The Bradshaws
Encyclopedia
'
The family was created for The Gary Davies Show with Gary Davies
Gary Davies
Gary Davies is a British broadcaster. During the 1980s and 1990s he was a BBC Radio 1 disc jockey and also a regular presenter of Top of the Pops.-Early career:...
on Piccadilly Radio in 1983 when Hawkins wrote a poem about a family's day trip to Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, this soon developed into a series. In 1986, Hawkins was made producer of The Phil Wood Show, on which he performed more Bradshaws material.'
Hawkins would go on to sell cassettes of his Bradshaws episodes, which he still does to this day, as well as doing stand-up, acting and more. The Bradshaws series has been re-released as a 25 volume C.D. collection. The series has gained great popularity in the North
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
and abroad. It has been said that some people still ask who the voice actors are even though all the characters are voiced by Hawkins. The series was also made into a television series by Granada TV.
Setting
The Bradshaws is set in a Cosy Terraced House with outside loo in the fictional Manchester suburb of Barnoldswick (any relation to the actual town of Barnoldswick, Lancashire, is apparent only in the name as the characters refer to Manchester as being their local town on many occasions)in the era of poundPound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
s, shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
s and pence
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...
(probably sometime in the 1950s), there is almost always a brass band playing two or three streets away (Hawkins thought that some quiet brass band music in the background would help make the series feel warm and cosy ). The Bradshaws are a normal working class family with little money, although they are able to afford a few luxuries (such as Alf's Woodbines
Woodbine (cigarette)
Woodbine is a brand of cigarette made in England by W. D. & H. O. Wills since 1888.In the early 1970s Woodbine Cigarettes were released in Australia as "Wild Woodbine"....
). Plus, Audrey and Alf's faces are never seen in the TV series (though Audrey's is briefly seen in 'Puddled').
Audrey
Audrey is the stereotypicalStereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
housewife. She likes entering competitions and winning holidays to Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
(she mispronounced Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
). Audrey is considerably less intelligent than Alf and often shows this through complete lack of common knowledge
Trivia
The trivia are the three lower Artes Liberales, i.e. grammar, rhetoric and logic. These were the topics of basic education, foundational to the quadrivia of higher education, and hence the material of basic education, of interest only to undergraduates...
. For example, she seems to think that the coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
man and Michael Morris's Mam
Mother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
are just 'friends' despite the obvious (see Minor Characters). Audrey (seemingly) cooks very badly. When she made steak and kidney pudding for Billy and Alf's tea
Tea (meal)
Tea can refer to any of several different meals or mealtimes, depending on a country's customs and its history of drinking tea. However, in those countries where the term's use is common, the influences are generally those of the former British Empire...
she left it boiling
Boiling
Boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding environmental pressure. While below the boiling point a liquid...
dry resulting in burnt pastry (which tasted like cardboard according to Alf) .
Audrey has a sister called Pamela, whom Alf hates. She always has a best trifle dish and wears an apron.
Alf
Alf is a male shoulderless pig (according to Audrey), he eats corned dogCorned beef
Corned beef is a type of salt-cured beef products present in many beef-eating cultures. The English term is used interchangeably in modernity to refer to three distinct types of cured beef:...
(which he calls it whereas Audrey refers to it by its actual name). The only times where he is obviously nice to Billy is when he is drunk; he smokes
Smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them...
and gets Billy to fetch him either: a box of matches (swan vestas), corned beef and much more. His face is never seen and appears to be quite a huge man who has very little money, he sarcastically calls Audrey mock affectionate names such as "sweet little thistle" and hated Poshy/Oswald (see below for more detail).
Billy
William "Billy" Bradshaw is perhaps the most popular character in the series. He loves both his parents (though Alf can be very mean to him on occasions), Billy, like Michael, is a puppetPuppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
who acts as a son to two adults, Billy enjoys going to the flicks
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
and would like a pet of some sort, either a dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
, zebra
Zebra
Zebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...
or "Zedgie" (an imaginary animal that Alf made up). Billy is Michael's best friend, Michael is allowed bubble gum, which makes Billy jealous and envious, Billy often tries to get some bubble gum, however his parents refuse to give him some.
Poshy/Oswald
Poshy or Oswald was Billy's kittenKitten
A kitten is a juvenile domesticated cat.The young of big cats are called cubs rather than kittens. Either term may be used for the young of smaller wild felids such as ocelots, caracals, and lynx, but "kitten" is usually more common for these species....
, Audrey and Billy both originally referred him to a he at first, But after Audrey took the cat down to a woman's house. It was then realised Poshy/Oswald was now a girl, she only appears in three episodes. In the episode 'Open Wide', Poshy escaped from the Bradshaws home and ran to (possibly) Winefred Dutton's and never appeared again, Billy and Audrey were both worried. Alf in a selfish way, was pleased that Poshy had run away, she did make a cameo in Audrey Tries Her Luck.
The Dog
The Dog is nameless, it is not a major character in the series but is still used in the house. The dog appears to be a brindleBrindle
Brindle is a coat coloring pattern in animals, particularly dogs, cats, cattle, guinea pigs, crested geckos and, rarely, horses. It is sometimes described as "tiger striped", although the brindle pattern is more subtle than that of a tiger's coat...
Bull Terrier
Bull Terrier
The Bull Terrier or English Bull Terrier is a breed of dog in the terrier family. They are known for their large, egg-shaped head, small triangular eyes, and "jaunty gait." Their temperament has been described as generally fun-loving, active and clownish...
, the dog usually wears Alf's hats, seeing that he puts them on it; it turns its head to see what goes in the house and appears to "threaten" Poshy, the kitten.
Minor characters
The minor characters are never heard to speak (although Michael occasionally announces his presence with his mouth organHarmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
).
Michael Morris
Michael Morris is Billy Bradshaw's best friend, he wears a pair of Clinic Glasses for his lazy eyeLazy Eye
Lazy eye may refer to:* Amblyopia, a visual disorder* Strabismus, the most common cause of amblyopia* "Lazy Eye" * "Lazy Eye"...
(or as Alf calls it 'friendly eyes' because they keep looking at each other). Michael is based on a school friend of Buzz Hawkins (who was also called Michael Morris).
Betty Morris
Betty Morris is the mother of Michael Morris. She is having an affair with the coal man (although Audrey refuses to believe this). Betty and Audrey often love to go out for a game of housey housey (bingo).Mr Morris
Mr Morris is the Father of Michael Morris (although Michael's real father is the Coalman), Mr Morris is tight-fisted and bald, he has stolen Alf's tools several times.Uncle Wally One-Ball
Uncle Walter is Audrey's Uncle, he got a Gunshot to a 'sensitive' area in The Great WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and now drags his leg, he used to go by the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Bert Scroginbottom he played the banjolele
Banjolele
The banjolele is a four-stringed musical instrument with a small banjo-type body and a fretted ukulele neck. "Banjolele," sometimes also spelled "banjelele" or "banjulele" is a generic nickname given to the instrument, which was derived from the "banjulele-banjo", introduced by Alvin D...
and wrote his own songs. He was destined for stardom but he accidentally left his kitbag in the NAAFI with all his songs inside and it was stolen by a buck-toothed private named Formby.
Pamela
Auntie Pamela is Audrey's sister. She is constantly knitting tank tops for Billy and Alf although they never fit properly. As a matter of fact, Alf wears one that she knitted for Billy. Pamela also makes knitted swimming trunks for Billy. Although Pamela and Alf are often trying new ways to annoy each other, there is a rumour that they like each other. In one episode she keeps calling Alf Alfred.God
God features in many episodes. According to Alf (who should not be believed as he is an agnosticWeak agnosticism
Weak agnosticism is the assertion that, at present, there is not enough information to know whether any deities exist, but that such might become knowable. It is in contrast to strong agnosticism, which is the belief that the existence of any gods is completely unknowable to humanity...
) the moon is a hole in the sky for God to spy on people and the sun is his reading light. He turns it on for filling in his diary. God seems to show a strong dislike for Alf, as shown by the numerous times that bad things happen to him. This may be because Alf kept some rude magazines that Audrey told Alf to bin.