6.6 /10 1 Votes6.6
6.4/10 TV No. of series 4 First episode date 26 April 2000 | 6.8/10 IMDb No. of episodes 31 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Created by Alistair McGowanRonni Ancona Starring Alistair McGowanRonni Ancona Cast Alistair McGowan, Ronni Ancona, Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Big Impression, known as Alistair McGowan's Big Impression for the first three series, is a British comedy sketch show. It features Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona impersonating personalities from entertainment and sport. Four series and a number of specials were made by Vera Productions and it was first broadcast on BBC One between 2000 and 2004.
Contents
The series has won five awards, including the 2003 BAFTA comedy programme prize.
Production
McGowan and Ancona first met at a comedy club, and later started dating. They worked together on a number of projects, with their first television series being The Staggering Stories of Ferdinand de Bargos in 1989. After performing in his own show in Edinburgh in 1998, McGowan was approached by a BBC executive about working on a series, which he wanted Ancona to be involved in. Alistair McGowan's Big Impression first aired on BBC One in 2000, with the couple splitting up just before filming began. Speaking with The Independent, Ancona said working on the series was "exciting but it was tricky and there were some very low points. [...] But, if anything, the tension added a little frisson to some of the sketches and it made the show better."
For the fourth series in 2003, McGowan's name was dropped from the show's title.
Speaking to the Daily Mail about the ending of the series, McGowan said: "We were just getting into our stride when suddenly it felt that there were five other shows all saying: "We'll do that as well." It felt like there were lots of people fishing in a small pool." The BBC wanted the series to continue, but he found his "enthusiasm had gone and without that, the show wouldn't have happened".
Alistair McGowan
There have been many characters that Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona have impersonated. Some celebrities that McGowan has done impressions of include:
Ronni Ancona
Some celebrities that Ancona has done impressions of include:
Episodes
Four series of the programme were made between 2000 and 2003.
Special episodes
There have also been a number of one-off specials, including:
Awards
The series has been nominated for a number of awards, winning one from BAFTA, two from the Royal Television Society, and two British Comedy Awards.