Bo' Selecta!
| Bo' Selecta! | |
|---|---|
 Title screen of Bo' Selecta | |
| Created by | Leigh Francis |
| Developed by | Leigh Francis Ben Palmer |
| Starring | Leigh Francis |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 28 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Spencer Millman |
| Running time | 25 mins |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | September 6, 2002 – December 28, 2004 |
Bo' Selecta! is a British TV comedy sketch show which ran for three series and one Christmas special on Channel 4 television. Written and created by Leigh Francis, the programme involved lampooning celebrity culture, featuring Francis himself in a series of surreal, often crude, celebrity imitations using rubber masks. Notable personalities spoofed in the series included Michael Jackson, Melanie Brown, David Blaine, Kelly Osbourne, Elton John and Craig David. The title of the series actually originates from David’s single Re-Rewind, which contains the line "Re-Rewind, when the crowd say Bo Selecta!".
The programmes were bookended by Francis as an Eastern European celebrity stalker known as Avid Merrion, who would conduct interviews without the celebrities involved realising he was in character, a similar concept to the original Ali G performances. In nods to the 'cult of celebrity', the character was revealed to have Craig Phillips, the winner of the first Big Brother UK TV series, locked in his cupboard. A second character involved in celebrity interviews was Francis as ‘The Bear’, a small creature that would get erections at inopportune moments during interviews.
Although ratings for all three series were strong, critically the show has been singled out for allegations of racism, misogyny, or just being wilfully puerile [1] Nevertheless, the series, for a time, made its mark on modern society, including being referenced in an episode of The Office.
List of Episodes
Series One: six episodes, 6/9/2002 - 11/10/2002
Compilation specials: two episodes, 28/2/2003 and 7/3/2003
Series Two: eight episodes, 6/6/2003 - 25/7/2003
Christmas specials: two episodes, Proper Crimbo promo on 21/11/2003 and Ho Ho Ho Selecta! on 23/12/2003
Series Three: eight episodes, 18/6/2004 - 13/8/2004
A Bear’s Tail
After the third series of Bo’ Selecta!, Francis built a sitcom vehicle around his Bear character, a series which ran from 8 July – 12 August 2005. The evolution of the series could be seen in the final episode of Bo' Selecta!, which showed the Bear taking over as host of the series. The Christmas special that year (28/12/2004) discarded the usual Bo' Selecta trappings and instead introduced the series concept, being entitled 'A Bear's Christmas Tail'.
Bo' In The USA
In April 2006, a fourth series of Bo' Selecta! was commissioned by Channel 4. Known as "Bo! in the USA", the first episode aired on 13 October 2006. Verne Troyer, best known for playing the vertically-challenged character "Mini-Me" in the second and third Austin Powers films, features regularly as The Bear's Hollywood agent. Barunka O'Shaughnessy stars as Sascha Merrion, Avid's wife and sister. The series is set entirely in the USA, with Avid and Sascha running a luxury hotel, but retains most of the regular characters, as well as some new ones. [2]
Keith Lemon's Gap Year
In 2007 Francis announced that Bo! In The USA was his last series of the format, and that he was due to film a new series for ITV based around a recurring Bo Selecta character, Keith Lemon. [3]
Other Media
Two singles centred around the series were released by Francis, the first, Proper Crimbo a No.4 hit in the UK during December 2003. The second, a cover of I Got You Babe featuring Francis as the Avid Merrion character and Davina McCall and Patsy Kensit on backing vocals, reached No.5.
See also
External links
- Bo' Selecta Bo' Selecta Website
- Bo! in the USA at Channel4.com
- Google Video - Bo' Selecta!
- Bo' Selecta! at IMDb
- [4] Guardian Interview