My Hero (British TV series)

My Hero
Series title card
Created by	Paul Mendelson
Starring	Ardal O'Hanlon (Series 1-5) James Dreyfus (Series 6) Emily Joyce Hugh Dennis Geraldine McNulty Lou Hirsch Philip Whitchurch Lill Roughley Tim Wylton
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	51 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Geoffrey Perkins Marcus Mortimer Sophie Clarke-Jervoise
Running time	30 mins
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	February 4, 2000 – September 10, 2006

My Hero is a British television series that first ran on BBC One from February 2000 to September 2006. The series is a comedy, whose central character is a superhero named Thermoman, who hails from the planet Ultron, and the series deals with situations that ensue as he learns about the people of Earth. Thermoman uses the alias of George Sunday (portrayed by Ardal O'Hanlon and later James Dreyfus), who has a romantic relationship with Janet Dawkins (played by Emily Joyce). The two later marry and have two children, Ollie and Cassie.

The series debuted in February 2000 on BBC One, and had six series, with a total of fifty-one regular episodes as of 2007, including an additional Christmas special, broadcast in December 2000.

In 2002, the third series was released on DVD, including actor biographies and out-takes. In the UK, re-runs air on UKTV Gold; in the United States, it is shown regularly on select PBS stations and on BBC America. The first series was released on Region 1 DVD in the U.S. on January 16, 2007.

The sixth and final series, beginning in July 2006, saw James Dreyfus taking over from Ardal O'Hanlon in the lead role, as George loses his former human identity in a game of poker. This was quite similar to a concept used in British Television show Doctor Who, called regeneration, in which the lead actor changes. This move proved unpopular with the series, which was suffering from plummeting ratings and ultimately being relegated to a Sunday afternoon slot. The series was axed in September 2006 due to the bad ratings, possibly due to the Big Brother finals and other competitive programmes.

Characters

George Sunday/George Monday/Thermoman

George Eamonn Sunday (Ardal O'Hanlon) is a former Irish Shop Keeper who is the alter ego of Thermoman, a world-famous superhero from the planet Ultron. His title came from his father Seamus, the Original Thermoman, who is currently retired. He owns a health food store, but tries to avoid attracting customers in order to avoid attention. Only his closest friends know his true identity. He appears to be an idiot because he is unfamiliar with Earth culture, tending to take things literally.

From 2006, in his new body, he uses the pseudonym George Monday (James Dreyfus), posing as a doctor in Northolt Health Centre hired by Dr Piers Crispin. Janet introduces Monday to friends and parents as her friend and lodger. However, they believe she is having a relationship with him, believing at first she murdered her husband, George Sunday, though in later episodes they believe Sunday left her. The health shop closed down sometime before he lost his previous body.

Abilities

• Both heating and freezing with his 'thermo-breath'
• Super strength - This can't be controlled when sleepy as in Series 2, episode 3 "Girlfriend", it is revealed that he has unintentionally smashed alarm clocks to pieces with one fist each morning due to this weakness.
• Invulnerability - this includes the ability to cut off parts of his own body (e.g. his own head), then putting back on. Furthermore, he does not bleed. However, his invincibility is only effective as long as he believes that he is invincible : when, in one episode, he begins to doubt his ability, he temporary loses this power (and gains unwanted and uncontrollable invisibility).
• Flight
• Super speed
• Smelling natural disasters and crimes in progress anywhere in the world
• Erasing the memories of others by putting his finger to their foreheads and giving it a thermoblast (although Tyler appears to be immune to this)
• Total erasure by staring at the person he wants to erase the memory of (with a side effect of them losing their hair)
• Mind control; only be used in extreme circumstances
• Knowing lottery numbers before they happen (Not technically a power, because Ultronians use a mathematical algorithm to do it Ollie also has this ability. Also, the laws of Ultron prevent him using this for personal gain)
• Operating the TV (turning it on and off, even rewinding it) using his finger, and knowing what's on the news before watching it
• Projecting a "Thergle", an Ultronian chastity belt. When sexually aroused, the most off-putting thing in your opinion appears before you, in order to reduce the arousal (in Janet's case, her mother).
• X-ray vision
• Resurrection of dead animals and people
• Time travel through the time tunnels of Tartarus (following an incident where he changed his own history, he has ceased to use these, and may never do so again)
• The ability to transform into a flying rhinoceros (Although this is not seen, it is referred to in the programme)
• Invisibility. However, this only occurs when he is afraid. Furthermore, the amount and parts of his body that turn invisible (e.g. just the feet or the head and hands) depend on how frightened he is.

On multiple occasions, he orders additional powers on a trial basis from the magazine Superhero Monthly:

• Miracle Spit – makes plants grow quickly
• Interspecies Interpreter – allows him to communicate with any animal on Earth except dung beetles ("Why would you want to? They live in dung!"). This was used in season 3's "Pet Rescue", and again in season 6, episode 3, "My Kingdom for a Cat".
• Zip-it! – a safer way of silencing people than welding people's mouths shut, it instead uses a zipper (used on Tyler and Arnie), and was shown in the same episode as Miracle Spit.

Janet Sunday/Dawkins

Janet Charlotte Sunday née Dawkins (Emily Joyce) is the voice of sanity, a nurse in the Northolt Health Centre. She was born in 1969 or 1970. (There is a discrepancy: in the first series episode "The Party's Over," the episode is set in 2000 and she is turning 30. In the fourth series episode "Time and Time Again," George visits Janet on her 9th birthday, which is shown to have taken place in 1978, hinting she is 35 by the fifth season.) She first meets Thermoman when he rescues her from certain death after falling into the Grand Canyon whilst on holiday. Although she loves George/Thermoman, she is frequently exasperated and confused by his behaviour.

Alternate timelines seen in season 4, episode 10, "Time and Time Again":

• A timeline in which Janet didn't fall from that tree when she was 7 - all that is known about this timeline is that she is as bald as Tyler.
• A timeline in which Janet didn't fall from that tree when she was 7 AND got a note to visit a doctor about that scalp problem before it was too late - Janet is married to Piers with ten children (and possibly never going on the trip to the Grand Canyon and as a result, she and none of the other main characters never meet George and Arnie).
• A timeline in which Janet fell from the tree and Arnie got "familiar" with Ella's past self - much the same as the prime timeline, except for Arnold Dawkins, Janet's half-brother.

Ollie Sunday

Apollo "Ollie" Sunday (voice by Finlay Stroud) is the son of George and Janet, and was born at the end of series 2. He was able to speak perfect English from birth. He also has superhuman powers, although they are somewhat limited. He takes more of a back seat in series 5, as he fights the sibling rivalry wars with his sister Cassie. The name "Apollo" was chosen by Ollie himself during a conversation with Tyler, and was meant to symbolise the link between two "heavenly bodies" (either Apollo 11 or Battlestar Galactica).

By Series 5, Ollie is said to know virtually all Earth languages (although George considered Flemish as a dialect).

Cassie Sunday

Cassandra "Cassie" Sunday (voice by Madeline Mortimer) is the newest member of the Sunday family, born at the beginning of the fifth series, and named herself Cassandra. Her only superpower is that she can see into the future. This proved to be of little use, as she once thought that population of the whole Northern Hemisphere was dead when it was revealed that in fact she couldn't distinguish between sleep and death. This led to chaos as everyone flocked to Australia, in the Southern Hemisphere, as they were still awake/alive.

Considering that Xil in the season 2 episode Girlfriend has super-strength and other powers, either precognition is a family trait or Ultronian females gain their power at a later age than males. However in Season 5 The First Husband's club at the end it was believed that Cassie's second power was mind control after she turned Janet into her Slave, which seems to confirm that other superpowers develop later on in life in Ultronian Females, but not all at once.

Piers Crispin

Dr Piers Crispin (Hugh Dennis) is Janet's boss and "Britain's favourite TV doctor," though he is not a good doctor (in the episode "Shock, Horror!", he accidentally revealed to Janet that he faked his A-Level results to get into medical school) and is more concerned with his television career. To boost his image, he has tried things such as releasing his own health drink (which was really just diluted mouthwash, which he took off the market, due to an "unhealthy" experience with a gangster), sponsoring a tiger cub in Bangladesh (it was cheaper than sponsoring a child and the tiger was more photogenic), writing a book (which Mrs Raven suggested a patient read as a means to relieve insomnia), supporting a healthy eating campaign in schools, and even appearing on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!. His catchphrase in the early series was "I am always here".

In Series 2, Episode 6, "Pregnant", George describes him "as the most boring person he has ever encountered, worse even than Zargons [their national sport is growing cress]", after Janet did some rescuing and he was left to listen to Piers talk with him, Ella and Stanley for an unspecified amount of time.

Season 4, Episode 10, "Time and Time Again", he promotes cigarettes as good for you (initially believed by Janet and Mrs Raven to be an April Fool's Joke) when paid by the tobacco industry to do his own study. Subsequent to that, he is approached by the alcohol, sweets, and nuclear power industries, before someone reads his report and proves it to be false (when Janet read in the news that "Dr Crispin is either stupid or corrupt" she said he was both. In an alternate timeline, Piers is a competent doctor, married to Janet with the children; this happiness is a sham as he is seeing Mrs Raven behind Janet's back (which convinced George to restore things to what they should be and gave Arnie ideas about "edible underwear").

In Season 5, Episode "Cassie Come Home", we learn he originally wanted to be a violinist but his father was so determined that Piers would go into medicine that he called him "Doctor Crispin" even as a child. According to Piers, "I remember once saying I'd like to be a violinist, and he banned all music from the house. I didn't hear a note for three years. Wonderful man."

In Series 6, Episode 5, "Not for Prophet", he tells Sophie Raworth that he is still a virgin at age 43 (he told Janet that he was a virgin in Series 3, Episode 10, "A Day to Remember", which she told Mrs Raven, which she told the Daily Mirror, he was lying as he did go to bed with one of the elderly women in Ella and Stanley's school reunion, but didn't want to talk about it).

In Series 6, Episode 8, "Believe", we find out why he cheats and schemes, it's because of being bullied at school, being locked in a cellar by his father, and his unfeeling mother celebrating his brother's latest scout badge and ignoring him. When George reminded him of this, it destroyed his self confidence, until Mrs Raven used electric shocks and then the threat of smashing his award brought him back to his usual arrogant self.

Arnie

Arnie Kowalski (Lou Hirsch) is George's cousin and confidant. Originally a superhero himself, Polarman, he lost his powers because he began charging for his services. He is an extremely greedy person, willing to do anything to make money, regardless of who it harms, including himself. In one episode, he got his powers back from the Ultron Council, and became the new hero in town, as it were, making George feel redundant. He had them taken away again, when he was caught stealing from the people he saved, and even for stealing the Crown Jewels because he felt like it. In Series 1, he lived in New York, where he owned a café, but moved to Las Vegas in Series 2, where he owned a casino and to Northolt in Series 3, where he has remained ever since. He is currently in a relationship with Mrs Raven. He is often seen wearing New York Yankees apparel.

He has been known throughout the series to have been very helpful and resourceful to Thermoman, on matters such as:

• Contacts on Ultron

• Unknown knowledge to George on Earth or Ultron

• Advice to help George when in need

• Ultronian Technology

Examples of his attempts to become rich are:

• Trying to start up a website for George's health shop with Tyler that did well (for a day); then Tyler accidentally destroyed the website and his laptop

• He made 80 pounds per week in six months while filming a sitcom called The Filth Channel for Ultron recording his activities with Mrs Raven, but when George took Thermowatch off the air, he may have done the same to the Filth Channel.

• He started a therapy to help George get his invincibility back when he learned the truth about his powers and he made 60 pounds the first time but Janet got him to reduce the price.

• Due to a contact Piers made with Tyler when he started up a talk show and Arnie was Tyler's agent, he got £5,000

• When the S.A.T.S table league was started up, he advertised for Thermoman products such as Loo Rolls but this was removed from sale when Tyler said he was going to the toilet more often just to be closer to Thermoman. When George got to the first spot all he could sell were voodoo dolls of Thermoman since it was the 14th spot that got him rich and Thermoman took all the alcohol and tobacco from the world. But when George was reduced to the bottom of the table all he could sell were Thermo Fatty Dolls then he stopped selling.

• He set up an Ultronian computer for George with a charge of £20000 but Janet had him destroy it.

• He pretended to be George's lawyer to stop Scotland Yard from arresting him but although he failed George had him remain as his lawyer and made a deal with him on his salary.

Mrs Raven

Mrs Raven (Geraldine McNulty) is the sadistic and misanthropic receptionist in Northolt Health Centre. She has a romantic relationship with Arnie, has triplets from a previous marriage, and despises them to no end. In Series 1, Episode 1, she took them to see the exorcist (a priest, not the movie). Mrs Raven often says snide comments about people while they are present (similar to Anne Robinson) and seems to pride herself on scaring away potential patients. She often gets the better of her boss, Dr Piers Crispin, usually through blackmail or similar methods.

Arnie has been staying with her since Season 3, although since (revealed in "Space Virus") the words she likes to hear from Arnie are "Ow, that hurts". We also learn that kissing the husband (George) of her friend (Janet) is one of the most terrible things she could do. According to Dr Crispin, she was never a child. There is evidence that her triplets are cannibals as when she discovered "George's feet" (believing that Janet has murdered her husband), she fed them to her triplets. Also, in "Night Fever", she predicted that she could see her psychotic mother in her triplets in the future and told Janet her family throughout generations have always been nasty and like her mother in ways and that it can sometimes skip a generation (as in her case).

She has been known to aid Dr Crispin in his schemes; if it works, she most likely wants a cut of the profits; if it doesn't work, she gets some amusement out of Dr Crispin's humiliation. Examples include:

• She has a camcorder ready to film Stanley Dawkins' pregnancy for a live show. Dr Crispin then delivers a 2-ounce gallstone, earning a front page story in The Sun Newspaper with the title "They think it's gall over" (a play on the 1966 world cup phrase "They think it's all over, it IS now"). She photocopies this story for the patients to read.

• She sells cigarettes to patients while Dr Crispin is promoting them as being good for you, then offers a cigarette to Dr Crispin after a newspaper denounces him as an alien with evil superpowers. Also she participated in charging the drinks for the Crispin Diet but her friend, a mob boss, was told by Janet that the drink had side effects as a lie and Dr Crispin had a nasty beat up and Mrs Raven called up the news and ambulance to come over and Dr Crispin withdrew all the drinks after this.

• She sells her homemade booze to Dr Crispin for his cousin Deon's stag night and has arranged for a stripper, i.e., herself. Mrs Raven earns enough to pay off her £5000 tax and she got amusement from Piers being "lynched" (gaffer taped to a lamppost, stark naked, with gaffer tape covering certain parts) after selling him out to Deon Crispin and his friends.

In Season 4, Episode 10, "Time and Time Again", in an alternate timeline, Mrs Raven is nice. She gives children toys and does some physiotherapy to patients in her spare time (however, she was also having an affair with the married Dr Crispin).

Despite her nasty behaviour towards Dr Crispin, she reveals in Season 6, Episode 8 "Believe" that insulting Dr Crispin is one of two things that get her out of bed (the other being that her triplets keep their stash of explosives under her bed). When George destroys Dr Crispin's self-confidence, she uses methods similar to those used in George Orwell's "1984" to restore him to his arrogant self, such as electric shocks and when that failed, she showed Piers his "Room 101" and threatened his award with a hammer.

Dr Crispin compares her to the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz in a few episodes.

Stanley and Ella Dawkins

Stanley Dawkins (Tim Wylton) and Ella Dawkins (Lill Roughley) are Janet's parents. Mrs Dawkins is a typical mother-in-law and has always thought Janet should have married Dr Crispin. She dislikes George, believing him to be an idiot and loser. Janet's father Stanley humorously complains all the time about his wife and is rather suspicious of George and all other men who are anywhere near his daughter. When George gains the mystic power of "Mascara" (which is the power to read minds) he reads Stanley’s mind and discovers that all he ever thinks about is killing Ella. He seems to be a bit more tolerant of George, as he's had a few good times with him (mainly due to the fact that he irritates Ella, making him a lesser target).

They find each other more attractive when they're both intoxicated, as revealed in Series 6, Episode 7, "Top of the Table", this might explain how Janet was conceived to a married couple like Ella and Stanley (the kind that find each other irritating and only attractive to each other when alcohol is in their system).

In Series 1, Ella often daydreams about George when he kissed her and when she walked in on him in the shower. She never daydreams about him again after Series 1, though.

Stanley is hardly a main character in the series until Series 2

Tyler

Tyler (Philip Whitchurch) is Janet and George's crazy neighbour. Janet believes that his brain was fried by hallucinogens in the 1960s (this probably explains why he knew that George and his father are Thermoman Sr and Thermoman and Arnie was Polarman). He knows George's real identity, but often seems to have his own even more bizarre ideas and theories about the universe. For instance, he often claims that Gandalf, Frodo, and other fictional characters are staying in his flat. George initially denies Tyler's claims that he is Thermoman, but from Series 2 onwards, he just accepted that Tyler knows (mainly because no one would believe him), and gave him a job as his assistant in his health shop, replacing his original assistant from Series 1, Avril. One time in the shop he told George and Arnie at age 5 he went to boarding school and was bullied for ten years but learned that some people from fantasy are not real like Luke Skywalker. From Season 5 onwards, he is often left to look after the kids, but more often than not, they end up looking after him. Tyler often refers to George as "Master", and occasionally calls Janet "Mistress" as well (a possible reference to K-9). In Series 2, Episode 3, "Girlfriend", it is revealed that he can speak Ultronian, and in Series 5, Episode 5, "Nothing to Hide", he reveals that he knows Leonardo da Vinci who we learn is an Ultronian.

He is the only human who is resistant to George's memory-erasing thermoblast. George attempted this twice, to no effect (Season 1, Episode 1, "My Hero" and Episode 4, "Thermoman's Great"). This is possibly due to the fact that Tyler is "outside reality" as we know it; in Series 4, Episode 4, "All in the Mind", he is also immune to telepathy as when George gains telepathy (the ancient power of mascara) and reads Tyler's mind, all he hears is a gentle blowing wind.

In an alternate timeline shown in season 4, episode 10, "Time and Time Again", Tyler has a girlfriend called Miranda (which initially made Arnie think he was as mad as ever as before she revealed herself, he said he has "a goddess in the bedroom"), she is Tyler's next door neighbour in that timeline.

In Series 5, Episode 9, "Big Bother", when Martin gives Tyler some pills from Piers claiming to be an expert, he stops believing he sees Gandalf for a time, because he thinks that he is Gandalf (including white robes and false beard, and asks Thermoman to join the fellowship to journey into Mordor, thinking that Ella is the Balrog of Morgoth and that Mrs Raven is a "Hideous Orc"). Later Cue Martin, his long lost cousin, gave him some pills and although he was back to normal he began thinking he was gay and in a divorce.

In Series 6, Episode 8, "Believe", it is revealed, much to the surprise of Janet, that Tyler is 32. In the same episode he thought he was more attractive with a wig (which he originally thought was a cat), but his attempts to "go on the pull" resulted in three restraining orders and a lifelong ban from Somerfield supermarkets. He also kept an Anne Robinson head which was put in the selection by mistake (George's head exploded due to a failsafe to prevent Ultronians from getting too "big headed").

Tyler has a Scouse accent.

Avril

Avril (Moya Brady) was George's nervous assistant in his health shop in Series 1. Tyler took her job from Series 2 onwards. She had a crush on George and blamed his quirks and constant visits to the toilet (which is really to change into Thermoman) on poor treatment from Janet. She also had constant breakdowns and would shake when doing so. Her character is never seen or referred to again after Season 1.

Ultron

Ultron is Thermoman's home planet and Superheroes are their greatest export. Ultron is never seen, apart from a few shots of the planet from space (although George once described the gravity and atmospheric pressure to be much greater than Earth), but many references are made to the planet and its unique culture throughout the series.

Traditions

• The Grand Ceremony of Betrothal.
• The Great Pig Juggling Ceremony.
• The Time Tunnel of Tarxis - Re-jigs the age hormones.
• The Protocols of Talithos - Sharing food with others while in a relationship is forbidden.
• Zanalar - the pre-wedding mating ritual.
• The Ultron Nose-Pinch - the sign of true friendship between a male and a female.
• The Sacred Oath of Allegiance - The standard Superhero initiation ritual.
• The Sacred Stance - Part of The Sacred Oath of Allegiance; Features the heroes standing with their right arms on their hips and their left arms straight across with the hands pointing down. it culminate in a wiggling of both hero's outstretched hands.
• Chang Ching - combat to the death (also known as Rock, Paper, Scissors), where forfeiting results in being scattered to the four corners of the galaxy in four separate boxes.

Language

• "Zneet Znadder Zneet" (Often shortened to "Zneet") - Typical ultronian greeting.
• "Zneet Znadder Znithery Zneet" - Happy ultronian greeting.
• "Zneet Znadder Znooding Zneet" - is disgusting, not to mention illegal.
• "You Great Nishdar" - Ultronian insult.

Superhero ethics

• Ultron superheroes take a vow to protect all human life.
• The Superhero code forbids injuring another human being.
• Section 9 of the code covers illegal impersonation of a superhero for personal advancement and for misuse of superpowers for personal gain.
• Heroes must transform in the bathroom
• Lying on Ultron is punished by death.
• If a species falls below acceptable standards, they are "Permanently excluded from the universe" (destroyed quickly by Neutron Ray, although they save the bits they like, such as animals, land and a select number of native sentient life forms, including attractive females and Untronians and their family members) in the worst possible case, in others, they punish the world that has not done particularly well by sending someone that they hate (David Dickinson is mentioned as an example).
• IF an Ultronian Male gets a Female Pregnant and they aren't married to that Female, the Ultronian Male must have a Vasectomy (on Ultron, a couple of bricks are used for this), unless they get married.

George and Arnie quote various rules throughout the series including:

• Rule 1 - Never mentioned, but possibly to save everyone in danger.
• Rule 2 - "Always set the best possible example"
• Rule 3 - "Never sneeze with your visor closed"
• Rule 9 - "No superhero shall ever lend his name, image or reputation for commercial endorsement of any kind, including Kentucky Fried Chicken".
• Rule 9 (Arnie's version) - "Superheroes are forbidden to put a courgette in their tights to make themselves more attractive to the opposite sex".
• Rule 12 - "Don't drink and fly".

Episodes

Main article: List of My Hero Episodes

There are 51 episodes of My Hero over 6 series. The first was broadcast on 2000-02-04 and the last on 2006-09-10.

Some of the episode titles and summaries are considered either parodies of other TV series or films like Cassie Come Home (Lassie Come Home), How Green was my Ollie (a novel How Green Was My Valley), Time and Time again (Back to the Future II), The First Husbands Club (The First Wives Club).

Continuity errors

• In Episode 4, Series 6, George hates spiders and kills one in fear but in Episode 4, Series 1, George isn't scared when killing the spider that scares Janet

• In one episode, George reveals he is 842 years old, but later in another series he is 327

• In Episode 7, Series 6, There is a poster on the theatre door saying "22nd November" but later on in this episode Piers says its April when Mrs Raven tries to trick him into paying her Taxes.

• When Cassie is born, George says Female ultronians don't get powers, only the power to predict the future yet in Series 2, Episode 3, Xil is female and she has all the powers Thermoman has. It's possible that female ultronians only get them later on (or have them bestowed as was done to Janet in Series two episode 4).

• In one episode Arnie reveals that Ultronians can't die, but in Episode 5, Season 1, George's mother was an ultronian and she is dead.

• In Series 2, it is revealed that Tyler is fluent in Ultronian, yet in series 3, when he says "Zneet Znadder Znooding Zneet", he didn't know what he said, it is possible that there are some Ultronian terms that are unknown to him.

• In the episode "Not for Prophet", Piers reveals that he is a virgin, yet in Series 4, he ended up sleeping with a woman from Ella's school reunion (although he was very embarrassed by that incident)

• It is said that Ultronians may not profit from their powers but in the episode "Car", George was using his powers to gain money, though he was also helping people so it may not count.

External links

Official

• My Hero at the BBC Comedy Guide.
• My Hero at Big Bear Films home page
• My Hero at BBC America.

Unofficial

• My Hero at IMDb
• British TV Comedy Guide
• My Hero episode guide and forum at TV.com
• My Hero at the British Sitcom Guide
• My Hero News, episode guide and interviews at downthetubes.net