Thirty years after it first aired, the stars of the hit BBC sketch show tell all – from wowing Johnny Depp to inter-office tension that left one of the cast in tears
Simon BlandWed 9 Oct 2024 14.00 BSTLast modified on Wed 9 Oct 2024 18.41 BSTShareCharlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse’s rapidfire sketch series The Fast Show – which recently turned 30 – delivered the biggest comedy catchphrases of the 90s. With Arabella Weir, Mark Williams, Simon Day, Caroline Aherne and John Thomson, the comedy troupe created countless “iconic” characters – from the over-eager Brilliant Kid and “very, very drunk” Rowley Birkin, to smooth jazz lover Louis “Nice” Balfour and the innuendo-obsessed “Suit You” tailors. Put simply, The Fast Show was part of the wallpaper during the decade of lads, lager and Britpop excess.
It didn’t take long for Hollywood stars like Johnny Depp to join its growing fanbase. Three decades on, Higson and Whitehouse’s comedy feels prophetic of the zero-attention-span popularity of TikTok. Not only that but its victimless and (largely) reference-free humour mean it’s avoided any controversies that could affect its reputation as a beloved comedy. To celebrate its 30th birthday, we invited its stars to reflect on The Fast Show’s funniest bits.
‘It was like being in a band’ – the originsView image in fullscreenPaul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson, Fast Show creators and stars, circa 1997. Photograph: TV Times/Getty ImagesCharlie Higson (co-creator, actor): Paul and I wrote Stavros and Loadsamoney with Harry Enfield. We loved coming up with characters but knew we didn’t want to be Harry’s writers for ever so we started collecting sketches that didn’t work on Harry’s show. We originally wrote “Suit You” for Harry but he didn’t like it.
Simon Day (actor): It was like being in a band but Paul and Charlie were in charge, which is why the quality was so good. It was a right odd-bod collection.
John Thomson (actor): I was on a show called Paramount City with Simon and Caroline, and Paul was a guest. Afterwards, he said: “Me and Charlie are doing a sketch show called The Fast Show. It’s quick snippets.” They were looking for comedians who could act and do characters. We ticked all the boxes.
Higson: For a press launch of Harry’s show, instead of showing whole episodes, they put together highlights. It was a lightbulb moment for me and Paul. We thought: “What if you did a whole show like that; cut the fat and get straight into what makes characters funny?”
Mark Williams (actor): The Fast Show was a working title that was never improved. We had an enormous amount of material. There was a self-elected critical facility where, if it didn’t make us all laugh [it didn’t go in] – and everybody accepted that.
Arabella Weir: I had to fight to make my voice heard. I think they’d all admit that I had a harder time, but I don’t think you’ll find many women in the industry that’ll say working with five men was a breeze. I felt I had more to prove.
‘Scorchio!’ – the charactersView image in fullscreenArabella Weir and Charlie Higson as Katie and Johnny Nice. Photograph: UKTV/Adam LawrenceHigson: Paul and I wrote 70% of the first series but tried to be as encouraging as possible. Everyone was fighting their corner but because they were all talented, it was a strength.
Williams: I suggested we do the “Suit You” characters like improv. They could’ve made trainspotting disgusting. When we did them live, I said to Paul: “Why don’t we walk close together so I’m right behind you?” It fit them perfectly.
Weir: I presented the Invisible Woman character and Simon Day said: “Oh, no. That’s us, isn’t it?” I said: “Well, a bit …” [Paul and Charlie] asked Simon if he thought it was funny. He said: “Yeah” and they go: “All right, you can do it.” That character is in there because a bloke approved of it.
Jane Walker (makeup artist): Paul met this old guy while fishing in Iceland and wanted Rowley Birkin to look like him, but I was stuck when it came to finding the right look. One day, we were on location and this old guy staggered out of a pub. He had this huge nose with warts. I thought I’ll make you look like him!
Higson: [on Johnny Nice] I loved those painters in picturesque Cornish harbours and thought it’d be funny if one had the soul of a tortured artist. We took sketch submissions from the general public and one guy, Brandan O’Casey, was similarly obsessed. His idea was if anyone mentions the colour black, the character goes off on one and comes out with these glimpses of madness. The only improvised bit was me smashing things.
Day: You’d often be coming through the BBC corridors and find Arabella crying because they didn’t put her thing in. She really had to fight the hardest.
Weir: At that time, sketch scripts would literally say “Woman in shop”, “Wife” or “Female bystander”. As a woman, your purpose was to serve the hilarious male character, but Paul and Charlie knew I was funny.
Day: I thought Moonlight Shadow would be a great song [for Dave Angel: Eco Warrior]. It was a hippy song and he was essentially talking about hippy values, even though it was my take on Mike Reid. I thought: “What would this guy be least interested in?” Global warming.
Higson: We had a few rules. Other than the Spanish Channel 9 stuff [such as the “Scorchio” weather reports], we never did parodies to avoid outside references. The only time we did was with Paul’s Ron Manager sketches, but people are still arguing about referee decisions from 1974 so that still works.
View image in fullscreenPaul Whitehouse and Mark Williams as the ‘Suit You’ characters in The Fast Show Live in 2002. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The GuardianThomson: I wasn’t sure how to make “Jazz Club” funny but once I’d inhabited the character, a cross between Roger Moore and “Whispering” Bob Harris, [it worked]. The wig was way too small. You can see how far into filming we are as it creeps back on my forehead. Our director, Mark Mylod, came up with the idea of using separate cameras for “Nice” and “Great”. That was inspired.
Eryl Maynard (actor): I liked playing that poor woman whose husband kept coming back with all those ridiculous things instead of what she sent him out for. My husband does the same thing.
Williams: Bob Mortimer wrote those “Even better than that” sketches. “I’ll get my coat” was Bob too. There’s no better signoff. I was also quite proud to play Competitive Dad’s dad.
Day: Competitive Dad was based on my dad but much worse. My favourite is where he tries to sue his son during Monopoly. My dad was like that.
Weir: A producer told Paul and Charlie to not let me do “Does my bum look big in this”. He thought it was too girly. To his credit, when it became huge, he said: “What do I know!” Of course, loads of people related to it and it appealed to men too.
Williams: I wrote Jessie. One of my favourites was coming out of the shed with bandaged hands saying: “This week, I have been mostly hanging on too long.” Rope burns. It was someone commenting on culture who was clearly outside it.
Higson: Ted and Ralph are very English; it’s all about the stiff upper lip. I channelled my experiences chatting up girls as a teenager and failing miserably. Paul and I discovered we could do sketches where neither of us said anything and it was still funny. That was the essence of The Fast Show.
Walker: We decided Ted would never take his cap off. His sideburns were literally stuck to it.
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Colin McFarlane: Jackson Jeffrey Jackson’s cheeks expanded like Dizzy Gillespie, but there was a take where they blew up. We thought it was funny but the BBC thought it was a step too far.
‘It was clear she was a genius’ – on Caroline AherneView image in fullscreenScorchio! Caroline Aherne as Poula Fisch in The Fast Show. Photograph: YouTubeThomson: Roy and Renee were timeless. The dominant wife and hen-pecked husband. He can’t get a word in edgeways but finally gets his revenge. It’s a real thing.
Weir: Caroline said everybody she did was her mum’s neighbour. She was incredibly different to me and her time on the show was much more limited. She was already on her way doing Mrs Merton and mining her own scene. It was clear she was a genius.
Day: It was like Caroline would rather have been doing her own thing. She loved the show but was already doing Mrs Merton and was going to do The Royle Family. She didn’t need The Fast Show.
Maynard: After rehearsals, we’d assign parts. Caroline would always say: “What about Eryl?” She wanted you to do well.
Higson: Her scripts would always come in late. We’d get an envelope with a few bits of paper in and say: “What’s this?” It’d be something like the Checkout Girl. She’d jokingly but also quite seriously say: “I must be the most expensive extra ever” – but it was purely because she’d only give us a few days and we were on a schedule. I wish she’d had more time.
Thomson: There’s a Roy and Renee tribute in our new live show where I come out alone as Roy. If it’s silent, it moves me too much. People can’t handle the quiet because of her passing. Sometimes, I come off and I’m welling up.
‘It’d be good to do it again’ – the legacyView image in fullscreenPaul Whitehouse as The ‘Brilliant’ Kid in The Fast Show. Photograph: UK GoldHigson: It wasn’t a huge hit and the BBC wasn’t sure if it should do a second series but we had enough influential people saying: “This is good.”
Thomson: Matthew Norman in the Standard slated it and Victor Lewis-Smith wrote a counter review saying: “This is gold!” I had no idea it’d be the hit it became.
MacFarlane: Paul was in LA and found out Johnny Depp was a massive fan. He subsequently got put in a “Suit You” sketch. That’s when I thought: “This has international reach.”
Day: I get “Someone’s sitting there, mate” a lot.
Williams: I was at Clapham Junction once next to a train driver. He looked at me and didn’t say anything. Just as his train pulled away, he said: “You ain’t seen me, right?” It was majestic.
Weir: I remember people shouting “Does my bum look big in this” to me on the street. I thought: “I can’t believe I’ve come up with something people identified with.” It’s fantastic.
Higson: We ended at the right time, but I think we could probably have fit another series in.
Thomson: I still keep banging away about a Fast Show panto. That would be great.
Day: There was talk of us doing a heist film, which I think we should still do. The team back together for an Ocean’s Eleven-style thing.
Williams: It’d be good to do it again, especially now we’re not young people pretending to be old people. Paradoxically, we’d have a lot more to say. Jessie as a pensioner would be very interesting …
The Fast Show is available now on BBC iPlayer.