# That Peter Kay Thing

That Peter Kay Thing is a British mockumentary series which was first shown on Channel 4 in 2000. It was written by Peter Kay, Dave Spikey, Neil Fitzmaurice and Gareth Hughes, and was directed by Andrew Gillman. The series was narrated by Andrew Sachs, with the exception of the pilot, which was narrated by Kay. Set in and around Bolton, each episode functions as a self-contained documentary following a different set of characters, many of them played by Kay. The pilot episode, "The Services", was shown in 1998 as an episode of Comedy Lab, a series which showcased pilots of experimental comedy shows. Many of the characters went on to appear in the successful spin-off series Phoenix Nights.

## Episode list

| No. | Title | Original air date |
| Pilot | "The Services" | 9 November 1998 (1998-11-09) |
| Set in a service station just outside Bolton, made for Channel 4's Comedy Lab. The episode charts a day in the life of the unruly station manager Pearl Hardman and her employees, including the depressed teenager Matthew Kelly. Panic then ensues when they discover that Bob Carolgees may be stopping at the station. |||
| 1 | "In the Club" | 12 January 2000 (2000-01-12) |
| Set in the Neptune Club, a working men's establishment. It follows the grand final of the annual Talent Trek 99 competition. Characters include the club's social secretary Brian Potter, the club's compère Jerry St. Clair, the bouncers Max and Paddy and the house band Les Alanos. |||
| 2 | "Eyes Down" | 19 January 2000 (2000-01-19) |
| Set in the Apollo Bingo Hall, the episode follows a day in the life of the customers and employees, including the idealistic Patrick O'Neil—an ambitious teenage employee who does not like working at the hall—his friends Yvonne and Sparky, the arrogant bingo caller Tom Dale, the owner Ron Hibbert (who is afraid of Tom), questionable fire safety officer Keith Lard, and the various old women who inhabit the club. |||
| 3 | "The Ice Cream Man Cometh" | 26 January 2000 (2000-01-26) |
| This episode revolves around the fading popularity of local ice cream vans. The subject of the documentary is Robert Edge also known as Mr. Softy Top (or Softy for short), an ice cream man who sells soft scoop ice cream. He resents every aspect of his job (which he inherited from his father) and has an intense dislike of children. He often verbally assaults his customers and Darren, his assistant. His attempts to boost sales include inventing the "Millennium Cone", selling at the sites of road traffic accidents, and renting pornographic videos. To make matters worse, he has to compete with another ice cream man who has started trading in the locality: Signór Whippee, who sells whipped ice cream. The second half of the episode is set at Leverhulme Park's Bolton Show, where Softy runs out of ice cream and has to send Darren to get more. However, the ice cream Darren brings back has melted and has bought Crunchie bars instead of Flakes, causing Softy to have a psychotic episode. This results in the final triumph of Signór Whippee, although he is later exposed as an illegal immigrant. Softy leaves the ice cream business and goes on to open a sex shop called Softy's Hard Stuff, but continues to sell ice cream in the shop, while Darren becomes an ice cream man full time and uses Signór Whippee's van. |||
| 4 | "The Arena" | 2 February 2000 (2000-02-02) |
| Set in the Manchester Arena, this episode follows the staff and customers preparing for a Super Sounds of the Seventies Night concert. The incompetent Matthew Kelly is employed as a steward, having only applied in order to see concerts for free. He is hassled by Live Sec's Chris and Sean, and is angry when, instead of stewarding the concert, he is left in charge of the car park. |||
| 5 | "Leonard" | 9 February 2000 (2000-02-09) |
| The episode follows Leonard, a local eccentric, in the run-up to his receiving an award for being Britain's oldest paper boy. Leonard introduces other local eccentrics including The Duke, who walks around Bolton drawing his fingers from his pockets as if they were guns and shouting "John Wayne!", and Carl, who waves at cars. His aunt claims he was over-protected by his mother, and, as much as he likes to be everybody's friend, he has no real friends of his own. This does not break Leonard's spirit and he remains optimistic throughout. |||
| 6 | "Lonely at the Top (The Marc Park Story)" | 16 February 2000 (2000-02-16) |
| A documentary following the rise and fall of Marc Park, 12 months after he won Talent Trek at the Neptune Club. After rising to fame as part of pop group Park Avenue, Park dumped partner Cheryl Avenue when she became pregnant. After two or three hits, he found he was being portrayed as a villain in another documentary focusing on Cheryl's struggles as an unemployed single mother. Eventually Marc returns to his job as a greengrocer and moves in with his brother Frank whilst Cheryl becomes a star, much to the frustration of Marc. |||

## Reception

That Peter Kay Thing won the Best New TV Comedy award at the British Comedy Awards.

## Legacy

A number of the characters in That Peter Kay Thing, including Brian Potter, Max and Paddy, and Jerry St Clair went on to become central characters in the highly successful spinoff series Phoenix Nights and Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere.
In Episode 1, it was claimed Brian joined the Neptune club as a new member of staff, however this is inaccurate as his former club before, the Aquarius, as seen in Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere, still features all the Neptune's staff and committee.