The Topp Twins have a bewildering array of characters in their new series. FRANCES GRANT reviews the first show.
D'yae ken Ken, Ken? Och aye, the Kens have multiplied alarmingly since the Topp twins' last screen outing.
It was hard to keep up with the first episode of the new Topp Twins series on TV3 last night, as the pair went on a wild personality-changing fling around some bona fide Kiwi Highland Games.
Salt-of-the-earth farmer Ken Moller and Camp Mother, plus the westie girl and bowling lady, are already quite a handful for virtuoso performer Lynda Topp.
But the arrival of cousin Ken Moller from Scotland had her in a whirl more intricate and energetic than any Highland sword dance.
You almost feared for Topp, spinning from role to role, that she might catch up with herself and, like a particle meeting its anti-particle, self-destruct.
At only one point in the half-hour programme did we get a half-obscured glimpse of the face of her body-double.
The Topps have developed their by now familiar formula in this series, adding more characters and more elaborately structured storylines.
But last night's outing at the games, although highly choreographed, still managed to create an impression of the kind of spontaneity and happy mingling with the crowd at which the twins are so adept.
There were, however, more sight gags on offer, the best of these being Jools' westie marching-girl antics, rolling over the large drum strapped to her chest to retrieve a dropped sausage and trying to navigate, encumbered by such a large instrument, into a portaloo.
The more scripted version also revealed the twins' gift for creating innocuous-sounding lines of double entendre which, when coming from the innocent mouths of either the prudish Camp Mother or the bowling ladies, seem hilariously silly.
Of course, the worst excesses of Scottish culture, transposed to a sunny day in rural New Zealand, provided plenty of fodder for the twins' gentle mickey-taking.
"I told you to take the high road, you had to take the low road and now everybody's here before us," Camp Mother scolded Camp Leader.
Scottish Ken Moller, all bristling red beard and brawn, put on an astonishing display of caber tossing ("I'm a tosser from way back") as well as knicker-revealing Highland dancing in his efforts to woo the gorgeous lady in pink.
And the traditional dishes did not escape: "C'mon, Camp Leader, that haggis won't stuff itself," Camp Mother said.
Add to this a running spoof of the movie Braveheart - who would have guessed the real hero of Scottish independence was a fearsome lady in pink? - and there were more ingredients to savour in this latest Topp Twins' outing than in Camp Mother's 32-different-herbs-and-spices haggis.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from Lifestyle
I’m sober, he’s a drinker, and it’s damaging our relationship
Mismatched drinking habits can cause great frustration. How do you get out of the rut?