British celebrities who aren't so well known west of the Irish Sea

Dr Who

Always strikes me as one of those purely British phenomena (which is fine) , never had even the slightest interest in watching it looks like childish crap.

There was another thread the other day and it was said that only 12% of households rely solely on Saorview.

Norris McWhirter

There's a category of English comedian who wouldn't tend to be as big over here. The late Jethro was one. He was one of those regional British comics who benefited from the late 80s/90s boom in comedy videos. Dont ever recall seeing him on TV, British or Irish

Roy Chubby Brown as well to a lesser extent. When I first became aware of him in the 90s the only people who ever seemed to be into him were UK expats. I saw his film UFO when a Welsh housemate stuck it on the video (its ****, does have one laugh out loud joke involving the C word). The League Of Gentlemen probably helped expose him to a wider audience. Brendan O Carroll must be a big fan as he ripped offloads of his material.

See also Charley Chuck.

The Macc Lads (comedy band)

"I want a doughnut...a cream bun...and a slice of that cake......over there!". (Points)

The Wurzels. Semi Ironic long running Somerset comedy/music act.

Shag Connors & The Carrot Crunchers. Similar kind of thing.

Harry Hill. Not sure how popular he'd be in Ireland. A lot of his act is very niche British stuff.

My mistake. Rectified.

Rugby League players although thats only popular 'up North' so bit like Channel 5 viewers not sure if that counts.

I think that's a rather vague claim... "best loved food writer".

He wouldn't be as famous in the UK as Delia Smith or Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay or Nigella Lawson, just to name a few.

He has or had a Guardian column, so I expect his profile is higher in the UK because of that.

But he would be known of here, by the standards of TV chefs \ food writers. He has had series on BBC which people here would have come across.

His books are in the public library system to borrow and for sale in Irish bookshops.

Hadn't realised that, that C4 show might be gone to TV Heaven now.

The ones I remember are more recent, from the BBC - Simple Suppers & Simple Cooking.

The BBC programmes run on repeat on Food Network also sometimes.

But the comment above got me thinking that some of the columnists from the major UK papers who don't have TV shows wouldn't be so well known here.

Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe, eccentric vicar who used to present a show on Channel 4 called Fortean TV, about the supernatural and weird phenomena, ufos and whatnot. Has written a lot of books on the subjects as well. A lot of the stuff he focuses on os that peculiarly English/British weirdness/folklore. The closest Irish parallel i can think of would be Eddie Linehan.

Pretty well known here.

People like Nick Ferrari and other annoying LBC hosts that cab drivers always seem to have on in London

Simon Jenkins of The Times comes to mind also.

Chris Packam...hosts nature programmes in the UK but probably not well known here

Jasus I've known him since the weally wild show when I was a kid and still watch Springwatch, Autumnwatch, etc. I would have thought he's well known here.

I can definitely remember coming across them on TV in the 1980s but dunno if that was on ITV or RTE.

Before Carry On, Sid James was also in some hit British comedies such as Hancock's Half Hour on TV and radio. I'd be surprised if that was unknown here.

He was also in ITV 1970s sitcom hit Bless This House.

The Carry on films were cinema releases, I assume they had releases in Irish cinemas but perhaps more knowledgeable posters will confirm that :)

BBC radio 1 DJs. We’ve seen a lot of British tv over the years but maybe not so much radio. Chris Moyles for example seemed to be very big over there but I think we were happy enough with our own radio talent. And couldn’t tune it in. Very different now as I mostly listen to radio 4 and Talksport.

Matthew Wright would be a good example of that - hosted a relatively popular semi-current affairs semi-chat show that ran for 18 years on C5. Suspect most people in Ireland wouldn't have a clue who he is. I had to look up his first name as I only remembered the Wright bit - and I have Channel 5 on my TVs.

Been replaced by Jeremy Vine who is a little better known here, if only for Eggheads at least. Which has also moved to C5, though the BBC have repeats.

Just watched a profile about him on channel 5 at the weekend, he was a South African Jew! Bet everyone thought he was a cockney!