Whoops Apocalypse

2022-08-21T20:12:08Z

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{{Short description|1982 British television sitcom for ITV}}{{About|the 1982 television series|the 1986 film|Whoops Apocalypse (film)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Unreferenced|date=June 2014}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Whoopsapocalypse.JPG
| caption = Opening titles
| runtime = 30 minutes
| creator = [[Andrew Marshall (writer)|Andrew Marshall]] & [[David Renwick]]
| starring = [[Barry Morse]] [[Geoffrey Palmer (actor)|Geoffrey Palmer]] [[John Cleese]] [[Peter Jones (actor)|Peter Jones]] [[John Barron (actor)|John Barron]]
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| network = [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]
| company = [[London Weekend Television]]
| distributor = [[ITV Studios]]
| composer = [[Nigel Hess]]
| producer = [[Humphrey Barclay]]
| director = John Reardon
| first_aired = {{start date|1982|3|14|df=y}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1982|4|18|df=y}}
| num_episodes = 6
}}
'''''Whoops Apocalypse''''' is a six-part 1982 television sitcom by [[Andrew Marshall (writer)|Andrew Marshall]] and [[David Renwick]], made by [[London Weekend Television]] for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]. Marshall and Renwick later reworked the concept as a 1986 [[Whoops Apocalypse (film)|film of the same name]] from [[ITC Entertainment]], with almost completely different characters and plot, although one or two of the original actors returned in different roles.

The British budget label Channel 5 Video released a compilation cassette of all six episodes edited together into one 137-minute chunk in 1987.

In 2010, Network released both the complete, unedited series and the movie on a 2-DVD set (Region 2) entitled ''Whoops Apocalypse: The Complete Apocalypse''. (Rights issues were simplified by the fact that both LWT and ITC Entertainment productions were by this time owned by [[ITV Granada|Granada Television]]).

In March 2022 the series was made available for streaming on [[BritBox]].
==Series==
The series details the weeks leading up to the [[Apocalypse]]. It features a chaotic and increasingly unstable global political situation in which nuclear alerts are accidentally triggered by malfunctioning [[Space Invaders]] machines. The naive and highly unpopular Republican U.S. President Johnny Cyclops (an obvious [[Ronald Reagan]] parody, played by [[Barry Morse]]) is advised by an insane right-wing [[Fundamentalism|fundamentalist]] security advisor, called The Deacon, who claims to have a direct hotline to God. (The Deacon was so named because of the previous role of the actor who played him ([[John Barron (actor)|John Barron]]) as a Cathedral Dean in the sitcom ''[[All Gas and Gaiters]]''; the writers claimed not to know at the time that [[Alexander Haig]], Reagan's first Secretary of State, was known as The Vicar in the [[White House]].)

In the Eastern Hemisphere, things are similarly unstable. Soviet Premier Dubienkin ([[Richard Griffiths]]) is in fact a series of [[cloning|clone]]s, which keep dying and being replaced. Meanwhile, the deposed [[Pahlavi dynasty|Shah of Iran]], Shah Massiq Rassim ([[Bruce Montague]]), led by his advisor Abdab ([[David Kelly (actor)|David Kelly]]) who is always blindfolded to avoid looking upon the Shah's magnificence, is shunted around the world in search of a refuge (spending most of the series in a cross channel ferry's toilet).

The main danger is the Deacon's development of a new super-powerful American [[nuclear weapon]]. This is originally called the ''Johnny Cyclops Bomb''; later, when the President vetoes the name, it is renamed the ''Quark Bomb (Formerly Known As The Johnny Cyclops Bomb After The President of the Same Name)''. The Deacon arranges for Lacrobat ([[John Cleese]]), a disguised international arms [[Smuggling|smuggler]] nicknamed The Devil (a parody of [[Carlos the Jackal]]), to steal a Quark Bomb and take it to [[Iran]], to help the Shah in his counterrevolution. The Soviets get word of this (via Rassim's parrot) and decide to invade, gaining control over the world's oil supply.

The Soviets have a new ally in British Prime Minister Kevin Pork ([[Peter Jones (actor)|Peter Jones]]), a parody of left-wing Labour politicians [[Michael Foot]] and [[Peter Shore]]. Pork, who has gone insane and believes himself to be [[Superman]], heads an especially left-wing government (a parody of Foot's [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]). The British [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|Foreign Secretary]] is blackmailed by the Soviets to join the [[Warsaw Pact]]. This situation so unnerves the foreign secretary ([[Geoffrey Palmer (actor)|Geoffrey Palmer]], in a role based on [[David Owen]]) and the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] ([[Richard Davies (Welsh actor)|Richard Davies]]) that they also lose their sanity, don [[Green Lantern]] and [[Hawkman]] costumes, and are locked up in a padded cell at [[10 Downing St]].

The Soviets are also holding two elderly American tourists named Jonathan and Martha Hopper captive. They are constantly tortured by Commissar Alex Solzhenitsyn ("[[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn|no relation]]", played by [[Alexei Sayle]]) in the belief they are secretly CIA spies. This turns out to be true, but the Hoppers are crushed by a helicopter in [[Operation Eagle Claw|a bungled CIA rescue operation]]. This does not help Cyclops's nosediving popularity rating, which is just below that of [[Charles Manson]]. The Deacon stages an assassination attempt in order to help Cyclops' flagging popularity (a reference to the [[Reagan assassination attempt]] the year before). It is damaged further when the speeding ambulance carrying Cyclops to the hospital accidentally runs over his highly popular main opponent, [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] Senator Jimmy Hennessy (a parody of Senator [[Ted Kennedy|Teddy Kennedy]]). By the end of the series we're told Cyclops is now less popular than the [[Boston Strangler]]. (These developments are followed by a dramatic newsreader named Jay Garrick, and his topless female counterpart across the Atlantic.)

Eventually the Quark Bomb is accidentally detonated in [[Israel]] when Lacrobat's attempt to prevent it being incinerated goes horribly wrong, destroying the country and killing most of the US army who were stationed there. Meanwhile, the Shah, who has temporarily been given sanctuary aboard a [[Space Shuttle program|space shuttle]], manages to crash it into the [[Moscow Kremlin]]. Believing it to be a bomb, the Russians launch their weapons at America. In the final scene Soviet missiles are on their way to obliterate the United States and President Cyclops has to decide whether to retaliate. The title sequence already showed the aftermath of the decision, Earth reduced to a nuclear wasteland. In a final twist, we discover that the woman we see in the title sequence selling buttons reading "WEAR YOUR MUSHROOM WITH PRIDE" is in fact the First Lady, who was hidden in a [[fallout shelter]] and is one of the few survivors of the war.

==Cast==
* [[Barry Morse]] as President Johnny Cyclops
* [[John Barron (actor)|John Barron]] as The Deacon, Presidential Advisor
* [[Richard Griffiths]] as Premier Dubienkin
* [[John Cleese]] as Lacrobat
* [[Peter Jones (actor)|Peter Jones]] as Prime Minister Kevin Pork
* [[Bruce Montague]] as Shah Mashiq Rassim
* [[Ed Bishop]] as Jay Garrick, Newsreader
* [[Geoffrey Palmer (actor)|Geoffrey Palmer]] as British Foreign Secretary
* [[Richard Davies (Welsh actor)|Richard Davies]] as British Chancellor of the Exchequer
* [[Alexei Sayle]] as Commissar Solzhenitsyn
* [[David Kelly (actor)|David Kelly]] as Abdab

Also appearing are: Kirstie Pooley as British Newsreader, [[Matt Zimmerman (actor)|Matt Zimmerman]] as Dean, [[Bob Sherman (actor)|Bob Sherman]] as Buzz, [[Lou Hirsch]] as Jed Grodd, [[Jack Klaff]] as Dwight, [[Ed Devereaux]] as General E.F. "Gizzard" Pemberley, [[Rik Mayall]] as Biff and small uncredited roles by [[Stuart Milligan]], [[Carmen Silvera]], [[John Dair]] and Pat Astley.

==Film==
In 1986, a [[Whoops Apocalypse (film)|film of the same title]] was released. The plot of the film is almost completely different from the TV series, but does share certain commonalities.

British Prime Minister Sir Mortimer Chris ([[Peter Cook]]), a conservative politician who goes insane, is a fusion of US President Johnny Cyclops and UK Prime Minister Kevin Pork.

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0083502}}
*{{British Comedy Guide|tv|whoops_apocalypse}}

[[Category:1980s British satirical television series]]
[[Category:ITV sitcoms]]
[[Category:Television series by ITC Entertainment]]
[[Category:English-language television shows]]
[[Category:1982 British television series debuts]]
[[Category:1982 British television series endings]]
[[Category:1980s British sitcoms]]
[[Category:British political comedy television series]]
[[Category:Television shows adapted into films]]
[[Category:Apocalyptic television series]]
[[Category:London Weekend Television shows]]

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Whoops Apocalypse