Has Liverpool finally vanquished the Scouser?

Twenty years ago, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse created The Scousers. The usual scenario was that three brothers with tightly curled hair and moustaches would parade around in shell suits, flying off the handle at the slightest provocation. Things would be resolved by Ba (Barry), Te (Terry) or Ga (Gary) telling the others to “calm down, calm down.”

Joe McGann played one of The Scousers, Ba, for a while. He says the sketch was meant to be a skit on Brookside, but it wasn’t until after he left the programme that he realised it was compounding the Liverpudlian stereotype. There's no doubt the image of the thieving Scouser has stuck. I’m not a Liverpudlian, but I’ve been working as a reporter for Radio 4 here for two years. When I go back down south, even I get jokes about how people should watch their wallets when I’m around. In a piece for Radio 4’s PM this Friday, I ask whether Liverpool’s year as capital of culture done anything to change the image of the Scouser.



Officials in Liverpool would like you to believe that the stereotype is long gone. The city council has commissioned Liverpool's two universities to look into the impact of a year as European Capital of Culture on the city, and the study suggests Liverpool is now viewed as a proper tourist destination–capital of culture year (2008) attracted 9.7m visits and generated £753m for the local economy.

The study also claims that the national press has changed the way it reports on Liverpool. An analysis of national newspaper coverage suggests that the number of positive stories about the city increased by 71 per cent in the year leading up to 2008. The negative reporting on social issues, they say, has been replaced by a wealth of stories on the city’s culture and changing economy.

But maybe the culture was always here. Liverpool has the country’s oldest orchestra, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, also known as “the Phil.” The city can also name six theatres, a vibrant music scene with countless venues, and two Premier League football clubs as part of its cultural heritage.

The Phil’s chief executive, Michael Eakin, says that a year as capital of culture has changed the perceptions of national reviewers, putting the orchestra firmly on the map. The Phil’s audience also agree that times have changed. One woman told me that when she first moved to Liverpool from the midlands five years ago, she got eggs thrown at her outside the concert hall. There are no egg throwers today, and she says she hasn’t seen them for a while.

But can the good PR work of 2008 last? Especially in bad economic times, when funding is tight? While classical music mags and papers like the Guardian sing the praises of this creative city, has Harry Enfield’s Scouser image stuck? Just as I’d finished making my piece for PM, I turned on Coronation Street to see Jackie Dobbs, Tyrone’s gobby, Scouse, ex-jailbird mother (played by Letter to Brezhnev’s Margi Clarke) having a catfight with her daughter-in-law. Oh dear. They do dough don’t de dough.