Lucas and Walliams take a swipe at the very heart of a divided nation
Little Brexit Radio 4
Everyone used to love Little
Britain, didn’t they? The sketch show that turned Matt Lucas and David Walliams into household names was last on TV a sobering 12 years ago.
With sketches about racism, homophobia and cross-dressing, it was always indecently provocative, and that was exactly why it was so funny.
Time, however, has not been kind to some of the more outlandish bits – the cross-dressing, in particular.
News that the duo were bringing the format and characters back for
Little Brexit, a one-off special on Radio 4 – where the show started before transferring to TV – was greeted with both delight and unease.
Even Matt Lucas had previously said in an interview that he “wouldn’t make that show now... Society has moved on a lot since then, and my own views have evolved.”
But he has made that show again now. And listening to it was a strange experience. On the one hand, it was wonderfully nostalgic, with each familiar character returning as on-the-nose as ever.
On the other, I suspect Lucas and Walliams might end up dividing the country just as much as Brexit has. All the best of the old cast and characters were there: Anthony Head as the (now former) Prime Minister, Ruth Jones as Myfanwy (friend of Daffyd, Lucas’s “only gay in the village”), and that unmistakeable, gloriously plummy voiceover from Tom Baker (“The country is now closed. Please don’t call again”).
And some of the jokes worked perfectly in the Brexit context. After all, who better to explain the continuing equivocation over leaving than Vicky Pollard, the queen of “Yeah, but, no, but”?
Dafydd was a Leave voter, even though he’d received EU funding for the local gay society of which he was the only member.
Maggie, the racist and homophobic woman who projectile vomits to reveal her displeasure, was recovering from a heart transplant. On discovering she’d been given the heart of a Remainer, she vomited everywhere and asked for her life support to be switched off.
Lou and Andy were in a charity shop, buying multiple copies of David Cameron’s autobiography at five pence each to use as “bog roll”.
It was much more directly satirical than the original series, and it wasn’t hard to tell where the creators’ loyalties lie. Brexiteers were caricatured as apoplectic and ridiculous while Remainers got off lightly.
Ultimately, this was not in the same league as the original series, and yet I hope it’s not the last we see of these characters.
They probably tell us more about Britain than we’d like to admit.