BBC show Mammoth and its remarkable likeness to my comic character, 70s Man

[editor]

Mammoth




A new TV BBC series tells the story of how a man in the 1970s undergoes a bizarre skiing accident only to emerge decades later into the modern world.
The comedy emerges from the culture clash of his 1970s attitudes interacting with modern day sensibilities in his job.
The series is set in Cardiff.
The writer is a Cardiff City fan.

70s Man (from Bluebird Jones comic)



70s Man tells the story of how a man in the 1970s undergoes a bizarre gardening accident only to emerge decades later into the modern world.
The comedy emerges from the culture clash of his 1970s attitudes interacting with modern day sensibilities on the football terraces
The series is set in Cardiff.
The writer is a Cardiff City fan.

Background

Around 5,000 copies of the Bluebird Jones comic were sold on the terraces in the 90s and it's been featured in national media more recently, as well as exhibited in Cardiff twice.

“One of the main characters in the fanzines was the '70s Man’. Basically, he had been in a coma since the 70s and woke up in the 90s with the same racist and sexist attitude.

Vintage Cardiff City ‘Bluebird Jones’ comics to be exhibited at Cardiff bar

The comics, which sold in their thousands in the 1990s, will be exhibited at the Andrew Buchan Bar on October 17

www.walesonline.co.uk

Coincidence? Inspiration? Or plagiarism?

 

[Silas Loom]

Transporting a character from the 70s to the 90s must result in jokes and situations that would be very different from a transposition from the 70s to the 20s, though.

 

[editor]

Transporting a character from the 70s to the 90s must result in jokes and situations that would be very different from a transposition from the 70s to the 20s, though.

But the premise is identical and the jokes are very similar. Most of the bad stuff from the 70s (sexism/racism etc) was being frowned on by the 90s anyway - or at least it was in my comic.

 

[Voley]

I saw the ad for that Mammoth thing and thought I'd seen the premise before. It was your thing, I now realise.

An odd one, I agree. Bit more than coincidental but difficult to prove, I expect.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Very difficult to prove as in broad strokes it's not that unusual a premise.
The details do make it look suspicious but again not that impossible to imagine it being a coincidence.

 

[spitfire]

Would raise my eyebrows for sure. One too many coincidences for my liking.

I remember listening to Guy Garvey tell a story about how he used a lyric in a song and years later he was listening to another musician (name escapes me) playing live and realised he had lifted it wholesale from the musician he was listening to. He had no memory of it whatsoever and he sent the other musician a note and a bottle of wine by way of apology. The other musician told him it was fine and he was welcome to use it.

Which was nice.

 

[AverageJoe]

Didn't Austin Powers have the same kind of premise?

 

[emanymton]

Very difficult to prove as in broad strokes it's not that unusual a premise.
The details do make it look suspicious but again not that impossible to imagine it being a coincidence.

Both being in Cardif is the biggest red flag, like you say the basic permise is not that uncommon.

 

[editor]

Both being in Cardif is the biggest red flag, like you say the basic permise is not that uncommon.

I would have put it down to coincidence if the writer wasn't a mad Cardiff City fan, so it's quite likely he would have bought - or at least had heard of - the character from my fanzine.

I'm not remotely thinking of trying to claim any money or anything, but I feel an acknowledgement might have been nice.

 

[emanymton]

I would have put it down to coincidence if the writer wasn't a mad Cardiff City fan, so it's quite likely he would have bought - or at least had heard of - the character from my fanzine.

I'm not remotely thinking of trying to claim any money or anything, but I feel an acknowledgement might have been nice.

I'm probably being too charitable, but maybe the idea stuck in his mind and he can't remember where from now.

 

[editor]

Didn't Austin Powers have the same kind of premise?

It's not quite the same thing really, That also came after my comic, btw, but maybe someone will discover something from the 80s that ran with the same idea.

I came with the character after hearing three wankers at a Cardiff game in 1992/3 coming up with real 70s sexist/racist/homophobic 'bantz' and wanted to find a way to challenge them, hence the comic.

 

[ddraig]

hmm indeed!

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Both being in Cardif is the biggest red flag, like you say the basic permise is not that uncommon.

I dunno. The fact the BBC has a bunch of stuff there means they may be looking for things that can be set there. Doctor who and torchwood are big example

Or at least that seemed the way a while back.
Not keeping up with TV

 

[surreybrowncap]

Interview with Bubbins here - reckons he probably thought of the idea around 10 / 12 years ago...

Interview: Mike Bubbins And Sian Gibson On New Time Travel Sitcom Mammoth

Hey there, it’s Tony Mammoth here; ice-man, legend and all around top bloke. I see you’re reading about my new series, so congratulations on having excellent taste!There’s lots to keep you entertained in this series - like me in proper shorts, me in a nice leather jacket and me driving my Ford...

www.beyondthejoke.co.uk

 

[Chilli.s]

The only way to look at it is that it is flattery of your original idea. It happens all the time in the creative world and is very difficult to prove

 

[planetgeli]

The only way to look at it is that it is flattery of your original idea. It happens all the time in the creative world and is very difficult to prove

This.

In the mid 1990s I wrote to the Guardian with an idea for a new sports column. I called it something like 'armchair sport' and it was intended to follow that weekend's televised sport. They never wrote back.

About 3-6 months later that very concept started to appear in the Guardian written by Martin Kelner, under the name 'screen break' (I think). He knew my brother, so a few years later I got to talk with him. Though he couldn't recall where the idea came from (only that it wasn't his) he freely admitted the Guardian nick ideas like this all the time.

That column lasted 16 years.

 

[Elpenor]

Get the lawyers from the photo agency to write to the BBC

 

[Mumbles274]

I would have put it down to coincidence if the writer wasn't a mad Cardiff City fan, so it's quite likely he would have bought - or at least had heard of - the character from my fanzine.

I'm not remotely thinking of trying to claim any money or anything, but I feel an acknowledgement might have been nice.

Drop him an email then? Say hey, is that based on my idea, if so.. Could you drop me a credit in some way?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

The only way to look at it is that it is flattery of your original idea. It happens all the time in the creative world and is very difficult to prove

Yeah agree. He's very likely nicked the idea. But he's probably changed enough that there aren't specifics that you could prove it with.

 

[scifisam]

I dunno. The fact the BBC has a bunch of stuff there means they may be looking for things that can be set there. Doctor who and torchwood are big example

Or at least that seemed the way a while back.
Not keeping up with TV

I don't think it's the BBC that's committed any plagiarism, it's the writer.

It does seem one coincidence too many, and the fact that he's highly likely to have read the comic means it'd have very good chances if it went to court. Only asking for credit is pretty generous, really.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I don't think it's the BBC that's committed any plagiarism, it's the writer.

It does seem one coincidence too many, and the fact that he's highly likely to have read the comic means it'd have very good chances if it went to court. Only asking for credit is pretty generous, really.

I can think of some problems there, though. He would be able to point to other stories that have had a similar idea. If there aren't specifics, it's going to be hard to prove.

I don't doubt that he did read the comic and did nick the idea from it, btw.

 

[Mumbles274]

Comic looks great BTW editor

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Comic looks great BTW editor

It does. I'm just trying to work out how upset I am about that apostrophe.

 

[editor]

Drop him an email then? Say hey, is that based on my idea, if so.. Could you drop me a credit in some way?

I've done just that.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Be interesting to see if he replies. He might think acknowledging you now could cause him problems later.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Both being in Cardif is the biggest red flag, like you say the basic permise is not that uncommon.

I'd have thought if someone was consciously ripping something off, they'd think to change details like that. It's not like it wouldn't work as well in AN Other City.

 

[editor]

I'd have thought if someone was consciously ripping something off, they'd think to change details like that. It's not like it wouldn't work as well in AN Other City.

The writer' whole schtick is that he's from Cardiff and a Cardiff City fan so it would be odd if he set it anywhere else,

 

[Yossarian]

If you never hear back, maybe the next step could be a message from 70s Man to his character

 

[editor]

Be interesting to see if he replies. He might think acknowledging you now could cause him problems later.

I made it clear I wasn't looking for money:

I'm absolutely not looking to create a fuss or piss on your chips, but it does really seem that you have accidentally or otherwise been inspired by this popular comic strip, so maybe some form of acknowledgement would be appropriate?

 

[Plumdaff]

I vaguely know the writer (Cardiff is a small place), well enough to know he's well into the seventies, to the extent that I'm certain it's all his own clothes in the programme and probably his own car, and he's really into rugby and not football. I highly doubt he was on the terraces when your fanzine was available, even if he potentially could have seen it another way.