ChuckleVision is a British television series created by Martin Hughes and the Chuckle Brothers for the BBC. It starred Barry and Paul Elliott as the Chuckle Brothers and occasionally their older brothers, Jimmy and Brian Elliott. It ran for 292 episodes over twenty-one series from 1987 to 2009. In August 2019, it was voted the best CBBC show of all time by readers of Radio Times.
Plot
Episodes of ChuckleVision were usually independent, with the basic plot for each involving the brothers undertaking a job, task or adventure. They were often employed by a character known as "No Slacking", who, despite appearing as a different character in every episode, was always known by this name because of his catchphrase. The character was always inconvenienced by Paul and Barry and was played by the brothers' real-life elder sibling, Jimmy Patton. Jimmy was part of a comedy act with his brother Brian, who also appeared in various episodes, mostly playing a villain with the catchphrase "Getoutofit!". A large amount of the comedy is slapstick. The duo also carried out work for "Dan the Van", who was never seen on screen, apart from a single episode where the Chuckle Brothers take it upon themselves to make sure he arrives to a special meeting. Dan's face cannot be seen as he is completely covered in bandages and is wearing dark glasses. Relatives of Dan the Van are sometimes seen or referred to, such as his grandmother, Lettuce the Van. In the first two series, each episode focused on a certain topic, in the style of Blue Peter. These episodes had rarely been available since their original transmission, until the series was released onto DVD in Autumn 2011. The first series featured a segment called "Armchair Theatre" where Billy Butler would tell a story to the viewers. The first series also featured magician Simon Lovell performing a trick. The brothers' main mode of transport was "The Chuckmobile", a quadracycle with a red-and-white striped roof. Barry was usually the driver, whilst Paul put his feet up on the front bar. Paul only pedalled the bike very occasionally throughout the entire series. The registration plate of the bike is CHUCKLE 1. In 2018, 'The Chuckmobile' was bought by entertainments company InTo Entertain, who now hire out the bike for events such as weddings, festivals and quirky occasions with the brand name 'Chuckle Your Vision'. An exception to the usual format of stand-alone episodes came with Series 14, broadcast in 2001. The series employed a continuous storyline throughout each episode, involving the brothers’ hunt for a missing ruby. They continued a similar trend in the next two series, with two 3-part stories in Series 15, entitled "The Purple Pimple" and "Magnetic Distraction". A two part story called "Incredible Shrinking Barry" appears in Series 16. From Series 17, this trend was not repeated.
Paul is the dominant sibling of the two and often due to his blind confidence the two end up in bother. When Paul realises he has made a mistake, he often blames Barry and tends to make Barry do the work whilst taking the credit for himself. Neither brother is particularly bright. Paul and Barry both possess Northern English accents and have a number of catchphrases, some of which involve one brother replying to the other brother's line. Thus "To me" receives the reply "To you", and "Silly you" is met with "'Course it is, silly me". The line "Oh dear" is regularly followed by "Oh dear, oh dear", and sometimes by "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear" when something goes wrong. This could possibly have been inspired by the BBC comedy Hi-de-Hi!, in which the character Spike used to say "oh dear, oh dear, oh dear" when something bad had happened. There are often references made to Rotherham United F.C., whom the brothers support in real life. In "Football Heroes", Paul and Barry play for Rotherham after a mix-up with two former players of the club, Paul scores an own-goal and thinking it was a genuine goal, celebrates with Barry.
Production and broadcast
The main writer throughout the series' run was John Sayle, who wrote the majority of episodes in each series. Episodes have also been written by Russell T Davies and The Chuckle Brothers themselves. From Series 14 onwards, the run time of each episode was reduced from twenty minutes to fifteen. Series 12 and 13 were also re-edited to match the new run times. From Series 14 onwards, outtakes were shown during the credits of each episode. For Series 4, a new theme tune was produced in stereophonic sound. This remained from then on, but was shortened from Series 17. From Series 13 onwards, all episodes were shot in widescreen. The series ended its 22-year run at the end of 2009, due to dropped ratings and less interest by the BBC, with the final series airing in December of that year. Repeats occurred regularly until the end of 2012. The 2008 Christmas Special became the last episode to be broadcast on television, being shown on CBBC on Christmas Day 2013. Following the death of Barry Elliot in 2018, all six episodes of the final series were made available on BBC iPlayer.
Awards
On 9 December 2018, ChuckleVision received its first award, Special Recognition at the I Talk Telly Awards. The award was the only one to be decided by Founder Elliot Gonzalez, rather than the public. Paul reacted to the news on Twitter, stating “After 292 episodes spanning 22 years this is the first time EVER that ChuckleVision has been recognised for an award so thank you @elliot_gonzalez and italktelly.com.”
Commercial release
TV series
A BBC VHS was released in February 1995 entitled "Goofy Golfers" which featured three episodes from the fourth series, however it is now out of production. In 2011 and 2012, Delta Music released two DVD box sets of the first two series. These were re-released in 2016 alongside series 3, which was released for the first time onto DVD by Simply Media.
Music
In 2014, composer Dave Cooke released 'Volume 1' of ChuckleVision soundtracks and music cues as a digital download. Three more volumes, 2, 3 and 4, have since been released.
Stage productions
There have been four DVD releases of the brothers on stage: Pirates of the River Rother, Spooky Goings On, Indiana Chuckles and the Kingdom of the Mythical Sulk and The Chuckle Brothers In Trouble. All these feature live performances of the brothers, one filmed at Blackpool, one at Scarborough, one at Darlington, and the other at York. The Chuckle Brothers In Trouble DVD filmed at York was a "rehearsal" performance. There is also a box set of Pirates of the River Rother and Spooky Goings On, released in 2008.
