A group of lads on a stag do have gone viral for their ‘spot on’ take on the cast of Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights.
Dressed up as everyone from Brian Potter and Jerry 'St Clair' to Ray Von and Young Kenny, the gang were all represented on the Stag do in Lancaster. Held to mark groom Aaron Zaccarini’s upcoming wedding, pictures from the event have gone viral online - with even Paddy McGuinness himself commenting on how good the outfits are.
Pal Lee Norman, from Barrow-in-furness, said the decision to recreate the characters from the popular Bolton -set sitcom came about as they all still watch the show regularly. “We’re all big fans of the show,” Lee said. “We just thought it was something creative that we could all get involved in. Best man Ryan Zaccarini helped arrange it all.
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“We all used a character generator online to decide which character we got, except for Aaron who was always going to be Brian Potter. There was no doubt about it, he had to be Brian.
“I ended up with Spencer, so it basically just involved me getting a pair of glasses and getting my hair really greasy - it was a pretty easy outfit for me.
Lee said the stag do, which was held on Saturday (April 23), began at 9am as the lads, all from Barrow-in-furness, met up at the train station before heading into Lancaster for the day session.
“It was crazy seeing everyone’s outfits for the first time,” Lee said. “I honestly didn’t think people would make as much of an effort as we all did. It was great, some of the outfits were just absolutely spot on.
“We’re going to Marbella for his wedding next month and not everyone can make it so we chose to go out in Lancaster because it's somewhere local to us that everyone could come to.”
Throughout the day, Lee said the gang, who mostly work at a shipyard and know each other from going out drinking together, were popular everywhere they went with people asking for photos. “It was a great day,” he adds. “It was such a laugh, Everyone seemed to recognise who we were trying to be - everyone kept taking photos of us. It was so much fun.”
Sharing a picture of the group on Twitter on Sunday, alongside the caption ‘Phoenix nights stag do yesterday has finished me off’, Lee’s tweet instantly went viral. It now has close to 20,000 likes and nearly 2,000 retweets. But it’s the celebrity endorsements that have since come in that Lee is most pleased with.
“Twitter has gone absolutely mental,” he remarks. “I just thought I’d post it on there and that’d be it. I went to make a drink and when I came back, my notifications were going absolutely crazy.
“Everyone seems to love it, which is great. A few of the cast have commented too saying how good it is. We were all absolutely buzzing when Paddy McGuinness tweeted about it.
“Aaron is absolutely loving his five minutes of fame right now! We just need Peter Kay to see it now and then we’ve got a full house.”
Tweeting the picture, Paddy, who played bouncer Patrick O'Shea, wrote: “Belting! Hope you had a good do lads and it’s nice to see Bruno Fernandes next to Kenny Senior.” Steve Edge, who played Alan, joked: “Still trying to work out which one’s me.”
Other fans of the show were quick to applaud the stag do for their effort too. “Can't. Stop. Looking,” one tweeter posted. Another said: “Absolutely outstanding effort!!”
“What an effort!," another quipped, while another said: "Without doubt, the best thing I will see on Twitter today." Meanwhile, one keen fan took the ideal opportunity to remind everyone of Jerry’s iconic Asda jingle by tweeting: "Come get your black bin bags!"
Of course, some eagle-eyed tweeters also couldn't help but spot the beer board featured in shot too, showing a pint of Stella Artois on offer for £2. "I’m sorry but that is deal of the century on that board," one person said. Another added: "The bigger story here is the £2 pint of Stella all day."
“We’ve had such a great response from people,” adds Lee. “We’re going to have to make just as much of a splash with the next stag do. We’re thinking of dressing up as wrestlers nxt time just because we enjoyed this so much!”
