Absolutely

1 9 8 9 – 1 9 9 3 (UK)
28 x 30 minute episodes

This anarchic and surreal sketch show – a sort of latter-day Monty Python in tartan in which criminals robbed security vans using toddlers as weapons and a Cyberman won the Open Golf Championship – derived from the Scottish school of alternative comedy.

The show was borne out of the Scottish comedy troupe The Bodgers and starred Morwenna Banks, Jack Docherty, Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and John Sparkes.

Although it featured skits, animation and spoofed-up songs, its particular forte was its regular gallery of invented characters: Morwenna Banks’ Little Girl (“yes, it’s twue”); rabid Scottish nationalist McGlashen (Jack Docherty); the deluded Stoneybridge Town Council (whose promotional video – or “vi-day-o” –  for an Olympic bid became Absolutely‘s most celebrated sketch); melodious Mr Muzak; anorak Calum Gilhooley (“All English are pooves”); disaster-prone Welsh DIY expert Denzil; and scatological Frank Hovis (these two characters performed by Welsh team-member John Sparkes) – with Hovis coming complete with tips on how to cure a chapped anus.

The creations Don MacDiarmid and George MacDiarmid (‘two friends with but a single surname’) – created by Jack Docherty and Moray Hunter – even enjoyed their own short-lived (6 episodes) spin-off show, Mr Don and Mr George in 1993.

Since Absolutely, Gordon Kennedy progressed to such lesser things as co-hosting The National Lottery Live.

Gordon Kennedy
Jack Docherty
Moray Hunter
Morwenna Banks
Peter Baikie
John Sparkes

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