The Strangerers

Background

The show was conceived as Sky One's first original comedy series, developed in the wake of the channel losing the broadcasting rights to Friends, which had moved to Channel 4. Sky invested £300,000 per episode and granted the creators full creative autonomy. Creator and writer Rob Grant initially pitched the show to the BBC, but they declined, having recently acquired the rights to broadcast the similar American sci-fi sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Plot

The story centres on two alien agents, Cadet Flynn and Pseudo-Cadet Niven. They are incredibly advanced and evolved vegetables on a fact finding mission to Earth, where they take on human form. Their supervisor is accidentally decapitated shortly after arrival, leaving the cadets to fend for themselves. Through the course of the series the aliens discover the intricacies of basic needs, like the eating ritual, the sleeping ritual and how to purchase things, usually doing so in their own idiosyncratic manner.

Their exact whereabouts on Earth is something of a mystery. The society in which they find themselves bears some resemblance to both Britain and America, and there are hints that a totalitarian government is in charge. There are also street gangs parodying those in A Clockwork Orange. Two agents and their apparently psychopathic commander try to capture the aliens. The aliens repeatedly escape, but not without suffering occasional injuries themselves.

Cast

• Mark Williams as Cadet Flynn
• Jack Docherty as Cadet Niven
• Sarah Alexander as Rina
• Mark Heap as Harry
• Milton Jones as The Supervisor
• Morwenna Banks as The Super-Supervisor
• Paul Darrow as C.D.
• David Walliams as Rats
• John Sparkes as Bilbo
• Doon Mackichan as Galdriel
• Meera Syal as Volunteer
• Kulvinder Ghir as Keith
• Mike Hayley as Irius Mann

Episodes

International broadcasts

The show was picked up by Australian television subscription service Foxtel and broadcast on The Comedy Channel, who described it as "silly and very funny".

References

References

1. Lucy Barrick. (15 February 2000). "Strange days". The Guardian.
2. "Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018)".
3. (12 February 2000). "Pick of the Day: The Strangerers". Daily Telegraph.
4. (15 October 2001). "The Strangerers on The Comedy Channel". Sydney Morning Herald.