Coming a year after The Fast Show (a programme that counted Johnny Depp among its fans) had ended, Big Train carried on the great British tradition of producing accutely observed satirical comedy, a tradition that had begun with The Goon Show back in the 1950s.
The Comedy Style of Big Train
Written by the creators of Father Ted, Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, Big Train added a dark, highly surrealistic twist to common, everyday situations, something that British comedy had done since the days of the aforementioned Goon Show. Big Train, however, arguably took this surrealism to even greater heights.
Unlike The Fast Show, Little Britain and The Catherine Tate Show, Big Train had very few regular characters and did not rely on catchphrases, making it more similar in style to Monty Python.
Big Train: Memorable Sketches
Memorable sketches included: the Beatles producer, George Martin continuing to talk about his experiences of working with the group, even after being taken hostage, an antiques expert informing old ladies that their possesions are worth a lot more than they actually are in an attempt to seduce them, a seemingly ordinary man assuming that perfectly innocent comments are somehow making a reference to his personal life, Jesus and Satan clashing in the office and wild jockeys being hunted by a familiar predator.
Comparing Big Train with Other Comedy Sketch Shows of the Late 1990s and Early 2000s
Whereas Little Britain and The Catherine Tate Show would often descend into crude farce and feature characters more closely resembling caricatures, the sketches on Big Train were well thought-out, with more believable, three dimensional characters. This was not enough, however, to stop it achieving little more than cult status among a small, but dedicated group of fans.
Although The Fast Show was renowned for its iconic catchphrases, certain characters in the show, such as Ted and Ralph and Rowley Birkin QC, also displayed a real depth, something that was less prevalent in Little Britain and The Catherine Tate Show.
It is interesting to note that Ted and Ralph, perhaps the two most enduringly popular characters from The Fast Show, were created by Arthur Linehan and Graham Mathews, the writing team behind Big Train.
Conclusion: Why Has Big Train Been Forgotten?
The Fast Show was such a huge success, creating catchphrases and characters that have now entered the public consciousness, that maybe British audiences were simply not ready to fully embrace another sketch show so soon after it had finished its run in 1997. It would be another five or six years before the British public would take another sketch show, Little Britain, to its hearts.
Another reason could just be that Big Train was far too surreal for those who prefer a simpler, catchphrase-based style of comedy and, judging by the popularity of The Fast Show and Little Britain, that would appear to be the majority of the British population.
Whatever the reason, it seems a shame that such a comedy gem continues to be ignored whenever the greatest British sketch shows are discussed.
Adrian Peel - Adrian is an English freelance writer and journalist currently living in Mexico. Over the past eight years, he has had articles, features ...
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