I don’t know much about Cliff Richard apart from the fact that he’s a British pop singer, and he’s not what you’d call hardcore. But on TYO, every time Rik referenced him, it always drew a wave of mocking laughter from the audience.
Is it just part of the characterization – Rik claims to be an anarchist, yet practically everything he does is contrary to that, including his idol being this millionaire pop singer? Or is it more about CR than about Rik? Is he a living joke (albeit a successful one) in the UK, the way Barry Manilow is a living joke (ditto) in the States?
Yes. I think Barry would be a good analogy. Safe, inoffensive music, a rather naff nerdy guy trying to stay “with it” through the years. Same sort of obsessive fans …
Cliff is famous for being a christian, a bachelor, having a clean living lifestyle and looking young despite his advancing years. I’ve not seen a recent photo, but during the 1980’s he would have been looking considerably younger than any of his contempories or younger.
Also, he’s been aroung a long time. He started out in the 1950’s playing safe, white-boy “rock’n’roll”, and has never really disappeared, despite being desperately unfashionable.
He is basically the antithesis of what you would expect students, and Rick in particular, to like. Rick after all is trying hard to be a rebel, and is just not cool enough to like him in an ironic sense.
My take on it was that Rick saw himself as being cutting edge & “New Wave”.
Cliff Richard was like the Brit version of Fabian/Frankie Avalon; in other words, a denutted Elvis.
They all idolised Cliff Richard. That was the thread they had in common that made them friends and flatmates. That’s why the series was called “Young Ones,” the accompanying book “Bachelor Boys,” the final episode “Summer Holiday,” and the single they released (with Cliff himself) “Living Doll.”
And as you rightly surmise, the extension of the “joke” that they all loved Cliff Richard was that they were all extremely atypical Cliff fans, and you’d never guess it from looking at them. Or even from knowing them.
Cliff’s allegedly the “Peter Pan of Pop” because of his perpetually boyish looks. But have a closer squint and you’ll see that he is actually looking his age (66): his “hair” is either a syrup* or a weave and he appears to have had cosmetic surgery on his eyes.
He is also legendary for being a Christian and pretty sexless (i.e. not necessarily celibate). I think he was introduced to Christianity by the Shadows’ lead guitarist, Hank Marvin, who was a Jehovah’s Witness. He was famously responsible for the break-up of the marriage of one of the other Shadows (either Jet Harris or Tony Meehan) because he was shagging his wife.
He now lives part of the time in the Algarve (Portugal) and has his own vineyard and wine brand. Whenever I visit there I see this wine for sale in the shops but have never been tempted to buy any.
Were they really all Cliff fans? I thought I recall Vyv taking a few jabs at Cliff at some point in the show. Of course, taking jabs at anything Rik-related was Vyv’s m.o. so his liking of putting down Rik might have over-ruled his liking of Cliff…
I’ll have to get out my DVD’s and study the Cliff thing in detail tomorrow. I have been jonesin’ for some TYO for a while
Mm…What I remember is Rik saying, “I think Special Patrol Group is a stupid name for a hamster!” and Vyv retorting, “All right then! Hello, Cliff Richard!” Clearly sarcastic.
It so happens that he is starring in a new situation comedy series, starting on ITV this week. Called All About George he plays a (quote)
A good-hearted man who tries do to his best for everyone - kids, stepkids, ex-wife, current wife, parents and grandparents. Consequently, his house is bursting at the seams. But George isn’t fazed, such is the goodness of his soul.*
So, as you can see from the description, he has moved into mainstream “cosy” comedy . A million miles from The Young Ones
It’s not spoken about too overtly, but the biggest clue is in the first episode, when Rik wins an argument with the line “Yeah? So why isn’t Cliff Richard boring then, clever trousers?” and Vyvyan, unable to counter such a cunning riposte, pushes Rick’s face into lentil casserole.
The point being, he, and all of them, thinks Cliff’s great.
I’ve always taken it to mean that Rick is so arrogant and out-of-step with what’s “cool” that he thinks that Cliff being an exciting, cutting-edge artist is an indisputable fact. To Vyv, it’s more evidence of Rick’s utter inanity, and it’s such a stupid retort that the only proper response is violence.
He also played Peeves in at least the first two Harry Potter films, but his scenes were cut for time. I don’t know if they have bothered to film any more Peeves stuff for the later films, and it’s all quite a shame, the scene in OOTP when he bows to the Weasley twins was my favorite scene in the books to date, and I can’t believe Peeves made me cry. Ya know, in a manly way.
Oh well, looks like I have no cites to back me up because everyone else believes that Rick is the only Cliff fan (when really he’s just the most outspoken). But for the record, the reason I know this is so is because it was in an article I read about the show, back in 1983, when it was first broadcast in New Zealand.
