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Hornbags wow mean streets of London

OUR favourite hornbags hit London this week fearing a battering from the notorious British media.

Instead, it has been the Poms ducking for cover.

With Kath & Kim now ensconced in mainstream British culture with its debut on BBC last month, Gina Riley (Kim) and Jane Turner (Kath) have been feted as comic geniuses.

"It's been amazing. You hear so much about how mean the press is but we've had these glowing reviews," Riley said.

Turner had been unsure how the show would be received in a country that has spawned so much brilliant TV comedy.

"When we first came here on cable TV we thought 'Oh, it's not going to work -- it'll be like bringing coals to Newscastle'," she said. "But they've taken to it quite readily, I think Neighbours paved the way for us in the sense that the accents are no longer so strange. But as in America, they probably need a glossary of things like 'hunk of spunk' and 'hornbag'."

Promoting the show on BBC radio yesterday, the pair nevertheless showered the listeners with the unique lexicon of Fountain Lakes and Kim, it seems is already over -- O-V-A-H -- the British capital. "I'm not impressed, I have to say," she said.

"I think we've seen it all on the drive from the airport to the hotel. I'm over it."

Kath, while slightly more diplomatic, agreed Britain could lift its game. "At home you can have your abducted (sic) heating and air con. You can't have it here because the walls are so thick," she said. "But I don't want to cast astertions (sic) about the place. Kim does, because she's so up herself, she's got tickets on herself."

Kim said she was, however, impressed with some of the British men she had seen, particularly footballer Wayne Rooney. "I like the look of Wayne Rooney. And I think he would like the look of me," she said.

BBC executives are pushing on with the Kath & Kim project. Having spurned the show when it was first offered to the corporation two years ago, the public broadcaster this week promoted Kath & Kim to a prime-time 9pm slot.

By Ben English
July 15, 2005
Herald Sun