Phoenix Nights
Written and produced by natural talents Peter Kay, Dave Spikey and Neil Fitzmaurice this sitcom, with its tongue-in-cheek subtle (and not so subtle) humour, is comedy at its best.
The premise originally started off as an episode of That Peter Kay Thing called 'In The Club'. It was so popular that Kay and Spikey decided to make it into a proper sitcom in its own right. The first series of Phoenix Nights was broadcast from January 2001, and after a very positive reaction a second series was created and beamed out to homes in August 2002.
Phoenix Nights is all about one man's quest to change club land, that man being the moving wheelchair-bound disaster that is Brian Potter. Brian has been the proud licensee of two clubs prior to the opening of The Phoenix but, due to the bad luck that follows him through every turn of his wheels, both clubs are now no more. His first club was flooded, the second was burnt down and his first attempt at The Phoenix ended the same way.
The series mainly focuses on wheelchair bound Brian Potter and his attempts to out do arch enemy Den Perry, the owner of neighbouring club The Banana Grove. The rivalry includes the fight to convince the board that the massive club show that is Talent Trek should be held in their premises. Whoever stages Talent Trek knows they've hit the big time. In Brian's words, will The Phoenix Club become 'The World Famous Phoenix Club' he wants it to be?
During the two series, Brian gets into a host of trouble and each episode is half an hour full of excitement, one liners and a major incident! For all Brian tries, he can't seem to get it just right.
Brian isn't alone in his quest to create "sunshine indoors" for the people of Bolton. He is helped, and often hindered, by his gang of staff and friends: His right hand man and local entertainer Jerry 'St Clair' Dignan; the club's bouncer duo Max and Paddy; resident DJ, Ray Von; the ultimate tall story teller Kenny 'Dalglish' Senior; the handy man, Young Kenny; Alan and Les, part of Jerry's backing band 'Les Alanos'; the bar staff and cleaners, Holy Mary, Marion and Joyce; the idiotic barman Spencer; and the Chinese cooks which Brian has appropriately named Ant and Dec.