Ear pads
With the eyes of the Laughing Cavalier following him around the room at the Wallace/Wallis Collection, Laughing Sir Alan drops Week Four's project bombshell:"This task is all about portraits. You're going to photograph customers ..."
Captured in close-up, Simon closes his eyes in semi-religious ecstasy and holds back his head, teeth together, mouthing the word, "Yesss!"
"... and sell them their portraits."
Thus was his grisly fate sealed in that one second of hubris. (Who writes this stuff? It's award-winning.) Yes, it was sad to see my old favourite Simon go, as he had chopped onions so well last week and seemed, to my fanciful eyes, as if his military training might actually cut through the business bullshit. But no. The moment he "stood up to the plate" (as Alex mangled it) and pretty much ordered them to let him be project manager, Sgt Mjr Ego emerged and took over. Because his best friend was a photographer, Simon felt that this was his moment, to borrow the title of that Martine McCutcheon song. "I know the terminology, I know about shutter speeds, I know about single lens reflex," he volunteered. Margaret had to stop herself from letting out an audible sigh in the Renaissance cafe. ("Have you heard of Renaissance Photography?" Simon would later ask one of those potential customers, having already threatened - and I mean threatened in a really creepy, call-security kind of way, to pick a woman up and plonk her bodily down on the glamour couch: "Get yourself on my settee right now!") Worse still, Simon believed that only he was qualified to understand the type of person who shops at Bluewater Shopping Centre, where our teams would set up shop for the day, hoping to fleece some of the 582 billion people who pass through its doors every hour, or something.
"The sky is blue, the grass is green and the women are orange," Simon explained, charmingly, in the back of the cab. He was already on the verge of tears, so fired up was he by the victory that lay ahead of him. Unfortunately Bluewater would be his Dunkirk. By the way, I have never been to Bluewater but I think I know what kind of person shops there, Simon: the kind of people who shop in fucking shopping centres, ie. everybody in the country except the Royal Family. At this point, just moments into The Apprentice, Simon's body bag was being unzipped by Frances. In many ways, it's irksome that each episode thus far seems to have told us who was going to get fired, but what can you do when the candidates are such easy meat?
Just to mention Alpha briefly (the boys and the girls were mixed up this week, which is always an exciting moment, as it's when the girls find out what a bunch of cocksure cocks the boys are - Alex: "I know I am the strongest" - and when the boys find out that the girls don't just bow and scrape to their obvious superiority - Claire: "Don't try and manage me"), Helene might, in any other week, have been the star, with her unfathomable bullying of Lucinda Nice-But-Dim. Lucinda, who claimed to be so technologically inept she couldn't take a picture with her mobile phone - I doubt she can even make a phonecall on a mobile phone - was tasked with looking after the technical side of things. "No matter how hard I try I'm not a technical person," she pleaded to the ice shelf masquerading as a project manager. The sheer unabashed hatred flying between these two was enough to support a wi-fi connection in the backroom, never mind all those cables and leads. (Meanwhile, Lucinda's future husband, Raef, was quietly printing a photograph onto a mug, upside down - I don't expect he's used a mug before. Or been into a "shopping centre.") "It's about teamwork!" yelled the appalling Helene, a "businesswoman with a lot of balls" (there's a nice image to take back with you to the car park - why are testicles still so envied by certain women in business? Even having two, it seems, is not enough), "It's about being assigned a task and doing it." Yes, even if the task if beyond your "appropriate skill set" (which, to be fair, does include almost everything in Lucinda's case, who had a cold last week). Anyway, they were bright enough to pick an excellent lookalike, of David Beckham, thus proving a soaraway success at Bluewater, albeit in terms of getting shopping-centre people to have their photos taken. I'd have been happy if they'd chosen the Del Boy, he was brilliant!
Let just have a big laugh at the Renaissance "theme": Glamour and Beauty. ("Glamour's not a theme, it's a word," grumbled the grumbly Alex, who was either playing a clever game and isolating his nearest rival for the kill, or is just a miserable northern fucker who didn't want to be second-in-command, it's not fair.) Glamour involved putting orange-faced women - none of whom had orange faces, incidentally, but, hey, Simon was out in the jungle eating rat meat for a long tour - on a settee, against a sheet, and having bits of Poundstretcher costume jewellery placed all over them as if being attacked by insects. "Let the camera create the illusion that you are wearing something regal and nice," smarmed Simon, who confessed, "I have a real talent for photography." This talent was unfortunately not apparent from his ugly photographs, none of which the backroom team could find on the disks, which is when communications broke down. Simon became convinced Claire was "unmanageable", when in fact she was just unmanageable by him. In the boardroom, where the names "Simon", "Alex" and "Claire" had already been typed onto the call sheet, she said he'd been shouting, sweating and "it wasn't particularly pleasant."
Neither Alpha nor Renaissance could actually turn their photographs into prints. Renaissance, who made a two hundred quid profit, managed this by knocking them out on plain A4 paper and hoping nobody would notice. (Hey, they're only idiots who shop in Bluewater: they've probably never seen a camera before and would be dazzled by the flashbulbs.) It was a dishonest victory: they didn't win, Simon lost. Renaissance, a long way from the rebirth their name gently suggests, actually lost money. Sir Alan was incandescent. He had to fire Simon, as Simon had led his team over the top to defeat, but he doesn't like women who talk too much, who give it too much of this, and almost-fired Claire: "Get back to the bladdy house! (translation: go and make me a cup of tea) I'm sick of lookin' at you at the moment (why aren't you as nice looking as Frances?) , get out that door (bladdy women)!" As far as Sir Alan is concerned, he needs "ear pads" when mouthy women are around. Another Amstrad invention perhaps?
Simon had already cried once, behind the curtain, and his eyes filled up again as the firing squad lined up - hey, he's damaged, he saw things in Nam that no man ought to see. Alex, whose explosive S-S-Studioline hairstyle wouldn't have been allowed when I worked in Sainsbury's, was only there because he'd effectively asked to be there by playing the teenager. He was a decoy. Despite a last-ditch rescue effort by Margaret, who'd earlier disparaged Alex and now accused Claire of "treating Simon like dirt" (sisters!), Sir Alan had decided Simon was, in the words of the rejected Del Boy lookalike, "a plonker."
There was even a beautifully-crafter punchline. Sir Alan called Simon "my friend", certain that he could build him a wall or dig him a trench, but not look after his portfolio, and fired him, at which Simon crawled away on his stomach, saying, "Thank you for a wonderful opportunity." He refrained from saluting, although did you see the way he literally stood to attention and marched in there when Frances gave the order?
Despite the foregone conclusion (and I've only used a picture of the jovial Lee because I don't wish to ruin it for those who've yet to see the episode), it was more fabulous entertainment. We can now be sure that these 16 people are not chosen for their business acumen, but their hilarious personality flaws.
"I made people laugh and smile in that shopping centre yesterday." You certainly did, Simon. You also made them grimace and wince.
Recaps: Week One, Week Two, Week Three
posted by Andrew Collins @ 9:25 AM
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36 Comments:
I am gutted that Simon went last night, he was the only one who has half-way normal! He did cock it up royally last night though. Why are the contestants always at their worst when they try to get 'creative' (e.g. Katie at the Art Gallery)?
Zoe
Simon was captured on screen smoking a cigarette. He might as well have bitten the heads off all the children in that great consumer church. Once he'd done that, it was plain he wouldn't be there next week.
To be fair, Simon was right about the women who shop at Bluewater. It really is the orange sub-section of the public. Visit it and see for yourself.
On, by-the-by, 'task' as a verb? Tut tut.
I can't fathom why Simon's deemed 'likable'. He was a boob. The lesser of 16 evils, perhaps, but still an out-and-out boob.
AC said: "This talent was unfortunately not apparent from his ugly photographs"
Well if you had watched "You're Fired" afterwards, Andrew, you would have seen Terry O'Neill sing Simon's praises !!!
I was disappointed and sad for Simon on several counts.
FIRSTLY -- how can any women in the country fancy Alex, when he is morose, malevolent and machiavellian? Neither Claire nor Alex accepted Simon's role as Project Manager and both tried to undermine him. Does it occur to anyone that Alex could have deliberately been on a "go slow" in the production room, helping to cock things up ...?
SECONDLY the biggest part of Simon's downfall (in my eyes) was not when he got fired (as I really could not care less whether he ends up working Sir Alan or not) but the final few seconds of footage where it was revealed that Simon smokes !!!!
Perhaps the editors very cleverly added this on the end, realising that HALF the female population of Britain might be in love with the former army officer by the end of the show .... and just HAD to show him smoking, to show us his flaws?
Other than the smoking thing I am totally smitten by Mr Simon Smith. Just tell me BBC where to send my application to become "Mrs Smith" and I will post it first class, no problemo !!!!
This may have been noticed before but I like the way that, whenever Siralan says something off-colour, Margaret has the trying-not-to-wince look of Lynn, Alan Partridge's PA.
I always said Simon was rubbish and wouldn't win. Actually I didn't say that at all but maybe people won't remember me saying that I didn't buy this 'only a good number 2 nonsense' about him. I do know that people with an IQ of 170 (is that possible?) wouldn't tell people that they had an IQ of 170. I thought his 'ever so humble act' on the Fired show was quite creey too, so I'm glad he went in the end.
Once again I thought the editing was poor last night. Not the bits where they deliberately stitch people up by piecing things together that didn't really happen in that sequence or time line (I don't know what I'm on about either); that was as good as ever and thoroughly deserved. But there were important chunks of the story missing again. e.g. how were we supposed to know where Lucinda's computer incompetence stopped and Helene's bullying started when we didn't see what 'training' they received. I suspect it was virtually zero and both camps were set up to fail and that's why we didn't get to see it. And how come two thirds of the 'contestants' didn't feature at all?
I've watched every episode of the show since it started over here and I'm still a fan but I really do think it's lost something this series. I know the whole nature of TV programme making means that we are always being manipulated and I'm perfectly happy with that. But in previous series it hasn't been so bleedin' obvious. You can really see the joins this time. How on earth did Lucinda end up in the final 14 - out of what 20,000 candidates? - when she is completely bloody useless... at everything? Because they know one of life's natural victims would make good TV that's why. Anyone kidding themselves that this is an intellectual step up from Big Brother is kidding themselves.
Sadly, Simon was probably the right choice to go in the end, despite being the "nicest" contestant ever on the show (not difficult in all honesty). It was clear from the start that he was heading for a fall, after Alex developed his stroppy teenager routine, and Claire continued in her sabotage game-plan. Simon crying behind the screen was bizarre - as Adrian Chiles said later on the after-show, "You've been in a theatre of war!", yet nothing had prepared him for the stress of selling photos in Bluewater-hell.
Interesting that there was clearly something going on behind the scenes between Simon and the rest of the cast. Maybe they didn't like the fact he was an honest bloke who had no game plan and refused to stab anyone in the back. It was obvious that something was simmering underneath the surface when his request to become Project Manager was met with an embarrassing stoney silence. It was all down hill from there.
Was this the first show where the losing team got a total b*llocking en masse before the three were brought back in? Sralan seemed to virtually choose the 2 other contestants to come back in with Simon for him. The look that Jenny gave Alex when Sralan turned on Claire was priceless. That split second look said "Alex, don't bother having a go at Simon, turn on Claire and you will be safe". Brilliant.
Simon came across as a genuinely nice, honest chap on the Adrian Chiles show. Terry O'Neill virtually wet himself in exalting Simon as a super talented photographer, but the audience (despite loving Simon's honesty and humility) were only 50-50 in voting whether Sralan had made the right decision.
Simon was clearly the politest and most humble contestant. He must surely be an advert for how army life can instil manners, respect and decency. He even thanked Frances when his cab arrived.
And did anyone else clock Raef's pink jumper and white trousers combo? It looked like he had been shopping in Hackett in the dark.
Oldnathan, I don't think you can compare it to Big Brother - not in terms of whether it's a "step up" or not, purely in terms of what it is. Yes, there's the "reality" element, and the contest, and the house, but Big Brother, which can be watched 24 hours a day for 14 weeks, is far more of a way of life. The Apprentice (especially if you refuse to watch You're Fired) is simply a well-edited hour-long show.
I'm not saying it's a "step up" intellectually or culturally, just technically and narratively.
Talking of editing, did anyone else spot, when Claire was marching through the shopping centre back to base, they actually "flipped" a section of footage so it looked as if the shop fronts were to her left, when in fact they were to her right - all the shop signs were in reverse! Slopp-ee!
Yes, another "scripted" episode in which we were led by the hand straight to the last three. I winced at Helene's amazingly eighties "business with balls" quote, but loved the clever hint from the camera-person when Simon's team were out shopping. Did anyone else notice the camera follow them off down the road then drift up to show where they had been standing talking? Outside the Job Centre? splendid work that person!
StephenC
But you can't argue with my premise Andrew: anyone kidding themsleves is undeniably 'kidding themselves'. I really should read what I write before I post!
Yep it's a different product when we get to see, it I'll give you that. But I was mainly comparing it to BB in the way they have chosen the people this year. It's going the same way as that Wife Swap programme (I do do other things other than watch telly, honestly) in setting everything up to fall apart.
And I work with someone - who I like very much I should add - who does think that The Apprentice is intellectually superior to BB and sneers at me for watching the latter. Perhaps I should have just directed my comments at her eh? But I suspect she is far from alone.
Have you ever discussed The Wire on here? I know I'm probably a bit late (by about 4 years) but I've just finished watching the first 13episodes (in about 4 days) and it is a rare thing. A TV programme that lives up to the hype. Can't wait for series 2 to arrive from Amazon now.
First discovery of The Wire is here. I really should tag my own blog, then you could leap straight to the other entries. Anyway, I started watching it because of entreaties on here from so many people to do so. I can't wait for the fifth season now.
No Wire spoilers please - I'm still in the middle of Season 1.
Thanks for that. The bloke who plays Jimmy McNulty is English?! But he talks like Robbie Robertson sings i.e. as cool as f***
Sorry this is an Apprentice topic isn't it? I'll bugger off now. But I just wanted to say that - even though its probably been said a thousand times already - The Wire, at times, reaches perfection. The rest of the time its merely just genius, innovative, cliche free, funny, moving.... well when I can understand what they are saying anyway. Doesn't Daniels have a funny gait when he walks though?
Tim Bowling - Simon wasn't the nicest contestant ever, that was Ansell. He was lovely though.
I loved Nick and Margaret getting in on the boardroom action last night, Alex's face was a picture!
As for The Wire (which I too only sought out because of this blog), I'm half way through series 2 and although I like it I still don't think it's a patch on The Sopranos. The characters just don't seem as likeable apart from Omar and Bubbles (I know I am describing Mafioso as likeable, but they are in The Sopranos, that's what makes it work!).
Zoe
I didn't know that McNulty was English either but his accent was one of the things that made me not like him for some reason! It just grates on me! Now I know it's a fake maye I'll have more sympathy...
Zoe
I agree it was fabulous entertainment this week and Alan was really on form. I saw a few things differently to your review (I'll say review because we should all be allowed to change our minds frequently). Although Simon's IQ score seems to have gone to his head I put his over-the-topness down to nervous energy and made allowances for that (he did show how narrow 'IQ-intelligence' is though - shiny red bean bags next to a chaise longue?). I was envisaging an 'unlikely hero' scenario where the obviously ill-suited candidate wins over the hard-headed boss with his passion. Hard-headedness won. I've actually tried (ish) to put money on Claire winning. I think Alan likes her and likes the fact that he can shout at her and she doesn't flinch for a moment. She's also very articulate I think. I assume Lucinda is very bright but then I also quite like her dress sense (she seems to have too many clothes though). It was good to see her swat Helene after she misheard "I shut up and got on with it" as "shut up and get on with it", the week Helene came out as a bully.
Random points: the constant covering of arses is annoying, and ought to be the biggest crime in Alan's book. Can't see Raef winning but after thinking he was the dark horse of the competition he struck me as being a bit like a posh dark horse. Didn't notice the 'flipping', that may be a genius spot, unless she was next to a mirror.
I know it's only supposed to be a bit of fun, but I can't help thinking the whole thing would work a lot better if the producers didn't do the obvious thing and pick a bunch of comedy candidates, purely for their entertainment value. The awful Ian can only have been included as a joke.
I blame Sirallun. Completely. He, surely, can call the shots on this show and if he allows a group dominated by no-hopers to be shorlisted for a '6 figure salary' job in his, er, empire then he only has himself to blame.
When his minions are recruiting people in the real world, does he insist that they include as many tossers as possible, just to liven things up a bit?
When the final group reach the episode where they are interviewed by sirallun's mates, and the mates say 'You're a useless bullshitter', or words to that effect, they should just shoot back 'Well, I was in the top 16 from 300,000 shortlisted by sirallun so what does that say about your tiny boss?'
Well, that's what I think anyway.
I was going to mention the ear pads comment until you had it as the title, but it's what Suralan said before which made me laugh the most:
"Claire, you said you often overpower people who talk less than you. Well, I'd like to meet that person!"
Um... wouldn't that be everyone?
It does seem a shame you know who's going within about 30 seconds, but I thought there may be a twist and Claire would be sent packing, that generally seemed the consensus in the house. I'm always amazed at how quick these people are to stab each other in the back.
Oh, and Alpha could've saved a packet. Why bother with an expensive David Beckham lookalike when one of your team is the finest Matt Lucas you're ever likely to see?!
I am heartbroken -- I have just checked out the BBC's own site for candidate info and found this bombshell:
"Living with his girlfriend and new baby, Simon hopes to win The Apprentice by winning every task because of his ability to think on his feet"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/candidate/id/17/type/contestant.html
Poor Simon.
He does seem like a decent guy, although his lack of confidence, or possible self esteem, led to his downfall. Although wanting to look in charge, his failure to rally his troops, and his reaction to this, showed up his weakness. And that weakness, was that he was/is a decent guy, and not a ruthless capitalist. Which is fine by me. Leave the bullying to the others Simon. Lucinda's power lies in her hats. Without them, she is useless. Still, the highly entertaining series continues apace, and I could be wrong, but Jenny failed to get my hackles up last night. Maybe I'm ill.
Lovely bloke, I'm sure, but even if he had survived yesterday, Simon was never going to win. Sirallun had his cards marked long ago. He likes him, sure, but has him as a grafter. He must also like that woman he bollocked too, as she looked a dead cert for the chop at one point, but he let her off the hook.
I was interested by the way that sirallun was so much more vocal and personal in his criticism before we were down to the final three. It really looked as though he was sick of all the bickering and the bullying and was putting out a message that he wouldn't tolerate that kind of behavior. Sadly, if that was the case, then he sacked the wrong person. But then again, we all know that coming back with a LOSS is usually fatal, isn't it?
Incidentally, it's interesting to get glimpses of what the candidates really think of each other behind the editing. On "You're Fired", Simon stuck up for some of the people who had been on camera looking as though they hated him - including the other two in the boardroom with him, and I think that was only partly down to his 'everso humble' schtick. It's also clear that Raef is actually very popular with all of them.
I wouldn't want to work with any of that shower, never mind give them a "six figure salary" (£1000.99 p.a.?). No wonder sirallun looks so grumpy all the time.
Now, if you'll excuse me I HAVE TO GO AND HAVE TEA WITH THE PRIMEMINISTER COZ THAT'S BUSINESS, INNIT.
ST
ST
I've just seen the flipped footage - 31:21 on the BBC i-player (fortunately I didn't have to watch the whole programme - you couldn't, could you - to get to that bit). What's that about then?
Simon's mistake: it's a competition and the people you're trying to manage don't want you to win, even if they don't want to lose the task. Being nice to them (even Simon's slightly creepy but apparently well-meaning version of nice) isn't going to work.
Shouldn't the other team have been penalised for selling photos printed on shit paper for the full price? Is that the sort of thing Sir Alan wants to be seen to be condoning? Or the BBC? I think that was a huge mistake. If the show has lost something this year (and I'm not sure that it has really) then it's probably something to do with them losing sight of the "game" itself. The narrative is so strong and yet often it doesn't seem to relate to what's actually happening in the tasks, where apparently more interesting things are skimmed over. In previous series Helene's team would have had at least a boardroom grilling over ripping customers off, but I don't think it was even mentioned. Why? Presumably because it wasn't part of "the story". And who cares about all that boring business stuff anyway... Look! He's actually crying now!
Alex is certainly running some sort of responsibility avoidance scheme. (He'd have won the fish selling task if he'd spent as much time apportioning prices to fish as he spent apportioning blame to his team members.) And he's certainly being a miserable fucker. But is he a miserable northern fucker? I hate it when people say this but if he were black you wouldn't call him etc... And frankly if he were a southerner you wouldn't call him a miserable southern fucker, would you? If he were being a "I'm northern, me" professional northerner then it would be different. But he isn't. He's just being a miserable fucker with an accent. Sorry for even taking offence (strictly speaking I'm a dour midlander toss pot) but I kind of did.
Simon was just too decent to stay.
Helene was a big disappointment, as she appeared to have shown flashes of humanity in the past few weeks. However, according to her bbc biography, Lucinda
"began her career in Risk Management before undertaking various roles involving I.T. in the financial sector."
Obviously the "IT" they have in the financial sector is a different kettle of fish from the "Information Technology" most other sectors deal in. It probably means something to do with kittens.
The candidates appear to be absolutely terrified of Nick and Margaret - and rightly so I think. Bearing in mind that Siralan actually watches the footage before the boardroom (or so I am lead to believe) how do they even think they can get away rotten great fibs like Alex's claiming to not shy away from the role of deputy? Cue school ma'am Margaret:'Aleeeex!'.
And have you noticed the final humiliation for the mighty Siralan Corps? It appears that he has been turfed out of the old red brick Amstrad building and into the tin shack Viglen shed that they usually do the interviews at - no more epaulletted doorman swooping in to expel a failed candidate: Just a cheap automatic door.
I've come along to this a bit late, but I'm actually not bothered that Simon was fired.
He was clearly less able than Alex & Claire and, if you don't have an agenda on this show, you'll get nowhere fast.
And no matter how telegraphed the editing, there's always at least one real gem every episode. For me, Simon's admission he has an 'IQ of 170' (shurely shome mishtake?!) was a moment of genius and sealed his fate there and then.
Oh, and am I the first person to mention that Alex is Jason Orange in disguise, while Kevin is merely a cipher for Gareth from The Office?
Yes Kevin is Gareth Keenan! Especially on You're Fired last week when it had the talking head of him saying "If Ian was a bank....he'd be a rubbish bank.... and he'd have no customers..... and everyone would leave".
Zoe
Do you think there's a rule somewhere that there has to be a "miserable Northern Fucker" every year? Remember the spotty bloke with the glasses last year? (He made such an impression I've forgotten his name, but you know who I mean.) I'm not going to bang the Northern drum, but hailing from Lancashire I'd like to just point out that I'm actually quite cheerful :-)
Px
Just to be clear, the point I was trying to make was that if you stick an adjective between "miserable" and "fucker", the adjective becomes pejorative by association. Alex is being a stereotypical northern miserable fucker. Other contestants who are miserable fuckers are just being miserable fuckers; where they're from doesn't seem to be relevant. That's irksome but not offensive.
px - yes I do remember the spotty northern bloke with glasses. Adam Hosker, as I can sadly recall. Whatever happened to him?
Interesting over-sensitivity re the word "northern". I am from the East Midlands and feel an affinity for the Midlands in general. If someone said a "stupid Midlands fucker" I wouldn't take it to heart, even though people from the Midlands are occasionally stereotyped as dim because of the accent. Alex is a miserable northern fucker, as I personally relate his particular brand of misery to a lot of other northern people I have met. You can be miserable and not be northern, and you can be northern and not miserable, but to say that someone is a miserable northern fucker is not to suggest that being northern is pejorative. It's a description of his brand of miserableness. Or at least that's how I meant it. I wouldn't have said miserable black fucker about a black person as I don't really have any conception of a black kind of miserableness. But then again, maybe that's because "black" isn't a geographical term, it's the colour of someone's skin and thus an unhelpful way of getting at someone's character. Northern, as in Norther English, does point towards certain personality traits. There's a certain campness to some people from the north west, for instance, and if I referred to someone's north-western campness that wouldn't brand all people from the north-west as camp either.
As a Lincolnshire fellow, I take any derogatory comments about people from the flatlands with a pinch of salt as criticism of Midlanders is usually quite accurate. In-bred farmers, all of us.
Why is it that Sir Alan Sugar never sees through the charlatans and the Machiavellians ? Margaret and Nick constantly identify these people for him, but he always saves them for several weeks - witness Adele, Saira, Syed, Tre, Jo, Katie and now Claire, Alex and Jenny.
It couldn't be that someone from production is whispering in his ear "no Sir Alan, not Claire, she's great telly, we need her in for a few weeks, ditch the dumb ex-squaddie.."
Andrew
To be honest there is a sort of "type" which can quite accurately be called "miserable Northern fucker" - many a comedy sketch/series has included them, and I expect the stereotype exists for a reason - many of us are just damn miserable! I also think the accent lends itself to such emotions quite well (again, i speak as someone with an accent - and delightful it is too!) Just to be clear, I didn't take offence at all. Actually I laughed. (See, I'm still cheerful.)
x
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