'Francie & Josie' was what made Rikki Fulton a household name in Scotland. Rikki teamed up with Jack Milroy in 1960 on Scottish variety show 'The Five Past Eight Show' to form a comedy double act which of course became 'Francie & Josie', a pair of Glaswegian teddy boys. The characters were a hit when they first performed on the variety show, so STV snapped them up and gave them a sitcom - 'The Adventures Of Francie & Josie' - which also featured Glen Michael, Clement Ashby, Milroy's wife Mary Lee and Fulton's then wife Ethel Scott. Scripts were written by Fulton himself in collaboration with Milroy and Stan Mars. Sadly no episodes of 'The Adventures Of Francie & Josie' exist today in the archives, leaving only two recorded live shows now as visual examples.
This first recording took place in 1989 at the King's Theatre in Glasgow, which was then later released by BBC Video and then ported to DVD in 2004.
Francie, played by Jack, was a wire haired wideboy always seen in a sharp red suit and easily the least intelligent of the two. Josie, played by Rikki, was always seen sporting a pale blue suit as well as a slicked hairdo ( with one curl on top standing to attention ) and was the more laid back one, although he had a terrible habit of using words out of context. The two would always greet the audience with ''Hullo there, chinas!'' ( for those who don't understand, 'china' is a Glaswegian term for 'friend' ) and Francie's signature catchphrase was ''Sure Josie, sure Josie, sure sure sure!'', usually said when being asked a question of given a command by Josie.
'Francie & Josie' were much loved and to this day still enjoy a huge following in Scotland and although I never rated them as highly as Rikki's BBC Scotland show 'Scotch & Wry', I still found great pleasure in watching them again after so many years. The humour was laid on thick with bad puns and double entendre but with two more than reliable performers in charge, it could not fail. Rikki once remarked: ''Any comedian can make you laugh at a good joke, but only a true comic can make you laugh at a bad one!''. He was spot on. Take this for example -
FRANCIE: My doctor said I've got water on the brain. What would you do for a thing like that?
JOSIE: You could try a tap on the head!
Written here that doesn't sound particularly funny I know but the way Rikki puts the line across is tremendous. There's no straight man/funny man set up here either. Both are on the same footing and the audience lap them up. One more live recording was made in 1996 - 'Francie & Josie - The Farewell Performance' - which was the better of the two.
Jack Milroy died in 2001, Fulton died three years later. In 2007, Tony Roper along with Gerard Kelly resurrected the characters for their wonderful stage show biopic 'Rikki & Me' ( which I went to see at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh ). To conclude, 'Francie & Josie' was good natured fun, far superior to the rubbish that goes out these days.
This first recording took place in 1989 at the King's Theatre in Glasgow, which was then later released by BBC Video and then ported to DVD in 2004.
Francie, played by Jack, was a wire haired wideboy always seen in a sharp red suit and easily the least intelligent of the two. Josie, played by Rikki, was always seen sporting a pale blue suit as well as a slicked hairdo ( with one curl on top standing to attention ) and was the more laid back one, although he had a terrible habit of using words out of context. The two would always greet the audience with ''Hullo there, chinas!'' ( for those who don't understand, 'china' is a Glaswegian term for 'friend' ) and Francie's signature catchphrase was ''Sure Josie, sure Josie, sure sure sure!'', usually said when being asked a question of given a command by Josie.
'Francie & Josie' were much loved and to this day still enjoy a huge following in Scotland and although I never rated them as highly as Rikki's BBC Scotland show 'Scotch & Wry', I still found great pleasure in watching them again after so many years. The humour was laid on thick with bad puns and double entendre but with two more than reliable performers in charge, it could not fail. Rikki once remarked: ''Any comedian can make you laugh at a good joke, but only a true comic can make you laugh at a bad one!''. He was spot on. Take this for example -
FRANCIE: My doctor said I've got water on the brain. What would you do for a thing like that?
JOSIE: You could try a tap on the head!
Written here that doesn't sound particularly funny I know but the way Rikki puts the line across is tremendous. There's no straight man/funny man set up here either. Both are on the same footing and the audience lap them up. One more live recording was made in 1996 - 'Francie & Josie - The Farewell Performance' - which was the better of the two.
Jack Milroy died in 2001, Fulton died three years later. In 2007, Tony Roper along with Gerard Kelly resurrected the characters for their wonderful stage show biopic 'Rikki & Me' ( which I went to see at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh ). To conclude, 'Francie & Josie' was good natured fun, far superior to the rubbish that goes out these days.
