The Characters in "Vicious"
Freddie Thornhill
Played By: Ian McKellen
The partner of fifty years of Stuart Bixby, Freddie is an actor whose career has never really taken off. He views Stuart as his wife, letting Stuart wait on him, but is always quick to defend Stuart whenever someone upsets him.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: He may often be the initiator of their arguments, and has even made Stuart cry, but there are a few occasions where Freddie shows he really does love Stuart.
- When he expects Stuart's mother to disrespect their relationship, he tells her that he is proud of Stuart, and that he loves him. It turns out that Mrs Bixby isn't bothered but the amount he cares is lovely to see.
- And when Stuart cries about his mother's death he hugs, kisses and reassures his partner.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Freddie enjoys insulting Stuart just a little too much.
- Deadpan Snarker: Him and Stuart both.
- Large Ham: He is an actor, after all, so what do you expect?
- When playing a character, he can become a ham-within-a-ham. An example is when he plays the butler in series 2 episode 1:Freddie: You see, I never came from much, my mother died when I was six...
- When playing a character, he can become a ham-within-a-ham. An example is when he plays the butler in series 2 episode 1:
- Playing a Tree: Most of the gigs Freddie's able to secure nowadays are cheap background extras. Him lying about scoring a major part on the eve of their wedding almost splits him and Stuart up.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Him and Stuart, nearly all the time.
- Straight Gay: The opposite of Stuart.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: Freddie would like to think of himself as one but whatever heyday he'd had was so brief that no one ever noticed. He's now reduced to scrabbling for bit parts with minimal lines that usually get cut from the final edit.
Stuart Bixby
Played By: Derek Jacobi
A former bar keep, Stuart is the camp partner of Freddie Thornhill. Stuart doesn't work, relying on Freddie's unpredictable work for money, and does all of the cooking at home.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: See above.
- When Ash's girlfriend Chloe offends Freddie about his lack of acting jobs, Stuart defends him.
- Camp Gay: The opposite of Freddie.
- Deadpan Snarker: Him and Freddie both.
- Did They or Didn't They?:
- During a game of Truth Or Dare, Freddie learns Stuart and Penelope did the deed right after he met Freddie in a bout in insecurity. Twice. Granted, Stuart had to try really hard to imagine it was Gregory Peck.
- A Brick Joke during the last two episodes of Season 2 is that Stuart thinks Ash and Violet did the do. They didn't. Freddie couldn't want to know less.
- Flying Under the Gaydar: Stuart's mother, until the last episode of series 1, has no clue her son is gay, despite being in his mid seventies.Stuart: Well, I hoped she'd have figured out our situation by now. I have been dropping little clues.
Freddie: Yes. Like living with a man for 48 years. - Manly Tears: Stuart cries in Freddie's arms when his mother dies.
- Once an Episode: All but one of the episodes in series 1 start with Stuart on the phone to his mother.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Him and Freddie at almost all times. During the Series Finale, they wake up one morning without sniping each other in some form. They're both weirded out by it.
Violet
Played By: Frances de la Tour
Freddie and Stuart's friend, whom they have known for fifty years. She is unlucky with sustaining relationships, and has a wealthier older sister who she doesn't really like.
- Abhorrent Admirer: To Ash. Eventually subverted.
- Dirty Old Woman: Flirts with and sexually harasses Ash, eventually even tricking him into getting drunk to seemingly seduce him.
- History Repeats: Defied in the Series Finale. Violet admits to Ash that her attachment to Freddie and Stuart is the main reason she hasn't moved away for fifty years. When she discovers that Ash plans to turn down a University scholarship to stay with the men, she's having none of it and outright tells Ash not to make the mistake she did.
- Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: One of the show's Running Gags involves Violet's horrendous luck with men.
- Mrs. Robinson: To Ash.
- When I Was Your Age...: Invoked towards Ash due to the large age gap. For example:Violet: Has anybody said you remind them of Zac Efron? [whispering to Stuart] That's a person right? Or is it a place? [to Ash again] Well I'm certain I know you. Have you ever been to Zac Efron? [whispering to Stuart] I'm covered either way now.
Mason Thornhill
Played By: Philip Voss
Freddie's sarcastic brother who is a total cheapskate.
- Becoming the Mask: After Penelope mistakes Mason for her late husband Robert, he embraces the role from then on.
- Boomerang Bigot: Mason makes the occasional homophobic observation, even though the Series Finale reveals him to be gay too.
- Only Sane Man: Mason thinks he is, but he is often just as bad as the others.
- Precision F-Strike: A brilliant one in the first episode of series two.Mason: You people are all fucking insane.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Mason is belittled by everyone other than Ash. Even Penelope starts looking down on "her husband Robert."
- The Reveal:
- "Wedding" reveals he's actually Freddie's brother.
- The Series Finale outs him as homosexual.
- Those Two Guys: Whenever he's on-screen, Penelope will inevitably end up beside him.
Penelope
Played By: Marcia Warren
- Cloud Cuckoolander: So much so she often has no idea what is going on, or thinks she is in another place.
- She once mistook Mason for her deceased husband, Robert.
- Did They or Didn't They?: Discussed. During a game of Truth Or Dare, Penelope reveals that shortly after Freddy met him, her and Stuart did. Twice.
- Moment of Lucidity: One of her defining traits is her spotty memory, which seems to becomes less spotty at inconvenient times.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Zig-Zagged. Penelope is established as a senile old woman with rare moments of insightful lucidity. During the Series Finale, she states that much of this is an act that she plays really well, only to then confuses Ash's reflection in the mirror for someone else shortly after their chat. In the dining room scene that follows, she then regains her memory and regales everyone about Ash's antics with the mirror (that he asked her to keep quiet about) in full detail.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Penelope's spotty memory and Cloud Cuckoolander tendencies are typically played for brief one-off gags. During the Series Finale however, she confides to Mason that she's scared of losing herself.
- Those Two Guys: Almost always tags along with Mason.
- With Friends Like These...: Season Two reveals Penelope isn't as fond of Stuart and Freddie as she lets on.
Ash Weston
Played By:Iwan Rheon
The young man who moves into the flat above Freddie and Stuart. Both of his parents are in prison, and he doesn't have much luck with girlfriends.
- Abusive Parents: Ash's mother was an alcoholic completely dismissive of her son while his father dabbled in petty crime. Both are in prison now and Ash deals with the trauma.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Ash is sweet and cheerful most of the time, at least until someone messes with his friends.
- Corrupt the Cutie: Mason expresses fears Stuart and Freddie will turn him as bitter as them.
- Family of Choice: Ash comes to think of Stuart and Freddie as replacements for his parents, both of whom are in jail.
- Intergenerational Friendship: All of Ash's new friends are in their seventies.
- Loved by All: Ash is universally loved by the entire ensemble; one of the few people that elicits a reaction out of Freddie and Stuart that isn't an insult (most of the time) and being the only man in Violet's life other than the former couple she comes to call "friend." This is the primary reason the husbands are less-than-thrilled about Ash moving to the States for a University degree in the Series Finale. Violet has to talk the boy out of abandoning his dreams for their sake.Violet: Don't you know how special you are?...That's why we all love you so much. That's why Freddie and Stuart don't want you to leave. They like to keep the things they love the most closest to them. That's why I've never moved more than a few streets away...in almost fifty years. And I don't want you to end up like that!
- Mistaken for Gay: In the first episode, Freddie and Stuart try to find out Ash's sexual orientation. They are actually disappointed when he says he is straight.
- Again in episode 5:Ash: I wanted you to be the first to know. I think I might be—
Freddie: I KNEW IT!
Ash:...in love with my girlfriend.
(beat)
Freddie: Oh. - During Freddie and Stuart's wedding, the latter's mother calls Ash a "little gay boy." He tells her he's straight but she really wants a little gay boy to walk her down the aisle. He obliges.
- Again in episode 5:
- Naïve Newcomer: He's a lovely and patient guy, helping Freddie and Stuart adjust to the outside world, but he's not exactly the brightest bulb in the bunch.
- Not So Above It All: Ash is usually the sane one amidst the elderly wasps he calls friends but when Stuart and Freddie seemingly become smitten with a gay fitness instructor about his own age, he goes on the warpath and scares the man out of town out of fear of being replaced.
- Only Sane Man: Usually the only one who isn't doing something odd.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: At the start of "Holiday Special," he becomes vacant after transitioning from describing her cooking to her dismissal of him during said cooking. Stuart has to literally snap him out of it.Ash: "Why was I never enough for you, mum?"
