04/11/06
Big And Daft (Part Two) (Second Part) -
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So the television series we were offered during rehearsals for "Big And Daft In Space" was called "Terrorville".
There had already been a pilot made by the time we got the call, and it seemed that we had been lined up to replace Catherine Tate who had appeared in that, alongside Noble & Silver. It was a very hasty replacement. Usually you get a bit of time to mull over these things, but we were asked to do it on a Thursday and the recording began the following Tuesday. We also had to write our segments.
The show was for UK Play. UK Play no longer exists, and the reason for this is that it was rubbish. Every show was a mixture of comedy and music, and for every gem it threw up ("Rock Profiles") there was a turd to go with it ("Terrorville").
The premise for the show was that it would be seperated into segments around music videos, each one looking at the lives of the residents of "Terrorville" (a cyber world, entirely computer generated). It was filmed on blue screen with all the sets and scenery added later, just like The Phantom Menace the year before. I believe George Lucas may have had a slightly larger budget with his Star Wars prequel though.
If I may paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, the producers had got so excited at the possibility that they could make the show, they didn't stop and think whether they should make it. It did however mean that we were able to commit our favourite sketches from the first year of Big And Daft to film for posterity, even if that posterity was fated to remain on an old VHS cassette that's gathering dust in one of my cupboards somewhere. The computer generated imagery also meant that we could finally realise a sketch that we had written that involved Rob building a rocket, but that's about it really. We had another sketch that involved Rob killing K-9 from Doctor Who but we were refused rights to K-9 at the eleventh hour, even though it had already been located in the BBC's props department and would have been treated well. We ended up using a shitty little remote control dog that was bought at some market.
The budget had all been used up on the CGI so we got next to nothing for appearing in it, and the fact that a stunt man couldn't be afforded for a scene where I jumped through a window meant that I had to do it myself and culminated with me popping an intercostal muscle. I regret to this day not pushing for compensation, I still have problems with that side of my ribs from time to time. I just thought it might fuck up future working relationships. I have since learned the value of loyalty in television...
So anyhow, we filmed eight episodes in two days and then got back to concentrating on the Edinburgh Show. Real Talent (our then management) had sorted out some preview dates for us (we didn't even know what a preview was) and before we knew it August arrived and we were back at the Gilded Balloon - this time in the more professional and bigger surroundings of the Studio.
The Studio was such a brilliant space to perform in, it's heartbreaking to think that it's gone to ash now.
The show looked better than anything we had done before. We had a set, including a massive 'flat' (a free standing wall) with a hole in it for our puppet alter-egos, and a window frame suspended from the back wall (complete with a 'special effect' of concrete falling down behind it). We also had different lighting states, and gels in the lights. We were going up market.
The show took the same form as our 1999 offering but with a quickly ignored premise (that of us being encased in concrete in a house on the moon) - it was basically a device to once again stop our characters being able to leave each other. We found out later that an episode of The Goodies once had a similar premise, and as we were being more and more compared to The Goodies this caused a degree of alarm, but I can tell you now - hand on heart - that The Goodies were never an influence for me. I can see the comparison, especially now that I have seen a few more episodes of it, but to be honest, I was never really a fan. None of us were familiar with their work - the concrete encasing was just Flukesville.
I have always been adamant that Big And Daft In Space was our strongest show. It was no coincidence that when we did our "Greatest Hits" Tour it was built primarily around the 'Space' show. The audience responses were greater than we had previously experienced, we sold more tickets, and girls started turning up in the audience with posters to be signed.
However, the 'industry' folk who had been so keen the previous year were apparently less impressed. We had got great reviews again, but the whisper from the telly people was that we had lost the 'edge' from the first show. This was an utter pile of bollocks, especially when you consider that there was an occasional sketch in there that revolved around Jon and I repeatedly saying the word 'cunt' to Rob, but there was little to be done if they didn't like it.
The fractures were appearing between the three of us again too, especially as myself and Jon were rapidly coming to the conclusion that we were perhaps not with the right management. Rob had his stand up career going great guns (as a result, I hasten to add, of his own hard work), so perhaps wasn't noticing how little attention we appeared to be getting from Real Talent, but Jon and I had, and weren't loving it.
We were also believing, rightly or wrongly, that the television interest was waning as a direct result of how our relationship with the BBC had been taken over by Real Talent. If you remember, when we initially signed with the BBC we were without representation, but now suddenly there was a go-between who, from all accounts, was treating the commodity of Big And Daft as far more valuable than the BBC (or ourselves, for that matter) believed us to be. We'd had a decent first year at the Fringe, and from the ticket sales in year two, we were clearly developing a 'fan' base, but you can't go chucking your weight about at such an early stage. News began to filter through from the industry contacts we had made ourselves the year before...it seemed that this was happening on our behalf - in our name - but not by us.
We kept our mouths shut for the most part though, especially given that they had brought us up to Edinburgh with no mention of any cash changing hands - in fact we had been assured that we "wouldn't have to write a cheque" for Big And Daft In Space. That was a pretty good deal in anyone's book. We decided between the three of us that once we got back to London, we would have a proper sit down and chat about our management situation, discussing what we had 'heard through the grapevine', what we individually thought, and a decision would be reached.
When we did get back to London we each received a budget report. There was a minus sign in front of a massive number.
We were apparently accountable for this.
We were apparently in debt...
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