Time Gentlemen Please

Premise

Cast

• Al Murray as Guv
• Phil Daniels as Terry
• Jason Freeman as Steve
• Rebecca Front as Vicky Jackson
• Roy Heather as Old Man
• Andrew Mackay as Prof
• Julia Sawalha as Janet
• Emma Pierson as Connie
• Janine Buckley as Lesley
• Jeff Rudom as Leslie
• Marc Bannerman as Greg Thompson

  Characters

Bar staff

• Guv - The landlord of the pub. He sometimes claims to be the owner, but the pub is owned by the brewery and he is a tenant. Just prior to his divorce, his wife took their son and moved to France to be with her new lover, a French pub landlord. He has been involuntarily celibate since, and longs to see his son again. He has a number of politically incorrect views which he sometimes momentarily expresses, for example, the belief that women are only allowed to drink wine. He is a typical example of someone who has been emotionally neglected and shows signs that he has abandonment issues. He is very temperamental and neurotic to those around him. He idolises the man he imagines his father was, but it is often implied that Guv is the only one who doesn't know that his father isn't actually his father. He sometimes shows homosexual tendencies, despite being homophobic. In Series 2, he develops a mental condition that he calls "Barman's Hand", which makes him physically incapable of performing any bar related work whenever he tries. He also dreams of having a carvery in his pub, and to be inducted into the fabled 'Grand Order of Barstewards'. He greatly mourns the death of Princess Diana, which is the only common ground he has with his arch rival and nemesis Greg Thompson. Others are so used to calling him "Guv" that they don't know his actual name, which he presumes to be a prank. Murray revealed years after the show ended that he and the character share the same name.
• Steve Crosby - Steve is the long term barman who lives in the pub cellar, sleeping on an old mattress between the beer barrels. During the first episode it is revealed that Steve has been working for the Guv for five years and still struggles to remember what the regulars drink and has no barman skills at all. His clumsiness is such that he has run up tens of thousands of pounds of debt by breaking glasses or damaging the pub, payable to the Guv via wage stoppages. Steve is not bothered by the amount he owes and is resigned to the fact whatever happens, goes wrong, or gets broken, he will be expected to pay for it, even on the occasions the damage was someone else's fault. He has no friends, other than the pub regulars, and is convinced that Mike the postman is his best mate. He also insists that he is a "temporary" barman until he figures out what he wants to do with his life, but has little motivation to find out what to do next; he becomes distressed when his job is under threat. He is a huge fan of the television show 'Fact Hunt' and its host 'Cheeky' Alan Supple along with Ken Tucky, the owner of a fast food chicken shop. He is offended when either personality is mimicked, but he enjoys imitating Cheeky's trademark 'hair lift'. He reads comics and most of his understanding of the modern world comes from Guv and 'That's Impossible' magazine, and is therefore wrong. He doesn't like Janet and is regularly annoyed by her continual sexual advances towards him, but has an unrequited love for Connie. He is verbally and physically abused by others, usually Guv, but he is loyal to his fellow bar staff. Steve enjoys responding to Ms. Jackson's welcoming calls of "hellooo".
• Janet Wilson - Janet is an Australian backpacker looking for a "temporary" job. As an Australian the Guv believe her bar skills are far superior to anyone else's as it is 'instinctive' for an Australian to undertake bar work - in fact he thinks it's all they are good for. Janet is desperate to earn enough money to return home, but Guv avoids paying her and this puts her in a Catch 22 as whether to wait and hope to be paid or just quit and cut her losses. She is foul-mouthed and talks almost constantly in sexual innuendo. She lusts after Steve, but has a relationship with a police surveillance operative after he was sent to investigate drug use in the pub. She hates the attention she gets from Greg Thompson and Mike. She always refers to the Guv as 'Bullet Head', due to his shaved, elongated, head. Janet detests Ms. Jackson, who she thinks is fake and uptight and this is exasperated by the fact that Jackson is deliberately rude to her. She makes constant jokes about her "last boyfriend", usually about his lack of personal hygiene. The boyfriend eventually comes looking for Janet and causes chaos in the pub. To escape him she quits at the end of Series 1 after he worms his way into the Guv's confidence.
• Connie - Connie is the barmaid that replaces Janet. At first, she is refused a job by Guv, so she works for Greg Thompson. She is taken on by Guv after she frees Steve from Greg's cellar and quits. She is constantly hit on by Greg who expresses his desire to marry her. She is a student who is seemingly knowledgeable in all subjects, consistently claiming that she studied it last term. She is prone to bouts of hormonal rage, and is consistently frustrated by all of the other regular characters as she tries to study for her next exam. She is also the only woman not fancied by Terry, but things come to a very unexpected conclusion in Terry's house. The Guv is obsessed with imagining her to be innocent and is in denial when he hears her swear or mentions anything lewd. It is revealed, much to the Guv's horror, that she used to be a lap dancer and a nude model.
• Gary - Gary is Guv's pet and the pub dog. In most episodes, it is revealed that Terry had been barred for doing something to Gary. As a result, Gary is usually seen in some outlandish costume.

  The regulars

• Terry Brooks, the pub's regular alcoholic with an overactive sex drive and a bad case of flatulence. Although this is never directly mentioned, he is clearly Guv's best friend. He is involved with several running gags. For example, in most episodes Terry manages to sneak back into the pub after being barred for various pranks on Gary, Guv often refers to Terry as the "Master of Disguise" whenever he sneaks back into the pub with a rather obvious alter ego. He is often knocked out in fights with others, and has a sexual fetish towards birds. Upon meeting any woman for the first time, Terry will always claim "that is the woman I'm going to marry". He has proposed to scores of women over his lifetime but has never actually married due to his chosen fiancée not being aware of that Terry thinks they are engaged. Terry is also very much into self anal play and once ends up in A&E due to a misadventure with a number of potatoes. He is also the first to volunteer tasting food or drink that appears disgusting, and later proclaims it to be "blinding", as he literally loses his vision.
• "Prof", a confirmed bachelor with an overbearing mother. He is known for his pseudo-intellectual comments and his skill on the pub's punningly named quiz machine. His nickname stems simply from the fact that he wears glasses and that he once won two pounds from the Fact Hunt game machine. The Prof leads a double life as both the "notorious railway station flasher" and a gay serial killer, both of which he refers to frequently, though the bar staff and regulars never seem to notice. It is suggested he killed an archaeologist working on a dig site in the pub's beer garden and buried him there, after his advances towards the man were rejected. It is also suggested that he is attracted to Guv, but he is just as often uninterested. The Prof hints at the fact that he really does have a massive 12 inch penis.
• "Pops" is a filthy old man with his regular table and strong Catholic beliefs, often wielding a large crucifix. He also claims to be immortal, but says it's more of a curse than a blessing. He is known for his catchphrase 'look at his face, it's a picture!', often after a joke has been played on someone. Little is known about him, but he states in the first episode that he preferred the situation to remain that way. He also blames many of the problems in his life on a faulty prophylactic, which led to the birth of his very troubled and animal hating/ killing son, Stan. He did not fight in World War 2 due to a bad foot, and is sick of people his age going on about what they did in the war. He has had a number of catastrophic car accidents that resulted in him losing his driving licence; he killed two German backpackers, his wife died when he crashed into a lorry carrying party poppers, and he destroyed a Brownies campsite.
• Leslie is a huge biker type who sits in the corner, with his comparatively diminutive girlfriend Lesley. He almost never speaks but will growl at those who upset him and can only be calmed by an offer of free crisps. Both he and Lesley believe that their drinks are magical and that their glasses never empty; this is due to the Guv's complex mechanical contraption to keep their drinks topped up, suggesting they have never once paid for their drinks. This is done to placate Leslie and avoid confrontation. He never harms anyone without permission from Lesley. He is normally content to sit quietly and watch the events in the bar. On a few occasions, he does show an attachment to Terry. On occasion, Leslie can be seen eavesdropping on the events that happen around the bar. In one episode he temporarily abandoned Lesley in order to pursue Connie who he would call "pretty" and wanted to marry.
• Lesley, is Leslie's girlfriend. She is content to sit quietly with Leslie and her Tigger toy, which both of them cherish highly and are extremely protective of. She is only slightly more talkative than Leslie, but she is far more sensitive. She enjoys watching Leslie hurt people, while drinking white wine. At one point she is seduced by Terry and falls for him. She is initially upset when he dumps her, but she quickly realises that the only man for her is Leslie. It is revealed that she and Lesley had their first sexual encounter in the pub car park.