The Karen Dunbar Show was a television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 sketch show that aired on BBC One Scotland, starring the popular Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

 Karen Dunbar

Karen Dunbar

Karen Dunbar is a Scottish comedienne and entertainer.-Early life:She first came to the attention of mainstream audiences in the BBC Scotland comedy series Chewin' the Fat and subsequently was given her own show by the channel, The Karen Dunbar Show.Prior to mainstream success, Karen, an out...

 (of Chewin' the Fat

Chewin' the Fat

Chewin' the Fat is a Scottish comedy sketch show, starring Ford Kiernan, Greg Hemphill and Karen Dunbar. Comedians Paul Riley and Mark Cox also appeared regularly on the show.Chewin' the Fat first started as a radio series on BBC Radio Scotland...

fame). It is one of the many popular Scottish comedies produced by BBC Scotland

BBC Scotland

BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...

.

To date, there have been three series of 6 episodes each (2003–2005) and one, the 2006 series, consisting of four. Directors included Ron Bain

Ron Bain

Ron Bain is a Scottish television actor, director, producer, comedian and former stage actor who now focuses primarily on directing. He is known for his work with comedian Rikki Fulton, with whom he first worked while performing Molliere's The Miser at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh in 1971,...

 and Iain Davidson

Iain Davidson

Iain Davidson is a Scottish professional footballer. He currently plays for Scottish Football League club Raith Rovers, mainly as a defensive midfielder but can also be played in the defence.-Career:...

. Many writers contributed to the series, including: Gordon Robertson (2005), Graeme Sutherland

Graeme Sutherland

Graeme Sutherland is a free-lance writer, mainly specialising in broadcast comedy.He has contributed to the BBC Radio 4 satirical sketch show Week Ending and three series of the BBC Scotland TV comedy The Karen Dunbar Show....

 (2003–2005) and Ben Verth (2005).

The original theme tune which was used on Series 3, has a similar sound to the David Essex

David Essex

David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...

 classic Hold Me Close

Hold me close

"Hold Me Close" was a UK Singles Chart number-one hit single in October 1975 for three weeks by English singer David Essex.-Song profile:"Hold Me Close" is a cheery love song written by Essex and produced by Jeff Wayne. It was Essex's second and final UK #1. The B-side is titled "Good Ol' Rock and...

.

There were many recurring characters, such as Shoeless Josie; a blonde drunkard, often seen carrying a bag of chips. Almost Angelic; a Pub 'n' Club duo from Ayrshire, consisting of Angela Silvery and her tolerant husband Ricky.

DVD release

Only Series 1 has received a DVD release (in the UK). As a result of being unable to obtain clearance for the use of copyrighted music, some sketches (including all of Almost Angelic's - despite being pictured on the artwork) are excluded from the DVD. The TV broadcasts however, contained them intact.

External links

• The Karen Dunbar Show at The Comedy Unit