House of Fools (TV series)

House of Fools
Also known as 'Vic & Bob's House of Fools'
Genre Comedy
Written by
Directed by Nick Wood
Starring
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 2
No. of episodes 13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Mark Freeland
Producer(s) Lisa Clark
Location(s)
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s)
Release
Original network
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
Original release 14 January 2014 (2014-01-14) – 30 March 2015 (2015-03-30)
External links
Website

House of Fools is a British comedy television series that was first broadcast on BBC Two on 14 January 2014.[1][2] The series features Bob Mortimer and Vic Reeves, who are also the writers.

House of Fools was recommissioned for a second series in March 2014. A Christmas Special aired on 28 December 2014, with the second series following on 16 February 2015.[3][4]

On 25 August 2015 BBC Two cancelled the series.[5]

Plot

The series takes the duo of Vic and Bob's blend of rapid-fire jokes and surrealist wit, applying it to the sitcom format. Episodes are filled with musical routines to deliver plot points, strange events that break up the action, non-sequitur gags, off-colour jokes, and oddball characters. Each episode shows Bob Mortimer's house being filled with uninvited people, to his frustration - usually built around a basic sitcom premise. Vic Reeves is one of the uninvited guests who lives in the house. Also living in the house is Bob's son Erik (Daniel Simonsen). Julie (Morgana Robinson) lives next door.[6][7]

Cast

House of Fools cast

Bob owns the house where most of the action takes place. A proud wig-wearer, Bob has a crush on Sandi Toksvig as a running gag. Though he is often led to frustration by the antics of his friends, Bob and his friends always manage to pull through tough situations with teamwork, which they celebrate in the closing credits musical routine of the show.

Bob's best friend and housemate, acting as both a source of annoyance and a voice of reason to Bob. Vic tends to be more easy-going than Bob, with more of a sense of awareness about the bigger picture. Vic is willing to go out of his way to help his friend Bob out, though he will often indulge in strange and juvenile behaviour, such as stealing wigs using a trained hawk from a wig-wearer's convention. He often starts the episode with a song, usually to the tune of "Day Trip to Bangor".

Bob's son, Erik is a recluse who rarely comes down from his heavily guarded bedroom. When he does, it's usually to dry-retch at something that disgusts him, or mock his father for being uncool. By contrast, he considers Bob's friend and flatmate Vic Reeves to be a cool guy, and maintains an amiable relationship with him. In spite of constantly putting Bob down, Erik appears to secretly harbour genuine devotion and love for his father, as seen in the episode The Birthday Affair.

Vic and Bob's crazy next-door neighbour, Julie is something of a nymphomaniac, constantly encouraging the male characters to 'buff my Barnaby Rudge'. She is particularly fixated on Vic Reeves, who spurns her romantic advances nervously. Julie often appears aloof of problematic situations, even smiling broadly when people are distressed, and often plays gags on others. In spite of her odd behaviour, she is often willing to go out of her way to help her neighbours when they are in trouble.

Vic and Bob's suave, eccentric retro/70s styled next door neighbour with a fetish for African ladies and countless anecdotes about his rather nefarious activities in Africa. His first entrances in episodes are usually accompanied by a singing routine in disco dance music. He often shows up to help out or entertain his friends.

Vic's jailbird brother, Bosh takes an instant dislike to Bob despite living in his house and paying no rent. Bosh is unable or unwilling to find either a job or a place to stay, and frequently invents excuses for him to extend his visit when confronted. As a running gag, he often calls people a twat, even when being friendly. He often proves himself useful when the other characters are in need.

Julie's deceased former lover, Martin is referenced several times by Julie before making an appearance in The Ghost Affair.

Rachel is Erik's girlfriend and has several noticeable similarities to Erik, including her clothes, speaking voice and mannerisms.

Production

House of Fools was commissioned by Janice Hadlow and Shane Allen, both working for the BBC.[8] The pilot episode was filmed on 22 March 2013 at BBC Television Centre. The remaining five episodes of Series 1 were filmed at Elstree Studios on 8, 15, 22, 29 November and 6 December 2013 in front of an audience of 260 people.[9] Series 2 was filmed at MediaCityUK, Salford.[10]

The series is a BBC Comedy production in association with Pett Productions.[8] House of Fools has Lisa Clark as producer and Mark Freeland as executive producer. The theme music is called "Party Time", written by Keith Mansfield and published by KPM.

Episodes

For more details on this topic, see List of House of Fools episodes.

All episodes are written by Bob Mortimer and Vic Reeves. In total the show aired two series and one Christmas special.

Reception

Overnight figures showed that the pilot episode was watched by 6.8% of the viewing audience for that time, with 1.27 million watching it.[11] The second episode was watched by 936,000 viewers (5.1%) and the third episode was watched by 815,000 people (4.4%).[12][13] The final three episodes of the first series were seen by 665,000 (3.6%), 677,000 (3.6%) and 758,000 (4.0%) respectively.[14][15][16]

Home media

House of Fools series one has been released on DVD.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dex, Robert (26 April 2013). "House of Fools: Reeves and Mortimer return to BBC two years after Shooting Stars axed". Independent. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  2. ↑ Fletcher, Alex (26 April 2013). "Vic and Bob "over the moon" with BBC Two sitcom 'House of Fools'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  3. ↑ Eames, Tom (18 March 2014). "Vic and Bob's House of Fools renewed for second series by BBC Two". Digital Spy. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  4. ↑ Dowell, Ben (18 March 2014). "Vic and Bob comedy House of Fools series two confirmed". Radio Times. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  5. ↑ http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/house-of-fools/36693/house-of-fools-bbc-cancels-reeves-and-mortimers-sitcom
  6. ↑ "House Of Fools". BBC. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  7. ↑ Eames, Tom (13 December 2013). "Vic and Bob's new sitcom House of Fools - first picture". Digital Spy. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  8. 1 2 "Vic and Bob return to BBC Two in brand new sitcom". BBC. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  9. ↑ "New Vic and Bob comedy House of Fools resides at Elstree". BBC. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  10. ↑ "Vic and Bob: "Manchester audiences are better"", Manchester Evening News, 14 February 2015
  11. ↑ Eames, Tom (15 January 2014). "Death in Paradise returns to highest-ever ratings of 7.1m on BBC One". Digital Spy. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  12. ↑ Eames, Tom (22 January 2014). "Death in Paradise tops Tuesday ratings with 6.8 million". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  13. ↑ Eames, Tom (29 January 2014). "Death in Paradise tops Tuesday ratings with 6.5 million". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  14. ↑ Eames, Tom (5 February 2014). "Death in Paradise rises to easily top Tuesday ratings with 6.6m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  15. ↑ Eames, Tom (12 February 2014). "Death in Paradise jumps to new high of 7.2 million". Digital Spy. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  16. ↑ Eames, Tom (19 February 2014). "Death in Paradise drops 800k but still tops Tuesday ratings". Digital Spy. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  17. ↑ BBC. "BBC Products - House of Fools". BBC. Retrieved 24 February 2015.

External links

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