Thermoman to the rescue! (My Hero)

Member Name: LauraElliott

Product:	My Hero
Date:	20/06/02 (277 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Briliant programme, Very funny, Great cast

Disadvantages: Only lasts half an hour, So funny that you'll wet yourself laughing!, No adverts (it's on BBC1)

It was just after Eastenders had finished, I was sitting in front of my TV in the lounge eating my tea and wondering what would be on the box next. Then the announcer said that coming up shortly there would be a new series of 'My Hero'. I'd never heard or seen about it before but when the show came on the music sounded more like a game show to me.

The first scene of the show I was watching started out in the living room and a joke was cracked about how 'Thermoman could fly way into the clouds but yet he didn't know what the meaning of God was'. It was then that I realised it was a comedy show.
I noticed straight away that one of the characters seemed familiar - now where had I seen him from? A soap? Vicar of Dibley?...along those lines..ummm? I know - Father Ted! The man that plays 'Dougal' in father Ted (real name: Ardal O'Hanlon) plays George Sunday in 'My Hero'. He is also known as Thermoman, but only to people who know him really well. If they don't know him, then his magic powers are not to be revealed, they must be kept secret. My Hero is set in the town of Northolt.

In the next scene something happened where a volcano was threatening the other side of the equator and the superhero Thermoman had to rush off and deal with it, so he rushes off to save the world! His girlfriend in the show is called Janet Dawkin's (real name: Emily Joyce). Emily Joyce used to be in a show called Grafter's about 3 years ago.
You can tell that she gets really fed up with his magical powers and that he doesn't spend enough time thinking about her because he is always up in the air sorting out word crisis's and dealing with other people's problems that need fixing! Janet is a nurse who works at the doctors surgery.

There is a receptionist at the doctor's surgery where Janet used to work. The receptionists name is Mrs Raven (real name: Geraldine McNulty ). She is a bit of a ha
rsh old bag (if I may say so). In the last show that I watched (last week), a man came in to the doctor?s surgery and said 'help me, help, I've injured my back'..and Mrs Raven said 'What's the name?' he said 'Mr Hargreve's' and she said 'Mr Hargreve's? Mr Hargreve's as in the Mr Hargreve's who was supposed to come and fix by boiler last Thursday - Mr Hargreve's as in the plumber who I booked to come to my house, who said that they were going to turn up but then didn't show?that Mr Hargreve's?' and Mr Hargreve's replied 'yes, sorry about that - but my back - owww' and she said 'Well, we operate on a system like you do yourself, The doctor is very busy Mr Hargreve's and so you'll have to come back some other time'. Mr Hargreve's then gets a bit frustrated and Mrs raven says 'I tell you what - you fix my boiler and then you can come back. Let's say, you scratch my back and we'll fix yours'. That was one of the most hilarious scenes from the last show, Mrs Raven's facial expression's would of got you laughing right out of your chair!

The doctor is known as Piers (real name: Hugh Dennis). He has starred in many TV programmes such as TV to go, Me, You and Him and the famous Mary Whitehouse Experience.
In 'My Hero' in the last series Mrs Raven has been set up to be Dr. Pier's celebrity manager. She has tried to get him in the limelight of lots of TV programme's and well known magazines and all of the fame has shot to the doctors head. The phone rang in the doctors surgery and Dr Pier's said to Mrs Raven 'answer that and if it's the BBC tell them that my schedule is totally packed and full'. Mrs Raven answered it and then said what Dr Pier's has told her to. Then when she came off the phone Mrs Raven said 'there, I don't think they'll be bothering you again' and Dr Pier's said 'so
, was it the BBC?' and Mrs Raven replied 'No, it was one of your patient's, Mrs Burley, she's gone into labour and wanted to know if you'd be at the birth to assist with any difficulties, so I told her that today was basically inconvenient'

Janet's parents are called Ella and Stanley Dawkins (real names: Lil Roughley and Tim Wylton). Janet was pregnant in series two and she has now had the baby (series three) and Ella and Stanley always want to go round to their house and see the baby. They think that George is strange, possibly because they do not know that he is a superhero.

Janet and Gorge's baby is half from the same planet as George (planet Ultron), and half from Earth, the home of Janet. This means that they cannot control the babies magical power's and so hen Janet's parents come to visit they have to try and sort the baby out before it gives the game away about his dad being a superhero. A funny scene was when the baby was reading Janet's Marie Claire magazine and says 'mummy, I think what you have is post natal depression' and then Janet screams out 'GEORGE, make sure our baby has an A-level in normality before my parents get here will you!?!' and instead of the baby having horrible smelling poo, his nappies smell of strawberries and cream so when Stanley (Janet's father) was round babysitting he said to George, 'that smells nice, a bowl of that wouldn't go a miss' and George replies 'I think it would'. The baby can also fly and when Janet's parents were round it was on the loose so Janet had to chase around after him trying to get him back into his pram before they noticed and wondered what was going on!

Another character in it which does not show up as much as the other's is George's cousin from America, also known as 'Arnie' (real name: Lou Hirsch). When he came over to stay for a few weeks, just a day after Janet has had t
he baby. Janet said 'I can't believe how advanced he is, most Northolt mother's are surprised when their baby does his first burp' and then Arnie says 'Well it's not like he was born yesterday' and Janet replies 'Erm, oh yes he was'. Arnie and George always greet each other with a catchphrase - Sneetch Snatcher Sneetch (not sure if that is spelt right), and when the baby was born the first words he said were the same catchphrase.

Phillip Whitchurch plays Tyler, Janet and George's next-door neighbour, who lives at the flat just across the corridor. He is very funny and is supposed to be a sort of punk and hip man in about the age of his mid thirties, early forties. He always seems as If he is high on drugs or just totally insane, especially when the baby came along and he was having conversations with him - and to top it off - they even played a game of scrabble and the baby won! Tyler is crazy and thinks that his friends come from the planet Jupiter and are little Alien's who come and visit him a lot - he seems like a bit of a bad influence on the baby in my opinion - maybe that's what makes it so silly and funny!) Tyler used to work in the same health food shop as George did, but you don't hear much about that shop now any more - the story seems to of got past that phase.

My Hero is on BBC1 usually on Friday's at about 8.30pm (just after Eastenders) and is then repeated on Sunday evening. It is currently running for 10 epsidoes, don't miss it! So far there have been 3 series, 13 episodes, since it was first transmitted in February 2000. Each episode lasts for half an hour and there was a Christmas special last year, which lasted for an hour! My Hero is written by Paul Mendelson (who also wrote 'May to December') and Paul Mayhew-Archer (who is a co-writer of 'The Vicar of Dibley') Not only has it been aired in England, but also in America, it's a world wide success!


http://www.ardalohanlon.co.uk/vcaps2.htm <- you can see photos from some of the episodes on this site.

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