Hebburn (TV series) March 2014 it was announced by the BBC that "Hebburn" would not be returning for a third series. The series follows the Pearson family, Joe (Vic Reeves, credited under his real name, Jim Moir) and Pauline (Gina McKee) and their son Jack (Chris Ramsey), who secretly married a middle-class Jewish girl, Sarah (Kimberley Nixon), in a drunken binge in Las Vegas. "Hebburn" was created by comic Jason Cook, inspired by Hebburn in South Tyneside, the town in which he was raised. It was piloted in October 2011 through a live performance as part of the Salford Sitcom Showcase at MediaCityUK.
Vic and Bob improvised silly banter (usually at a large, prop-strewn desk) and purposefully corny, rapid-fire jokes. Both at times play the straight man; often Mortimer will play the exasperated foil to Reeves' eccentric buffoon, or Reeves will play blankly bemused or annoyed to a manic or hyperactive Mortimer. They forged a status for themselves as "the alternatives to alternative comedy" in the late 1980s and early '90s. In a 2005 poll "The Comedian's Comedian", the duo were voted the 9th greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. Vic and Bob have performed on a number of television programmes as