Little Britain

7 TV shows that started out on radio

Radio has always been the perfect testing ground for some of the biggest names in comedy today.

Even at the peak of its popularity, Matt Lucas and David Walliams's Little Britain was a PC-baiting nightmare. Especially uncomfortable in its portrayals of disability, it featured characters such as Andy, who pretends to need a wheelchair due to laziness, and Anne, a truly outrageous creation that exists purely to mock those with severe learning difficulties. Yet it is West Country teen Vicky Pollard that makes Little Britain a textbook example of problematic TV. Pollard was a perfect storm of conservative anxieties: she was working class, she was overweight, she was a single mother (of 12 children), she was a criminal. At one point she swapped her child for a Westlife CD.

"People always say 'oh I know a Vicky Pollard' and I think that's when you have a kind of real cultural moment", said Walliams on The South Bank Show in 2005. The "cultural moment" she actually heralded was presumably not the one Walliams was thinking of. Soon, Pollard had become the poster girl for the demonisation of the working classes. She was a character on to which people could project their hatred of poor women, such as journalist James Delingpole, who said Pollard represented "gym-slip mums who choose to get pregnant as a career option; pasty-faced, lard-gutted slappers who'll drop their knickers in the blink of an eye."

Yet Pollard and her real life peers weren't just a punchbag for the press. By the turn of the decade, hostility towards low-income people was so overwhelming that the Tories ran a poster saying "Let's cut benefits for those who refuse work" to help them win votes. Austerity then ended up disproportionately punishing single parents, 86% of whom are women. There's no yeah-but-no about it, Pollard helped fuel the mood that got the UK to that point. Little Britain remains a thoroughly questionable chapter in British comedy because of it.

David Walliams: leaving his Little Britain days behind

Comedian and writer David Walliams talks about writing children's books and why he has to pinch himself every day.

David Walliams says he'd like to work with Matt Lucas

When asked whether he'd work with Matt Lucas again on the show, David Walliams said: "Of course we'd love to work together again. I wouldn't be where I am today without him. He moved to America and it made it more complicated but I'm sure we will one day."

A look back at George Michael's comedy cameos

He appeared in Christmas specials of Extras, The Catherine Tate Show as well as Comic Relief sketches with characters from Little Britain and Gavin & Stacey.

Groundbreaking comedy shows worth remembering

Take a trip down memory lane as we run through 2003's biggest comedy hits and check out the catchphrases that caught us hook, line and sinker.

Matt Lucas explain where Vicky Pollard came from

Little Britain's Vicky Pollard was the typical chav roaming the streets of the UK in the early noughties. Now, Matt Lucas has revealed how he and David Walliams came to realise the character.

David Mitchell defends Little Britain

Peep Show star David Mitchell has defended a recent slur on Little Britain after an Observer writer branded it 'cold-hearted' and 'nasty'.

Little Britain could be axed for good

Little Britain could be axed for good after star Matt Lucas admitted even he was fed up of seeing himself in it.

Lou and Andy to star in Dennis the Menace comic strip

Little Britain's Lou and Andy meet The Beano legend Dennis the Menace in a cartoon strip.