ChuckleVision

ChuckleVision is a popular British children's television series, shown on CBBC, first shown in 1987. It follows the adventures of the two Chuckle Brothers, who find themselves in all sorts of situations that they must cope with. The twentieth series started on the 28 January 2008 on the CBBC Channel.

Plot

Episodes of ChuckleVision are usually independent. The basic plot to each show is the brothers undertaking some sort of job, task or adventure. They are often employed by a character known as 'No Slacking', who is always played by the brothers' real-life brother, Jimmy Patton. No Slacking is meant to be a different character in every episode he appears in; however, he is always known by this name owing to the catchphrase he always says to get the bumbling brothers to work properly. No Slacking usually appears several times in each series, although in recent years this number has been reduced to once or twice a series. In each episode his life is either ruined or otherwise inconvenienced by Paul and Barry. A large amount of the comedy is based on slapstick.

However, on occasion, the jobs they carry out can be somewhat surreal or put them in surreal circumstances, this was very much enforced in the recent years of chucklevision. Once, they babysat for a boy who got out of his bed, leaving a football on his pillow, leading them to believe that his head had come off. Another episode involves Barry being able to see a invisible leprechaun which Paul cannot see.

The duo also often carry out jobs and tasks given to them by "Dan the Van", who is never seen, except in one episode where the Chuckle brothers decide it upon them to make sure he arrives to the special meeting. However, Dan the Van's face cannot be seen, as he is covered in bandages all over, and wearing dark shades. In other episodes we hear of, or sometimes see, relatives of Dan the Van, for example Grandmother Lettuce the Van appears in Chuckle and the Pea and his niece can be seen in Dim Waiters.

Their other real brother, Brian Patton, (who is a double act with Jimmy, The Patton Brothers) has appeared on and off since 1995. His character can often be heard to say "Get out of it" or "I may have misjudged you".

The brothers' main mode of transport is "The Chuckmobile". It is a quadricycle with a red and white striped roof. Barry is usually relegated to driving, while Paul puts his feet up on the front bar. The registration plate is Chuckle 1.

An exception to the usual format of stand-alone episodes came with the fourteenth series, broadcast in 2002. This used a continuous storyline 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 Barry. A two part story called Incredible Shrinking Barry appears in series 16. From series 17 onwards, this trend hasn't been repeated.

However, this has not always been the case. The format of the first two series (1987-1989) consisted of each episode focussing on a certain topic, a sort of "humourous Blue Peter". These episodes have rarely, if ever, been seen by the public eye since their original transmission. The opening title sequence was different too, with rings coming from the centre of the picture flashing in dark blue, mid-blue and light blue in a psychedelic fashion with yellow lettering "Chucklevision" on a red rectangle repeatedly jump-zooming in and out and tilting from side to side as it does this, while the original version of the Chucklevision theme tune plays. These opening titles are then followed by clips of the programme.

Characteristics

Paul is the dominant of the two; it's often due to his blind confidence that the two end up in bother. When he realises he has made a mistake, he often blames Barry and also tends to make Barry do the hard work and takes the credit for himself. However, by the end, poetic justice is usually done and if either brother is to come out on top at the end of the episode, it will invariably be Barry. However, this war between the brothers only happens in about half the episodes. The classic episodes of the show often ended with the brothers running away from some angered third party they had been trying to help.

Barry and Paul have a number of catch phrases, some of which involve one brother replying to the other brother's line. Thus "To me" receives the reply "To you", and "'Course it is, silly me" is met with "Silly you". The line "Oh dear" is regularly followed by "Oh dear, oh dear", and sometimes by "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear". This was 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 one episode Paul plays for Rotherham F.C and scores an own-goal.

Production

The programme has had numerous writers, including the Chuckle Brothers themselves. The main writer is John Sayle, who writes the majority of each series. Three episodes in the early 1990s were written by future BAFTA-winning television writer Russell T. Davies.

Series 14, along with the continuing storyline, saw another change. The length of the show was reduced from the usual 20 minute episode which ran from series 4 to 13 to 15 minutes. The main reason behind this was due to the BBC re-organising the schedule, this was also the reason why the BBC edited series' 12 and 13 to fit in with the new 15 minute length.

Due to Paul and Barry having other commitments, Series 20 only featured six episodes.

Broadcasting

In The 8th episode of Series four, entitled Bowl-derdash, the theme tune was slightly altered. This theme tune has remained ever since, but was shortened in the seventeenth series and also edited for the shortened versions of Series 12 and 13. All the episodes in the fourteenth series display the BBC logo on the title scene, but none of the episodes from other series show this logo. Since the 2002 series during the end credits, outtakes and goofs are usually shown.

The CBBC Channel used to have a 'ChuckleZone', which lasted an hour every Saturday morning showing 3, 20-minute episodes that were from earlier series (including the original versions of Series 12 and 13).

There have only been 2 DVD releases: Pirates of the River Rother & Spooky Going's On. These were both live performances, one filmed at Blackpool, the other filmed at Scarborough, and one video release entitled "Goofy Golfers" featuring 3 episodes.