Come Fly with Me was a British mockumentary television comedy series created by and starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams. Narrated by Lindsay Duncan, the series launched on 25 December 2010 on BBC One and BBC One HD. A spoof of British documentaries Airport and Airline, the series follows the activity at a fictional airport and three fictional airlines: FlyLo (a low cost airline), Our Lady Air (an Irish low cost airline) and Great British Air (a major international British airline).
Lucas and Walliams portray many of the focal airline and airport staff, as well as some passengers, whose comments and experiences are featured in one or more of the series episodes in the style of a "fly on the wall documentary". Despite the BBC announcing a second series, Walliams confirmed in January 2013 that a second series was not going to air.
Production
In June 2010, it was announced that Little Britain stars Lucas and Walliams had reunited to star in a new comedy series set in an airport, a spoof of British documentaries Airport and Airline. Filming for Come Fly with Me began in August, with the duo spending two weeks at Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield.
A further three weeks were spent filming at London Stansted Airport, with further weeks of filming at Pinewood Studios. A 'making-of' documentary titled Come Fly on the Wall aired on BBC One on 8 February 2011. On 28 January 2011, the BBC announced it had commissioned a second series.
Airlines
FlyLo is a low cost, no frills airline owned by Omar Baba. Providing service across Europe and selected destinations across the Atlantic and South East Asia, it uses many hidden charges and unorthodox schemes in order to cut costs. These include £1 flights to New York City (with a £480 booking fee), upright flatbeds in economy class, and a very small hand baggage allowance. FlyLo also offers budget package holidays that do not go down very well with its passengers.
Our Lady Air is an Irish low cost airline, providing low cost routes across Europe. It saves money by flying to airports further away from the actual city centre, such as landing a flight to Barcelona in Ireland. Our Lady Air offers business class; in-flight meals; and no hidden charges.
Great British Air (Callsign: Swiftbird) is a major British flag carrier airline, providing a high class service around the world from the United Kingdom. The airline is renowned for having the finest first class service in the world, with champagne and chocolates on boarding, and well-cooked meals on long-haul flights. On short-haul flights, both first- and economy class passengers are given a small glass of fresh orange juice and a complimentary browse of The Daily Mail.
Stores
Happy Burger- A Parody Of Burger King Where Tommy Reid Works With His Supervisor Antony.
Main characters
Omar Baba (Walliams) – The double chinned, flamboyantly asinine Arab owner of low cost airline FlyLo. Baba is parody of the controversial Greek "low cost flying" entrepreneur, Stelios Haji-Ioannou (the founder of British low cost airline Easyjet).
Precious Little (Lucas) – A Jamaican woman in her 50s who professes to be a devout Christian, she is the manager of the airport's coffee kiosk. Precious deliberately causes problems that force the closure of the kiosk, allowing her to take the day off. Her main catchphrase is shouting "Praise the Lord!"
Moses Beacon (Walliams) – The gushing, effeminate executive passenger liaison officer for Great British Air. Moses also runs a charity called WishWings. His catch phrase is "if you'll pardon the pun," although there is usually no pun.
Ian Foot (Walliams) – The pompous and racist chief immigration officer, who often comes up with ridiculous reasons not to allow a foreign person into the country.
Tommy Reid (Lucas) – A young, obtuse Scottish man working at Happy Burger, one of the airport's fast-food eateries. He hopes to work his way up to becoming a pilot, happily unaware that the two jobs are completely unrelated.
Taaj Manzoor (Lucas) – Taaj is a young British man of Pakistani descent who works as part of the roving ground crew for FlyLo. He sports a shaved head and a chin curtain beard.
Melody Baines (Walliams) and Keeley St Clair (Lucas) – Two snarky Liverpudlian check in girls for FlyLo.
Mickey Minchin (Lucas) and Buster Bell (Walliams) – Mickey and Buster are two shaggy paparazzi who haunt the airport's hallways, constantly messing up in their photo-shooting activities.
Fearghal O'Farrell (Lucas) – A gay Irish air steward for Irish airline Our Lady Air, who leads a destructive campaign in order to become Employee of the Year.
Ben Roberts (Walliams) and James Stewart (Lucas) – Two British airport customs officers, with rather extreme methods of cataloguing the illegal substances they find, such as sampling drugs.
Simon (Lucas) and Jackie Trent (Walliams) – A husband and wife pilot team, flying for Great British Air. Jackie constantly brings up the fact that Simon committed adultery with a stewardess (the reason they now fly together).
Peter (Lucas) and Judith Surname (Walliams) – Holiday makers who have suffered several horrific and surrealistic trips abroad after buying destination packages from FlyLo. Her husband, Peter, is forced to take a subordinate stance to Judith's overbearing personality.
Penny Carter (Walliams) – A very elitist first-class stewardess for Great British Air's long haul flights who despises people who aren't first class who have first class tickets.
Terry (Walliams) and John (Lucas) – Father-and-son baggage handlers, who steal from passengers' luggage and are generally less than careful with it.
Helen Baker (Sally Rogers) – The check in staff manager for FlyLo who later goes on maternity leave.
Lisa (Pippa Bennett-Warner) – Check in staff for FlyLo. She receives several complaints from regular FlyLo passengers, Peter and Judith.
Additional characters
Hetty Wolf (Lucas) – A 92-year-old passenger, who pretends to be on her first flight, who scams Moses Beacon into buying her a number of luxuries and getting her a seat in First Class, before revealing she has flown many times before. (Appears in: Episode 1)
Sue (Lucas) and Geoff Stott (Walliams) – A couple who are flying to Disneyland to get married. (Appear in: Episode 1)
Asuka and Nanako (Walliams & Lucas) – Two Japanese girls who have flown to the airport to see their idol, Martin Clunes. (Appear in: Episode 1)
Mrs Mumbutu (Ellen Thomas) - Liberian passenger whom Ian accuses of making up her country. (Appears in: Episode 2)
Anthony (Walliams) – The supervisor is there to help Tommy serve his first customer at Happy Burger
Lee Lodge (Walliams) – Trainee steward for Our Lady Air. He has a girlfriend and is straight, but has sexual intercourse with Fearghal O'Farrell whilst in a hotel in Dublin (Appears in: Episode 2)
Captain Stirrick (Ted Robbins) – A drunk airline pilot who causes a commotion. (Appears in: Episode 2)
David Schwimmer (Himself) – Stopped by Customs whilst trying to smuggle transsexual porn DVDs into the UK, initially blaming it on fellow Friends star Matt LeBlanc, before then blaming it on Jennifer Aniston. (Appears in: Episode 2)
Mr Akhmed (Stewart Scudamore) – A Muslim passenger that orders the halal meal option on the flight to Rome, but instead was given the kosher meal by Fearghal. (Appears in: Episode 3).
Rupert Grint (Himself) – Taaj gives Rupert his script for Future Cop 2000 when meeting him whilst he disembarked the plane from Los Angeles. Taaj asks Grint to pass it on to Daniel Radcliffe. (Appears in: Episode 3).
The Woods Family – A family who turn up for their flight a week early. They stay at the airport for a week, then end up missing their flight. (Appears in: Episode 4)
Kenneth (Lucas) – A border-patrol worker who instantly recognizes Ian Foot in disguise. (Appears in: Episode 4)
Steve Downes (Lucas) – A police dog handler whose previous canine companions have mostly ended up in rehab. His current drug sniffer dog is called Bobo. (Appears in: Episode 5)
George Spires (Lucas) – A Welsh toilet cleaner who is a fan of opera singing, and sings to the people who come in. (Appears in: Episode 5)
Colin (Walliams) and Gavin (Lucas) – Battle re enactors who are not allowed to take swords to a re-enactment of the Battle of Agincourt; Colin later says he has killed only three people in the trade. (Appear in: Episode 5)
Nut Allergy Passenger (Alex MacQueen) – A passenger of Our Lady Air who suffers from a nut allergy. Fearghal 'saves' him from dying. (He had induced the reaction himself by discreetly dropping a handful of hot nuts into his mouth on his way past, in order to appear heroic.) (Appear in: Episode 5)
Corinne Oliver (Walliams) – The airport's officer of Special Needs. She is disabled herself and is pushed around by her helper, Bob (Lucas). (Appears in: Episode 6)
Flying School Instructor (Walliams) – Employee for the BAC, who interviews Tommy Reid for the chance to become a pilot. (Appears in: Episode 6)
Ray (Walliams) and Anne Wilkins (Lucas) – Owners of the airport pub. They are known to chase departing customers through the airport in a bid for someone to stay 'more than twelve minutes'. (Appear in: Episode 6)
Mary O'Mara (Aisling Bea) – Air stewardess for Irish airline Our Lady Air, who wins the Steward Of The Year title in a draw with Fearghal O'Farrell. (Appears in: Episode 6)
Dale Winton (Himself) – Winton hosts Our Lady Air's annual Steward of the year competition. (Appears in: Episode 6)
Mr Dubrowski (Valentine Pelka) – The Polish ambassador to the United Kingdom, whom Ian Foot accuses of working illegally in the United Kingdom, because he is Polish.
Series One (2010–11)
Series One of Come Fly with Me began airing on Christmas Day 2010, and received mixed reviews from critics, and viewers over 12.47 million. Episode Two, which aired on New Year's Day 2011, gained viewers over 8.80 million, and the remaining four episodes averaged around seven million viewers throughout the rest of the series.
The series began airing in the United States on BBC America on 18 June 2011, edited to fit a thirty-minute time slot with commercials.
Come Fly on the Wall (2011)
Come Fly on the Wall discussed the making of Come Fly with Me with Walliams and Lucas. The programme featured clips from filming, outtakes and interviews with the show's creators as they developed the series. It featured pre production discussions and rehearsals, and showed the actors filming at some of the United Kingdom’s busiest airports. It also showed Walliams and Lucas transforming into their new characters in the make up chair, and bringing them to life in front of the camera.
The programme was broadcast on BBC One on 8 February 2011.
Cancellation
On 28 January 2011, the BBC announced that the show had been commissioned for a second series. The new series was set to air during 2013. In January 2013, Walliams confirmed that a second series will not air, saying that Lucas does not want to do another show.
Web content
In conjunction with the television episodes, a selection of extra online content was published on the programme website. The extra content, featuring some of the main characters played by Matt Lucas and David Walliams, was presented as spoof versions of real life airline websites, for example an on line check in service for fictional airline FlyLo, with Melody and Keeley. The content was written by Kevin Cecil, who also contributed to the television scripts. Cecil was inspired by his own work on comedy tie in books over the years
Reception
Come Fly with Me has received mixed reviews, with the Daily Express calling it "the worst sketch show, or sitcom to have ever gone out on a Christmas Day" and expressed concern over its screening on the day, considering the lack of quality. The Daily Mirror, however, claimed it was a resounding success and the claims of racism and lack of humour made by the Express were unfounded. The show was the most watched comedy of 2010, with ten million viewers, but also had thousands of viewer complaints, and criticism for perceived racist content. It was also the third most watched show on Christmas Day in the United Kingdom.
International versions
A Dutch version of the show was created, using an almost exact copy of the script and characters (translated to Dutch). It was broadcast on RTL 4 from August 2011.
