Come Fly with Me is a British mockumentary television comedy series created by and starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams. Narrated by Lindsay Duncan, the series launched on 25 December 2010 on BBC One. A spoof of British documentaries Airport and Airline, the series follows the activity at a major airport and three fictional airlines; British airline 'FlyLo' (a parody of low-cost budget airlines such as Ryanair or Easyjet), Irish airline 'Our Lady Air' (a parody of Aer Lingus), and flag-carrying British airline 'Great British Air' (a parody of British Airways).
Lucas and Walliams portray many of the focal airline and airport staff, as well as some passengers, whose comments and experiences are featured in one or more of the series episodes in the style of a "fly on the wall documentary".
Production In June 2010, it was announced that Little Britain stars Lucas and Walliams had reunited to star in a new comedy series set in an airport, a spoof of British documentaries Airport and Airline. Filming for Come Fly with Me began in early August, with the duo spending two weeks at Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield. A further three weeks were spent shooting at London Stansted Airport, with scenes also being filmed at Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Pinewood Studios. A "making of" documentary titled Come Fly on the Wall aired on BBC One on 8 February 2011. On 28 January 2011, BBC announced it had commissioned a second series. Two years later in early January 2013, Walliams confirmed that a second series would not air, after Lucas refused to make a second series and the show was cancelled indefinitely.
Airlines FlyLo is a low-cost, no frills airline owned by Omar Baba. Providing service across Europe and selected destinations across the Atlantic and South East Asia, it uses many hidden charges and unorthodox schemes in order to cut costs. These include £1 flights to New York City with a £480 booking fee, upright flatbeds in economy class, and a very small hand baggage allowance. FlyLo also offers budget package holidays that do not go down very well with its passengers. Our Lady Air, "the Catholic airline", is an Irish low-cost airline, providing routes across Europe. It saves money by flying to airports further away from the actual city centre, such as landing a flight to Barcelona in Ireland, with an included c.2300km "short coach transfer". Great British Air (callsign: Swift bird) is a major British flag carrier airline, providing a high class service around the world from the United Kingdom. The airline is renowned for having the finest first-class service in the world, with champagne and chocolates on boarding, and well-cooked meals on long haul flights. On short-haul flights, both first and economy class passengers are given a small glass of fresh orange juice and a complimentary browse of The Daily Mail.
Characters Main characters Omar Baba (Walliams) – The double-chinned, flamboyantly asinine Arab owner of low-cost airline FlyLo. Baba is a parody of the Greek-Cypriot "low-cost flying" entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou (the founder of easyJet)."Come Fly With Me: fasten your seatbelts" The Daily Telegraph, 20 December 2010 Walliams cocks a blatant snook at easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou through his flamboyantly asinine, money-raking turn as low-budget airline boss Omar Baba of FlyLo. Precious Little (Lucas) – A Jamaican woman in her 50s who professes to be a devout Christian, she is the manager of the airport's coffee kiosk. Precious deliberately causes problems that force the closure of the kiosk, allowing her to take the day off. Her main catchphrase is shouting "Praise the Lord!" Moses Beacon (Walliams) – The gushing, effeminate executive passenger liaison officer for Great British Air. Moses also runs a charity called WishWings which supposedly funds holidays for sick children, but usually involves Moses simply using the money to enjoy the local gay nightlife, leaving the child in the hotel or even at home. His catchphrase is "if you'll pardon the pun" when he seems not to have made a pun. Ian Foot (Walliams) – The pompous, racist, and bigoted chief immigration officer who often comes up with ridiculous reasons not to allow a foreign person into the country, which includes people such as the Polish ambassador to the United Kingdom."Come Fly With Me: fasten your seatbelts" The Daily Telegraph, 20 December 2010 Ironically, he is initially shown to be allowing an elderly man into the UK on a little girl's passport that has clearly been stolen, thus illustrating his hypocritical incompetence. Tommy Reid (Lucas) – A young, obtuse Scottish man working at Happy Burger, one of the airport's fast-food eateries. He hopes to work his way up to becoming a pilot, unaware that the two jobs are completely unrelated. His dream would later amount to nil after an interview at a flying school, in which he reveals he has no qualifications, no hobbies whatsoever, and can't read. Taaj Manzoor (Lucas) – Taaj is a young British-Pakistani man who works as part of the roving ground crew for FlyLo. He sports a shaved head and a chin curtain beard, and is something of a film buff. Melody Baines (Walliams) and Keeley St Clair (Lucas) – Two snarky check-in girls for FlyLo who hail from Liverpool. Later on in the series, the girls fight for the position of check-in manager and it is later revealed that Keeley got the job, only to lose it when Omar replaces his whole staff with children to cut costs. Mickey Minchin (Lucas) and Buster Bell (Walliams) – Two shady paparazzi who haunt the airport's hallways, constantly messing up in their photo-shooting activities. Fearghal O'Farrell (Lucas) – A gay steward for Irish airline Our Lady Air, who leads a destructive campaign in order to become Employee of the Year. Ben Roberts (Walliams) and James Stewart (Lucas) – Two British airport customs officers, with rather extreme methods of cataloguing the illegal substances they find, such as sampling drugs. Simon (Lucas) and Jackie Trent (Walliams) – A husband and wife pilot team, flying for Great British Air. Jackie constantly brings up the fact that Simon committed adultery with a stewardess, which is the reason they now fly together as Jackie does not trust him to work alone. Peter (Lucas) and Judith Surname (Walliams) – Married holidaymakers who have suffered several horrific and surreal trips abroad after buying destination packages from FlyLo, dubbing them "The holiday from Hell". Peter is forced to take a subordinate stance to Judith's overbearing, bossy personality and is usually silenced by her. They have had many unfortunate events on their travels, such as a cruise where they contract a disease and then have pirates attack the ship, surviving a plane crash in Peru and having to eat Peter's leg to survive, a holiday to Cyprus to a hotel that hasn't been built yet, and visiting a small African island where they are kidnapped by a local tribe. Despite the traumatic nature of these experiences, they usually relate the stories in a calm, deadpan tone, as if they were a collection of minor inconveniences. In the final episode, Peter leaves Judith and returns to his last destination, where he was hypnotised into having sex with an entire tribe of women. Penny Carter (Walliams) – A very elitist first-class stewardess for Great British Air's long haul flights who despises people who have first class tickets but are not upper-class. John (Lucas) and Terry (Walliams) – Father-and-son baggage handlers who steal from passengers' luggage and are generally less than careful with it. Their names are a reference to controversial footballer John Terry. Helen Baker (Sally Rogers) – The check-in staff manager for FlyLo who later goes on maternity leave. Lisa (Pippa Bennett-Warner) – Check-in staff for FlyLo. She receives several complaints from regular FlyLo passengers, Peter and Judith.
Additional characters Hetty Wolf (Lucas) – A 92-year-old German passenger who pretends to be on her first flight, scamming Moses Beacon into buying her a number of luxury products, including an Yves Saint Laurent scarf and an iPad, and getting her a seat in first class, before revealing she has flown many times before. Sue (Lucas) and Geoff Stott (Walliams) – A couple who are flying to Disneyland to get married. Asuka and Nanako (Walliams & Lucas) – Two Japanese girls who have flown to the airport to see their idol, Martin Clunes. Geri Halliwell (herself) – whose photo resident paparazzi Mickey and Buster are waiting to take as she disembarks a plane, only to miss the shot as they're too busy comparing the virtues of each of the Spice Girls to camera. Mrs. Mbutu (Ellen Thomas) – Liberian passenger whom Ian accuses of making up her country. Ashley (Walliams) – The supervisor who is there to help Tommy serve his first customer at Happy Burger. Lee Lodge (Walliams) – Trainee steward for Our Lady Air. He has a girlfriend and is heterosexual, but has homosexual intercourse with Fearghal whilst drunk, in a hotel in Dublin. Captain Stirrick (Ted Robbins) – A drunk airline pilot who causes a commotion. David Schwimmer (himself) – Stopped by customs whilst trying to smuggle transsexual porn DVDs into the UK, which he blames on his Friends co-stars Matt LeBlanc and Jennifer Aniston. Mr Akhmed (Stewart Scudamore) – A Muslim passenger that orders the halal meal option on the flight to Rome, but instead was given the kosher meal (intended for a Jewish passenger) by Fearghal, who insists "It's all the same isn't it?". . Trainee (Joe Cole) – Taking a customer's order under the supervision of Tommy Reid at Happy Burger Rupert Grint (himself) – Taaj gives Rupert his script for Future Cop 2000 when meeting him whilst he disembarked the plane from Los Angeles. Taaj asks Grint to pass it on to Daniel Radcliffe. . The Woods Family – A family who turn up for their flight a week early. They stay at the airport for a week and find activities to fill the time, then end up missing their flight. Kenneth (Lucas) – A border-patrol worker who instantly recognises Ian Foot in disguise. Barbara Windsor (herself) – Moses is asked to escort Barbara to her departure gate, but actually wants her to help him get a knighthood or an OBE. In the guise of an autograph, he even gives her an insulting letter to sign addressed to the Queen. Windsor is offended after reading the letter and she tells Moses to "piss off." Steve Downes (Lucas) – A police dog handler whose previous canine companions have mostly ended up in rehab. His current drug sniffer dog is called Bobo. George Spires (Lucas) – A Welsh toilet cleaner who is a fan of opera singing and sings to the people who come in. Colin (Walliams) and Gavin (Lucas) – Battle re-enactors who are not allowed to take swords to a re-enactment of the Battle of Agincourt; Colin later says he has killed only three people in the trade. 'Mr Nuts' (Alex MacQueen) – A passenger of Our Lady Air who suffers from a nut allergy. Fearghal appears to save him from dying, but Fearghal had actually induced the reaction himself by discreetly dropping a handful of hot nuts into his mouth on his way past in order to appear heroic, boosting his chances to receive the Steward of the Year award. Corinne Oliver (Walliams) – The airport's officer of special needs. She is disabled herself and is pushed around by her helper, Bob (Lucas). Flying School Instructor (Walliams) – Employee for the BAC who interviews Tommy Reid for the chance to become a pilot. Ray (Walliams) and Anne Wilkins (Lucas) – Owners of the airport pub. They are known to chase departing customers through the airport in a bid for someone to stay "more than twelve minutes". Mary O'Mara (Aisling Bea) – Air stewardess for Irish airline Our Lady Air, who wins the Steward of the Year title in a draw with Fearghal O'Farrell. Dale Winton (himself) – The host of Our Lady Air's annual Steward of the Year competition.