Comic Relief 2005

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A good cause

As part of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day (11th March 2005), Matt and David have filmed a special episode of Little Britain. This was released on DVD on 14^th Feburary 2004 and includes all the specially recorded sketches from Red Nose Night with celebrity guest stars. The DVD is available at HMV, BBC shops and Comic Relief and retails at just £4.99 with at least £3.40 being donated directly to Comic Relief. Matt and David also went to Africa in January 2005 to see for themselves where the money goes. There was a mention in Marie Claire (May 2005) about a man going to Ethiopia, who said he has run into Matt and David. Apparently they did not film they just went there to experience what it really was like.

Here are links to the various comic relief-y things.

• LATEST NEWS - articles and scans
• THE DVD - screenshots etc
• THE SCRIPT OF THE DVD
• HISTORY OF THE SKETCHES - as it happened
• PRESS FOR THE DVD - photos, scans etc
• PRESS FOR RED NOSE DAY - scans etc
  • Screenshots - CD UK, RED NOSE DAY
• PREVIOUS COMIC RELIEFS - other years

Latest News

9th March - the Little Britain Comic Relief DVD has sold over 300,000 copies, raising £1.25 million for the charity. Read more at itv.com.

15th March - We love this picture of fan Tom Harris who dressed as Daffyd for Comic Relief.

The DVD

You can watch the trailer for the DVD here.

The DVD is 36-minutes long and contains the following sketches. Thanks very much to Clive from LBCC for all the wonderful screenshots. He's also done a review of the DVD here.

Sketches

1. Lou And Andy With George Michael

Fanfact! Did you notice George is wearing a tshirt with Andy's face on it?

2. Prime Minister And Sebastian With The Admiral (Simon Callow)

3. Judy And Maggie With Scouts

4. Vicky Pollard On Trisha

5. Bank - Comic Relief Fun Run

6. Dafydd Thomas With Sir Elton John

7. Restaurant - Hubba Bubba

8. Dennis Waterman - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

9. Florence And Emily With Robbie Williams

10. Lou And Andy - Athletic Ground

Special Features

1. Out-takes

• Lou and Andy with George Michael (Matt Corpsing)
• Dafydd Thomas With Sir Elton John (Billy Elll-liooot)
• " " (Matt mistakes and corpsing)
• Florence And Emily With Robbie Williams (Robbie's snot)
• Vicky Pollard On Trisha (Matt forgets his lines)
• " " (Matt can't do up his jacket)
• " " (Matt calls Tricia "Vicky")
• " " (Matt mistakes)

2. Jamie Theakston Interview With Matt Lucas & David Walliams

History of the sketches

George Michael in a Lou and Andy sketch

On the Tuesday 14th September Audience Recording, Matt and David filmed a special sketch for Comic Relief, due to be broadcast in February 2005. This sketch featured a guest appearance from George Michael. You can read about this on the BBC's own website. The Sun newspaper also did an article in September (below) and another one (29th January) nearer the release of the DVD.

Robbie Williams in an Emily Howard sketch

In Heat magazine (16th Oct) it was reported that Robbie Williams will star in an Emily Howard sketch. The Sun (below) then reported the fact in their 14th October edition.

Simon Callow in a Sebastian sketch

On the BBCi entertainment extra service, Matt and David said that there is also a Sebastian sketch, filmed as part of the Comic Relief special.

As people who attended the audience recordings will know, this sketch was filmed on 5th September recording. Here's a synopsis.

Michael has a visit from an Admiral (Played by Simon Callow) who is asking the government for more missiles. The Admiral invites the PM to Portsmouth and many hammock sharing jokes ensue!

Vicky Pollard on Trisha

On the Jonathan Ross show (20th Nov) Matt and David said they'd been filming a special Comic Relief sketch with Vicky Pollard looking for her long lost father.

Elton John in a Daffyd sketch

Matt was in London recording the Radio Four show Chain Reaction (23rd Nov). He spoke to Chez from our forum and hinted that yet another Comic Relief sketch is about to be filmed, with a big star name - bigger than both Robbie and George Michael.

After much fan speculation that this must Elton John, especially after Matt appeared in the Elton tribute programme, this was finally confirmed in The Sun on 17th December:

LITTLE Britain’s Daffyd won’t be the only gay in the village any more  . . . because Sir Elton John has filmed a cameo role for the show.

Elton is interviewed by Matt Lucas’s preening, latex-wearing character — who starts working as a reporter for his village paper.

After asking Elton a string of cheeky questions, including whether he likes to “give or receive at Christmas”, Daffyd asks to visit Elton, 57, at his home near Windsor.

But Elton hits back with the famous phrase: “You know I am the only gay in the village.”

The scenes were filmed on Tuesday at the BBC’s West London TV centre. They will be screened as part of Little Britain’s Comic Relief special in March. Matt said of Elton’s appearance: “It’s hilarious. We had lots of fun taping it.”

Elton’s appearance in the comedy, which has pulled in nearly five million viewers on BBC1, comes after George Michael filmed a sketch with Matt and co-star David Walliams.

The comics are in their roles of wheelchair-bound Andy (Matt) and his saintly carer Lou (David) when George, 41, enters the scene. Grumpy Andy unleashes a torrent of abuse at the superstar.

According the the BBC mini site interview they had also recorded a Daffyd sketch for the Comic Relief much earlier, but it's possible that this sketch was re-recorded to feature Elton.

Press for the DVD

Publicity photos for the Special DVD have been made avaiable by Comic Relief. This was followed by a major press frenzy on the week starting 1st Feb with articles in Heat Magazine, the Mirror, the Sun and the Express.

Matt and David appeared on the Chris Moyles show (listen again), FiveLive radio (listen again) and also This Morning on 14th February, to talk about the release of the DVD.

They also appeared on Top of the Pops on Friday 11th Feb.

There's a nice interview with Matt on Handbag.com about the time he and David spent in Africa for Comic Relief. He also appeared on Johnathan Ross (Radio 1) on Saturaday 12th Feb. You can listen again here.

Heat Magazine gave the DVD a glowing review and Nuts magazine printed some spoilers the week before the DVD came out.

According to Heat magazine, Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted to play the PM in the Comic Relief Sebastian sketch, but Matt and David turned him down. Read the full story on Ananova.

Press for Red Nose Day

Welsh fans are organising a fancy dress rally as "Daffyd" for Comic Relief. Read more about this in the Sun.

Radio Times had David and Matt on the cover. There were 4 different ones to choose from, all with different Little Britain characters - Sebastian and Daffyd with Graham norton, Vicky and Carol with Chris evans, Emily and Florence with Jonathon ross [in drag], or Andy and Lou with Rowan Atkinson.

There were also several articles inside:

TV & Satellite Week also had them on the cover, and had an interview with Matt inside.

There was an article about the Comic Relief TV coverage in All About Soap magazine (23rd Feb)

Matt and David were interviewed by Cat Deeley on CD:UK on Saturday 5th March, to promote Comic Relief.

Matt and David were interviewed in the Daily Mirror on Friday 11th March (red nose day)

Previous Comic Reliefs

Matt and David have appeared in the previous two Comic Relief shows. They appeared in Comic Relief's Big Hair Do (BBC 1, 2003) as Ruth Madoc and Sue Pollard in a spoof of Blankety Blank. The also appeared in 'Comic Relief' night (BBC 1, 2001) with a special "Rock Profile". Matt and Dave's contribution featured Lee and H giving away money for comic relief, Prince giving a free fund-raising concert, Craig David not really doing anything and Elton John throwing a hissy fit