Has Liverpool finally vanquished the Scouser?
Twenty years ago, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse created The Scousers. The usual scenario was that three brothers with tightly curled hair and moustaches would parade around in shell suits, flying off the handle at the slightest provocation. Things would be resolved by Ba (Barry), Te (Terry) or Ga (Gary) telling the others to “calm down, calm down.” Joe McGann played one of The Scousers, Ba, for a while. He says the sketch was meant to be a skit on Brookside, but it wasn’t until after he left the programme that he realised it was compounding the Liverpudlian stereotype. There’s no doubt the image of the thieving Scouser has stuck. I’m not a Liverpudlian, but I’ve been working as a reporter for Radio 4 here for two years. When I go back down south, even I get jokes about how people should watch their wallets when I’m around. In a piece for Radio 4’s PM this Friday, I ask whether Liverpool’s year as capital of culture done anything to change the image of the Scouser. Officials in Live
