Coogan's Run

Coogan's Run
Genre	Comedy
Written by	Steve Coogan Patrick Marber David Tyler Graham Linehan Arthur Mathews Geoffrey Perkins Henry Normal
Starring	Steve Coogan
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Running time	27-30 minutes
Production company(s)	Pozzitive Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC2
Picture format	4:3
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	17 November 1995 – 22 December 1995

Coogan's Run was a 1995 UK TV series featuring Steve Coogan as a series of odd characters living in the fictional town of Ottle. It was written by various people including Coogan, Patrick Marber, David Tyler, Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews, Geoffrey Perkins and Henry Normal. The series consists of six self-contained stories, although Coogan's characters from the other episodes in the series make occasional cameo appearances.

The first episode, Get Calf, features the already well known characters Paul Calf and his sister Pauline, both played by Coogan. It shows Paul getting into trouble with three criminal brothers after witnessing a bank robbery and being forced to identify them in court. He then joins a cult and retreats to their residence where he is lured into a porn film.

The second episode, Dearth of a Salesman, shows Coogan as the insensitive, egotistical computer hardware salesman, Gareth Cheeseman. Gareth is similar to Coogan's most famous creation, Alan Partridge, both in appearance and through being self obsessed and very cocky despite seeming very faulty indeed. It shows Gareth attempting to socialise and make a big sale during a sales conference while constantly checking to see if his car is safe. Despite his faults, Gareth appears destined to land a big contract, but fate intervenes.

The third episode, A Handyman For All Seasons, features another previously known character. Ernest Moss had been used in live shows giving a safety lecture (as seen on the 1994 video release Live 'n' Lewd). The episode is set in 1960 and mostly shot in black and white. Ernest Moss (Coogan), a general repairman, attempts to stop a large new property development in his home village while making repairs to his fellow villagers' homes. This episode also saw Coogan play the laddish Peter Calf, the father of Paul.

Episode four, Thursday Night Fever, saw Coogan play mediocre club entertainer Mike Crystal. Mike invents an alter-ego, Clint Stallone, when his career begins to falter. The manager of his club, Clement (Graham Fellows), thinks Clint is real, and gets his nephew to photograph him in a compromising position with Mike's girlfriend, Debs.

The fifth episode Natural born Quizzers, saw Coogan share the lead role with Patrick Marber as the mad, trivia obsessive Crump brothers, Stewart and Guy. When the brothers lost a children's quiz show in 1975, they burned down the studio, killing their parents and one of the sisters from the opposing team. Twenty years later, the brothers kidnap their therapist and the surviving sister, Cathy (Rebecca Front) and make them re-enact the quiz on the roof of a car park with the transsexual quiz host, Jeremy (Angela) Monkhead. It ends with Stewart and Guy taking the trophy and then detonating a bomb.

The sixth and final edition of Coogan's Run The Curator, showed Coogan as Tim Fleck, the curator of a very dull museum. Tim is disgusted to find that his museum is being taken over to build a steak house upon the death of his mother. On the opening night, a masked man massacres the diners and a corrupt local councillor.

External links

• Coogan's Run at the Internet Movie Database