The last few years have seen British genre television make a hell of a return.
The BBC’s rejig of Doctor Who saw the show return bigger and better than before, crossing over from the cult success of the original to mainstream success.
Subsequent genre shows like Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, Sherlock and Being Human have continued with that success.
But for every winner, there’s a loser, a show that never got past the pilot of a handful of episodes.
One show that didn’t get the opportunity to develop past it’s pilot was the wild and wacky Phoo Action, based upon Tank Girl & Gorillaz artist Jamie Hewlett’s comic strip Get the Freebies. The pilot premiered at the same time as Being Human’s original pilot, and featured a high kicking kung fu hero clad in a yellow and black tracksuit, a teenage anarchist named ‘Whitey Action’, Apollo Creed himself Carl Weathers, the Royal Family, basketball headed bad guys, a seven foot tall purple gorilla, masked Mexican wrestlers, Hong Kong legend Richard Ng and did we mention the ‘Buddhist pants of destiny’?
Forces of Geek’s Man from Hong Kong Big Mike Leeder takes a look back at the pilot and what could have/should have been.
Set in the not too distant future, 2012 in fact! The world has changed but not for the better, London is being ravaged by a terrible crime wave, with mutant criminals running amok, disturbing society and unhinging the establishment. What the world needs is a shiny hero, who will come down and save the day….
What they got was Terry Phoo (Eddie Shin) a Buddhist Kung Fu Cop from Hong Kong sent to the UK, who forms an unlikely alliance with Whitey Jackson (Jaime Winstone), an unruly teenage an anarchist who just happens to be the daughter of Police Chief Benjamin Denison (Carl Weathers).
Together they form an unlikely but surprisingly effective crime fighting team who bring together comedy, mischief, martial arts and mayhem to become the heroes of a new generation.
Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys & girls, this is PHOO ACTION!
The high concept high octane drama was developed as part of a series of 6 backdoor pilots in 2007 which included Being Human, the story of a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf who end up sharing a house.
Now while Being Human was a rating success, and spawned a subsequent series albeit with a few changes to the original concept, Phoo Action which got plenty of attention during development never got to stretch past its original pilot.
The show was adapted from Jamie Hewlett’s Get the Freebies strip which originally graced the pages of UK magazine The Face, and sadly much like the live action adaptation of Tank Girl, the show never quite got all the elements together in exactly the right way.
There’s tons of great ideas, and some fantastic casting, production design and despite a writing team that included Matt Wakeham, Peter Martin & Jessica Hines (formerly Stevenson co-creator of Spaced along with Simon Pegg), who obviously were trying to create a show influenced by everything from Hong Kong movies, the original Batman TV series from the 1960’s, Spike Jonze music videos and much more, it just doesn’t come together as well as it should.
The pilot was directed by Euros Lynn who has helmed many of the best episodes of the revamped Doctor Who including the award winning Girl in the Fireplace episode and The End of Time, and was produced by Matthew Read. Fight choreography for the pilot was handled by former Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle David Foreman, whose credits include everything from Greystoke, The Last Samurai, Batman Begins and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor where I got to work with him.
Heading up the cast is Korean American actor Eddie Shin who has appeared in everything from Men of a Certain Age, Castle, Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles and much more.
Shin plays the yellow and black track suited (shades of Game of Death) Buddhist martial arts sweetheart Terry Phoo, seconded to the UK from Hong Kong’s quasi mythical mutant busting JKD special task force.
Shin described his character as “Part Bruce Lee, part Jackie Chan, part Edward Scissorhands and part Inspector Clouseau!”
Shin prepared for the movie by training with Jeet Kune Do specialist Tommy Caruthers and Dave Foreman and his team, and was artfully doubled at certain times by British Chinese stuntman Liang yang (Underground/12, The Bodyguard: A New Beginning). “I had no idea what to expect with the Kung Fu & fighting’, admits Shin. ‘I had visions of being asked to do back flips off a rooftop and me blinking through tears, shaking uncontrollably all the while. Thankfully in the end it all worked out fine!’
The yin to Eddie’s yang is Whitey Action, the stepdaughter of Police Chief Benson the living personification of a generation of teenage clubbers; she’s deathly pale, bored to tears and has a bad ass booty to boot!
Jamie Winstone, daughter of the great Ray Winstone plays Whitey.
Winstone whose credits include everything from the controversial Kid Adulthood, Donkey Punch and the “Big Brother with Zombies” thriller Dead Set, described her character as ‘a rebel in search of a cause!’
The unlikely duo form a superhero match made in heaven, Terry may have the spiritual powers and martial arts background, but Whitey’s the kick-ass chosen one with powers that nobody understands, and the ability to wear and control the fabled Buddhist pants of destiny!
What more could you want?
A Jackie Chan obsessed spiritual fighter teaming up with a confused and very angry teenage anarchist running around in powerful hot pants, and if in 2012 there really are little men with basketball heads and huge purple gorilla’s showing off their dance moves, I do feel confident that the world would be a safer place if these two were trying to save the day.
Ms Winstone’s final words on the show, ‘Working on Phoo was really trippy, you’re going to work and there are men running around with basketballs for a head, and seven foot tall purple gorilla’s swinging punches at you…strangely enough you kind of get used to it!’
Rounding out the cast are Whitey’s best friend, Lady Eleanor Rigby played by Tallulah Riley from the Saint Trinian’s movie, and the one and only Carl Weathers aka Apollo Creed and Action Jackson himself! Weathers seems to be enjoying himself as the long suffering Police Chief, who must not only deal with a mutant crime wave, the arrival of Terry Phoo but also his step-daughter’s ongoing teenage rebellion. While Hong Kong legend Richard Ng of My Lucky Stars & Pom Pom fame, makes the most of his cameo as the spiritual and martial arts mentor to Phoo on his quest.
It all sounds so good on paper, but watching the pilot again, while there’s so much promise and potential, it’s just not as fun or as exciting as it should be. The is incredible production design, some great performances, some nice action beats, and Lynn’s direction gets the best out of both Shin & Winstone that hints at just what could have been if the show had gone to full series.
The pilot was listed at Number 13 in John Patterson of The Guardian’s ’50 Must See Shows’, as shooting began and then upon transmission got a very mixed response from the critics with people either loving or hating it.
The Daily Telegraph‘s Michael Deacon hated it, writing – “BBC3 has had a revamp. Judging by Phoo Action, though, the channel remains unwavering in its commitment to diabolical television.” Whereas The Times‘ Andrew Billen loved it ” indecent degree”. Writing in The Independent newspaper on Sunday, 17 February 2008 Hermione Eyre stated the opinion that ‘BBC3 struck gold with Phoo Action, a cult comedy in the making’.
While ratings weren’t as impressive as hoped, with Being Human seeming to get the most positive response from both the critics and viewers, 6 episode seasons were ordered for both Being Human and Phoo Action but in fall 2008 just as production was about to begin on the Phoo Action series, the plug was pulled. This was in marked contrast to the BBC’s statement released 14 February 2008, which read “We really believe in the originality and boldness of Phoo Action,”… “It’s fantastic news that the work of Jamie Hewlett and the rest of the crew will be back on the channel.’
The cost of cancelling the show is reported to have cost the BBC close to 500,000 pounds in contract payments and cancellation fees. Of course when Being Human returned to the screen, it had undergone several changes from the original pilot and has of course gone on to become one of the best received series in recent years, with the 4th season of the BBC version having just ended and the American remake currently in the middle of its 2nd season.
Was Phoo Action perfect?
Certainly not, but there was so much potential with the series that a few changes a la the readjustments made to Being Human between it’s pilot and subsequent series that could have seen the show really breaking new ground as the new cult show.
Hopefully in some other dimension, viewers are able to watch the continuing adventures of Phoo Action, along with further seasons of The Middleman and other shows that never found their audience while on the airwaves.
