Through word of mouth, the audience quickly grew to a large number of devotees, including Jools Holland, Jonathan Ross, Charlie Higson, and Paul Whitehouse.

After the crowd expansion led to a change of venue to the Albany Empire theatre in 1988, backstage man Fred Aylward joined as the regular character Les.

With the help of Jonathan Ross' production company Channel X, a pilot was produced in 1989 (available to watch on YouTube) where the three-hour show was cut down to 25 minutes.

The Man with the Stick would come out each week to a fanfare, and then proceed to talk casually with Vic about a number of drawings on his paper helmet.

The helmet "graffiti" would act as a pictorial guide to what he'd been investigating during that week such as "A lamppost which has been disconnected to provide electricity for the Farnborough Air Show" and pop group "Spandau Ballet laughing at an orphan who has fallen off his bike".

The Man with the Stick often mentioned his best friend Terry, who invariably subjected him to some horrible experience or humiliation, much to his blissful unawareness and evident glee.

He reappears in Vic and Bob's Big Night Out, where his helmet is now covered in silver foil because he is living 40 years in the future and has time-travelled back to visit the present day.

Played by Bob in a black curly wig, brown mac and horn-rimmed glasses, Graham Lister is described as an acquaintance and admirer of "doctors, dentists and architects".

He is Vic's arch-rival and sour-lipped foil who each week would enter the "Novelty Island" segment of the show with increasingly pathetic acts.

Lister would eventually win the contest with the 'act' of presenting a 'Refreshing cool jug of orange juice" but still kept returning to feature on the show.

Played by Vic, Mr. Dennis is a jumper-wearing, rather dull but highly strung newsagent and tobacconist, who doesn't stock Curly Wurlys as "they are far too elaborate" but does sell sweet cigarettes and occasionally slips in a real one as a "treat for the children".

He is married to an unseen wife with various intestinal problems, is a fan of the sitcom Fresh Fields and dabbles in being a music promoter, managing several successful indie pop groups.

Played by Bob - wearing Lister's wig inside out - Judge Lionel Nutmeg would preside over "That's Justice", a game which involved a member of the audience being tried for a random and nonsensical crime.

A recurring gag was Nutmeg commenting at the end of the show that Vic was both unfunny and untalented and suggesting he seek alternative employment, much to his distress.

Played by Vic and Bob, the Stotts are redundant, jittery, bickering brothers from Shildon with black insulation tape moustaches, poorly applied bald-wigs, big silly clown shoes and high-pitched voices.

A pair of genial, bearded, anorak-wearing ramblers (Vic and Bob) who tell amusing anecdotes and share their knowledge of the world of rambling with the audience, constantly assuring them that "it's not all walking."

He would, however, suddenly realise that he hadn't thought it through and drop into a guttural Cockney bellow, shouting "my wife's gonna KILL me!!!"

Appearing in series two, Vic and Bob's Swiss counterparts who wear only their underpants, white perms and very large fake chins - complete with the elastic holding them in place.

Each week they would be seen on their own parallel Swiss Night Out pondering over a specific decision (for instance, whether or not to inject ink into a battenberg cake), whilst thoughtfully rubbing their chins.

They put on Sean Connery or Jimmy Hill masks, one wields either talcum powder or a beehive and the other a pair of swimming trunks or a bra, and enact a little dance to some traditional jazz punctuated by the sound of a breeze, to illustrate "a pensioner being attacked by some police officers", etc.

The so-called Acts Of Tomorrow showcase their various ridiculous talents from the centre of a small paddock, complete with a white picket fence with a gate.

After a devilish build-up by Vic, Judge Nutmeg wheels on to the stage in a mobile bench, and Vic hauls a random member of the audience on stage to try them for a set of ridiculous trumped-up charges, such as "staring at a fixed point, causing terrible dryness" or "wringing out a flannel in a branch of Thomas Cook, one of the most respected travel agents on the high street!".

For one memorable week, Judge Nutmeg changed the format of the show and tried for a more liberal approach; the Wheel of Conciliation, where he tried to solve the marital problems of a 'separated' couple from the audience, who, incidentally, had never met before.