Vic and Bob are back... as brothers

Carl has just come out of the Army and embarks on a quest with his loner brother to find the son he hasn't seen in 15 years.

Here they describe how the series came about, how they solved a casting problem with a trip to the pub - and how it was a lot easier to write than Shooting Stars...

"I think the storyline is far better than Vic and I ever thought," says Bob. "The story has really taken over. The key to how we write is to talk about things and if we both laugh at something, then it goes in.

"We've never written anything like this before; it's a comedy-drama but it's very dark in some parts and in others, it's part musical. There are songs included in every episode that the characters mime to."

Vic added: "We're very honest with each other and if one of us doesn't find something funny, then it doesn't go in. We tend to find it quite easy to come up with ideas although I think it's easier because there are two of us and we can bounce ideas off each other.

"I think if it was me writing on my own, then I might be quite tempted to sit and watch daytime television instead. With this series, I think we were sitting in my kitchen and just came up with the idea and it then sprouted leaves and became bigger and bigger. There are lots of twists and turns in the plot and I think, by the end, you are really drawn into their world."

"The characters of Chris and Carl originated from a sketch in Bang Bang, It's Reeves And Mortimer. It was a sketch that was a bit like The Office, but set in a club where Carl and Chris were the bouncers.

"I play Chris, who hasn't been out of the house in years and he's got that air about him that makes him look really tough but, actually, he's dead soft."

The brothers' quest starts with them stealing a car - and stumbling upon an armed robbery in the process.

"There's this guy called Tony, played brilliantly by Reece Shearsmith," sayss Vic. "He is in the middle of this armed robbery when Carl and Chris turn up, steal his car and then end up with a briefcase containing all his money which, of course, they don't know about.

"Tony pursues the brothers and wants to humiliate them and kill them."

"I also play the character of Inspector Fowler," adds Vic. "He's an American cop who has always wanted to work for the NYPD. We noticed that the North Yorkshire Police Department could be abbreviated to NYPD, too, and thought it might be quite funny to have Fowler finally realising his ambition."

On the run, the brothers wind up in The Mermade Hote. "Matt Lucas plays the manager and Morwenna Banks plays his girlfriend,Tess." explains Bob.

"Matt's character is a small businessman trying to make a go of running a hotel in a northern town. He's quite a nasty character, really, and I think people will despise him in the first few episodes ­ he's awful to Tess. But his tale has a nice journey to it and, by the end, I think people will be on his side.

"There's also the character of Mark,, who is the dogsbody at the hotel. He's being blackmailed by the manager and he's despised by everyone in the town so he doesn't have a friend in the world but, by the end, he finds a friend in Chris."

"We wrote Mark specifically for Mark Benton, who we first worked with years ago when we were doing Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)," adds Vic. "But the one character that we did have trouble casting was Ian, who is just this real slice of oddness.

"Then we were out one night and bumped into Tim Healy in a pub. I had the script for Catterick with me and Ian has these huge speeches, so I ripped out one of the pages of dialogue and said to Tim, 'have a look at that and tell me if you want to do it'. Half an hour later, he came over and said that he would.

"It was a great chance meeting because we just couldn't decide who we wanted to play that character and Tim is just perfect."

It's not just casting Vic and Bob are involved in. "We always like to get really involved and do a bit of everything, from the casting to the costumes," says Bob. "Any mistakes are our own and you can't pass the buck."

Vic's character has a particularly distinctive look. "Chris has woolly hair and a full English beard. The idea for that particular look came when I was in the make-up truck having a dig around in the beard bag and I thought it looked really good.

"I had to have the beard glued on every morning and it would take on a life of its own. There would be times when I would want to just rip it off. I was going to grow a beard of my own but, because I play two characters, I couldn't and it was a great blow!"

The Reeves and Mortimer partnership has lasted for more than 15 years, since their well-documented meeting at The Goldsmith Tavern in south London.

"Jim was doing a show on his own in a room above a pub." explains Bob. "There were only about six people in the audience and they were all his mates except for me.

"And so he did this really daft show and then came and sat down with his friends and, eventually, I became friendly with the group and got to know Vic. That was about 16 years ago and we've been working together ever since.

"The hardest thing to write was actually Shooting Stars, which you might not expect. It's hard writing one-liners and for Shooting Stars we would need about 60 jokes and 140 funny questions.

"Sometimes we would sit down for five hours and only come up with one question, so the whole series would take us weeks and weeks."

For a double act whose style is far from conventional, Vic and Bob have conservative taste when they're off duty.

"I like spending time with my children," says Bob. '"Then, once they're in bed, I like to watch television, things like Location, Location, Location. I really like gardening, too. And I still support Middlesbrough, but I don't get up to see them very often these days."

As for Vic, he says: "Nancy [his wife] has forced me to watch EastEnders which I now enjoy. We make our own soap and bubble bath and, because we've got a garden full of such beautiful flowers, we press some of the flowers and frame them. It might seem a bit odd to some people, but it seems normal to us."

Catterick starts on BBC Three on February 15

First published:January 31, 2004

Published: 22 Mar 2009