Hippies (TV series)

infobox television
show_name = Hippies
genre = Comedy
format = Comedy
runtime = 30 minutes
creator = Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews
writer = Arthur Mathews
director = Martin Dennis
starring = Simon Pegg
Julian Rhind-Tutt
Sally Phillips
Darren Boyd
country = United Kingdom
network = BBC
first_aired = 12 November 1999
last_aired = 17 December 1999
num_seasons = 1
num_episodes = 6
imdb_id = 0187646
language = English

Hippies was a six part British television comedy series broadcast from the 12 November-17 December 1999. It was created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan; the writing partnership most famous for "Father Ted", but the scripts were written by Mathews alone.It starred Simon Pegg, Sally Phillips, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Darren Boyd.

Synopsis

"Hippies" is set in 1969 in 'swinging London' and is set around Ray Purbbs (Pegg) who is the editor of a counterculture magazine called "Mouth" (a parody of "Oz", "International Times", "Frendz" and other underground magazines of the time) which he produces in his flat in Notting Hill Gate. He is aided by Alex Picton-Dinch (Rhind-Tutt), Hugo Yemp (Boyd) and Jill Sprint (Phillips), Sprint is also Purbbs girlfriend, or he thinks she is his girlfriend.

The series delved into late 1960s culture and involved the characters in various ridiculous situations in this setting.

Episodes

Critical reaction

The series was Mathews and Linehan's immediate follow up to the hugely popular and highly successful, "Father Ted". As such it received a significant amount of pre-release hype which viewers felt let down by after watching the first few episodes, as it did not meet their expectations. In general it was badly received by critics.

A second series was commissioned, but was never written after Mathews was put off by the negative critical reaction.

"Hippies" has never been repeated on any terrestrial BBC channels, although it has been repeated on Paramount Comedy 2, and the now defunct UK Play.

It was released on DVD in the UK in March 2008. [ [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00113NWWI] Amazon Pre-release page]

References

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/h/hippies_66601770.shtml BBC comedy guide entry]
* [http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/comedy/hippies.htm Article on Off The Telly]
* [http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0187646/ IMDb entry]