ByFiesty

Gimme Gimme Gimme first appeared on BBC Two in January 1999. Kathy starred alongside James Dreyfus, who played Linda’s flatmate Tom.

They were a terrible match, which was exactly why they worked so well together.

Linda La Hughes only had to enter a room and you knew peace and quiet were finished.

Loud, rude and completely sure that every man wanted her, Linda was the sort of person you would avoid in real life. Somehow, Kathy Burke made us look forward to seeing her every week.

Tom dreamed of becoming a successful actor. Linda spent most of her time chasing men and telling wild stories about herself. Neither had much grip on reality, but Linda was in a class of her own.

She believed she was beautiful, charming and irresistible. The fact that almost nobody else agreed never seemed to trouble her.

That was where much of the comedy came from. Linda could say something truly awful, insult everyone nearby and still act as though she was the injured party.

Kathy played her without holding back. Linda wasn’t softened to make her more likeable. She was selfish and often unbearable, yet she was also strangely hard to hate.

The first series ran for six episodes. The sitcom eventually lasted for three series and 19 regular episodes, as well as specials.

Jonathan Harvey wrote the show, while Kathy also worked behind the scenes as a script editor on later episodes.

What makes Linda even more impressive is where the role came in Kathy’s career.

Viewers already knew her as Waynetta Slob and the teenage boy Perry from Harry Enfield and Chums. Both characters showed how easily she could disappear into a role.

Then, only a couple of years before Gimme Gimme Gimme began, Kathy won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her powerful performance in Nil by Mouth.

Going from that hard, painful drama to Linda La Hughes says a great deal about her range. Plenty of actors can be funny or serious. Kathy could make you forget you were watching the same person.

Her performance as Linda later earned her a British Comedy Award.

More than 25 years after the programme first aired, clips are still passed around online. The clothes have aged and some of the jokes belong very firmly to their time, but Kathy’s performance still lands.

Linda was vain, filthy-minded and gloriously lacking in shame. Television would probably try to make her nicer now, which would completely miss the point.

What Linda La Hughes line still makes you laugh? 😂

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Why im ok Banning clients from my books :

Yesterday, i had a woman contact me for a same day appointment, i had one space left, my last hour, and if it wasnt filled, i was going home early. I offered it to her and she agreed.

that time came, and that woman never showed, never sent a text, and didnt even send a deposit or full payment to cover the time.

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The problem is - that yes, we are all busy people, emergencies happen, life happens, and things we cant control happens, but 99.9% of this world has a phone glued to their hands, and if you have time to send me a 2 second message to book, you have time to give me a heads up.

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