Big Top. Image shows from L to R: Geoff (John Thomson), Lizzie (Amanda Holden), Helen (Sophie Thompson). Copyright: Big Bear Films
Big Top

Big Top

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC One
  • 2009
  • 6 episodes (1 series)

Fraught with problems and dealing with a cacophony of egos, Ring Mistress Lizzie must struggle to keep Circus Maestro going. Stars Amanda Holden, John Thomson, Sophie Thompson, Tony Robinson, Ruth Madoc and Bruce Mackinnon

Big Top. Image shows from L to R: Geoff (John Thomson), Helen (Sophie Thompson), Lizzie (Amanda Holden), Georgie (Ruth Madoc), Erasmus (Tony Robinson), Boyco (Bruce Mackinnon). Copyright: Big Bear Films

Key details

Genre
Sitcom
Broadcast
2009
Channel
BBC One
Episodes
6 (1 series)
Stars
Amanda Holden, John Thomson, Sophie Thompson, Tony Robinson, Ruth Madoc and Bruce Mackinnon
Writer
Daniel Peak
Director
Geoff Posner
Producers
John Stroud, Marcus Mortimer, Jed Leventhall and Simon Wilson
Company

Circus Maestro is fraught with problems, and Ring Mistress Lizzie must overcome them all.

The performers and crew include a grumpy clown who hasn't a funny bone in his body; cynical soundman Erasmus; Georgie, the Grande Dame of Circus Maestro; and Boyco, the dazzlingly talented East European acrobat who is incredibly naive about the ways of the English world.

So what do you do when you've advertised a death-defying stunt which everyone has bought tickets to see, and the performer is just that little bit too injured? How do you manage a group of people who are so jealous of each other that they are happy to sabotage their colleagues performances; or so dedicated as performers that they are willing to sabotage their own survival? When the star acrobat is being chased by immigration, how do you hold onto him?

Additional details

Also known as
  • Circus (Working title)
Production
Studio
Camera set-up
Multi-camera
Picture
Colour

Website links

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Wednesday 2nd December 2009 at 7:30pm on BBC One

Recording details

  • Teddington Studios - Studios.
  • London - Location filming.

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