It was 2010. Matt Lucas and David Walliams were the undisputed kings of British sketch comedy, fresh off the massive, cultural-reset success of Little Britain. They decided to trade the village greens and council estates for the chaotic terminals of a fictional airport. That’s how we got the six Come Fly With Me episodes that aired on BBC One. If you watch them now, it feels like a time capsule from a completely different era of television. Seriously. The humor is abrasive, the characterizations are extreme, and the sheer amount of prosthetic makeup used probably kept a small factory in business for a year.
The show was structured as a "mockumentary," spoofing popular fly-on-the-wall series like Airport or Airline. It followed the staff and passengers of three airlines: FlyLo (a low-cost carrier run by the unscrupulous Omar Baba), Our Lady Air (an Irish budget airline), and Great British Air. It’s biting. It’s fast. It’s often very, very uncomfortable.
The Chaos of the Six Come Fly With Me Episodes
Most people forget there were only six episodes in the original run. Because the characters were so vivid—and often repetitive in their catchphrases—it feels like the show ran for years. But no. Just six half-hour installments.
In the first episode, we meet Precious Little, a coffee kiosk worker who constantly finds excuses to close her stall ("Praise the Lord!"). We also get introduced to Ian Foot, the borderline xenophobic Chief Immigration Officer who couldn't find a reason to let anyone into the country if his life depended on it. The show didn't lean into subtlety. It went for the jugular of British bureaucracy and the misery of modern air travel.
The second and third episodes started to flesh out the "storylines," if you can call them that. You have Taaj Manzoor, the roaming ground crew member who dreams of being a movie director, and Fearghal, the flamboyant flight attendant for Our Lady Air who is desperately trying to win "Steward of the Year." By the time you get to the midpoint of the series, the rhythm of the show is established: a dizzying rotation of Lucas and Walliams in various states of dress-up, poking fun at every possible stereotype they could find.
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Why the BBC Pulled the Series
You can't really talk about Come Fly With Me episodes today without mentioning the controversy. In 2020, amidst a global conversation about racial representation and the use of blackface in comedy, the BBC and Netflix scrubbed the show from their libraries. Lucas and Walliams had played characters of various ethnicities, using heavy makeup and accents that many viewers—both then and certainly now—found offensive.
It’s a complicated legacy. On one hand, the show was a massive hit, drawing over 10 million viewers for its Christmas Day premiere. On the other, it represents a style of "punching down" comedy that has largely fallen out of favor. Lucas himself has since expressed regret over some of the character choices, noting that if he were to do it again, he wouldn't play characters of different races. That’s a huge shift in perspective from the "anything goes" attitude of the late 2000s.
Breaking Down the Fan Favorites
Despite the controversy, certain characters from the Come Fly With Me episodes became instant memes before memes were even a thing.
- Moses Beacon: The Executive Passenger Liaison Officer for Great British Air. He was always "helping" passengers with the most ridiculous, unhelpful solutions, usually involving a charity he'd started.
- Melody and Keeley: The check-in girls for FlyLo. Their constant bickering over who was the "manager" or who got to date the guy from the car park was a pitch-perfect parody of workplace passive-aggression.
- Penny Carter: The first-class stewardess who absolutely loathed anyone in economy. She treated the "scum" in the back of the plane with a level of disdain that was genuinely hilarious in its extremity.
The writing was sharpest when it focused on the mundanity of airport life. The lost luggage, the overpriced sandwiches, the soul-crushing boredom of a delayed flight to Mallorca. That’s where the show really connected with the British public. Everyone has met a Penny Carter or been ignored by a Precious Little.
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The Production Nightmare
Think about the logistics. Lucas and Walliams weren't just acting; they were undergoing four to six hours of makeup for each character. The show featured over 40 different characters played by just two men. That’s insane. They filmed at Stansted Airport, often during actual operating hours, which added a layer of realism to the background noise and the weary faces of real travelers who were probably wondering why a man in a wig was screaming about a stolen passport.
The directing was handled by Paul King. If that name sounds familiar, it should. He went on to direct Paddington and Wonka. You can actually see some of his visual flair in the way the airport is framed—it’s bright, sterile, and slightly surreal. He managed to make a low-budget mockumentary look like a high-end cinematic production, which only made the absurdity of the characters stand out more.
The Cancelled Second Season
There was supposed to be more. A second season was actually commissioned by the BBC. Scripts were being developed. Plans were in motion to expand the "FlyLo" universe. But then... nothing.
Walliams and Lucas moved on to other projects. There were rumors of a fallout between the two, though they’ve since reunited for various projects and seem to be on good terms. The real reason the second season of Come Fly With Me episodes never happened likely came down to a mix of scheduling conflicts and a creeping realization that the humor was becoming a lightning rod for criticism. The BBC eventually confirmed in 2013 that the show would not be returning. It remains a one-hit wonder of the comedy world, for better or worse.
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Watching It Today
If you’re trying to track down these episodes now, it’s a bit of a treasure hunt. Since they were pulled from major streaming platforms, you’re mostly looking at physical DVD copies or the darker corners of the internet. It’s a strange experience watching it in the 2020s. Some of the jokes land with a thud, feeling dated and mean-spirited. Others are still brilliantly observed satires of corporate greed and human incompetence.
It’s an artifact. Like Little Britain before it, Come Fly With Me pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on mainstream TV until those boundaries eventually pushed back. It’s a masterclass in character acting and prosthetic work, but it’s also a reminder of how quickly the "line" in comedy moves.
What We Can Learn From the FlyLo Legacy
Honestly, the show is a case study in "maximalist" comedy. It didn't do "quiet." It didn't do "subtle." It took every trope about travel and turned the volume up to eleven. While we might cringe at certain portrayals now, the show's observation of the system of travel remains pretty accurate. The way airlines treat us like cattle? Still true. The way airport staff are often just as miserable as the passengers? Definitely still true.
If you’re a student of comedy or just someone who remembers the 2010 TV landscape, the Come Fly With Me episodes are worth a retrospective look—if you can find them. They represent the peak and the eventual decline of the "transformative" sketch era where two actors tried to be the whole world.
Next Steps for the Curious Viewer
To truly understand the impact and the downfall of this era of comedy, you should look into the specific interviews Matt Lucas gave around 2017-2018 regarding his past work. He offers a very grounded, thoughtful critique of his own career that explains why shows like Come Fly With Me shifted from being "edgy" to being "unbroadcastable." Additionally, comparing the cinematography of this series to Paul King's later work in Paddington provides a fascinating look at how a director's style evolves from biting satire to heartfelt whimsy. Finally, checking out the original Airport (1996) documentary series on YouTube will show you exactly where the inspiration for characters like Fearghal and Moses came from, revealing just how little Lucas and Walliams actually had to exaggerate for some of their roles.