The Krankies

Biographies

Janette was born on 16 May 1947 in Queenzieburn, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, and Ian on 26 March 1947 in Glasgow, Scotland. The two met in 1966, and were married in 1969.

Career

They began their career as a comedy duo performing various characters, working the comedy circuit. In 1978 they got their "big break" when they were given a place at the Royal Variety Performance.

Television

During the 1980s they were given roles in several television shows, including the BBC's stalwart children's entertainment series Crackerjack.

Music

In early 1981 they released a couple of singles.

Janette also appears as Jimmy Krankie in the video for 2007 Comic Relief single "500 Miles" with The Proclaimers, Brian Potter, Andy Pipkin and other celebrity stars.

Recent career

The pair made recurring appearances in various series of French & Saunders. Janette played, for example, Anadin Skywalker in the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace parody "The Phantom Millennium", and they both appeared in several other movie parodies throughout the series. Her most recent appearance was on the 2005 Christmas Special, in which she appeared in the mock theatre trailers for The Graduate and Chicago. She also appeared in the fifth series of Absolutely Fabulous playing both a midwife and nightmare baby in the episode "Book Clubbin."

In 1999 Janette Tough made a cameo appearance in a season 4 episode of Murder Most Horrid ("Elvis, Jesus, and Zack"). The episode concerns an artist who fakes his death to gain popularity. Janette is seen at the end of the episode, calling Dawn French's character for help faking her own death. Also in 1999 she appeared as Janice, friend of Petula in an episode of dinnerladies entitled 'Christmas'.

In 2003, "Wee Jimmy Krankie" was voted "The Most Scottish Person in the World" by the readers of The Glasgow Herald. In 2004, Janette was badly injured in a fall during a performance in the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk, but has since made a full recovery.

The Krankies appeared in a widely seen advertising campaign for 'stv Bingo'. In 2007, The Krankies appeared in the video for the Comic Relief remake of The Proclaimers' song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", which featured Brian Potter and Andy Pipkin (fictional characters portrayed by Peter Kay and Matt Lucas respectively).

On the 12 June 2008 they appeared as guests on The Paul O'Grady Show, where they appeared in character at the beginning, before coming on later in the show as themselves. They were promoting a forthcoming tour in which they performed with other "semi-retired" acts such as Frank Carson, Brotherhood of Man, and Jimmy Cricket (all best known in the 1970s and 1980s).

In a 2008 interview, David Tennant (jokingly) suggested that he would like Wee Jimmy Krankie to take over the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who. In 2009, 14 December, they once again were on the Paul O'Grady show for the pantomime special of 'Sleeping Beauty' where Janette played a hooker and Ian played a rampant camel. The duo appeared on ITV's daytime show Loose Women on 25 February 2010.

During the 2010 panto season, the Krankies made a re-appearance to Scottish panto alongside John Barrowman at the SECC for Aladdin. They appeared as the Police, with Janette parodying Susan Boyle and Lady Gaga, and making an appearance as Wee Jimmy Krankie. The Krankies returned alongside Barrowman in 2011 and soon became SECC Veterans, after Five Years Barrowman announced he would not return. David Hassellhoff joined the Krankies for the 2015 Pantomime and Marti Pellow for 2016.

In December 2011, during an appearance on BBC Radio Scotland's Stark Talk programme, Ian Tough revealed the couple had enjoyed a colourful sex life at the time when their profile was at its highest in the 1980s, admitting to episodes of swinging. He told the story of one amorous incident where the pair almost sailed off course to France in a small boat while partaking in a sex act.

In December 2015, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie sparked controversy and accusations of racism when it was announced that Janette Tough would be playing a male Japanese character named Huki Muki. Korean American comedian Margaret Cho accused Janette Tough of “yellowface”, which she described as "when white people portray Asian people. And unfortunately it’s happening in this film." Upon release of the film it became apparent that the character was not, in fact, Japanese but Scottish. When asked about the controversy Jennifer Saunders replied "the whole film is about people being what they're not, Huki Muki is a brand, she is the designer and she looks a bit Japanese, but the moment she opens her mouth she's from Glasgow. There's no yellow makeup..."

On 24 December 2015, the Krankies appeared on the BBC One programme Pointless, losing out to Su Pollard and Jeffrey Holland to get to the final.