When the Whistle Blows
“Are you having a Luff?”
“Would you rather blowing a weasel or bumming a Winslet?”
When the Wind Blows is a British television sitcom about having laughs. Created, written by and starring Ricky Gervais, the show is set in a Wigan factory, next to a secret studio where the band Coldplay record their newest singles. The show is notable for being a parody of self-porclaimed "sofisticated" comedies, such as The Office, Frasier and Celebrity Big Brother. For example, the scene where Chris Martin arrives to the factory from nowhere and starts singing, is a reference to the Ben Stiller film Night at the Museum where comic genius Ricky Gervais appeared for a few seconds in his pointless role in the film.
Cast and characters[edit]
- Main article: Characters of When the Winter Begins
- Ricky Gervais as Larry David
- Ugly Betty as Maggie Thatcher
- Michael Richards as Darren Goat
- Shaun of Extras as David from NYPD Blue
- Greg Lindley-Jones as The Joker
Episodes[edit]
When the Wiener Blown's most notable episode is perhaps the one featuring Gary Shandling, which was a sharp parody of Jewish comedy sitcoms. In the episode, Shandling plays a Jew who tries to get hired in the factory, but is denied by the character played by Gervais, while it was obvious that the only reason is Shandling's rude behaviour and not his Jewishness. Another famous Where the Wanker Bursts episode shows Gervais shouting a catchphrase in a silly wig and stupid glasses, but later it becomes obvious that he just meant to mock a performance of Elton John.
Woody Allen was replaced at the last moment by Jude Law. Allen said his decision was because Gervais isn't broad enough for him, claiming that "Ricky is just not Ricki anymore".
The 4.5-hours long final episode was entitled Why the Wet Breasts? Behind The Blow and won the show's first BAFTA award, Best Continuing Drama.
Extras[edit]
The show is famous for using no extras. All of the background artists are expensive British and American actors and not ordinary people. Nontheless, BBC managed to save some money by getting Robert DeNiro for a couple of scenes of When the Woodie Bones. Appearently his last good movie was 15 years ago, so he made it possible to cover the cost of Les Dennis.
See also[edit]
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