Copy Cats (TV series)

Lore & Background

It was a revival of the quickfire sketch format of 1970s show Who Do You Do? and featured Aiden J. Harvey and Johnny More who were stars of the earlier show. The concept was first incarnated as 'Go For It' in 1984, with the series being repackaged as Copy Cats in 1985.

Reader's Guide

Go For It (1984): Les Dennis, Dustin Gee, Bobby Davro, Johnny More, Aiden J. Harvey (as A J Harvey), Allan Stewart, Ann Byrne, Russel Lane, Alasdair MacMillan. Series 1: Bobby Davro, Aiden J. Harvey (as A J Harvey), Jessica Martin, Andrew O'Connor, Dave Evans, Allan Stewart, Gary Wilmot, Johnny More. Series 2: Hilary O'Neil, Bobby Davro, Aiden J. Harvey, Cheryl Taylor, Andrew O'Connor, Mike Osman, Allan Stewart. Series 3: Aiden J. Harvey, Andrew O'Connor, Mike Osman, Allan Stewart, Hilary O'Neil, Pauline Hannah, Mark Walker. Series overview: Go For It: 26 May - 30 June 1984: 6 episodes. Series 1: 30 November 1985 - 18 January 1986: 8 episodes. Series 2: 30 August - 4 October 1986: 6 episodes. Series 3: 31 October - 5 December 1987: 6 episodes.

Origins & Format Revival

The quickfire sketch comedy tradition in British television found a second life in the mid-1980s through a programme that deliberately looked backward to reinvigorate a format from the previous decade. Copy Cats, a comedy impressions sketch show, was conceived as a direct revival of the energy and structure that defined Who Do You Do? in the 1970s. The two performers most associated with that earlier landmark, Aiden J. Harvey and Johnny More, were brought back to anchor the new production, lending it an immediate sense of continuity with the golden age of British sketch television. The concept did not arrive fully formed under its eventual title. It first took shape in 1984 under the working name Go For It, a six-episode pilot run that tested the waters for the repackaged format. After that initial foray proved viable, the material was rebranded and relaunched as Copy Cats in November 1985, giving the series a sharper, more memorable identity that would carry it through three full seasons on ITV.

The Rotating Ensemble

One of the defining characteristics of Copy Cats was its fluid, ever-shifting ensemble of performers. While the 1984 Go For It pilot assembled a large group of nine cast members—including Les Dennis, Dustin Gee, Bobby Davro, Johnny More, Aiden J. Harvey (credited as A J Harvey), Allan Stewart, Ann Byrne, Russel Lane, and Alasdair MacMillan—the subsequent series trimmed the roster and rotated names in and out with each new season. Series 1 retained Davro, Harvey, and Stewart while introducing Jessica Martin, Andrew O'Connor, Dave Evans, Gary Wilmot, and More. By Series 2, the lineup had shifted again, welcoming Hilary O'Neil, Cheryl Taylor, and Mike Osman while dropping several earlier cast members. Series 3 saw further turnover, with Pauline Hannah and Mark Walker joining the core group. Despite the churn, Harvey and Stewart remained constant fixtures across all four instalments, providing a stable thread through the changing faces of the show.

Broadcast Timeline & Production

Copy Cats was produced by LWT for the ITV network, and its broadcast history spans a period of over three years across four distinct runs. The earliest iteration, Go For It, aired six episodes between 26 May and 30 June 1984, serving as the proving ground for the concept. After a gap of roughly eighteen months, the repackaged series returned as Copy Cats Series 1, which ran from 30 November 1985 through 18 January 1986 and delivered eight episodes—the longest single run in the franchise. Series 2 followed in the summer of 1986, broadcasting six episodes from 30 August to 4 October. The final chapter, Series 3, stretched from 31 October 1987 to 5 December 1987, again comprising six episodes. In total, the franchise delivered twenty-six episodes across its full lifespan, with the Copy Cats-branded seasons accounting for twenty of those. The staggered scheduling, with gaps between seasons, reflected the sketch format's episodic, low-commitment production model.

The Harvey-More Thread & Legacy

At the heart of Copy Cats lay a deliberate act of television nostalgia. The programme was explicitly framed as a revival of the quickfire sketch format that had made Who Do You Do? a cultural touchstone in the 1970s, and the decision to cast Aiden J. Harvey and Johnny More—both of whom had been stars of that earlier show—was the clearest signal of that intent. Their presence in the 1984 Go For It pilot and in Series 1 of Copy Cats connected the new production directly to the old, offering audiences a tangible link to a beloved era of British comedy. Harvey, in particular, became the show's most enduring figure, appearing in every single instalment from the pilot through the final episode of Series 3 in December 1987. This continuity, combined with the format's roots in a well-known predecessor, gave Copy Cats a sense of lineage and purpose that set it apart from the wave of new sketch shows emerging in the mid-1980s.

Gallery