THE SCOUSERS Albert Dock, Liverpool Lancashire England
THE SCOUSERS
Published: 2nd October 2010
The Scousers
The Scousers was sketch from the Harry Enfield's Television Programme comedy show of the early 1990s.
It featured a set of stereotyped Liverpudlian characters or Scousers, "Ga'", "Ba'" and "Te'" (Gary, Barry and Terry) played by Gary Bleasdale, Harry Enfield, Joe McGann, and Mark Moraghan. The original inspiration for the Scousers sketches were Barry Grant and Terry Sullivan two characters from the soap opera Brookside, set in Liverpool.
The Scousers were usually depicted with curly Kevin Keegan-esque permed hairstyles and bushy moustaches, wearing shell suits, and speaking in thick Scouse accents. Common catch phrases they came up included "Eh? Eh? Eh?" "Dey do do dat dough don't dey dough" ("They do do that though, don't they though").
Whenever a potential problem or dispute arose, this would result in The Scousers repeating to each other their most famous catch phrase:
" Eh! Eh! Alright! Alright! Calm down! Calm down!"
This catch phrase was Bleasdale's input as he changed the scripted original, which was "Break it up 'ey, come on, break it up", during the first rehearsal. McGann brought "Dey do dough, don't dey dough" to the sketches. The characters had allegiances to the city's football teams with "Ga'" being an Everton fan while "Ba'" & "Te'" were Liverpool fans. This leads to even more disagreement.
Influence of "The Scousers"
Even though the Harry Enfield's TV series finished over a decade ago, the catchphrases, the moustaches and the curly wigs are still often associated with people from the city of Liverpool, despite the fact that none of these traits are based on reality, or on the image of any particular Liverpudlian person.
The actors Paul Usher and Brian Regan who played Brookside characters "Barry" and "Terry" also appeared in a "The Scousers" sketch "Terry Gets Married".
One of The Scousers re-emerged in Enfield's latest sketch show Harry and Paul.
