Hamish and Dougal are two characters from the long-running

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

radio comedy panel game ''

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' is a BBC radio comedy panel game. Billed as "the antidote to panel games", it consists of two teams of two comedians being given "silly things to do" by a chairman. The show was launched in April 1972 as a parody ...

'', played by

Barry Cryer Barry Charles Cryer (23 March 1935 – 25 January 2022) was an English writer, comedian, and actor. As well as performing on stage, radio and television, Cryer wrote for many performers including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory ...

and

Graeme Garden David Graeme Garden OBE (born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish comedian, actor, author, artist and television presenter, best known as a member of The Goodies and a regular panellist on ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''. Early life and education ...

, who later went on to have their own Radio 4 series, ''You'll Have Had Your Tea: The Doings of Hamish and Dougal''. The series is occasionally broadcast on the BBC's repeat station,

Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

History

The fictional characters Hamish and Dougal originated in one of the rounds of ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' called Sound Charades. In this round the title of a book or film has to be conveyed from one team to the other by means of a story; the result of the story is usually a pun on the title in question. The panellists Cryer and Garden often tell their story as Hamish and Dougal, who are two elderly Scottish gentlemen. One of the characters was originally called Angus.White, Roland (2006)
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The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

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'', 6 October 2008, retrieved 2010-07-04 The duo continued with the characters, according to Garden "mainly because (fellow panellist)

Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian best known as a member of The Goodies. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cambridge and became president ...

hated them". A prototype Hamish and Dougal first appeared in a 1979 Christmas Special of 'Clue', doing 'Wee Freak Ings Of Orient Are', with

John Junkin John Francis Junkin (29 January 1930 – 7 March 2006) was an English actor and scriptwriter who had a long career in radio, television and film, specialising in comedy. Early life Born in Ealing, Middlesex, the son of a policeman, he and hi ...

standing in for Barry Cryer. However, the characters didn't appear fully formed until the 1995 Christmas Special, when the duo gave the clue for 'The Queen's Peach'. Hamish and Dougal then became the focus of a spin-off show called ''You'll Have Had Your Tea: The Doings of Hamish and Dougal'', abbreviated to ''Hamish and Dougal'' on the packaging of the official CD releases. The spin-off show was named in reference to the fact that the characters' sketches on ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' began with a variant of the line "You'll have had your tea then, Hamish". This refers to an idiom used in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, where a visitor who has dropped in at "tea" ( a colloquial term for an evening meal) is informed that the host does not intend to feed them. The stereotype of Scottish people being careful with their money is regularly played on in the series. You'll Have Had Your Tea - Graeme, Barry and Alison

You'll Have Had Your Tea - Graeme, Barry and Alison

Episodes were 15 minutes long and were extensions of the one-minute sketches. The series featured two other actors: regular ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' panelist

Jeremy Hardy Jeremy James Hardy (17 July 19611 February 2019) was an English comedian. Born and raised in Hampshire, Hardy studied at the University of Southampton and began his stand-up career in the 1980s, going on to win the Perrier Comedy Award at the Ed ...

, and

Alison Steadman Alison Steadman (born 26 August 1946) is an English actress. She received the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film '' Life Is Sweet'' and the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Ma ...

. Steadman played Mrs Naughtie the housekeeper, while Hardy played the local

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Brian Perkins Brian Perkins (born 11 September 1943 in Wanganui, New Zealand) is a former senior newsreader on BBC Radio 4. Career He first started working in 1962 in Christchurch on radio stations of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS), and its suc ...

. The music for the series was arranged by Graeme's son John GardenMorris, Sophie (2008) "Graeme Garden: My Life in Media", ''

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'', 8 September 2008, p. 16 and performed by a four-piece ceilidh band. The programmes were produced by

Jon Naismith Jon Naismith (born 1965)England and Wales, Birth Index 1916-2005 is a producer mainly known for his work on BBC Radio, primarily comedy, including ''You'll Have Had Your Tea'', '' The Unbelievable Truth'' and '' About a Dog''. Since 1991 he has b ...

.Season 3 Special - Hamish and Dougal's Burns Night Special
, The British Comedy Guide, retrieved 2010-07-04 Other actors have also featured in guest appearances, such as the 2004 Hogmanay special which featured guest appearances from ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' chairman

Humphrey Lyttelton Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family. Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...

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History

Critical reception

Episode list

References

Further reading