''Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door'' is a 1987

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

made for British television as part of '' The Comic Strip Presents...'' series. It was briefly screened theatrically in late 1987 and was broadcast on

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 ...

on 5 March 1988.'Saturday Television and Radio' ''The Guardian'' 5 March 1988 p. 38 It was released on VHS in the late 1980s, and became available on DVD when the entire ''Comic Strip Presents...'' series was released as a box set in the UK in June 2005. It has also been repeated occasionally on the

Paramount Comedy Channel Comedy Central is a British pay television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated. This channel is specific to audiences within the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is aligned with the original US versi ...

Plot

Rik Mayall Richard Michael Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, stand-up comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University and was a pioneer of alternative ...

and

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series '' The Young Ones'' (1 ...

are the (unnamed) proprietors of an escort agency, ''Dreamytime Escorts''. Mayall's character is devious, low-minded, calculating and stupid; Edmondson's merely very stupid. Unusually, rather than providing businessmen with female companionship, the activities of their escort agency essentially involve the pair swooping on unsuspecting foreigners who call them, and forcing them to take part in a drinking binge at their expense. The two are alcohol-obsessed; when their home-brewed beer (which takes a mere two days to brew and has a head made from washing-up liquid) is not available, they steal from the delivery lorries pulling up at the

off-licence A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged liquors – typically in bottles – usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence (i ...

downstairs: Edmondson's character dives out of the window into a large builders' bucket and is hauled back up by Mayall. Their next-door neighbour is Mr. Jolly, a

psychopathic Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been u ...

contract killer played by

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

. Jolly's ''modus operandi'' is to hack his victims to death with a meat cleaver while playing classic Tom Jones tunes from the 1960s to drown their cries. Heimi Henderson, who owns the off-licence downstairs, has refused demands for

protection Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

money by Mr. Lovebucket, an effete

gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

played by Peter Richardson whose abiding love is his

Citroën DS The Citroën DS () is a front mid-engined, front-wheel drive executive car manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1955 to 1975, in fastback/sedan, wagon/estate, and convertible body configurations, across three series of one generation. ...

car. Mayall and Edmondson intercept a request intended for Mr. Jolly to "take out" the radio presenter and game show host

Nicholas Parsons Christopher Nicholas Parsons (10 October 1923 – 28 January 2020) was an English actor, straight man and radio and television presenter. He was the long-running presenter of the comedy radio show '' Just a Minute'' and hosted the game show '' ...

, who appears as himself. Parsons is due to open Henderson's off-licence, and Lovebucket wants to put a stop to it. Misinterpreting the request, they spend an evening with Parsons, who stays in their company because he believes them to be competition winners, the real ones having been pushed off the road by the Dreamytime Escorts' van in an earlier scene. The two are confronted the following morning by Lovebucket, who wants to know what they've done with the money provided with the contract (which they have used to buy 1574 large gin and tonics). Lovebucket insists that they complete the contract. The two return to Parsons's house armed with a gun, chainsaw and grenades but fail to kill him as he leaves by helicopter to the off-licence to open it. They chase after the helicopter with Lovebucket and his gang pursuing them but crash their van into a skip. Parsons reaches the off-licence but cannot find Henderson so he goes upstairs and meets Mr. Jolly and is presumably killed by him. Mayall and Edmondson got into their office and start packing their suitcases to go and live in Rio but see into Jolly's office and watch him talking to Lovebucket. Some of the gang members go into their office only to find it empty as the two have escaped through the window into the off-licence where they are told by Henderson that Parsons is opening it, much to their excitement. Shortly after Henderson overhears the two talking about killing Parsons, causing Mayall to shoot him dead, but tricks Edmondson into thinking he did it. Edmondson decides to have a drink but instead takes a bottle of explosive tonic water from a shelf causing an explosion in the off-licence. It is revealed during the credits that the two survived and are walking along a canal where Mayall knocks Edmondson into it before walking off with Edmondson swimming after him.

Cast

and

as Dreamy Time Escorts *

as Mr Jolly * Peter Richardson as Mr Lovebucket *Thomas Wheatley as Heimi Henderson *

as Himself *

Jennifer Saunders Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English actress, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School of ...

as Monica *Michael Cule as Mr Cooper * Dawn French as Mrs Cooper *Basil Ho Yen as Mr Yakimoto *

Gerard Kelly Gerard Kelly (born Paul Kelly; 27 May 1959 – 28 October 2010) was a Scottish actor who appeared in many comedies, including '' City Lights'', ''Rab C Nesbitt'', '' Scotch and Wry'' and '' Extras''. He had more serious roles as well, includ ...

as Hilary *Granville Saxton as Ron *

Philip Locke Roy James "Philip" Locke (29 March 192819 April 2004) was an English actor who had roles in film and television. He is perhaps best known for his part in the James Bond film '' Thunderball'' as Largo's personal assistant and chief henchman, Var ...

as Sir Larry

References

External links

*
Wayback Machine archive of the script
an

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mister Jolly Lives Next Door 1988 films Films directed by Stephen Frears The Comic Strip Presents... episodes British comedy films 1988 comedy films 1988 British television episodes 1980s British films