Les Dennis (episode)

Les Dennis and Bunny

## Guest appearances

Les Dennis

> *"At long last Andy Millman gets his big acting break – working with TV and tabloid legend Les Dennis. After a very public divorce and the axing of his game show Family Fortunes, things are finally looking up for Les."*
>
>

'**Les Dennis**' is the fourth episode of the first season of *Extras*. It originally broadcast on 11 August 2005 on BBC Two and 16 October 2005 on HBO. The guest star for this episode was English television presenter Les Dennis.

## Summary

Darren secures Andy the role of the (very camp) Genie in a pantomime version of *Aladdin* starring Les Dennis. Fifty-year-old Dennis is engaged to attractive 26-year-old Simone Lewis but is also on the verge of a breakdown due to the many setbacks in his career. When Andy sees Dennis's fiancée kissing a stagehand, he becomes very protective of Dennis and at first tries to keep him from finding out. But when Dennis decides maybe it would be best if he splits up with Simone, Andy reveals the truth about her. Devastated, Dennis stops in the middle of the first performance of the pantomime to berate the futility of his life and the lack of enthusiasm from the audience.

Maggie comes to visit Andy during rehearsal and bumps into an old friend, Lizzie Bunton, who is dancing in the chorus line. Lizzie recalls how they first met working together on the BBC children's drama *The Orphans of Penny Farthing Lane*. Her closeted gay father, Bunny, the play's director, is very controlling of Lizzie's life and treats her like a child. Lizzie invites Maggie to her 29th birthday party, which she reluctantly agrees to attend. She finds out on arrival she is 30 years younger than all the other guests. Bunny admonishes his daughter, Lizzie, for messing up a rendition of "Making Your Mind Up" by Bucks Fizz during the party. Lizzie then tells Bunny she is not happy pursuing a showbiz career. Maggie is soon made to leave the party by Bunny after encouraging her friend to find her own way in life.

## Plot

Andy is in Darren's office, who is telling Andy he should exercise more to get fitter to appeal to a greater variety of acting roles; Andy rebuts by suggesting Darren should work more. Darren does have a job for Andy this time: the role of Genie in a pantomime version of *Aladdin* starring Les Dennis, a has-been game show host and comic who is trying to mount his comeback.

Andy rehearses with the cast, which includes Les, who is disappointed that Christopher Biggins, John Thomson and Jonathan Coleman could not fill the role of Genie. Andy meets the flamboyant director who is known by the nickname "Bunny".

Les ebulliently introduces Andy to Simone, his attractive fiancée who is 25 years his junior. Les voices his extreme optimism about his comeback.

Andy brings Maggie to meet Les in his dressing room. Les explains how famous he used to be and how his time in the limelight slowly came to a whimpering end. Andy ends this awkward conversation as quickly as he can.

Bunny is directing the cast in a dance number while Maggie and Andy watch from the audience seats. Bunny's daughter, Lizzie, is in the cast. Maggie recognises her from their work on the childhood play *The Orphans of Penny Farthing Lane*. When Lizzie and Bunny go over to them, it becomes clear that Bunny controls his daughter and is a perfectionist about her singing and dancing. Andy and Maggie are uncomfortable in their presence and after they leave Maggie says "She's really lovely, but she's a wee bit mental."

Wandering around the stage, Andy spots Simone making out with a young stagehand. He subtly alerts Simone to Les' oncoming presence and the two separate. Andy, feeling bad for Les – who is none the wiser about his fiancées unfaithfulness – takes him out for dinner.

Whilst wandering the backstage halls, Maggie runs into Lizzie and she begs Maggie to attend her birthday party on Sunday. Maggie hesitantly agrees to go.

On opening night, Andy is sitting in Les's dressing room, anxious. Les tries to prop him up by saying that it will be a great show. He mentions how lucky he is to have Simone. When he expresses very light doubts about marrying her, Andy fesses up to seeing her make out with the stagehand. Les, now fully naked in front of Andy, is devastated. An assistant lets the pair know that the play will begin shortly, inadvertently seeing Les in the nude.

On stage, the play is not going very well; the house is only partially full and the audience is not as enthusiastic as had been hoped. Les goes through his lines for a while but eventually breaks character. He goes on a sullen rant against the audience – who are mostly children – for being a bad audience. Finally he and Andy finish the play but it's clear that it's a failure.

Maggie arrives at Lizzie's party to find that the only other guests are her father, mother, and several older family friends. She takes a seat awkwardly.

Andy is taking Les out for drinks at a pub to try and get over his depression. When Les laments about the state of his life and career, Andy reminds him that he's a comic but he hasn't made a joke in years.

Meanwhile at the birthday party, Maggie overhears Bunny having a rowdy dispute with Lizzie over her outfit. When they're alone in Lizzie's room, Maggie tells Lizzie that she should have friends her own age and not let her father dictate her life. Maggie asks Lizzie if she genuinely enjoys performing or whether she only does it because her dad forces her to; Maggie insists that Bunny is suffocating Lizzie.

Shortly afterwards downstairs, Bunny and Lizzie break into a prepared song-and-dance number. The guests all clap but Maggie is horrified by the performance. After it finishes, Bunny tells Lizzie that she performed poorly and disappointed her audience. In front of everyone, Lizzie retaliates, repeating Maggie's advice and storming out of the room. An enraged Bunny throws Maggie out of the house.

At the pub, Les is still depressed and drinking. Andy encourages him to take home a girl at the bar, which he does. During sex he breaks into one of his impressions, which disgusts her.

## Cast

### Main

* Ricky Gervais as Andy Millman
* Ashley Jensen as Maggie Jacobs
* Stephen Merchant as Darren Lamb

### Recurring

* Shaun Williamson as Barry (himself)
* Gerard Kelly as Bunny

### Guest

* Les Dennis as himself
* Rebecca Gethings as Lizzie Bunton
* Nicky Ladanowski as Simone Lewis

### Extra

* Linda Beckett as Lizzie's Mum
* Stephen Swift as Wishy Washy
* Stuart Ramsay as Dancer
* Kate Smith as Drunk Woman
* Susan Scott as Old Friend
* Joanna Burnett as Stage Assistant

## Quotes

Bunny: (after Maggie insists to Andy that Bunny isn't as camp as he implied) *"Ho, ho, ho! Smarties! Yum, yum, yum..."*

## Trivia

* The filming location for the pantomime version of *Aladdin* – the New Wimbledon Theatre in Merton, London – is the same theatre that hosted the musical *Gay* in *The IT Crowd* episode 'The Work Outing'.
	+ Earlier in the episode, Darren mentions the musical as being in a theatre in Guildford. This could either be an oversight or a reference to Darren's incompetence as an agent.

* Les Dennis says that the audiences will "pick up by Christmas" for the pantomime, indicating that the festive season is nearby, dating the episode to around October or November 2005.

## Cultural references

* There are multiple references to Les Dennis' famous impression of Mavis from the show *EastEnders*, and on multiple occasions he performs the impression; in the pub with Andy, Les also does an impression of Irish television presenter Graham Norton.
* Les Dennis makes several references to being the longtime host of British game show *Family Fortunes* from the 1980s; he also mentions being in the 1980 television series *Madhouse*, the 1984 series *The Laughter Show*, and the reality show *Celebrity Big Brother*.
* Maggie compares the guests at Lizzie's birthday party to the cast of the 1973 television series *Last of the Summer Wine*.

## Featured music

* "Magic" by Pilot (while Andy, Les and the production team rehearse parts of the pantomime)
* "Food, Glorious Food" from *Oliver!* (sung spontaneously by Lizzie and Bunny for Andy and Maggie)
* "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better" from *Annie Get Your Gun* (as part of the song-and-dance routine performed by Lizzie and Bunny at the birthday party)
* "Summer Lovin'" by Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta, from *Grease* (as part of the song-and-dance routine performed by Lizzie and Bunny at the birthday party)
* "Making Your Mind Up" by Bucks Fizz (as part of the song-and-dance routine performed by Lizzie and Bunny at the birthday party)

## Gallery

Les Dennis introduces his young fiancée Simone to AndyAndy watches as Les Dennis gives Simone an excessive amount of spending money