Help (British TV series)

Last updated

Help
Genre Comedy
Starring Paul Whitehouse
Chris Langham
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes6
Production
Running time30 minutes
Release
Original network BBC Two
Original release27 February (2005-02-27) 
3 April 2005 (2005-04-03)

Help is a BBC television comedy series first screened on BBC Two in 2005. Written by and starring Paul Whitehouse and Chris Langham, it concerns a psychotherapist Peter Strong (Langham) and his therapy sessions with a variety of patients, almost all of whom are played by Whitehouse.

Contents

Strong, the diffident therapist, has an obsession with his receptionist Rebecca (played by Alison King) and also has regular appointments with his own therapist (who is also played by Whitehouse), the only times when the scene leaves Peter's office. Other performers are Mark Williams and Olivia Colman in cameos as patients, Alison Senior as a patient's wife, and Langham's real-life daughter Emily as a patient's precocious daughter. Two of the most frequent patients are Gary (the only role Whitehouse plays with no make-up), who initially uses his therapy sessions to escape from his wife; and Monty, an elderly Jewish taxi-driver whose wife is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Others include an Eastern European father, a magician and a TV presenter.

Interviewed by Ben Thompson for The Guardian in 2005, Langham said, of his writing partnership with Whitehouse:

The way Paul works is to try and come up with a phrase that suits a particular voice ... That's the grain of sand around which the pearl of a character forms. Once he's found that voice, he's volcanic – it all comes out of him in a stream of consciousness which I can't type fast enough to keep up with. Then my rather less glamorous and exciting job would be to take that stuff and shape it, which was fine by me, as I'm kind of obsessed with structure. [1]

The show was released on Region 4 DVD, but has so far remained unreleased in the UK, most likely as a result of Langham's conviction for possession of child pornography in 2007 and subsequent semi-retirement. [2] [3] The development of peeping tom character Pedro, who would appear in the proposed and ultimately unmade second series, became a focal point of Langham's trial. [4]

Swedish version

A Swedish remake, Hjälp! , was broadcast on Swedish television in 2007–2009. The psychologist Jeanette Plaszczyk was played by Stina Ekblad.

Related Research Articles

Paul Julian Whitehouse is a Welsh actor, writer, presenter and comedian. He was one of the main stars of the BBC sketch comedy series The Fast Show, and has also starred with Harry Enfield in the shows Harry & Paul and Harry Enfield & Chums. He has also starred with Bob Mortimer in the BBC series Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. He has also acted in films appearing in Corpse Bride (2005), Alice in Wonderland (2010), and The Death of Stalin (2017).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Enfield</span> English actor, comedian and writer (born 1961)

Henry Richard Enfield is an English comedian, actor, writer and director. He is known in particular for his television work, including Harry Enfield's Television Programme and Harry & Paul, and for the creation and portrayal of comedy characters such as Kevin the Teenager, Loadsamoney, Smashie and Nicey, The Scousers, Tim Nice-But-Dim and Mr. "You Don't Want to Do It Like That".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Thompson</span> British actress and screenwriter (born 1959)

Dame Emma Thompson is a British actress and screenwriter. She has received numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over four decades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2018, she was made a Dame (DBE) for services to drama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Kingsley</span> English actor (born 1943)

Sir Ben Kingsley is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Kingsley was appointed Knight Bachelor in 2002 for services to the British film industry. In 2010, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2013, he received the Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music therapy</span> Health profession

Music therapy, an allied health profession, "is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program." It is also a vocation, involving a deep commitment to music and the desire to use it as a medium to help others. Although music therapy has only been established as a profession relatively recently, the connection between music and therapy is not new

Christopher Langham is an English writer, actor, comedian, and convicted criminal. He is known for playing the cabinet minister Hugh Abbot in the BBC sitcom The Thick of It, and as presenter Roy Mallard in People Like Us, first on BBC Radio 4 and later on its transfer to television on BBC Two, where Mallard is almost entirely an unseen character. He subsequently created several spoof advertisements in the same vein. He also played similar unseen interviewers in an episode of the television series Happy Families and in the film The Big Tease. He is also known for his roles in the television series Not the Nine O'Clock News, Help, and Kiss Me Kate, and as the gatehouse guard in Chelmsford 123. In 2006, he won BAFTA awards for The Thick of It and Help.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Whitehouse</span> British conservative activist (1910–2001)

Constance Mary Whitehouse was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permissive society. She was the founder and first president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, through which she led a longstanding campaign against the BBC. A hard-line social conservative, she was termed a reactionary by her socially liberal opponents. Her motivation derived from her Christian beliefs, her aversion to the rapid social and political changes in British society of the 1960s, and her work as a teacher of sex education.

Operation Ore was a British police operation that commenced in 1999 following information received from US law enforcement, which was intended to prosecute thousands of users of a website reportedly featuring child pornography. It was the United Kingdom's biggest ever computer crime investigation, leading to 7,250 suspects identified, 4,283 homes searched, 3,744 arrests, 1,848 charged, 1,451 convictions, 493 cautioned and 140 children removed from suspected dangerous situations and an estimated 33 suicides. Operation Ore identified and prosecuted some sex offenders, but the validity of the police procedures was later questioned, as errors in the investigations resulted in many false arrests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Mortimer</span> English comedian, television presenter and actor

Robert Renwick Mortimer is an English comedian, author, television presenter and actor. He is known for his work with Vic Reeves as part of their Vic and Bob double act, and more recently the Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing series with Paul Whitehouse. He has also appeared on panel shows such as Would I Lie to You? and Taskmaster.

<i>Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist</i> Television series

Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist is an American adult animated sitcom created by Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder for Comedy Central. It originally ran from May 28, 1995, to February 13, 2002. The series starred the voice talents of Jonathan Katz, H. Jon Benjamin, and Laura Silverman. The show was produced by Popular Arts Entertainment, HBO Downtown Productions, and Tom Snyder Productions. The series won a Peabody Award in 1998.

<i>The Thick of It</i> 21st-century British comedy TV series

The Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of British government. Written and directed by Armando Iannucci, it was first broadcast for two short series on BBC Four in 2005, initially with a small cast focusing on a government minister, his advisers and their party's spin-doctor. The cast was significantly expanded for two hour-long specials to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's appointment as prime minister in 2007, which saw new characters forming the opposition party added to the cast. These characters continued when the show switched channels to BBC Two for its third series in 2009. A fourth series about a coalition government was broadcast in 2012, with the last episode transmitted on 27 October 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Thompson</span> Musical artist

Daniel Henry Edward Thompson is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Martyn.

Lesley Sharp is an English stage, film and television actress whose roles on British television include Clocking Off (2000–2001), Bob & Rose (2001) and Afterlife (2005–2006). She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the 1997 film The Full Monty. Her other film appearances include Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1986), Naked (1993), Priest (1994), From Hell (2001) and Vera Drake (2004). Between 2011 and 2016, she starred as DC Janet Scott in the ITV drama Scott & Bailey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Wilson</span> British actress

Ruth Wilson is an English actress. She is known for her performances as the eponymous protagonist in Jane Eyre (2006), as Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama Luther, as Alison Lockhart in the Showtime drama The Affair (2014–2018), and as the eponymous character in Mrs Wilson (2018). Since 2019, she has portrayed Marisa Coulter in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials, and for this role she won the 2020 BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress. Her film credits include The Lone Ranger (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), and Dark River (2017).

<i>Musicophilia</i>

In 2007, neurologist Oliver Sacks released his book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain in which he explores a range of psychological and physiological ailments and their intriguing connections to music. It is broken down into four parts, each with a distinctive theme; part one titled Haunted by Music examines mysterious onsets of musicality and musicophilia. Part two A Range of Musicality looks at musical oddities musical synesthesia. Parts three and four are titled Memory, Movement, and Music and Emotions, Identity, and Music respectively. Each part has between six and eight chapters, each of which is in turn dedicated to a particular case study that fit the overarching theme of the section. Presenting the book in this fashion makes the reading a little disjointed if one is doing so cover to cover, however, it also means one may pick up the book and flip to any chapter for a quick read without losing any context. Four case studies from the book are featured in the NOVA program Musical Minds aired on June 30, 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of James Bulger</span> 1993 child murder in Liverpool, England

James Patrick Bulger was a two-year-old boy from Kirkby, Merseyside, England, who was abducted, tortured, and murdered by two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, on 12 February 1993. Thompson and Venables led Bulger away from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, after his mother had taken her eyes off him momentarily. His mutilated body was found on a railway line two and a half miles away in Walton, Liverpool, two days after his abduction.

Child psychoanalysis is a sub-field of psychoanalysis which was founded by Anna Freud.

Hang Ups is a British television sitcom co-written by and starring Stephen Mangan. It was first broadcast on 8 August 2018 on Channel 4. The series is an adaptation of the American series Web Therapy. Mangan portrays Dr Richard Pitt, a troubled therapist who decides to start quick-fire therapy sessions through a webcam. The show features a celebrity ensemble cast as Richard's patients.

<i>Shrinking</i> (TV series) American comedy series

Shrinking is an American comedy-drama television series created by Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel and Brett Goldstein. The series stars Segel as a grieving therapist who decides to become drastically more involved in the lives of his patients. Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams, Christa Miller, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie and Lukita Maxwell also star.

Dame Anne Heather Steel is a British former High Court judge and judge on the Court of Appeal of Guernsey.

References

  1. Ben Thompson (26 March 2005). "When therapy is the best laughter". The Daily Telegraph . London. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  2. Moore, Matthew (14 November 2007). "Chris Langham freed as judge accepts appeal". The Daily Telegraph .(subscription required)
  3. Walker, Peter (2 August 2007). "Langham found guilty on child porn charges". The Guardian .
  4. "Co-star 'did not know about porn'". BBC News. 24 July 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2020.