Cows - The Cows Attend A Posh Dinner Party

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Cows

For some years, TV companies had been trying to persuade Eddie Izzard to do a show on television. For some years Eddie refused until, almost as a dare, he proposed a show where all the characters were cows.

Yep, cows.

We couldn’t resist the chance to make the show, and although the results ended up a little mixed, we had the most fun in the world creating the cow costumes, building them up out of foam and paint and then swathing some of the UK’s top comic actors - Pam Ferris, James Fleet, Kevin Eldon - in layers of identity-hiding latex...

The cow costumes took so long to get on that the actors had to get started at about six in the morning, and weren’t allowed to “leave” until the wrap. Drinks had to be taken through straws, faces had to be cooled by attendants clutching fans and only one change of hooves was allowed a day. To cap it all, we discovered once we were on location that the head mics didn’t work as well as we’d hoped, so we had to redub all the voices afterwards.

Having said that, rehearsing with Eddie and the cast was a joy and the best part of all was that the cow-mobile - a specially painted black & white Citroen - had to be made roadworthy and licensed, so Pozzitive actually got to keep it after the shoot. Eventually, no-one had the guts to drive it around town, so we quietly sold it off.

The show was transmitted on New Year’s Day 1997 and was a co-production with Eddie’s production company,  Ella Communications. It was co-written by Eddie and a great writer called Nick Whitby.

Cows

Meet the Johnsons - Boo and Thor, and their children, Rex, Shirley and Toby. A perfectly ordinary happy-go-lucky family, who just happen to be cows. In this special opening episode of Eddie Izzard's sitcom, Rex wants to get married to someone he met in a pub, and a treasured elderly relative explodes ...

Starring
Boo JohnsonPam Ferris
Thor JohnsonJames Fleet
Great Aunt GracePatrick Barlow
Rex JohnsonJonathan Cake
Toby JohnsonKevin Eldon
Shirley JohnsonNicola Walker
PinkySally Phillips
FetchIain Mitchell
Mr PinkyGeoffrey Leesley
Mrs PinkyCaroline Holdaway
VicarAdrian Scarborough
CookDeddie Davies
Young PoliticianGregor Truter
Party ChairmanBernard Gallagher
GardenerRichard Turner
Theatre DirectorNeil McCaul
Theatre ManagerPhil Nice
The Pantomine CowEddie Izzard
 
Written byEddie Izzard
Nick Whitby

Casting
Michelle Guish

Music By
Simon Pilton & Sarah Townsend

Movement & Choreography
Sue Lefton

Graphics
Andy Carroll

Make-Up Designer
Lisa Cavalli-Green

Costume Designer
Anna Stubley

Prop Master
Peter Hallam

Production Buyer
Nicola Painter

Production Team
Melanie Parker
Kate Elder
Olly Lambert
Billie Watley

Location Manager
Josh Dynevor

Stage Manager
Matthew Lynch

2nd Assistant Director
Jeanette Sheppard

1st Assistant Director
Nick Rae

Script Supervisor
Anna Staniland

Vision Mixer
Heather Gilder

Videotape Editor
Perry Widdowson

Cow Costumes Created By
Chris Reynolds

Cameras
Peter Edwards

Sound Supervisor
Keith Nixon

Lighting Director
Rob Kitzmann

Designer
Les Stephenson

Production Manager
Lesley Davies

Associate Producer
Nick Whitby

Co-Producer
Eddie Izzard

 
Directed byGeoff Posner
 
Produced byDavid Tyler
Geoff Posner

Cows

Here's Eddie's own website. Glorious

and his blurb on his agent's website

and here's a jolly nice article by James Rampton of The Independent...

And here's a link to find out more about Cows co-writer, Nick Whitby


Other shows in TELEVISION ...