Britain's Got a Great Double-Act
It's perhaps not entirely a coincidence that Matt Lucas and David Walliams have both announced their departures from huge prime-time reality shows in recent months, albeit in different circumstances. Walliams was caught being nasty about Britain's Got Talent contestants, off-mic (well, he thought he was off-mic) which you definitely can't imagine Lucas doing in the Bake-Off tent - but he's leaving anyway, which came as a surprise. They're now back writing a new show together, apparently.
Can it really be twenty years since Little Britain debuted on BBC TV, and catapulted the duo to a whole new level of stardom? They'd already had success together with the original radio show, plus the excellent Rock Profile; but this was next-level popular, as you can tell from its many spin-offs. The live show, Christmas specials, an American version, plus singles, DVDs, and myriad other merch - plus, you could play with those characters.
Little Britain: The Video Game has become semi-legendary too - it was a slightly bizarre adaptation. But less widely known is the online casino game, which no doubt cropped up in many lists of the best online casinos UK, a few years back. You can imagine the creators having a lot of fun, working out which characters to use with which classic casino favourites: it's a good conversational gambit for your at-home poker meet-ups, too.
Lou and Andy at the roulette table, perhaps - Andy winning when Lou is in the loo, then running round the casino celebrating? Vicky Pollard dispensing baffling advice by the slot machines, like The Fast Show's Billy Bleach but at twice the speed, and completely incomprehensible. When you do get a good win, there's Carol Beer saying 'computer says yes' - at last. And Dennis Waterman would obviously sing a bleepy theme tune.
Actually Vicky and Lou and Andy did pop up in the real Little Britain slot game, complete with favourite catchphrases. Plus you could choose outfits for the Welsh fashion icon Daffyd, find accessories for Florence's lady-friend Emily, and even join one of Marjorie Dawes' well-being classes - well, she probably would have moved them online during the lockdowns. Now there's a thought, Dawes in your own home.
Another of their infamous characters made a memorable casino impact too, in one of their high-profile offshoots. Little Britain USA aired on HBO in 2008 and featured the frequently outfit-eschewing toff Bubbles DeVere on a cruise to Brazil, where she takes to the roulette wheel and, in trademark Bubbles fashion, ends up in the buff. A follow-up to the US run never happened over issues around formatting, apparently: HBO wanted a one-off special, but Walliams and Lucas thought 90 minutes might be a bit much, probably rightly.
It'll be interesting to see what the duo do next, and if the tone evolves, a bit. Walliams is a hugely popular children's author now, while Lucas brings that big family Bake-Off following, so perhaps they'll move on from the Little Britain yucks. Indeed, two of their best-loved characters weren't together at all: Vulva from Spaced ("it's not finished... is finished") and Shooting Stars' George Dawes ("baked po-ta-to changed my life...")
Either way, when you look at their biggest UK ratings hits - Little Britain, Britain's Got Talent and The Great British Bake-Off - it'll probably have 'Britain' in the title somewhere.