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's ...

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 pa ...

'', 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, 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 in the United Kingdom, digital radio broadcasting, radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a ...

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)
Radio Waves: Roland White: Acute accent
, ''

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'' ( ...

'', 20 August 2006, retrieved 2010-07-04Behrens, David (2008)
Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden: The Doings of Hamish and Dougal
(podcast), ''

Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

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

laird Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...

.Daoust, Phil (2004) "Radio: Pick of the day", ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', 25 February 2004, retrieved 2010-07-04 The announcer was BBC newsreader Brian Perkins. The music for the series was arranged by Graeme's son John GardenMorris, Sophie (2008) "Graeme Garden: My Life in Media", ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 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 be ...

.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 ...

, as the Laird's butler Lyttelton,Hamish and Dougal - I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - The Doings of Hamish & Dougal 3
", BBC, retrieved 2010-07-04 ''

Today programme ''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is a long-running British morning news and current-affairs Radio program, radio programme on BBC Radio 4. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 6:00 am to 9:00 am, it is produced by BBC N ...

'' presenter

Jim Naughtie Alexander James Naughtie FRSE (surname pronounced ; born 9 August 1951) is a British radio and news presenter for the BBC. Between 1994 and 2015, he was one of the main presenters of Radio 4's the ''Today programme''. In his 21-plus years on ...

(as Mrs Naughtie's long-lost son),

Sandi Toksvig Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (; ; born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written ...

(as Sandi Wedge, a very tall golf champion) and

and Colin Sell (as themselves). The show relied heavily on sexual innuendo,Docherty, Gavin (2008) "What a hoot. . . and the joke's not on us", ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'', 4 October 2008 and Scottish stereotypes. Long-running jokes from the parent series were frequently referred to, such as the quality of Hardy's singing voice, which is occasionally excruciatingly demonstrated in the series. Fictitious place-names used within the series include Ben Kingsley, Loch Krankie, and Glen Close.Devine, Cate (2003)
Uncle Baz just can't help it
, '' The Herald'', 17 November 2003, retrieved 2010-07-04 A book of the complete scripts from all three series plus the

Hogmanay Hogmanay ( , ) is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) or i ...

and Burns Night specials was published in hardback by Preface Publishing on 28 August 2008 entitled ''The Doings of Hamish and Dougal: You'll Have Had Your Tea?''. The book also includes comedy cooking recipes created by Garden and poems.

Critical reception

The series has been described as "reality-based comedy at its finest" by ''

'',Campling, Chris "Radio Choice: Hamish and Dougal's Burns Night Special", ''

'', 25 January 2007, p. 23 and as "basically ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'', also known as ''Beano'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it became the world's longest-run ...

'' with added smut" by ''

''.Hanks, Robert (2004) "The Week in Radio", ''

'', 3 March 2004, p. 14 Gavin Docherty of the ''

'' said, after reading the book of scripts, "I laughed so hard my head nearly fell off". ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'' gave the series a negative review, with Robert McNeil describing the series as one in which "two clapped-out has-beens (except they never-weres) put on ridiculous Scottish voices and enact quasi-racist routines". Cryer has denied that the show is anti-Scottish saying the series was "an affectionate laugh at all things Scottish. Graeme is half Scottish. I am borderline, having been born in Cumbria." Garden stated that in the series they were sending up the stereotypes of Scots rather than Scots themselves (which makes it all right).

History

Critical reception

Episode list

References

Further reading