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The Brothers McGregor is a British situation comedy series set in Liverpool, and a spin-off of ITV soap opera Coronation Street, featuring two characters that originally appeared in the soap for one episode in May 1982.
- Sitcom
A spin-off from Coronation Street, this TV series follows the adventures of two brothers, one black and one white, in Liverpool. See cast, episodes, trivia, ratings and more on IMDb.
- (30)
- 1985-09-04
- Comedy
- 30
Feb 19, 2023 · British TV comedy series (1985-1988) about two brothers from Liverpool who are shady second-hand car dealers. Cyril attempts to sell a dodgy car with an out of hours test drive...
- 23 min
- 7.2K
- Rare British TV
- Background
- Episode Guide
Although the Granada sitcom The Brothers McGregor ran for four series and twenty-six episodes, few people watching at the time, or remembering the programme since, realise that it was a spin-off from Coronation Street. Indeed very little publicity was given to this fact on the programme's launch in 1985, possibly so as to avoid viewers prejudging what the programme would be like.
John Stevenson was responsible for writing Episode 2203 of Coronation Street which was broadcast on 12th May 1982 and which featured, as its main storyline, a party held in the Rovers Return Inn to celebrate the engagement of reformed scouse jailbird Eddie Yeats to Marion Willis. Among the guests invited were the McGregor Brothers from Liverpool. The visual joke of the two characters, Wesley and Cyril was that although they were introduced as brothers one was white and one was mixed-race, the explanation being given that they were in fact half-brothers, sharing the same mother. The party, mainly through the intervention of the two guests, got more and more riotous to the point where Annie Walker rang the police who turned up as Cyril and Wesley rolled the pub piano out of the front door and on to the street, intending to carry on the party into the night.
John Stevenson was taken with his creations, as were fellow-writer Julian Roach and Coronation Street executive producer Bill Podmore and a suggestion was made to Granada Television Managing Director David Plowright that the two brothers would be worthy of a sitcom of their own.
The resulting programme made its debut on Wednesday 4th September 1985 and, although it garnered few critical reviews, it was an immediate success in the ratings achieving 6th place for the week with 15.15 million viewers. Subsequent weeks saw a slight drop but the first series gained overall average ratings of over 13 million viewers.
The two actors who played Cyril and Wesley in their Coronation Street appearance (Carl Chase and Tony Osoba) were either unavailable or unwilling to reprise their roles and Philip Whitchurch and Paul Barber were cast in their place. The Brothers' working background as dodgy second-hand car dealers through their own concern ("Rathbone Motors") was expanded on. Cyril was shown to have ambitions to be as big a singer as Frank Sinatra in Liverpool's clubland, not realising that in everyone else's view he was the worst singer in the world. Wesley saw himself as a great business tycoon but his scams and deals constantly failed. Their mother, Dolly, lived in her own fantasy world which involved Wesley's long-gone father returning to her and a series of rambling monologues which occasionally involved Prince Philip. Cyril's girlfriend, punk Glenys Pike, had been engaged to him for six years but he refused to commit himself further. Other regular characters were Colwyn Stanley, owner of the Blue Cockatoo nightclub whose patrons Cyril regularly tormented with his singing and Nigel, a young lad who helped out at Rathbone Motors.
John Stevenson and Julian Roach shared the writing duties between them, Podmore was also the executive producer and Bernard Thompson produced all twenty-six episodes.
Season One (1985)
Transmitted on Wednesday evenings from 4th September to 16th October 1985 at 8.30pm •The Getaway Car •The Royal Letter •Cyril's Marital Status •The Vicar Buys a Car •The Talent Contest •The Impressive Address •Nye Jenkins
Season Two (1986)
Transmitted on Thursday evenings from 3rd April to 8th May 1986 at 8.30pm except for Granada Television where transmission took place at 9.00pm. •The Traffic Warden (Also known as Return of the Scouse Duo) •Fitness Freaks (Also known as The Blue and the Red) •Cyril's Singing (Also known as The Pies Have Arrived) •Criminal Connections (Also known as Double Trouble) •Irate Dinner Tables (Also known as The Persistent Mr Pyecroft) •Victorian Porn (Also known as Dennis Dodgy Books)
Season Three (1987)
Transmitted on Monday evenings from 16th February to 23rd March 1987 at 8.00pm except for Television South and Channel Television where transmissions ran on Thursdays from 19th February to 26th March at 7.30pm. •Inspector Maggot Pays a Surprise Visit •Jury Duty •Moira •The Singing Fan •The Inheritance •Politics
Liverpool-set sitcom about black and white half-brothers Wesley and Cyril who run an extremely dodgy second-hand car business. The series is a spin-off of ITV soap opera Coronation Street, featuring two characters that originally appeared in the soap for one episode in May 1982.
A guide to The Brothers McGregor, the 1985 - 1988 ITV1 TV sitcom. Liverpool-set sitcom about black and white half-brothers Wesley and Cyril who run an extremely dodgy second-hand car business.
Visit the TV show page for 'The Brothers McGregor' on Moviefone. Discover the show's synopsis, cast details, and season information. Watch trailers, exclusive interviews, and episode reviews.
