Tracey Takes On... features Tracey Ullman playing an array of original characters. Unlike her previous shows where characters were very rarely repeated, Ullman came up with a recurring cast of nineteen characters to play over the course of the show's four-season run (plus six one-offs). Six of these characters originated from her previous specials: Trevor Ayliss, Virginia Bugge, and Janie and Jackie Pillsworth from Tracey Ullman: A Class Act, and Linda Granger and Fern Rosenthal from Tracey Ullman Takes on New York. Janie is the only character to appear in both specials and all four seasons of the show.
Two characters were retired during the show's run: Virginia after season 2, and Mrs. Noh Nang Ning after season 3. Conversely, three characters were added over the course of the show: Birdie Godsen in season 2, Sheneesha Turner in season 3, and Madam Nadja in season 4.
Three actors portrayed Virginia's husband, Timmy: Michael Palin in (Tracey Ullman: A Class Act), Hugh Laurie (season 1), and Tim McInnerny (season 2). Likewise, two actors played Fern's husband, Harry: Michael Tucker (Tracey Ullman Takes on New York; seasons 1, 3–4), and George Segal (season 2).
Age 36. British. Virginia Bugge (pronounced "byoog") was born in Rhodesia and is married to The Right Honourable Timothy "Timmy" Bugge, the ConservativeMP for Greater Diddlebury and the Minister of Fishing and Game. They have two children, Tasmin and Piers, who have attended boarding school since the age of six.[1]
Chic
Chic (pronounced "chick" or "cheek") is a male New York City cab driver of indeterminate Middle Eastern descent and a self-described "chick-magnet" (hence his name). Chic came to the United States illegally with his sister. He made his way around New York City knowing only two English phrases: "Are you talking to me?" (which he learned from watching the movie Taxi Driver) and "Show me your tits!" He sold drugs in the 1970s to get his hack license.[4] He has a brother, Piki, who runs a falafel stand, and a cousin, Momo, who owns a discount carpet warehouse.[5]
Chic claims to have had many celebrities in his cab, and even claims to have taught John Travolta his moves for the movie Saturday Night Fever.[4] Chic runs "the only two-star cab cafe in Manhattan".[6] He was the bronze medal winner at the Pan Mediterranean song Festival with his band Teiku, for their song "Slide Down My Olive Tree (Ooh, Baby, La La La)".[7]
Age 42. Kay is a spinster originally from England. She moved to the United States with her invalid mother to take advantage of the health benefits. She works at a bank, Van Nuys Savings and Loan.[7]
Hope Finch
Age 19. Hope is an idealistic college student. She attends Sweetbriar College, where she resides in Margaret Sanger Hall. She's a virgin, and although not currently a lesbian, she's "young and impressionable".[8]
Rayleen Gibson
Age 34 (approximated by the wear on her back molars). Rayleen is an Australian "stuntwoman to the stars". When she was a child, she was lost on a family camping trip, and until the age of ten, was raised by dingoes.[9] She eventually met up with a woman (Olivia Newton-John) who saw to her education and put her in touch with film producers. She went on to marry Mitch Gibson (Danny Woodburn), a little person.[10] Rayleen and Mitch own and run Aged-Animal-Actors-Home (or A.A.A.H.), for retired animal actors.[8] Mitch was killed during a freak accident on the set of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. At his funeral, Rayleen learns that Mitch had been married previously and never bothered to divorce his former wife, thus making her marriage legally invalid.[11]
Birdie Godsen
Age 42. Birdie is a Right-wing devout Christian fundamentalist homemaker. Her husband Robert is a tobacco industry executive.[5] Birdie homeschools their seven children to prevent them from being exposed to multicultural programs and teaches them subjects that in her words will actually be useful to them in their daily lives: reading, writing, arithmetic, religion, marksmanship and taxidermy.[12] The family lives on Dan Quayle Drive in a 'graceful gated community' in Atlanta, Georgia. Birdie is aunt to Chris Warner. She has a twin brother, Sandy, who runs a homosexual deprogramming center, Straight Ways.[13] In her spare time, Birdie sells Militia M'Lady products,[14] attends a "We Hate Hillary" club,[15] and looks out for black government helicopters flying overhead with weaponry in her backyard to shoot them down if need be.[16]
Linda Granger
Age varies. Linda is an actress, singer, dancer and author. Linda starred as Vickie Starr in the hit 1970s television series VIP Lounge.[4] She has a tell-all autobiography, I'm Still Here!! My Lifelong Battle with Alcoholism, Disease, and Personal Misfortune, which details her battles with drugs, alcoholism, cancer, and eating disorders.[17] Linda is also a recovering sex addict. She has one child, a daughter named Marmalade (Kristin Dattilo), who she secretly gave up for adoption (to sustain her public image) and then later re-adopted. Marmalade's father is unknown.[16] Her manager Candy Casino (Seymour Cassel) helps run her life. She often remarks, "I have such a solid homosexual fanbase."[3]
Her Royal Highness
Age 57. HRH derives enormous pleasure from making everyone around her as uncomfortable as possible. Her private secretary, Captain Philip "Pip" St. Aubyn (Alastair Duncan), is always on hand to assist her.[17]
Sydney Kross
Age unknown ("It's illegal to ask that question"). A ruthless and charmless high-profile Beverly Hills attorney. Her motto is "You name it, I'll sue it."[17]
Erin McColl
Age 47. Erin is the former lead singer of the 1970s band Wisechild.[18] Erin often loses her train of thought and depends on her manager Dusty (Mo Gaffney) for guidance.
Madam Nadja
Age 60. Nadja, who originally hails from Romania, is now a Hollywood madam who conducts all her business from her bed. She was great friends with Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu, and was at one time his mistress. Her parrot Vlad talks to her.[19]
Mrs. Noh Nang Ning
Age 70. Mrs. Noh Nang Ning, who is of indeterminate Asian origin, owns and operates a Los Angeles doughnut shop, Yankee Doodle Donuts. She is a hard-working patriotic American, who almost always relates everything to the doughnut. Mrs. Noh Nang Ning grew up as an orphan in her homeland. She was eventually engaged to a prince, but the wedding was interrupted when a revolution broke out. She then escaped to the United States.[9] She works long hours and finds little time for pleasantries (playing Pai gow in Las Vegas).[20] However, she does make time to sponsor her granddaughter, Kim, in ice skating competitions.[2]
Janie Pillsworth
Age 37. Manhattan magazine editor. Janie, born Janine, hails from Broxbourne, England and is the only child to Frank and Jackie Pillsworth. She attended a prestigious British boarding school thanks to her working class father who sacrificed his kidney to pay her tuition. While there, Janie reinvented herself and disowned her parents. The family wasn't reunited until an unscrupulous colleague revealed Janie's true identity and she was forced to face her past. After her father died, Janie let her mother, who also acts as a live-in nanny, live with her.[21]
Age 72. A Hollywood makeup artist (one of the oldest still working in the union) who's seen it all; she worked heavily during Hollywood's heyday. Ruby's hobbies include wine tasting, poker, and preserving the old Hollywood. She takes care of her shell-shockedVietnam War veteran son Buddy, along with her cat Duke and their Vietnamese Pot-bellied, Oinky.[22] Ruby has one daughter, Desiree.[21]
Fern Rosenthal
Age 56. Fern is a Jewish homemaker, originally from Long Island. After thirty-seven years of marriage, Fern convinced her husband Harry to retire to Boca Raton, Florida after he suffered a heart attack. Harry was the owner of a chain of seventeen discount pharmacies. They have one daughter, Sheila and a grandson, Ryan.[23] Fern's closest friend (and sometimes rival) is condo board president Jobie Wolf (Julie Kavner).[15] Harry was thought to have been eaten by an alligator on a golf course,[11] but Fern soon discovered that he had been having an affair with their maid and the two had run off together and were living in Belize. Fern tracked Harry down and an altercation broke out resulting in Harry being eaten alive by a shark.[14]
Sheneesha Turner
Age 34. Sheneesha is an African American airport security guard. She works the metal detector, along with her friends and co-workers, Hellura (Adele Givens) and Ida (Patricia Belcher). Sheneesha has given birth to seven children despite years of standing next to the airport's X-ray machine.[11] She is enthusiastic about performing body searches and checking luggage for forbidden items.[24]
Chris Warner
Age 32. Chris, a lesbian, originally from Barstow, Texas, is the girlfriend of professional golfer Midge Dexter (Julie Kavner) and niece of Birdie Godsen and Birdie's twin brother, Sandy, a Christian fundamentalist preacher who runs a homosexual deprogramming center, Straight Ways. Chris put her career as a step aerobics instructor on hold to travel the country with Midge.[23] The pair made headlines when they came out publicly by embracing after Midge's first win.[25]
An actress who takes part in a documentary about The Bush Pilot, a film dubbed "The Epic that Never Was".[26]
Alicia Del Mar
Appeared in "Tracey Takes On... Nostalgia"
An actress who went into seclusion after the film The Bush Pilot shut down production. Only Ruby Romaine knows her whereabouts.[26]
Sydney's mother
Appeared in "Tracey Takes On... Fantasy"
Sydney fantasizes about blackmailing her with information she has about her murdering her father.[27]
Sandy
Appeared in "Tracey Takes On... Religion"
Birdie Godsen's twin brother (also Chris Warner's uncle). A Christian fundamentalist preacher who runs a homosexual deprogramming center, Straight Ways.[13]
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