The Big Impression
Title card from series 1
Also known as	Alistair McGowan's Big Impression
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Alistair McGowan Ronni Ancona
Directed by	Michael Cumming (S.1)
Starring	Alistair McGowan Ronni Ancona
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	31
Production
Executive producer	Jon Plowman
Producer	Charlie Hanson
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Vera Productions
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	2 September 1999 (1999-09-02) – 10 June 2004 (2004-06-10)

The Big Impression, known asAlistair McGowan's Big Impression for the first three series, is a British comedy sketch show. It featuresAlistair McGowan andRonni Ancona impersonating personalities from entertainment and sport. Four series and a number of specials were made by Vera Productions and it was first broadcast onBBC One between 1999 and 2004.

The series has won five awards, including theBAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Programme or Series in 2003.

McGowan and Ancona first met at a comedy club, and later started dating. They worked together on a number of projects, with their first television series beingThe Staggering Stories of Ferdinand de Bargos in 1989. After performing in his own show in Edinburgh in 1998, McGowan was approached by a BBC executive about working on a series, which he wanted Ancona to be involved in.Alistair McGowan's Big Impression first aired as a pilot onBBC One in 1999,^[1] running to a full series in 2000, with the couple splitting up just before filming began. Speaking withThe Independent, Ancona said working on the series was "exciting but it was tricky and there were some very low points. [...] But, if anything, the tension added a little frisson to some of the sketches and it made the show better."^[2]

Starting with the Christmas special in 2002, McGowan's name was dropped from the show's title.

There have been many characters that Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona have impersonated. Some celebrities that McGowan has done impressions of include:

Some celebrities that Ancona has done impressions of include:

A pilot and four series of the programme were made between 1999 and 2003.

There have also been a number of one-off specials, including:

• Alistair McGowan's 2000 Impressions (30 December 2000)
• Alistair McGowan's Big 'Enders (10 August 2001)
• The Big Impression Christmas Special (25 December 2001)
• Alistair McGowan's Big World Cup (31 May 2002)
• Alistair McGowan's Big Jubilee (2 June 2002)
• The Big Impression Christmas Special (25 December 2002)
• Posh & Becks' Big Impression (25 December 2003)
• The Big Impression Euro 2004 Special (10 June 2004)

The series has been nominated for a number of awards, winning one fromBAFTA, two from theRoyal Television Society, and twoBritish Comedy Awards.

• Alistair McGowan's Big Impression atBBC Online Comedy Guide
• Alistair McGowan's Big Impression at BBC Online
• The Big Impression at BBC Online
• The Big Impression atIMDb

• 1999 British television series debuts
• 2004 British television series endings
• 1990s British television sketch shows
• 2000s British television sketch shows
• 1990s British comedy television series
• 2000s British comedy television series
• BBC television comedy
• BBC television sketch shows
• British English-language television shows

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from May 2023