Since the bungalow ended on the BBC, there have been other shows that were made by the same production team who created Da Bungalow. Shows including The Slammer (which featured the four main bungalow regulars). Harry Batt (which had a guest appearance from Dick & Dom and the bungalow regulars - although it was only one episode for CBBC's Gina's Laughing Gear. None of the stars of Da Bungalow have appeared in the recent CBBC show made by Steve Ryde, Chute!, apart from when Dick & Dom made an appearance on the sixth episode of the current series, which was broadcast on Thursday 8th November 2007.
When the website closed down a while after the show ended in 2006, the games they had were kept on CBBC website's games section. But since Monday 3rd September 2007, the games were kicked off for the re-launch of CBBC's website and they are no longer available to play.
The new series saw many new characters being introduced, some of which became regulars to the show. At the start of the series they tried a number of ways of bringing in the prizes before using the Prize Idiot. A number of other short-term characters, used mainly for just one game were played by both Dick and Dom. The basement set was used as an alternative place for some of the games, as well as containing a celebrity 'locked up' in the cage.
The programme was broadcast live from Monday 7 March to Thursday 11 March 2005 at 4:30pm on BBC One and at 6:00pm on BBC Two. On Friday there was a highlights show, only broadcast on the CBBC Channel.
Other significant changes to this series saw the bungalow getting a garden, which replaced the basement set. Additionally, Series 5 saw the replacement of the sixth child Bungalow Head with an adult replacement. On Saturday the final Bungalow Head was a celebrity, and on Sunday it tended to be someone who the other Bungalow Heads knew (eg. relative, teacher, etc).
From the beginning of 2006, the Saturday show was moved to BBC Two while the BBC experimented with their Saturday morning lineup. BBC Two shows were moved to BBC One in return. The last episode was broadcast on BBC Two on Saturday 11 March, 2006. From the end of the previous Sunday and throughout the final episode they built up to the big finale, which involved all the cast members singing a song and getting covered in "creamy muck muck". Then, for the first time ever, viewers were shown the outside of the bungalow, which subsequently collapsed under creamy muck muck. A final post-credits scene shows the "Big BBC Boss" (Alan Yentob) waking up in bed and saying to the camera, "Oh, what a terrible dream!" Dick and Dom then sit up either side of him and end the show with a theatrical cackle.
Highlights shows of Dick and Dom were shown the next day and on the following weekend.
The following day on Sunday 12th March, there was a special Behind Da Bungalow programme broadcast on the CBBC Channel between 9 & 10am which featured an interviewer asking questions to Dick & Dom, The Prize Idiot, The Next Door Neighbour's Cat, DC Harry Batt, Mr Choosey, Melvin Odoom and other past characters on the show.
The following weekend on Saturday 17 & Sunday 18th March the team broadcast the highlights show of Da Bungalow which saw Dick & Dom when they were older, sitting in two separate chairs in a posh house while telling their grandchildren what they did every week on Da Bungalow when they were younger.
The first and second prizes were usually desirable items such as a TV or games console, but the third prize was always a 'booby prize' like a hubcap, a cake made of carpet, a hairy cheese or bottled water from the River Hull. At the very end the Bungalow Head with the least points was gunged, sitting on the toilet - though for the last series this practice was largely dropped, possibly because the contestants were already covered in "creamy muck muck" from the finale.
Points were earned through success in Bungalow games, although points could be awarded or taken away at any time by Dick or Dom. Although they threatened to do this, for example, when a particular child was being troublesome, this was mostly never carried out. Occasionally, at the end of the show, a phone call was taken from The Almighty Kid. The Almighty Kid's identity was unknown, but changed each time he/she called. The Almighty Kid could award or take away points from one Bungalow Head for no reason at all.
The show's games were broken up by random features, and cartoons.
Season 5 saw the picture frame being used less than in previous seasons and in addition, there were attempts to implement numerous tricks with the picture frame, including firing gunge and pushing out small objects like bouquets of flowers. e.g. when Huw Edwards was in the picture frame he said "News just in, this just out" before the person operating the mouth hosed gunge out of his mouth.
Towards the end the words "Go! Go! Go!" were shouted (Usually by Dick) and a gunge-fest began, accompanied by the song "Ace of Spades" by Motörhead. There followed a minute's frenetic creamy muck muck throwing, as a lead in to the end of the show. By the end of the process, it was extremely rare to see anything or anyone on the set not completely covered in "muck muck".Once Creamy Muck Muck was temporarily replaced with Custard Pies
During Series 1 to 4 there was no precise nature or specific theme to Creamy Muck Muck, except for its ending. It has seen simple pie throwing in earlier series, various sport based themes, a murder mystery, and many where they have pretended that they were not going to be throwing muck muck. For the end of Series 3 there was a surprise This Is Your Muck Muck a spoof of This Is Your Life, which involved many of Dick and Dom's family and friends, as well as featuring Pat Sharp.
For Series 5 the theme was normally a parody of a traditional game show. In whatever format the game took, the current 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed Bungalow Heads - The Prize Winners - competed against the 4th, 5th and 6th placed Bungalow Heads - The Prize Losers. If the Prize Winners won, then they would keep their current positions, and win the three prizes on offer. If the Prize Losers won, then they became the new 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and take the prizes off the previous Prize Winners. Past spoofs have included Name That Tune, The Crystal Maze and Call My Bluff.
The Forfeit Auction only ever featured on the Sunday editions of Dick and Dom in da Bungalow. Dick and Dom had "traditional" culinary objects to throw at the Bungalow Heads. Dick dressed up as 'Tomdickunharry', a Cockney geezer, and auctioned forfeits "for hard earned bungalow points, to stitch up your bungalow mates". His catchphrase was "Alright me darlin's?" He often also said "Bourbon Biscuit? Lovely Bourbon biscuit? Can I sell you a lovely Bourbon biscuit? No? Well wrap up warm!"
Usually, these forfeits included a Bungalow Head being covered in different foods, known as 'the usual', including Creamy Muck-Muck and 'Dirty Norris' (originally a Marmite-like substance, later replaced by chocolate custard), chopped tomatoes and mushy peas.
The forfeits were of two types: The first that was auctioned was usually a task for a Bungalow Head that lasted the whole show, for example 'The Clockwork Kid', or 'The Caveman Kid'. The second involved a Bungalow Head dressing up and being covered in the items explained above. For example, in one instance where a Bungalow Head was transported back to Victorian London, he had to ask for more from characters like "Jack The Let One Ripper", "Florence Nightingale", "Victorian Barry Manilow" and "Queen Victoria" (who made him king).
For the fifth series, due to the reduction in broadcast time, the forfeit auction was changed. Only one auction remained, which unsurprisingly was the messy one. Also 'blind bidding' was introduced where the Bungalow Heads would write their bids down, this was done to help save time. At the end of the final Sunday episode (5 March 2006), Tomdickunharry revealed himself to have been Dick all along on-screen.
The memorable commentary for bogies was done by the show's producer, Steve Ryde, who invented it.
Inside the Bungalow was a large purple cupboard, and once or twice during each show, away from the attention of Dick, Dom and the Bungalow Heads, the cupboard doors would open to show the adventures of Diddy Dick and Dom. These were short sketches, no more than a minute in length, with Dick and Dom donning black clothes and attaching a small puppet's body around their necks. Both Diddy Dick and Diddy Dom spoke with very squeaky voices, edited in post production.
The sketches involving Diddy Dick and Diddy Dom tended to be either slapstick humour, puns or, more often than not, toilet humour. Eamonn Holmes was a guest inside the cupboard on two occasions, both times appearing as a head inside Diddy Dick and Dom's TV. According to the final episode, Diddy Dick and Dom left the cupboard to go to Hollywood. Also in the final episode Dick and Dom venture to look inside the cupboard to find the "mice" that have been there ever since the show began. Instead, they find Diddy Dick and Diddy Dom. Diddy Dick and Diddy Dom now have a 5 minute show on CBBC called Diddy Dick and Dom on CBBC.
Commentary was provided by "Alan Sanchez" (Ian Kirkby) in a very convincing Northern Irish accent, who often became excited about any attempts at a "lay-on-lay" - where Dick or Dom placed a sticker on top of an existing sticker placed by their opponent.
The game returned for Series 5 (with the name misspelled as Eeny Meeny Macka Racka Rari Dominacka Shickapappa Dickapoppo Om Pom Stick) and it saw some remarkable "lays", including a very large sticker on a pregnant woman's stomach, and a large sticker on a businessman's tie.
Until Series 5 of 'Da Bungalow', each week a short five minute feature would be shown of the travels of 'next door's cat', who would visit the Bungalow to recount the tales of his adventures. The Cat has never been named. It was puppeteered and voiced by Dave Chapman, with a gruff West Yorkshire accent.
The film was normally a short segment about a town, full of irreverent comments about the people and the monuments that the Cat came across. Such towns included Uckfield, Ely, Goring, Sandwich, Wetwang, Letchworth and Stoke-on-Trent, a song about which was one of the highlights of the third series.
Cat's Britain was also referred to as 'The Pussycat's Travels' in the fourth series of the show. This feature was repeated on Sundays in the fifth series, with the Cat claiming he visited the same places again, met the same people and made exactly the same films.
This feature followed Dick and Dom's neighbour, The Prize Idiot (played by Lee Barnett), in his attempts to get a job. He tried several professions—including being a farmer, a librarian, a baker—without much success and invariably got 'the sack' at the end of the day.
This feature was first broadcast on Saturdays during the fifth series but moved to Sunday's show a few weeks later, replacing the Looney Tunes cartoon. The feature was relatively short lived as it was discontinued later in series 5.
I've got my head in my pants
(I wouldn't believe it 'less I'd seen it)
I'm in a groovy disco trance
(Are you sure that that's hygienic?)
They were clean on just last week
(Good grief they're gonna reek!)
Yeah, yeah baby, look at me
You gotta dance in your pants
Just like they do in France
You gotta take a chance
And do the knickers on your noodle prance
And dance in your pants!
(Lines in brackets are only sung in the accompanying music track, and not by the bungalowheads.)
Although the second line is "I'm in a groovy disco trance", Dick & Dom sing the line "I've got a groovy disco trance". This has previously been brought up on the show.
Another was Raymond Duck / Raymond Farmer / Raymond Newsreader. This character often provided links between cartoons that had been split in two. Raymond Farmer, played by Ian Kirkby, was also involved in several games in earlier series.
Some other characters included:
On 17 January 2005 the programme was debated in parliament when Peter Luff (Conservative MP for Mid Worcestershire) attacked it for its "lavatorial" content. Referring to the show's web site, he invited the Culture Secretary to "join me in playing How Low Can You Bungalow, a test to see your response to grossly embarrassing personal situations, largely of a lavatorial nature; Pants Dancers in the Hall of Fame, photos of children with underwear on their heads; Make Dick Sick, a game which I think speaks for itself; and finally Bunged Up, in which you play a character in a sewage system avoiding turtles' poos coming from various lavatories". He added, "Is that really the stuff of public service broadcasting?"
Additionally 40 people complained about the last episode of series 4. During the finale Richard McCourt was seen to give birth to a countless number of babies, though they were dolls covered in "muck muck".
The lack of celebrity was symbolised in earlier series by the presence of a minor, and often somewhat cult, celebrity, locked up in a cage in the dungeon of the Bungalow. In later series, the celebrity would sit in the attic. In both cases they would say nothing and often do nothing. Some people who have been in the cage or the attic include: Vince Earl, Sarah Greene, John Kettley, Hugo Myatt (as Treguard from Knightmare
), Su Pollard, Bodger and Badger and Peter Simon.
For the final series, however, this rule was changed, and five Bungalow Heads were joined by a Celebrity Bungalow Head.
The first celebrity to enter the Bungalow was Rachel Stevens. It seems, however, that she did not know what she was letting herself in for; she later stormed out when it was time for the finale of the show, Creamy Muck Muck: Muckversity Challenge. Melvin Odoom had to take her place in the sketch, given that she obviously did not want to be covered in creamy muck muck. Reports suggest that Dick & Dom have banned Rachel Stevens from any live broadcast they do in the future.
Pro Celebrity Bogies In order of appearance; (* indicates they won the game)
Series 5 In order of appearance;
, in the UCL Bloomsbury Theatre, London There were two shows (one at 2pm and another at 5pm), which consisted of games from the show including the Outboard Motor Gob Game, Sloppy Ploppy Choosy Pops and the Cereal Race. The 5pm show was filmed and is available on DVD.
After TMI each Saturday on CBBC 2 there is a 5mins program looking at some of the best clips from the original Diddy Dick and Dom .
The BBC brought back the Bungalow character Harry Batt in his own comedy series. A 30-minute pilot based around the fictitious policeman aired as part of the CBBC comedy showcase series Gina's Laughing Gear on 12 January 2007.
In August 2006, six months after the end of Da Bungalow, a new programme was announced that would feature some of the regular cast from the programme.
According to Broadcast magazine "The Slammer" would be a programme where "the inmates are performers incarcerated for crimes against creativity". Each week the governor, played by actor Ted Robbins, puts on a show where four novelty acts perform in front of a "parole board" of 50 children to determine which will be released. Celebrities with special skills are also being lined up to become performing inmates.
Around half of each 30-minute show is scripted as a sitcom starring the cast of Da Bungalow, headlined by Ian Kirkby who played policeman Harry Batt. Melvin Odoom, Lee Barnett and Dave Chapman also feature.
The Slammer was made in-house for a Friday afternoon slot on BBC One. It went into production in early September 2006, with the first broadcast on 22 September 2006.