After the BBC’s ludicrous axing of Shooting Stars, it’s no wonder its creators Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer grabbed the opportunity to hop back to Channel 4…and basically recreate it under another name. Not that that’s any criticism, however – it was great!
‘IT’S HIGH TIME WE SAW IT COME BACK IN SOME FORM OR ANOTHER’
The similarities were obvious: Walter Hottle Bottle making a return, a quite basic set, opening dance routine and Dan Skinner – although this time not in his guise as Angelos Epithemiou (which was wise – he’s moved on, it would be silly to make him return to his roots). However, like I said – these likenesses are no bad thing. I think nearly all Shooting Stars fans would agree that it’s high time we saw it come back in some form or another.
‘ABSURD YET INGENIOUS QUESTIONS’
Admittedly, the banter with team captains Ulrika(kakaka) Jonsson and Jack Dee and score keeper Angelos is a miss as it made up a lot of the humour on Shooting Stars but its absence wasn’t the end of the world: we still have the absurd yet ingenious questions, exactly what we’d expect from Vic and Bob. If you need any proof of how absolutely nonsensical and random the duo can be, look no further than Bob asking actor Thomas Turgoose to introduce himself:
“State your name, your occupation and the percentage of your day you spend in Morrison’s waiting for the hot chickens to be reduced in price”
Now, I love writing comedy but know for a fact that – if I’d had the wit to create this joke in the first place – I would have stopped it at “Morrison’s” and still sit back and think, ‘That’s a great gag’. Not Vic and Bob, though! Oh no – they think beyond the obvious and have the ability to turn a simple joke like the one I would have written to the quoted one. I really have a lot to learn!
AND FINALLY…
My only qualm would be that the ‘End Game’ was missing, therefore making Eddie Izzard’s win at the end, and then the subsequent presentation of his prize a little bit shoehorned in. It just didn’t feel right without a final game to round off the show.
Nevertheless, I still maintain that Lucky Sexy Winners (what a great title) is a good replacement for Shooting Stars and fans will agree too, I’m sure. It still doesn’t excuse the fact that the BBC axed it, though.
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