Mammoth: Tony Mammoth starts a rivalry...with a dead man

If you missed last week’s opening episode, Mammoth stars Mike Bubbins as Tony Mammoth, a middle-aged PE teacher who was living the high life until he was caught up in an avalanche on a school ski trip in 1979. He was assumed to have died, but it turns out he was merely frozen – and now he’s all thawed out and ready to pick up where he left off. He’s got the same car and the same job, but is 2024 really ready for him?

Bubbins hopes audiences will take to his creation, who he describes as: “a man’s man and a woman’s man, all rolled into one, or at least he thinks he is.

“He is a 45-year-old man who never grew up, and a 90-year-old man that never got old. He rarely thinks things through, he acts first.

“He loves his friends and family, almost as much as he loves Tony Mammoth. He is loving getting a second chance at life, even though he’s pretty sure he absolutely nailed it the first time around.”

It seems the comedian and writer didn’t have to look too far for inspiration for the character. “I grew up in the late 70s and 1980s. I knew quite a few people not troubled by self-doubt, very much including my dad. Also, TV seemed to be full of larger-than-life characters.”

And there may be a little bit of himself in Mammoth too. He says: “I taught PE for six years. I drew quite a bit on that experience. The school we filmed the Mammoth pilot in was the school I was teaching in before moving into comedy.”

Bubbins adds: “Most of Mammoth’s wardrobe was from my wardrobe, and the stuff that wasn’t is now being ‘stored’ there. Mammoth also drives my car.”

The actor definitely has a soft spot for all things 1970s and 1980s, so it’s fitting that Mammoth is also getting a theme tune that fits into that tradition.

Bubbins explains: “I interviewed the king of theme tunes, Mike Post, for a BBC Wales radio show I did, and we just hit it off. He told me to get in touch if the TV show I was writing (Mammoth) ever got commissioned.

“So I did, and now the Mammoth theme is the latest in a long list of Mike Post themes that includes; the A-Team, The Rockford Files, Quantum Leap, Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, LA Law, and Magnum PI.”

In this second episode, Mammoth is still reeling from last week’s bombshell regarding Mel (Sian Gibson) and is keen to make up for lost time, but ends up in a fight.

Meanwhile, his boss Lucy (Mali Ann Rees) has problems of her own as some of the locals are a bit too keen to assist with her fertility treatment.