...

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. ...

comedy show of the early 1990s.

Gary, Barry and Terry

It featured a set of stereotyped

Liverpudlian Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popula ...

characters or

Scouse Scouse (; formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English) is an accent and dialect of English associated with Liverpool and the surrounding county of Merseyside. The Scouse accent is highly distinctive; having been influenced he ...

rs, "Ga'", "Ba'" and "Te'" (Gary, Barry and Terry) played by Gary Bleasdale,

Harry Enfield Henry Richard Enfield (born 30 May 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer and director. He is known in particular for his television work, including ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'' and ''Harry & Paul'', and for the creation and ...

Joe McGann Joseph McGann (born 24 July 1958) is an English actor. His roles include the lead role of Charlie Burrows, the "housekeeper" in the TV comedy series '' The Upper Hand'' (1990–1996), '' Night and Day'' and his voice role as Sir Gideon Ofnir ...

, and

Mark Moraghan Mark Stephen Moraghan (born 27 January 1963) is an English actor and singer. He has appeared in many British drama series including ''Peak Practice'', '' London's Burning'' and '' Heartbeat''. He is most famous for being the narrator for the ...

. The original inspiration for the Scousers sketches were

Barry Grant Barry Grant is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'', played by Paul Usher. The character debuted on-screen during the first episode of ''Brookside'', broadcast on 2 November 1982. Barry is one of the show's ...

and Terry Sullivan, two characters from the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored b ...

'' Brookside'', set in Liverpool. Bleasdale, McGann and Moraghan are actually from Liverpool. Bleasdale actually appeared in Brookside in 1995 as a character called Donnelly. The Scousers were usually depicted with

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 an ...

bubble perm hairstyles and bushy

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'' ...

s, wearing shell suits, and speaking in exaggerated Scouse accents. Common catch phrases they came up included ''"Eh? Eh? Eh?"'' ''"Dey do do dat dough don't dey dough"'' ("They do do that though, don't they though").

"Calm Down!"

Most sketches saw two of the trio develop an argument, with the third member stepping in to break up the argument (and frequently finding himself pulled into another disagreement). Whenever a potential problem or dispute arose, this would result in The Scousers repeating to each other their most famous

catch phrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

''" Eh! Eh! Alright! Alright! Calm down! Calm down!"''

This catch phrase was Bleasdale's input as he changed the scripted original, which was ''"Break it up 'ey, come on, break it up"'', during the first rehearsal. McGann brought ''"Dey do dough, don't dey dough"'' to the sketches. The characters had allegiances to the city's football teams with "Ga'" being an Everton fan while "Ba'" & "Te'" were

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

fans. This leads to even more disagreement. The actors

Paul Usher Paul Usher (born 20 April 1961) is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Barry Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' and Des Taviner in the ITV drama ''The Bill''. In 2019, he began appearing in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnde ...

and Brian Regan who played Brookside characters "Barry" and "Terry" also appeared in a ''"The Scousers"'' sketch'' "Terry Gets Married"''. One of The Scousers re-emerged several years later in Enfield's sketch show ''

Harry and Paul ''Harry & Paul'' (originally titled ''Ruddy Hell! It's Harry & Paul'') is a British sketch comedy show starring Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 13 April 2007. Prior to broadcast it was trailed as ''The Ha ...

''. In 2022 British politician

Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parl ...

quoted the phrase during a live interview.

References

Comedy television characters Ethnic humour Fictional British people Male characters in television Harry Enfield {{UK-tv-prog-stub