Cult comedy animation series The Bruvs, featuring violent, baseball bat-wielding villains Doug and Den Bruv, is continuing to make its mark with an ever-growing worldwide fan base – which includes ever more household names.
You might not have heard of it yet…but its army of fans include many names you will know all too well. Those to have shown support for The Bruvs in different ways include Top Gear and Grand Tour host Jeremy Clarkson, Westworld’s Thandie Newton, Gavin Rossdale, Dancing with The Stars’ Bruno Tonioli and many UK celebrities.
This October The Bruvs will be returning once again in an all new horror themed Halloween Special which makes the most of the season’s legalised “demanding stuff with menaces” spirit.
The Bruvs have adapted Trick or Treat to Brick or Treat.
You can see the first trailer which has now been released below.
TV writer and producer Ian Brown thought up The Bruvs nearly a decade ago. He teamed with award winning animation director Eoin Clarke to bring the characters to life. But back then production companies and broadcasters in the UK struggled to share the duo’s enthusiasm for the project.
Four years ago, the pair decided to go it alone – and launched the series online, with the help of video editor Paul Richmond, to a dedicated YouTube channel as well as website: TheBruvs.com. Their hope eventually is to emulate U.S. animation juggernauts like South Park, Family Guy or Bojack Horseman – and develop the shorts into more a sitcom format.
They’ve already changed the opinion of one broadcaster. Last year the UKTV channel Dave snapped up 10 episodes. The films have been shown late night becoming the channel’s first animations and they are now the first and only animations and short forms on their On-Demand service UKTV play.
These have been singled out as On Demand “Pick of The Day” twice in the prestigious Sunday Times newspaper.
Featuring London villain brothers Doug and Den Bruv, the series follows their misadventures as they try to go straight and keep their noses clean in a new home in Essex. While they try to be good and embrace culture, queuing, cargo shorts and frothy coffees, the brothers generally end up in trouble – often violence, mainly between themselves…proving blood really is thicker.
Other characters include the brothers’ old dad, West Essex Girl Chanterelle, their sister Janice and her son Jason.
Appropriately for a comedy set in Essex, North East of London, one of the more ambitious films – Talking With Dinosaurs – won the Best Animation prize at the 2017 inaugural Romford Film Festival.
After coming up with the concept, Ian Brown – whose other TV credits include worldwide motoring show phenomenon Top Gear, as well as numerous entertainment and comedy series in the UK – approached animation director Eoin Clarke to design the characters. Eoin’s other credits include award-winning shorts, storyboarding for the legendary Ray Harryhausen, international movies and commercials.
“We started small,” says Ian. “Mainly for budget reasons. In that we barely have one. It was a sort of experiment to launch on Youtube. But people liked what they saw. So we have kept at it. Now we have a growing fan base with support all over the world. Die-hard fans quote back lines and scenes.
“The celebrity support is amazing. It is unsolicited. But we’ve had great comments and support on social media. And quite a few big names follow our sites too.”
The aim is to keep developing the characters with each episode and allow them to grow, turning the project into more of an animation sitcom series. Several episodes are longer these days.
The films have also had a positive response on the Newgrounds site.
Says Ian: “We’re not comparing ourselves to the US animated shows yet. But we are very encouraged by reactions to The Bruvs so far. It is all very exciting.”
Meanwhile, new episodes continue to be posted exclusively at TheBruvs.com and on the YouTube channel. Nearly 40 films are now available to view – with more coming all the time.
And now The Bruvs have branched out into Podcasting. Short comedy sketches – in the style of past radio shows like The Goons and Round The Horne – are available on TheBruvs’ soundcloud site, along with a selection of their original songs and music composed by their in-house musicians Stig Winslet and Pete Harbour.
Meanwhile, topical jokes, news and behind the scenes exclusives are posted on all TheBruvs’ social media sites.
Making The Bruvs is a dream come true for Ian. While working on a This Is Your Life tribute show for Simon Cowell, he was asked to write a script for a specially animated message from Homer Simpson.
“The guys at The Simpsons liked what I wrote and used my script. That was a real thrill. I’ve always loved animation – but never worked in that field. It made me even more determined to make TheBruvs happen,” says Ian.
Previously, Ian had worked with Jeremy Clarkson for 20 years on his solo dvd projects as well as more recent Top Gear projects. He has also written or produced for the likes of Homer Simpson, Martin Scorsese, Sharon Stone, Jason Statham, Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan, Harrison Ford, Simon Cowell, Jamie Oliver, George Michael, Richard Attenborough, Gordon Ramsay, Youtubers Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee and many more.
Eoin’s work has won awards round the world. He was formerly animator in residence at the Museum of the Moving Image in London.
The Bruvs Credits
Writer : Ian Brown
Director : Eoin Clarke
Sound : Paul Richmond
Music : Stig Winslet, Pete Harbour
You can find out more about The Bruvs on the website: www.TheBruvs.com and the following social media pages Twitter – Facebook – Instagram
You can also watch episodes of The Bruv on YouTube and listen to them on Sound Cloud.
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
