WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.399 Welcome to the Deep Dive. It's fantastic to have 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:05.440 you here with us today. Whether you're commuting 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:07.839 or just prepping for a meeting, we are thrilled 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:09.679 you could join the conversation. Yeah, thanks 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:12.000 for joining us. We really do have quite the journey 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.779 ahead of us today. The character webs in the 00:00:14.779 --> 00:00:17.500 source material are just incredibly dense. They 00:00:17.500 --> 00:00:20.100 really are. Today our mission is exploring this 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:23.359 really fascinating encyclopedic character breakdown 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:27.679 of the British sitcom, two pints of lager and 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:30.059 a packet of crisps. Right. And if you hear that 00:00:30.059 --> 00:00:32.200 title, two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:34.020 you probably think, oh, OK, a simple, mundane 00:00:34.020 --> 00:00:36.479 show. Yeah, just some mates having a quiet evening 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:39.000 at the pub. Exactly. It sounds incredibly low 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:41.359 stakes. But the source material we're looking 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:43.640 at reveals a web of character arcs that are, 00:00:43.659 --> 00:00:46.350 well, they're basically filled with. soap opera 00:00:46.350 --> 00:00:50.189 level betrayals. Bizarre phobias, year -long 00:00:50.189 --> 00:00:52.990 comas. Secret babies, you name it. It's totally 00:00:52.990 --> 00:00:56.590 wild. So our scope today is to synthesize the 00:00:56.590 --> 00:00:59.789 chaotic lives of this core group of friends along 00:00:59.789 --> 00:01:02.490 with their incredibly eccentric supporting cast. 00:01:02.770 --> 00:01:05.290 And we want to examine how the show balances 00:01:05.290 --> 00:01:08.730 that grounded everyday working class life with 00:01:08.730 --> 00:01:12.159 situations of absolute... Utter absurdity. Okay, 00:01:12.219 --> 00:01:14.340 let's unpack this. I want to dive straight into 00:01:14.340 --> 00:01:17.819 Gaz Wilkinson. Oh, Gaz. Yeah. He's the quintessential 00:01:17.819 --> 00:01:21.140 blokey bloke mechanic, right? Works at Brindley 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:24.579 Autos. Loves football, Manchester City, specifically. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:27.719 Loves his beer, loves pornography. He's very 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:30.280 much your standard sitcom lad on the surface. 00:01:30.680 --> 00:01:32.760 But then you get into his hilarious contradictions. 00:01:33.060 --> 00:01:35.640 Right. Because he has these completely debilitating 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:38.840 phobias. Right. The sheep. The sheep. He is terrified 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:41.939 of sheep. Your standard grazing farm animal. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:44.000 Yeah. And it actually ruins a major life event 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:45.739 for him. I was reading that. The house purchase. 00:01:46.099 --> 00:01:48.120 Yeah. He and his partner are looking to buy a 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:50.280 house in a place called Knowsley. It's a huge 00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:52.730 step. But they go to view the property and Gaz 00:01:52.730 --> 00:01:55.150 spots a single sheep in a nearby field. Just 00:01:55.150 --> 00:01:58.069 one sheep. Just one. And he is instantly so terrified 00:01:58.069 --> 00:02:00.349 that the entire house purchase falls through. 00:02:00.409 --> 00:02:02.969 He flat out refuses to live there. That is amazing. 00:02:03.329 --> 00:02:05.349 And his domestic habits are just as strange. 00:02:05.629 --> 00:02:08.050 He has this really bizarre rule for making toast. 00:02:08.289 --> 00:02:10.909 The bread rule. He will only eat the middle of 00:02:10.909 --> 00:02:13.099 a loaf of bread. He won't touch the outer slices. 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:14.840 No, won't touch the ends, won't touch the outer 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.319 slices. Only the exact middle of the loaf for 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:20.419 his toast. It's such a strange, specific neurosis 00:02:20.419 --> 00:02:22.979 for a guy who's supposed to be this tough mechanic. 00:02:23.819 --> 00:02:26.479 And his reading list. Oh, his literary tastes 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:28.300 are incredible. You wouldn't think Gaz reads 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:31.740 much, but the notes list these absolute gems. 00:02:32.180 --> 00:02:35.969 He reads The Lust of the Mohicans. Pleasure Island. 00:02:36.129 --> 00:02:39.370 Effective. And my personal favorite, a copy of 00:02:39.370 --> 00:02:42.370 The Count of Monte Cristo, where the cover humorously 00:02:42.370 --> 00:02:44.610 omits the word count. Which is just a brilliant 00:02:44.610 --> 00:02:46.889 little sight gag. But what's fascinating here 00:02:46.889 --> 00:02:50.210 is how Gaz's trajectory takes him so far beyond. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:54.020 the realm of a simple sitcom punchline yeah he 00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:56.240 actually becomes this figure of intense tragedy 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.560 doesn't he he really does the writers use those 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:01.439 quirks to kind of distract you because over the 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:04.560 series gaz has to deal with the crushing realization 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:07.699 of a low sperm count when he tries to be a donor 00:03:07.699 --> 00:03:09.960 which hits him incredibly hard and then it gets 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:12.680 darker he ends up in a terrible car crash wakes 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:16.060 up from a year -long coma a full year and he 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:18.659 finds himself confined to a wheelchair That is 00:03:18.659 --> 00:03:22.120 just a massive tonal shift for a comedy. It is, 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:25.639 but they ground it in his resilience. He struggles, 00:03:25.659 --> 00:03:27.840 but he eventually manages to take his first steps 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:30.300 again. And the tragedy doesn't even stop there. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:32.400 Right, because of what happens when he turns 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:35.580 30. Exactly. He turns 30, realizes he's never 00:03:35.580 --> 00:03:38.199 left his hometown of Runcorn, and decides he 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:40.259 wants to travel the world. But he gets stopped. 00:03:40.830 --> 00:03:43.430 Right at the finish line. His partner discovers 00:03:43.430 --> 00:03:45.729 she might have cancer, but she doesn't disclose 00:03:45.729 --> 00:03:47.990 the medical reason to him. Oh, that's just heart 00:03:47.990 --> 00:03:50.469 -wrenching. She just lets him go. So he has this 00:03:50.469 --> 00:03:53.229 devastating farewell at the airport, completely 00:03:53.229 --> 00:03:55.210 unaware of the real reason they're separating. 00:03:55.509 --> 00:03:58.409 Wow. And the partner he's saying goodbye to is 00:03:58.409 --> 00:04:02.250 Donna Henshaw. Yes. Donna is a force of nature. 00:04:02.610 --> 00:04:04.710 Absolutely. The source material notes she was 00:04:04.710 --> 00:04:07.400 conceived in a Ford Capri. Which tells you everything 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:09.520 you need to know about her working class roots 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:11.580 right out of the gate. Totally. And she has this 00:04:11.580 --> 00:04:14.219 genuinely vicious temper. I mean, she killed 00:04:14.219 --> 00:04:16.660 an ex -boyfriend's pet budgie. With Domesto's 00:04:16.660 --> 00:04:20.079 thick bleach. That is incredibly grim. It is, 00:04:20.100 --> 00:04:22.740 but it establishes early on that Donna isn't 00:04:22.740 --> 00:04:24.980 someone you cross. Yet she's also incredibly 00:04:24.980 --> 00:04:27.500 driven. Yeah, she goes from selling buckets to 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:29.860 being a London executive. Right. She starts at 00:04:29.860 --> 00:04:32.180 O 'Connor's Plastics, just selling buckets, and 00:04:32.180 --> 00:04:34.759 works her way all the way up the corporate ladder. 00:04:35.209 --> 00:04:37.129 So when you look at Donna and Gaz's turbulent 00:04:37.129 --> 00:04:40.589 relationship, how does the show test them? By 00:04:40.589 --> 00:04:43.709 pushing them to extreme limits, like extreme 00:04:43.709 --> 00:04:46.970 infidelity. Gaz ends up cheating on Donna with 00:04:46.970 --> 00:04:49.769 her absolute best friend, Janet. The ultimate 00:04:49.769 --> 00:04:52.529 betrayal. And it causes a massive rift. But ultimately, 00:04:52.750 --> 00:04:55.720 Gaz has to choose between Donna and Janet. And 00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:57.980 he chooses Donna. And that's when the crash happens. 00:04:58.100 --> 00:05:00.699 Exactly. He's frantically driving to tell Donna 00:05:00.699 --> 00:05:02.660 he chooses her, and he crashes his car, which 00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:04.860 leads to that coma. It risks his life for her. 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:08.220 Which brings us to the third point in this quadrangle, 00:05:08.259 --> 00:05:11.040 really. Janet Keough. Right. Formerly Janet Smith. 00:05:11.339 --> 00:05:13.220 Janet is supposed to be the emotional anchor. 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:16.170 The homely girl, right. The text says she loves 00:05:16.170 --> 00:05:18.569 things that go bleep bleep. Yes, she loves simplicity. 00:05:18.810 --> 00:05:21.310 She loves Coronation Street, cigarettes, rich 00:05:21.310 --> 00:05:24.089 tea biscuits, and cheeky vimto. Now, for our 00:05:24.089 --> 00:05:26.290 listeners outside the UK, we should probably 00:05:26.290 --> 00:05:29.470 explain cheeky vimto. Oh, definitely. Vimto is 00:05:29.470 --> 00:05:32.490 a fruit -flavored soda. A cheeky vimto is when 00:05:32.490 --> 00:05:35.129 you mix port wine with a blue alcoholic drink 00:05:35.129 --> 00:05:38.300 called WKD. It tastes like the soda, but gets 00:05:38.300 --> 00:05:41.519 you drunk very quickly. A real early 2000s pub 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:44.660 staple. Absolutely. So Janet just wants an easy 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:46.540 life, but she constantly gets swept into the 00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:48.980 chaos. Including getting pregnant with Gaz's 00:05:48.980 --> 00:05:51.360 child after that fling. Right. And they name 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:54.480 the child Corinthian McVitie Keough. Corinthian 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:56.540 McVitie. I love that so much. The middle name 00:05:56.540 --> 00:05:58.980 is entirely because of her husband's obsession 00:05:58.980 --> 00:06:01.560 with biscuits. Yes. Here's where it gets really 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:03.949 interesting. Let's talk about Janet's husband, 00:06:04.189 --> 00:06:07.610 Johnny Keogh. Johnny is just a spectacularly 00:06:07.610 --> 00:06:09.949 bizarre character. He really is. He describes 00:06:09.949 --> 00:06:12.949 himself as a lazy gobshite. But his quirks are 00:06:12.949 --> 00:06:15.029 completely off the charts. He eats cat food. 00:06:15.129 --> 00:06:17.009 Straight out of the tin. He genuinely enjoys 00:06:17.009 --> 00:06:19.370 it. And he loves carpets because they are, quote, 00:06:19.569 --> 00:06:23.389 nice. Just nice. He has his strict six o 'clock 00:06:23.389 --> 00:06:26.209 sandwich every day. He drinks Bovril. Which is 00:06:26.209 --> 00:06:29.579 that thick. salty meat extract paste you dissolve 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:32.639 in hot water. A very working class comfort drink. 00:06:32.860 --> 00:06:35.860 And he has an absolute fetish for jammy Dodgers, 00:06:35.899 --> 00:06:38.300 those little shortbread biscuits with jam in 00:06:38.300 --> 00:06:40.720 the middle. Hence his son's middle name, McVitie. 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:43.259 He also secretly watched the film Titanic 17 00:06:43.259 --> 00:06:46.740 times. Yes. But if we connect this to the bigger 00:06:46.740 --> 00:06:49.800 picture, the behind the scenes reality of Johnny's 00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:52.399 character is really tense. What do you mean? 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:55.980 While the creator, Susan Nixon, intentionally 00:06:55.980 --> 00:06:58.480 wrote the character to struggle with his feminine 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:01.180 side as the series progressed. Because of the 00:07:01.180 --> 00:07:04.220 actor? Yes. She claimed she was trying to expose 00:07:04.220 --> 00:07:06.740 the latent homosexuality of the actor playing 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:09.829 him, Ralph Little. Wow. That's a very unusual 00:07:09.829 --> 00:07:12.310 dynamic between a writer and an actor. It's wild. 00:07:12.470 --> 00:07:14.230 The actor wasn't keen on it, but he went along 00:07:14.230 --> 00:07:17.389 with it. So you get this incredibly layered internal 00:07:17.389 --> 00:07:19.569 conflict for Johnny, who otherwise just wants 00:07:19.569 --> 00:07:22.410 to eat cat food and watch TV. And Johnny's downfall 00:07:22.410 --> 00:07:25.189 is just as ridiculous as his life. Oh, his exit 00:07:25.189 --> 00:07:27.410 from the show is infamous. He gets shot in the 00:07:27.410 --> 00:07:30.040 knee by a sniper. Yes, a police sniper takes 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:32.620 him out. And it's all because his friend Louise 00:07:32.620 --> 00:07:36.060 got bored at her data entry job. She works at 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:37.800 the Office for National Statistics, right? Right. 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:40.819 And to make her job less boring, she goes into 00:07:40.819 --> 00:07:43.839 the system and changes Johnny's profile to list 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:46.699 him as an armed criminal. And this is the best 00:07:46.699 --> 00:07:49.240 part. Thailand's tallest prostitute. She just 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:51.899 texts that in as a joke. As a joke. But the authorities 00:07:51.899 --> 00:07:55.279 take it seriously and he gets shot. And the aftermath 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:59.160 is incredibly macabre. Janet has a statue made 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:01.519 of his body. And when the head breaks off the 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:03.800 statue, she just casually keeps the broken off 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:06.100 head resting in her home like a weird centerpiece. 00:08:06.379 --> 00:08:08.819 Just normal pub group behavior. Completely normal. 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:11.339 So let's talk about Louise Brooks, the friend 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:14.500 who changed that computer file. Because she is 00:08:14.500 --> 00:08:17.339 a piece of work. She is incredibly selfish and 00:08:17.339 --> 00:08:19.519 naive. With a high -pitched voice that apparently 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:21.839 chills people to the bones. Her background is 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:24.370 chaotic. Her adoptive mother is deeply depressed 00:08:24.370 --> 00:08:26.610 and spends all day in her nightie staring at 00:08:26.610 --> 00:08:28.290 the inside of the fridge. And her biological 00:08:28.290 --> 00:08:32.649 father? Brian. A gay, alcoholic con man? Who 00:08:32.649 --> 00:08:35.250 wears socks with sandals. The socks and sandals 00:08:35.250 --> 00:08:38.179 really are the final straw for Louise. And Louise's 00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:40.500 ultimate absurdity really shines when she has 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:43.179 a baby, right? Yeah. With Donna's teenage brother. 00:08:43.379 --> 00:08:47.039 Yes. And she asks Gaz's half -brother, Munch, 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.080 to be her birthing partner. And to convince him, 00:08:50.179 --> 00:08:53.039 she promises to name the baby after him. But 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:55.919 the second the baby is born, she decides the 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:59.580 name Munch disgusts her. So she selfishly names 00:08:59.580 --> 00:09:03.700 the child Louise Brooks instead. Louise Brooks. 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:05.879 Yeah. And then she just abandons Runcorn entirely. 00:09:06.220 --> 00:09:08.440 Yes. She leaves her friends, leaves the baby, 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:10.980 and joins a moon -worshipping cult. Naturally. 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:13.600 Now you mentioned Munch, Gaz's half -brother. 00:09:13.700 --> 00:09:15.879 Gaz calls him a yokert. Which means he's socially 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:18.700 inept and a bit soft in the head. He drinks Vimto 00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:21.080 thinking it's alcoholic. He literally experiences 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:23.740 a placebo high from sugary soda. And he eats 00:09:23.740 --> 00:09:25.879 stale bread with salt and vinegar chipsticks. 00:09:26.100 --> 00:09:28.620 But his romantic life is what really gets him. 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:32.279 The playground incident. Yes. He dates this promiscuous 00:09:32.279 --> 00:09:34.940 barmaid named Kelly. And one day he just leaves 00:09:34.940 --> 00:09:36.799 her jammed in a playground swing, just walks 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:39.429 away and leaves her stuck there. And Kelly later 00:09:39.429 --> 00:09:41.850 meets a tragic end herself, doesn't she? She 00:09:41.850 --> 00:09:44.850 is smothered by crisp rappers. Smothered by crisp 00:09:44.850 --> 00:09:47.990 rappers. The sheer volume of lethal situations 00:09:47.990 --> 00:09:50.789 in this town is staggering. It really is. Let's 00:09:50.789 --> 00:09:52.190 quickly hit some of the other Runcorn residents. 00:09:53.029 --> 00:09:56.529 Flo, Donna's mom. The thinking man's strumpet. 00:09:56.610 --> 00:09:59.870 Yes. A former reader's wife's model. And all 00:09:59.870 --> 00:10:02.470 those men Donna grew up calling her uncles. Turned 00:10:02.470 --> 00:10:04.970 out they were all just Flo's past lovers. So 00:10:04.970 --> 00:10:06.970 much trauma there. And then there's Tim and Cassie. 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:10.120 Tim manages the local pub. And he turns it into 00:10:10.120 --> 00:10:12.919 a John Barrowman -themed pub. But the entire 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:15.440 theme is literally just one framed photograph 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:17.879 of John Barrowman on the wall. And he hides his 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:20.379 coming out behind a fake rugby -playing wife. 00:10:20.620 --> 00:10:23.179 Right, Helena? And his sister Cassie is just 00:10:23.179 --> 00:10:25.980 as chaotic. She dresses as Lady Gaga to impress 00:10:25.980 --> 00:10:28.639 a boy. And casually glues a pub regular's head 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:31.100 to a table. Just takes some glue and sticks Arthur's 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:33.539 head right to the furniture. And poor Wesley. 00:10:34.259 --> 00:10:36.519 Donna's London boyfriend. He tries so hard to 00:10:36.519 --> 00:10:39.240 fit in. He gets tasered by Janet and eventually 00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:41.360 admits he only stays in Runcorn for the pasties. 00:10:41.620 --> 00:10:44.360 Okay, so what does this all mean? I want you, 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:47.240 the listener, to think about your own social 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:49.100 circles for a second. Yeah, think about your 00:10:49.100 --> 00:10:52.240 group chats. Exactly. If you ever felt overwhelmed 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:55.000 by drama with your friends or coworkers, just 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.539 remember this group. It puts things in perspective. 00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:01.019 Beneath all the absurdities, the budgie bleaching, 00:11:01.179 --> 00:11:04.200 the cat food eating, the moon cults, the source 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:06.659 material is actually a really poignant study 00:11:06.659 --> 00:11:10.299 in human resilience. And loyalty. Yes. It's about 00:11:10.299 --> 00:11:13.059 the messy reality of trying to find happiness 00:11:13.059 --> 00:11:16.240 alongside deeply flawed people. It's pure tone 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.179 whiplash. A show perfectly balancing mundane 00:11:19.179 --> 00:11:22.419 pub chatter and biscuit fetishes with comas, 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:25.360 DNA tests and fatal accidents. This raises an 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:27.340 important question, though. Something to mull 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:30.500 over. What's that? Well, these characters constantly 00:11:30.500 --> 00:11:33.899 face extreme soap opera level tragedies, but 00:11:33.899 --> 00:11:35.539 they always end up right back at their local 00:11:35.539 --> 00:11:38.039 pub dealing with the exact same friends. Right. 00:11:38.139 --> 00:11:41.279 It begs the question. Does this bizarre blending 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:45.279 of mundane elements, like a simple packet of 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:48.399 crisps with inescapable larger -than -life tragedy, 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:52.080 actually reflect the unpredictable chaos of our 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:54.600 own real lives better than traditional serious 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:57.399 dramas do? That is such a fascinating point. 00:11:57.500 --> 00:11:59.559 Even in the middle of a tragedy you still have 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:00.960 to figure out what you're having for dinner. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:03.879 Exactly. Life is both mundane and tragic at the 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:06.279 exact same time. Well that is a beautiful thought 00:12:06.279 --> 00:12:08.539 to end on. It really makes you appreciate the 00:12:08.539 --> 00:12:10.840 chaotic cast of characters in your own life. 00:12:11.019 --> 00:12:12.960 Thank you so much for joining us for this deep 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:14.840 dive. It's been a pleasure. Until next time, 00:12:14.860 --> 00:12:16.440 embrace the chaos. See you next time.