Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
| Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps | |
|---|---|
| File:Twopints.jpg The "Two Pints" title from the first series. | |
| Created by | Susan Nickson |
| Starring | Ralf Little Will Mellor Sheridan Smith Natalie Casey Kathryn Drysdale Beverley Callard Hayley Bishop Lee Oakes |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 6 (plus 1 standalone special) |
| No. of episodes | 55 (as of April 30 2006) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 mins |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Two (Series 1) BBC Choice (Series 2) BBC Three (Series 3-6) |
| Release | 2001 – Present |
| Release | Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps |
| Release | Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps |
| Release | Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps |
| Release | Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps |
| Release | Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps |
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (commonly shortened to Two Pints) is a BBC sitcom written by Susan Nickson. It is set in the town of Runcorn in Cheshire, England and revolves around the lives of five twentysomethings.
The title was inspired by the 1980 hit "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please" by Splodgenessabounds.
Broadcast
The executive producer of the show, Stephen McCrum, began the show after seeing writer Susan Nickson's work on Channel 4's Lloyd's Bank Film Challenge, entitled "Life's A Bitch", which starred Sean Hughes and Kathy Burke. Aged just fourteen, Nickson was asked by McCrum to come and work with him after a few years; consequently, Nickson began working on Two Pints in her early twenties.
McCrum tried to persuade the producers of the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks to get Will Mellor and Natalie Casey to work with him, when the two acted on that programme. Casey had to go through several auditions to get the part. McCrum had wanted to work with Sheridan Smith since she began performing at a very young age. Smith auditioned for the part but was turned down; however, she was later cast for the first series, and has been part of the cast ever since. Ralf Little was cast soon after completing work on another BBC sitcom The Royle Family, on which he had also acted with Smith. Although initially reluctant, he agreed to audition when he realised that Two Pints would be very different to The Royle Family. Kathryn Drysdale was brought in after producers saw her perform at her drama school, after performing a certain piece of drama work. After the notice of her, she was then brought in to work on the show.
The show's pilot starred Little and Mellor, though the characters of Janet, Louise and Donna were portrayed by other actresses. Smith, Casey and Drysdale were then cast to be in the first series, and have been acting in the show ever since. Both Ralf and Sheridan, and Will and Natalie play couples Jonny and Janet, and Gaz and Donna. Both couples played couples on-screen in the past. Ralf and Sheridan starred as a couple in The Royle Family, and Will and Natalie portrayed a couple in Hollyoaks. Sheridan stated how lucky she was to work with Ralf after starring together before, as playing such a close couple would have been awkward for them both. Will stated in a past interview how he sees Natalie Casey as a younger sister to him, and mentions that he feels awkward during kissing scenes because of this. Sheridan also classes Natalie as the "mummy" in the show, due to her problem solving and knowledge.
BBC Two broadcast the first series, then the now-defunct BBC Choice screened series two. BBC Choice was rebranded as BBC Three shortly before it screened series three, and has shown the first run of each new series ever since. The channel currently broadcasts repeats of the show on an almost-nightly basis, covering all six present series. Back-to-back episodes are broadcast around 11pm, with a repeat of the two episodes that broadcast the same night, at around 1am-2am. BBC Two also repeat the show, though only once, and is shown every Thursday. UKTV G2 is another channel that show repeats of the sitcom, and occasionally alongside UKTV Gold. With UKTV hardly ever broadcasting in a 16:9 format, the picture can look odd at times, sometimes disturbing viewing pleasure, especially when watching on a widescreen television. UKTV G2 started showing later episodes in 2006 after only broadcasting the first few series. To mark this, the channel displayed "NEW" underneath it's on-screen logo, leading to many people believing that the rights to show new episodes have gone to UKTV.
After series four, in which Jonny was shot by armed police, there was a text and phone vote for the viewers to determine if Jonny should die or not. Series five began with a funeral, which was then revealed to be Flo's, rather than Jonny's.
In 2007, after much speculation, a seventh series was commissioned, as it to be broadcast the first quarter of 2007 on BBC Three, and rumoured to be of thirteen episodes. Broadcast dates have yet to be confirmed. The speculation began after the showing of the series six finale, which led many people to believe the characters have been killed off (read below for more information). However, after many interviews and rumours, a seventh series was confirmed. In an interview, Ralf Little stated in the future he would be doing "more Two Pints", and commentary on the series six DVD seemed to hint at the fact the show hasn't finished. Will Mellor hinted on television interviews, one being Loose Women, and more or less confirming it on The New Paul O'Grady Show, after saying statements like "we'll keep on making it".
Characters
Jonny Keogh
Played by Ralf Little: Jonny (born October 26 1981) is a sweet devoted husband to Janet. He loves daytime television (especially Through the Keyhole and As Time Goes By), eating cat food as he just can't resist those meaty chunks in jelly, desiccated coconut, carpets (because they are nice), egg butties and his six o'clock sandwich. He has an abnormal fetish for biscuits - mostly Jammie Dodgers - but hates bourbons and rich tea biscuits. Despite being married to Janet and having a son, Jonny frequently struggles to deal with his effeminate side (according to Janet his "big cockmunching side"); once Jonny nearly punched Janet when she called him "a big gay" after she began to push Jonny around because she was sick of it herself. Jonny is a keen fan of Liverpool FC.
Janet Keogh née Smith
Played by Sheridan Smith: Janet Keogh (born July 17 1980) is the more homely girl of the group who loves "things that go bleep bleep", alcoholic vimto, fags and - unlike Jonny - rich tea biscuits. She is a fan of Coronation Street. Janet originally worked in Sayers Bakery, until she beat Donna for the position of manager at The Archer, shortly before it was closed down by Health and Safety Inspectors. In 2005 Janet gave birth to her a first child, Corinthian McVitie Keogh (Jonny thought of the name) after firstly being denied in childbirth by Jonny and then having to push Louise in a wheelchair all the way to Runcorn Community Hospital. Louise later "christened" him Corinthian McVitie Louise Keogh without permission.
Gary "Gaz" Wilkinson
Played by Will Mellor: Gaz (born 1979) is a typical blokey bloke who likes football, Manchester City FC (even though he sings "never walk alone"(the liverpool FC chant) in one episode), beer, sex, Hollyoaks and strangely Monarch of the Glen. He is an avid collector of porn and believes life's greatest pleasure is urinating in a dark alley. Gaz is terrified of sheep, and has two sisters (Julie and Tasha) and a half-brother called "Munch" (who he only found out about in series three). His favourite books include The Lust of the Mohicans, Pleasure Island, Macbiff and The Count Of Monte Cristo (Although it doesn't say Count). Gaz is a mechanic at Brindley Autos, which was previously owned by his dad until Donna bought it off him when he announced he was selling it.
Donna Henshaw
Played by Natalie Casey:(born 1980) The gobby one of the gang who is known to be a bit of a goer. She loves people who can make socks talk, The Carpenters, popping bubble wrap, (after filling in a "getting to know you" AKA the "not info for the wedding" form) her favorite flower is cabbage her friends, not to mention a bit of night time action. She dislikes vegetarian students and thin people who diet. Donna also has a younger estranged brother called Dion who Gaz thought was a "little bastard", and a sister called Katie. Donna was employed by O'Connor's Plastics selling buckets until she was fired after stealing and then crashing a company van.
Louise Brooks
Played by Kathryn Drysdale:(born 1981) Louise recently graduated with a degree in sociology, and is desperate to find the perfect man. She loves horoscopes, Coronation Street, collecting Sylvanian Families, balloon animals, Steps and the Disney Store. She dislikes old people and fears getting old. She is overly childish, naive, insensitive and annoying which proves quite a turnoff to most men she meets. Her adoptive mother is a depressed maniac who sits in her nightie looking at the fridge all day. Louise is a snobby person who neither respects, or even wants to look at Jonny (who thinks she tastes like lard). Louise even got "dull" Jonny shot once. When she took on a job at the Office for National Statistics she changed his file on the computer to that of a serious criminal. This later resulted in Jonny being shot in the knee high above Runcorn in the grounds of Halton Castle.
Floella "Flo" Henshaw
Played by Beverley Callard: Flo Henshaw (born January 13 1959) is the thinking man's strumpet, loving sex, sex and more sex. She also likes to stand in front of the window naked and the word "valves", and believes that tanning is a good thing and orange is the future. When she was a girl she used to amuse herself by painting giant penises on toilet doors. She was killed after being run over by a truck (the truck splat incident according to Louise), and her funeral took part at the start of series five. The grief turned Donna into a "whirling dervish of dirt" and she would have even jumped on Father Downey if he'd have kept talking about his "erection" (in fact the resurrection).
"Munch" Wilkinson
Played by Lee Oakes: Munch is Gaz's half brother he never knew about. He was introduced in the first episode of season three in his own episode entitled Munch. He's a bit of a yoghurt (according to Gaz) and is not allowed to hang around people too much. He'd love to find a girlfriend but has to make do with the girl with sick on her every Friday night, even though he'd like a bit of Donna. Nevertheless, he hasn't had much luck with the ladies, especially after asking a "desperate" woman in The Archer if she'd like to "see his nob". His fixation for Donna stems from the time he stumbled across her waiting for Gaz in her kinky nurse's outfit one night. Later, Donna and Munch became sort of friends, much to Gaz's distaste as he felt Munch was invading his life. He was not seen during series six.
Kelly the Barmaid
Played by Hayley Bishop: Kelly worked at Runcorn's local Sayers Bakery and then at The Archer with Janet before it was closed down. Her main interests include sex, orgasms and The Archer's elderly regulars. Kelly has come on to all four main characters, apart from Donna. However during one episode after Donna split up with Gaz, Donna found herself isolated and her only friend was in Kelly, who then began to dress and act entirely like Donna. Her character has changed dramatically over the duration of her appearance in the show from a bosses pet who lacked self confidence to a sex obsessed barmaid who has a lot of self confidence.
David Fish
Played by Jonathon Dutton: In series three Louise gets a secret admirer who turns out to be a geeky guy from school who's turned into a rather good looking bloke with a strange "Australian" accent, which may have something to do with the fact he's been living in Melbourne for the last eight years. He was renowned for performing well on their first date, but then not at all the second night as Louise found out.
Kate
Played by Alison Mac: Kate was a temporary barmaid at The Archer and became Jonny's new girlfriend after splitting from Janet at the beginning of series four. Classed as the "ideal girlfriend" doing anything for her partner, she and Jonny constantly performed various sexual acts on each other, including being fingered in a Daewoo, "trying to do spiderman" (attempting to copy the hanging upside down kiss) and having sex in Gaz's porn cupboard. None of the others were fond on her, and she decided to leave with Jonny when she was put off by them when Gaz planned to have sex with her. Jonny decided to stay and dumped her instead. She actually turned out to be quite a controlling and clingy person towards the end of her and Jonny's relationship.
Locations
Many of the places featured on Two Pints are actual real places:
- The Archer is a real pub. However in real life it's called The Waterloo and is only used for the exterior shots (the interior scenes are recorded in the studio at BBC Television Centre in London). The Waterloo can be found at 88 High Street in the Old Town area of Runcorn, near the canal.
- Sayer's Bakery where Janet works is also real, being located at 30 Church Street, Runcorn Old Town.
- Gaz's workshop (Brindley Autos) can be found on Brindley Street in the northwest of the town under one of the rail bridge's arches.
- The Castle ruins featured in the opening title sequence are those of Halton Castle, in the east of the town.
- The exterior of Gaz's flat is real too. It can be found opposite the indoor market near Alcock Street and the bus station in the Old Town.
- Janet and Jonny's house can be found at 9 Clarks Terrace, in the Weston Point area of Runcorn.
Episodes
As of 30 April 2006 (the finale of series six) there have been fifty five episodes over six series since 2001.
Series seven (2007)
The BBC have confirmed that a seventh series of the show has been commissioned, and is in production. The series will possibly start between May to June.
DVD
Series one to six are available on DVD. Series six was released 4 September 2006 [1] [2]. Before, there was a conflict with the release dates (Play.com stated 4 September and Amazon.co.uk stated 11 September). All six series were released as one DVD box set on 16 October 2006 [3] [4].
For several weeks, Amazon.co.uk stated that the sixth series will also be available as a DVD double pack with series five on 16 October 2006. However, as of 16 October 2006, this DVD set is stated as "unavailable" [5] and no announcement has been made about the pack.
Trivia
- The Archer and The Mayhew (the other pub only featured in the first series) are named after the script editor, Paul Mayhew-Archer.
- Kelly has made either "friendly" comments or "come on" to every main character except Donna during the show. She quoted that Jonny was "fit". She wanted to have sex with Gaz. In Series 6 she said to Janet that she fancied her and when Louise said to Janet, "Could you imagine me having lesbian sex?", Kelly, ironically in Hitler attire, said, "Yeeeees...." with a sly smile, to which Louise responded, "Hey! Don't touch what you can't afford."
- Sheridan Smith and Ralf Little previously appeared together in The Royle Family, as did Will Mellor and Natalie Casey in Hollyoaks.
- Although the show is titled after a song by the group Splodgenessabounds, its theme music is actually a specially commissioned song by soundtrack composer Christian Henson.
