''Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder'' is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

starring comedian

Al Murray Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian. After graduating from the University of Oxford, Murray's comedy career began by working with Harry Hill for BBC Radio 4. He regularly performed at the Edinburgh Festival Frin ...

. The multi character aspect of the show was a departure from Murray's previous television comedy work, as the sole character

The Pub Landlord Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian. After graduating from the University of Oxford, Murray's comedy career began by working with Harry Hill for BBC Radio 4. He regularly performed at the Edinburgh Festival Frin ...

. The show ran from 27 February to 12 April 2009, airing in the Friday night prime time slot on ITV (

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

& UTV). STV in Scotland did not broadcast the programme. It was commissioned on 4 June 2008.

Characters

* Ueber

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

führer ( , spelled ''Fuehrer'' when the umlaut is unavailable) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler officially cal ...

Horst Schwul (Murray) – A

camp Camp may refer to: Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution * Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups * Extermination ...

, gay,

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

officer (''Schwul'' being German for ''gay'') *Barrington Blowtorch –

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

gentleman thief A gentleman thief, gentleman burglar, lady thief, or phantom thief is a stock character in fiction. A gentleman or lady thief is characterised by impeccable manners, charm, courtesy, and the avoidance of physical force or intimidation to stea ...

Barrington Blowtorch (Murray) who talks his way out of trouble when caught by the inspector (Wall) by using unbelievable stories. *Gary Parsley (Murray) – A demanding, extravagant,

flamboyant Flamboyant () is a lavishly-decorated style of Gothic architecture that appeared in France and Spain in the 15th century, and lasted until the mid-sixteenth century and the beginning of the Renaissance.Encyclopedia Britannica, "Flamboyant style ...

pop star whose career peaked in the 1970s. He is from

Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon in Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin, east of the City of London. The town was founded in the 13th century by the Stratford Langthorne Abbey, Abbot of West Ham, ...

and based on

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

. *Peter Taylor (Murray and Eclair) – A husband and wife obsessed with sex who constantly embarrass their daughter and her boyfriend. He has a prominent

West Country accent West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of the West Country, an area found in the southwest of England. The West Country is often defined as encompassing the officia ...

. *Gay Best Friend (Murray) – Gaz, the

Geordie Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...

pretending to be gay to get closer to a girl friend. *Mobile phone shop assistants (Brodkin and Murray) – Two

chav "Chav" (), also "charver", "scally" and "roadman" in parts of England, is a British term, usually used in a pejorative way. The term is used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear. * * * * Julie Burchill descri ...

s (the cashier and his boss) who epitomise Britain's poor quality of customer service. *Jason Bent (Brodkin and Murray) – A stereotypical

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

footballer with a

Scouse Scouse ( ), more formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English, is an Accent (dialect), accent and dialect of English language, English associated with the city of Liverpool and the surrounding Merseyside. The Scouse accent is h ...

accent (Brodkin), speaking to the post match interviewer after the game (Murray). *Duncan's Den' – (Bannatyne as himself, Solon, Murray) A businessman,

Duncan Bannatyne Duncan Walker Bannatyne, (born 2 February 1949) is a Scottish entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author. His business interests include hotels, health clubs, spas, media, TV, and property. He is most famous for his appearance as a business ang ...

, plays himself, looking to invest £1 million in business venture. A parody of

Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it ...

, where the only ever contestant is hapless young divorcée Carole Price, interviewed by host (Murray). *The Celeb News Tramps – Two

homeless people Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

who are up to date on all the celebrity stories as they sleep under tabloid newspapers. *The PC P.C.s – (several) This spoof of

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

satirises the excessive

political correctness "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...

in the British police force. * Lee Nelson (Brodkin) – A

walking his dog who philosophises on life. *The Radio Ad Couple (Murray and Eclair) a couple who only ever converse in the style of

radio advertisement In the United States, commercial radio stations make most of their revenue by selling airtime to be used for running radio advertisements. These advertisements are the result of a business or a service providing a valuable consideration, usuall ...

s. *Intolerant Vicar (Murray) A vicar who is constantly outraged at the inappropriate untraditional song selection for services. *Roger Dennis (Murray) A pilot whose pre-takeoff announcements are always inappropriate. *Big Baby (Murray) A life-size baby as an executive businessman. *Wayne Upman (Murray) A man who has always had it harder than anybody relating a bad experience to him.

Writers

*Al Murray *Simon Brodkin *Mark Augustyn *John Camm *Chris England *

Paul Hawksbee Paul Hawksbee (born 1 October 1961) is an English sports radio presenter and comedy writer. He has presented the ''Hawksbee and Jacobs show'' alongside Andy Jacobs on talkSPORT since the station's inception in 2000. He also contributed to the ...

*Tony MacMurray *Will Maclean * Daniel Maier *Matt Simpson *

Laura Solon Laura Madalene Solon is an English screenwriter, comedian, actress, and winner of the 2005 Perrier Comedy Award. She was the second woman to win as a solo performer, after Jenny Eclair in 1995. Background Solon was raised in Great Kimble nea ...

*Paul Powell

Supporting cast

* Simon Brodkin * Jenny Eclair *Sadie Hasler *

Colin Hoult Colin Hoult (born 15 May 1979) is an English actor and writer in television, radio, and theatre. He studied at Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre. Career Hoult has worked in various television productions, including '' Russell Howard's ...

*Kim Wall *

Katy Wix Katy Victoria J Wix (born 28 February 1980) is a Welsh actress, writer, author and artist. Her television roles include Carole in '' Stath Lets Flats,'' Mary in ''Ghosts'', Barbara in ''Ted Lasso'', and Jules in '' Big Boys''. She has also ap ...

Guest appearances

Rebecca Front Rebecca Louise Front (born 16 May 1964) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for '' The Thick of It'' (2009–2012).Jennifer Lipma"Bafta for Jewish actress Rebecca Front" ...

– Police boss (ep 1) *

Peter Davison Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous in 1978 as Tristan Farnon in the BBC's television adaptation of Jame ...

– Doctor (ep 4) *

Michael Winner Michael Robert Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was an English filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous action, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several c ...

– self (ep 6) *

Sylvester McCoy Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian, he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long ...

– various (ep 6) *

Sally Lindsay Sally Jane Lindsay (born 8 July 1973) is an English actress and television presenter. She rose to fame playing Shelley Unwin in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (2001–2006). Her other roles include Lisa Johnson in the Sky ...

– various (ep 6) *

John Barrowman John Scot Barrowman MBE (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor, author, presenter, singer and comic book writer. He is known for his roles as Captain Jack Harkness in ''Doctor Who'' (2005–2010; 2020–2021) and its spin-off ''Torc ...

– Camp American Airman (ep 7)

Critical reception

''Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder'' provoked considerable controversy, receiving very sharp criticism from some quarters of the press, whilst attracting positive reviews from others. In particular, a scathing review of the show by Tim Teeman was published in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', berating the show for its perceived

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

due to the characterisation of Horst Schwul: This view was backed up by ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), 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 ...

'', which described the characters as "crass" and "one-dimensional", and describing Schwul as "undoubtedly the worst comedy character in the history of civilisation". By contrast, the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' gave the show a broadly positive review, praising Murray and Eclair's performance as the Radio Ad Couple, and suggesting the show demonstrates that "the spirit of

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 18 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor and scriptwriter. He is best remembered for his television programme, ''The Benny Hill Show'', a comedy-variety show whose amalgam of slapstick, bu ...

lives on". ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' noted that, whilst "parts of it may be too crude for some tastes... there are some winning ideas", whilst ''

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 publis ...

'' also enjoyed several sketches. However, ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

'' was disappointed with the show, describing it as "very lazy comedy...dependent upon ridiculous costumes and cod accents to get laughs".Harry Venning
TV review
''

''. 9 March 2009

References

External links

* *{{British Comedy Guide, tv, al_murray_multiple_personality 2009 British television series debuts 2009 British television series endings 2000s British LGBTQ-related comedy television series 2000s British television sketch shows British English-language television shows ITV sketch shows Television series by ITV Studios