Big Bad otherwise known as The Big Bad Big Town Baddie or The Big Town Skinhead is a major antagonist on Brum. He is an extremely tall and burly Big Town Baddie who frequently steals money from the Big Town’s businesses and residents. Throughout his time on the show he becomes progressively more criminal in his heists to the point where he helps rob a children’s swimming competition of its prized trophy and medals before finally being brought to justice by Brum.
He is played by Paul Filipiak.
Biography[]
Nothing is known about his early life of why he became a serial thief. All that can be inferred is that he enjoys physically training and dating.
Brum and the Balloons[]
During the Big Town Balloon Day where the city’s residents purchase and decorate everything with balloons, Big Bad is first seen hiding behind a fountain where a seller is. He presumably plans to steal her stock so he can illegally sell it for himself. As the seller and Brum are briefly distracted by Granny Slippers losing the balloon she purchased, Big Bad sneaks around from the fountain and steals every balloon the seller has before Brum gives chase.
Initially the burly crook hides and cowers behind a van, but it isn’t tall enough to hide the helium balloons. The van then pulls away which prompts Big Bad to keep running. He then tries to conceal himself and the balloons in a phone booth, but this fails miserably. Realising that Brum is still onto him he bolts for it again and hails down a London taxi. Unfortunately, the balloons won’t fit into the car and he subsequently flees into the Big Town’s affluent suburbs. He then dashes through the park with Brum breathing down his heels before taking refuge behind a hedged bush which conceals a pathway. However, he fails to pull the balloons down in time to stop Brum from spotting his location. The two then run back and forth before the thug tries to shake Brum by running down an alleyway and towards a bridge that extends over a river. The supercar cuts him off on the other side by taking the next-door bridge which is shorter and then racing up the path to where Big Bad is running.
The thief almost falls over onto the supercar before scrambling back over the bridge he just came. The episode then cuts to him running towards the construction pit where the two workers whom Brum encountered earlier are eating sandwiches. He stupidly runs straight towards it and loses his balance before falling in with a yucky squelch causing him to lose his grip on the balloons. As his loot floats away, he climbs up plastered with mud with an orange balloon strung around his head before helplessly watching his booty getting out of reach. Stupefied he watches as Brum retrieves the balloons. He then looks at the one balloon he has to show for his trouble before slumping into a depressed state while slapping his hand onto the ground, producing a squelching splat.
Despite this humiliation, he manages to clean himself and his act up.
Brum and the Balloons: Book Adaptation[]
The book adaptation follows the same basic story as the live action episode, but with some of the following differences.
- In the original episode Big Bad sneaks around a fountain before stealing the seller’s balloons. The book just shows him charging forward and snatching the balloons and sprinting away.
- In the live action episode, he (like all the other characters) has no dialogue but in the book he exclaims “You can’t catch me!” as he scurries through the park before hiding behind a green line of bushes. The book then depicts the sequence where Big Bad and Brum run in opposing directions behind the bushes. The sequence where he hides in a phone booth before trying to catch a taxi is omitted.
- The book then describes the chase as Brum chasing “the bumbling baddy” back through the Big Town before he falls into the construction pit. The sequence in the episode where Brum intercepts him on the bridge isn’t adapted. Additionally, the book shows Big Bad as being completely stuck in the muddy construction pit and unable to climb out. In the episode he climbs halfway out and witnesses Brum retrieve the stolen balloons.
Brum and the Theatrical Thieves[]
Big Bad resurfaces a fortnight later (as per the episode’s original air dates) with a male accomplice. The two approach a busker outside the Big Town Theatre (the Everyman Theatre in real life) and plan to swipe his earnings. The baddies bend down and his accomplice tries to grab the money only for Brum to nearly run over his hand in response. Panicked he jumps behind Big Bad who calms him down before the two move to the busker’s left side. Faking friendliness, Big Bad signals for his partner to move behind him while he uses his foot to drag the busker’s money behind him. His partner then picks it up and gets excited which prompts Big Bad to hush him down again. The two then sneak off before the busker notices that his money is missing. Brum looks at the baddies further down the street as the two are trying to split the bounty up between them.
Big Bad sees first and the two try to move down a side-street before his accomplice has a foolish second look before Big Bad yanks him back. Brum then gives chase as the baddies make a break for it. Seeing that Brum is still onto them they barge into one of the Big Town Theatre’s side entrances and are forced to duck down to avoid being seen by Mr. Brillo, the receptionist. Once out of his direct line of sight, the two start to stand up only for his assistant to plant his foot in a metal cleaning bucket which causes a racket as he tries to shake it off. The pair throw the cleaning equipment to a startled Mr. Brillo and run off before ending up on the stage where two ballet dancers are performing. As the dancers look at the bamboozled crooks, the pair pretends to be dancers to avoid further suspicion so they can sneak backstage. However, they give themselves away to Brum and Mr. Brillo by bumping their way up the nearby stage curtain. Hearing that Brum is still on their trail, the two dash into the costume’s room where Big Bad promptly hides himself and his accomplice within the costume racks before the supercar and Mr. Brillo arrive. When they leave, Big Bad takes the opportunity to break cover and signals for his partner to follow only to get startled by him appearing in front of him after the latter crawls under the costume rack.
Before they can think further, Brum and Mr. Brillo return, forcing them to scramble into one of the makeshift aisles comprised of the costume racks. The two heroes follow as the baddies stay down, now hidden next to a cow costume which Big Bad notices. Unbeknownst to them, Brum spots them due to their shoes not being concealed as the two dress themselves up with Big Bad taking the front half and his partner to back half. As the two try to casually sneak through, they drop some of the stolen coins and then bolt for it causing the two to comically fall over.
The two then run up the theatre with Brum and Mr. Brillo pursuing causing the audience to laugh. To the chagrin of the dancers, the thieves are unintentionally stealing the show as they clamber their way onto the stage. Realising their mistake they try to turn around, but are cut off by Brum and Mr. Brillo. The thieves then back up but bump into and off-balance the dancers as the audience continues to laugh. Fed up with the interruptions, the dancers team up with Brum and Mr. Brillo and back the criminals into a corner between two of the stage pillars. Big Bad has a bingle when he tries to run to the side but bonks his head against the pillar which leaves him stunned. His partner detaches from the costume and also bangs his head on the pillar to his left. As he scrambles out of the costume he spills the remaining money before the female dancers manhandles him by the jacket while his accomplice is bounced around by the male dancer. The audience gives standing ovation as the curtain closes on the show while the dancers and Mr. Brillo continue to give the thieves hell.
Off-screen both crooks managed to get away to plan for their next heists.
Interim[]
At some point after his failure and public humiliation at the Big Town Theatre, Big Bad and his accomplice end their criminal partnership and both later reappear with their own female collaborators. It is unknown if them ending their association was mutually agreed or if Big Bad (being the more dominant criminal between the two) ended it in hopes of finding a more competent accomplice. The circumstances through which he and his 1st girlfriend meet are never depicted.
Brum and the Snow Thieves[]
On a hot day in the Big Town he and his girlfriend emerge from behind the Ski Dome’s cash counter, eyeing down the business’ takings. The two nod in unison at each other, agreeing to steal as much of the cash as they can. While customers continue to pay their expensive entrance fees, Big Bad ducks down and drags his girlfriend down when she doesn’t notice where he’s gone. The couple then sneak through the counter’s back entrance to get within range of the cash. Big Bad signals for his girlfriend to wait until the last customers have paid before they make their move. As the potential booty continues to mount up, the crooks share a greedy look. The moment Mr. And Mrs. Posh pay the baddies seize their moment and shove their sticky hands into the cash register and grab a chunk of change each. They frantically stuff it into his girlfriend’s yellow bag before dashing out from behind the counter and pushing their way past Mrs. Posh as Brum gives chase.
The villains ran past several skiers and briefly stop near a row of standing skis. As his girlfriend points in the direction of where Brum is, he then shoves the skis straight onto Brum temporarily halting the superhero. Taking a moment to sadistically gloat the crooks then run behind a couple of screens before noticing two display mannequins dressed in arctic clothing and agree to disguise themselves. When Brum frees himself he drives around and stares at the pair now adorned in ski clothing while posing as dummies. Unfortunately, the ploy fails when Big Bad sneezes. With their cover blown, they accidentally run into the ski slope with Big Bad falling on top of his girlfriend as he loses traction. Their effort to double back is foiled when Brum enters the ski slope forcing them further in. In their clumsiness the thieves bump into a girl’s snowman and cause it to fall on them. Screaming in fear, the criminals hoist it up with their legs before taking to the slope in the face of the oncoming skiers. The thieves fall over as Brum closes in. Both look back before Big Bad picks his girlfriend up while she screams in Brum’s direction.
After the two further scale the slope in a clumsy fashion they turn back and see that Brum is no longer pursuing. Their delight is then interrupted by an oncoming skier who bowls Big Bad over. Unknown to them, Brum is using the slope’s escalator to cut them off at the top while the thieves ineptly continue to scale the slope while continuously losing balance and falling over. As the two reach the slope’s summit, they relax as his girlfriend takes a moment to lean on him. Big Bad tries to brush her off but notices with horror that Brum is waiting for them. He promptly drags her away with him as the two shove Mr. And Mrs. Posh away from their own skis so they can use them to get to the slope’s bottom fast. Brum commandeers a set of skis for his front wheels to continue the chase.
Unsurprisingly, the pair prove to be amateur skiers at best as both repeatedly lose and regain balance while nearly colliding with each other. Brum strategically flanks them from the right to keep them near the slope’s edge. This results in them sailing up an icy ramp. As they soar into the air, the skis they stole detach from their feet before the two land in the snow with a thud. Both duck as the skis they stole nearly land on their heads. Brum then takes to the same icy ramp and soars overhead while the stumped pair stare in amazement. The supercar lands in front of them and proceeds to use his back tires to literally snow them in. After the duo partially dig themselves out, Brum requests that they surrender their booty. In response his girlfriend hands Big Bad the bag of money before he places it in Brum’s backseat and gives him a friendly pat. After the supercar leaves, the thieves briefly relax, thinking that they got away relatively lightly. However, this is short-lived as all of the other skiers (including Mr. And Mrs. Posh) confront them with snowballs. Making no effort to shield or protect each other, both cower as everyone pelts them. Once the last snowball strikes Big Bad with a squelch, the thieves look up in shock and dismay.
Off-screen the criminal couple flee the Ski Dome and remain free to try and steal another day.
Brum and the Snow Thieves: Book Adaptation[]
The book adaptation largely follows the same story as the episode, but contains some of the following discrepancies.
- After stealing the Ski Dome’s entire takings, the thieves immediately take to the Ski Slope. In the book they don’t disguise themselves.
- When Brum burries them in the snow, the part where everyone pummels them with snowballs is not depicted. Instead everyone congratulates Brum while baddies remain completely trapped.
Interim[]
At some point between the end of series 3 and the beginning of series 4 (likely just after his failed heist at the Ski Dome) Big Bad meets another female Big Town Baddie who is more athletic, attractive and more criminal than his current partner. While the circumstances of this are never shown, he presumably becomes instantly smitten and dumps his 1st girlfriend in favour of her. This decision devastates his 1st girlfriend as evidenced by her rundown appearance by the time of “Brum and the Mannequin”. However, Big Bad probably doesn’t care as he likely discards partners when they fail him (even though he is equally responsible for failing due to his own blunders).
Brum and the Splash and Grab[]
On the day of the Big Town Swimming Competition, Big Bad is seen emerging from a bush with his 2nd girlfriend as the Town Mayoress arrives. His initial inquisitive expression is replaced with a greedy smile when the lifeguards take the Big Town Silver Swimming Trophy out of the car. Knowing that this could be his biggest score he looks at his new girlfriend to see if she agrees as she zealously nods at him. As the Mayoress, lifeguards and Brum take the cup into the Swimming Gala, his girlfriend charges forward while he follows. With the score getting further away, the baddies barge their way through the crowd to intercept it only to get comically knocked around and left behind. Undaunted, he starts to follow the crowd in only to notice his girlfriend seemingly standing around for no reason. Not realising that she was left stunned and disgusted by a strike to the head, he grabs her shoulder and hauls her inside.
With his girlfriend in tow he stops at the corner of the pool before spying the trophy on the other side. Bearing the face of a pirate, he pulls her in the direction of the potential booty while she looks behind her to see if anyone is following. Initially the two try to sneak past the aisle of cheerers with Big Bad solely focused on closing the distance to the trophy while his girlfriend tries to disguise their intentions by feigning friendliness with the children. Unable to get past the cheerers entirely, the criminals then play at being spectators or parents in attendance as they pretend to root for the swimmers as Brum eyes them down. Soon a lifeguard emerges from the changing rooms at the other end of the pool giving his girlfriend the idea of disguising themselves. Quickly agreeing they jog to the toilets and swap their clothes for swimming overalls. As he fiddles with his swimming cap, his partner looks sharply at him and gestures for him to follow. The pair then evade everyone’s attention and snatch the trophy and its accompanying medals just before the race ends.
While the two run behind the cheerers with the loot in tow, the absence of the prizes is noticed before they can enter the toilets to retrieve their clothes. As Brum brooms his way down, he drags his momentarily indecisive accomplice to the gala’s entrance before the blue cheering team cut them off. Unaffected at the setback, the two backtrack to the exit behind them only to be cut off by the yellow team. Now sandwiched within an angry mob, Big Bad is flustered as to what to do. However, his quick-witted partner snatches a floaty in preparation for diving into the pool. Following suit, he grabs one from a boy and the pair jump in and swim to the exit as the crowd disperses around the pool’s edges. As they exit the now unguarded entrance, the crooks take one last look at Brum and their victims with Big Bad aggressively shaking his fist at them. Aggravated, Brum gives pursuit as Big Bad pulls his girlfriend out of the building while she continues to sadistically brag.
The criminals then run past the Visiting Man who is sitting at one of the Town’s fountains eating an apple. Both make one lap of the fountain before taking to one of the paths that leads towards the countryside and through sprinting they pull out a lead on the supercar. Looking back they see Brum is still unrelenting. He then pulls his girlfriend in the direction of a docked speedboat at the nearby Big Town Lake. As he mans the driver’s seat and starts the boat, his girlfriend triumphantly and gratuitously waves Brum goodbye as they depart in the belief that Brum is stranded on land. Initially, somewhat relaxed and relatively unemotional about finally besting Brum, he looks over at his partner as she revels in their win, prompting him to join in. However, his elation is deflated when his girlfriend alerts him to the fact that Brum is now waterskiing after them! Flustered, he turns back to the controls as his girlfriend barks at him to go faster, which is obediently does by holding down the throttle while jerking the steering wheel around. When this proves utterly ineffective he looks back at Brum with a feral snarl like that of a pirate while his partner pesters him. The crooks exchange another glance as his girlfriend then orders him to steer the boat at an angle near the lake’s bank to try and crash Brum into it. However, Big Bad spoils this by misjudging the angle as Brum harmlessly bobs along.
The thieves then start to argue with each other as his irate girlfriend shakes her fists in her face. With the continual attempts at micromanagement by his partner, Big Bad drives in a wide arc hoping that Brum might detach from the boat. Unfortunately, this allows Brum to get ashore, resulting in a tug-of-war. As his girlfriend desperately wills the boat along, Brum pulls hard causing the couple to bump into each other. While the speedboat is being slowly hauled in, his girlfriend stands in a panic and promptly alerts Big Bad to their predicament. Taking a look for himself he responds by continuously applying more power but to no avail. Noting that they are on the brink of being placed within the police’s reach, his girlfriend throws another fit as she pesters Big Bad again while he fiddles with the accelerator. Giving a final tug, Brum beaches the speedboat on the lake’s slipway, causing him to comically fly backwards off of the driver’s seat.
As Brum, the swimming coaches and an accompanying policewoman approach, Big Bad uses his legs to pick himself up while he girlfriend suddenly realises that they’ve lost the tug-of-war. After the policewoman and jeering coaches demand their surrender, Big Bad immediately nods in accordance and yields, gesturing for them to wait a moment. He quickly beckons for his girlfriend to comply and hand back the loot. In response she clutches it tightly and defiantly stares at him in anger and disgust for caving in as she thinks they could try and outrun the law on land. However, Big Bad finally snaps at her and demands that she does so lest they get into even more trouble to which she grudgingly agrees. As his now ex-girlfriend gets on her knees to surrender their bounty, he briefly smiles at Brum while gesturing for him to come forward before taking hold of her lifejacket to prevent a last-ditch escape. Knowing that his relationship is over and that the law has finally caught up with him, Big Bad adopts a solemn expression while he consolingly pats his partner on the bum.
Following this, he and his ex-girlfriend are arrested and taken to prison to do hard time for their crimes. Although she never reappears again for the remainder of the show’s run Big Bad’s 2nd Girlfriend cultivates a level of influence behind bars as evidenced by then-inmate Penny Pincher adopting a number of her traits. Contrastingly, Big Bad himself remains imprisoned with no further impact on the show whatsoever.
Appearance[]
Big Bad is an exceptionally tall and burly man who stands over 6 feet in height. Throughout his show time, he is balding and roughly shaven, giving him a thuggish look. However, when he’s with his 1st girlfriend he is cleanly shaven.
In his first 2 appearances he is depicted wearing a dark leather jacket with a grey undershirt and trousers. However, when on-screen with his female accomplices his wardrobe is similar to the tropically themed attire of Bubble and Squeak as he dresses in a bright red button-up shirt depicting a tropical paradise with palm trees in a sunset. This gives the impression that he wants to holiday or live luxuriously in the tropics. From this visual clue, this can be inferred as one of the motivations for his crimes. This clothing style is also likely due to him being an implied womanizer.
Personality[]
As is the case with all Big Town Baddies, Big Bad is a greedy and desirous character. Accordingly he is quite callous as he is willing to accomplish his criminal ends by stealing from children and disadvantaged people like the busker. Despite this, Big Bad is much like The Rascally Big Town Robber in showing a phlegmatic temperament in conduct. Even when Brum surprises him or when something goes wrong he is able to maintain or quickly regain his composure. However, this doesn’t mean that he is wholly unflappable. This is shown 3 times in his final episode. The first is when he gets cornered by Brum and an angry mob and gets immediately flustered as a result. The second is when he gets increasingly agitated by his 2nd girlfriend’s constant pestering when Brum was water skiing after them. The third was when he briefly snapped at his 2nd girlfriend for not immediately surrendering to police when they were finally cornered.
Additionally, he is abusive and sadistic. This is shown by him delighting in the moment when he briefly buries Brum under a collapsed row of skis. He even triumphantly gloats at Brum, the children and swimming teams when on the verge of escaping with their trophy. However, he is not as sadistic as his 2nd girlfriend in this regard as shown by him not immediately celebrating when they appear to get away with their crimes after stealing a speedboat.
Furthermore, he appears to be something of a control freak due to his tendency to dominate those he works with as shown by him frequently taking charge or dragging his partners around. However, in this regard he meets his match and then some in his 2nd girlfriend who frequently returns this sort of treatment. Although it’s never confirmed or depicted, Big Bad also has a tendency to abandon or ditch his partners in crime following a failed theft. This ties in with his controlling traits and is reinforced by him being the lead baddie in most episodes where he is working with another criminal. Ironically, he receives this failure-intolerant treatment on-screen from his 2nd girlfriend after he surrenders to the police, even though he still wants to be in a relationship with her.
Big Bad is also somewhat hypocritical. Despite being perfectly willing to physically dominate, shove or assault others he is either dismayed or irritated when he receives this treatment. The former is shown by his reaction to getting pummelled with snowballs by Mr. And Mrs. Posh and the other skiers after having shoved them aside. The latter is shown by him grating against the pressure his 2nd girlfriend puts on him when Brum is waterskiing after them.
Despite his villainous criminality Big Bad does possess some redeeming qualities. The most noteworthy is a sense of honour as demonstrated by him willingly and compliantly surrendering to the police when he and his 2nd girlfriend get beached at the Big Town Lake. In contrast to his 2nd girlfriend, he graciously accepts his inevitable prison time and even goes so far as to reprimand her when she is completely unwilling to do so herself which likely contributes to their breakup. This also shows that he is not cowardly unlike other baddies like The Shadow or The Beady-Eyed Robber who are overcome with depression and fear when faced with prison. Instead he remained solemn as he accepts defeat. He is also not as arrogant as other baddies as he rarely gloats or lauds it over Brum. Even when he is apparently getting away with his crimes he does not immediately celebrate or brag.
Big Bad also appears to care and have feelings for his 2nd girlfriend, things he doesn’t appear to harbor toward his male accomplice or his 1st girlfriend. Even after she holds in contempt for surrendering to Brum and the police he pats her on the bum, implying that he still respects her. This is reinforced by the way he interacts with his 1st girlfriend. Upon reaching the summit of the ski slope his 1st girlfriend puts her hand on his shoulder and leans on him. In response he brushes her off, indicating that he doesn’t feel strongly for her. Additionally, even after getting pestered and given a look of disgust by his 2nd girlfriend for surrendering, Big Bad is also shown to be somewhat forgiving as he pats her on the bum as she gives back the trophy.
Tactics and abilities[]
Strategically Big Bad is not the wiliest Big Town Baddie. In his debut he is comically incompetent. Even when hiding behind the fountain where the Balloon Seller is conducting business, Big Bad makes himself an obvious suspect by ducking fully behind the fountain and circling around it towards the balloons instead of casually doing so from a distance. In the background several people can be seen pointing fingers at him as he does so. Then with no disguise or cover and in front many witnesses he makes off with the Balloon Seller’s stock, even though he would’ve drawn less attention by trying to take the money instead.
He also makes the classic mistake of stealing from a seller in front of Brum. A lot of the time, stealing when Brum is around is an unavoidable hazard for Big Town Baddies. On a public holiday like the Big Town Balloon Day there would almost certainly have been more than one balloon seller whom Big Bad could’ve targeted instead of the one Brum happened to be visiting. Additionally, his scheme of selling the balloons for himself would likely attract unwanted attention from both the law and Brum, jeopardising the success of any profit. Furthermore, his black leather jacket and dark trousers don’t even make him look like a legitimate seller.
Big Bad’s tactics on the run don’t improve afterwards as he spends most of the time running around the Big Town in the hope of eventually losing the supercar. His active tactics are all ample failures. His attempt to lose Brum by catching a London taxi failed because the balloons won’t fit. Even if they did Brum would simply follow the taxi until he got off. His endeavours to hide are also absolutely pitiful. He first tries to hide behind a van which promptly departs leaving him fully exposed before he proceeds to stuff himself and the balloons into a phone booth. Neither of these tricks even concealed the stolen balloons, something that he doesn’t immediately notice from within the booth as Brum approaches. His later effort to hide from Brum behind a bush row fails because he failed to pull the balloons down before Brum caught up and even accidentally let one balloon go into the air. Moreover, he demonstrates a complete lack of foresight as exemplified by him failing to keep his eye on Brum when crossing the bridge which allows the supercar to cut him off. A more glaring example was him not noticing the construction pit right in front of him, causing him to lose balance and fall in.
However, he gets progressively more competent in his successive appearances, a trend that is mirrored by his partners in crime being more competent than their predecessor. When stealing the busker’s earnings with his male accomplice, his methods are far more subtle. He quietly drags the money behind him and has his accomplice pick it up before they depart. However, he and his partner start dividing the money between them at the other end of the street where Brum can see them. This shows a lack of foresight as they could’ve done so around the corner out of view which wouldn’t have attracted Brum’s attention. Furthermore, following this the crooks could’ve quickly divided the money and split up which would mean that Brum could only chase one of them down.
In this theft, he also demonstrates some tactical carelessness while on the run. He fails to pay attention to where his partner is stepping and accordingly doesn’t prevent him from treading in a metal cleaning bucket which alerts Mr. Brillo. He and his partner also give themselves away to Brum from the theatre’s backstage as they ruffle one of the curtains while stumbling through. Big Bad only notices Brum pursuing when his partner alerts him. When cornered on stage, he also fails to notice the pillar beside him which he runs into headfirst, leaving him stunned, a mistake repeated by his partner. Despite these shortcomings Big Bad does show improvement in his hiding tactics. He is able to successfully conceal himself and his partner behind the theatre’s racks of costumes for a time and even gets the idea to disguise himself and his accomplice in a cow costume. Although a reasonable plan in theory, it fails because Brum had already spotted their feet from behind the costume rack. However, it did have the benefit of concealing his identity when he runs on stage.
By the time of his partnership with his girlfriends, Big Bad is shown to be more of a competent criminal. With his 1st girlfriend he directs them to duck behind the Ski Dome’s counter and wait until all of the customers have paid before robbing the takings. He is also quick to use the environment to his advantage by pushing a row of skis onto Brum to pin him down. While on the run with his 2nd girlfriend he is quick to spot an available speedboat at the lake which he promptly drags her towards. However, he quickly defers to her tactics when Brum waterskis after them. Despite this he remain somewhat dimwitted as he continued to scale the ski slope in the face of oncoming skiers with his 1st girlfriend and he continuously screws up in executing his 2nd girlfriend’s tricks to lose Brum during the lake chase.
His tactics are supplemented with the following skills.
- Mastery of Disguise: A heavily favoured skill is his ability to conceal his identity and intentions by disguising himself. Like most Big Town Baddies, he can do this rapidly as shown by him donning a cow costume and the available ski wear on a mannequin. He even has no problem ditching his own clothes to do so as shown by him disguising himself as a swimmer/lifeguard. Although he initially intended to retrieve his clothes he didn’t hesitate to ditch them and flee despite being inappropriately dressed for being in public.
- Athleticism: Big Bad is shown to be a highly athletic man who shows considerable prowess in the following areas.
- Strength: Big Bad is shown to be very strong, a trait consistent with his burly build. He is effortlessly able to push down a row of skies on top of Brum, temporarily pinning the supercar in place.
- Speed: Big Bad is shown to be fast on his feet, especially during his time with his 2nd girlfriend as he is able to hold a good lead over Brum.
- Stamina: He can also run for long periods, indicating a good level of endurance.
- Durability: Big Bad is also shown to be reasonably durable as he sustained no damage or injury after he is thrown backwards on the speedboat as Brum pulls it in.
- Skiing: He demonstrates a rudimentary level of skill at skiing. However, he repeatedly nearly falls over and barely avoids crashing into his girlfriend which implies that he has no real training or skill in this area. Nonetheless, this can also be partially attributed to him not having ski poles to assist his descent down the slope. Despite this he is able to negotiate the ski slope while sustaining no injuries.
- Swimming: Big Bad also shows some skill at swimming as shown by him swimming across the Big Town Swimming Gala’s pool with no real trouble. However, this was accomplished while he was wearing a lifejacket. It’s unknown whether he can swim without the assistance of swimwear.
- Boat Driving: Big Bad demonstrates a reasonable amount of skill at boat driving as shown by him having problem in starting up the vehicle or driving it around the Big Town Lake. Unfortunately his abilities are limited.
- Womanizing: Although not depicted on-screen, Big Bad is implied to be a womanizer due to him appearing with two girlfriends on the show.
- Safecracking: In The Big Town Bumper Book a tie-in source book for children, it is revealed that Big Bad is also into safecracking and bank robberies, 2 things he does not do in his live appearances. However, the page in question states that the baddies “have stolen the safe from the bank” which would imply that his safecracking skill is either not that great or non-existent. This can be explained by him taking the safe in its entirety because he likely wouldn’t have had time to crack it. This has precedent in the episode “Brum and the Heavy Safe” where Bubble and Squeak had no time to solve the combination, and instead tried to crack it using a bomb. When this failed they simply took off with it through the hole in the wall.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- A running gag within the show is a baddie’s defeat/s being symbolic and/or ironic.
- His defeat in “Brum and the Balloons” is ironic. Him falling into a construction pit and emerging covered in mud shows how pitiful he is as a criminal.
- This is doubly ironic because of how incompetent he is in his first appearance.
- Him banging his head and then getting manhandled by the female dancer on stage in “Brum and the Pantomime Cow” symbolises how he has been shown up. There are 2 other layered ironies here;
- Big Bad accidentally banging his head against one of the stage props before the cow costume comes apart shows how he literally and figuratively got ahead of himself. This doubly ironic because he was wearing the front part of the cow costume.
- Additionally, the curtain coming down as Big Bad and his partner get ruffled by the dancers is symbolic of the show being over for them.
- Big Bad getting showered and pelted with snow by Brum and the skiers respectively in “Brum and the Snow Thieves” literally showcases how he’s been pummelled by Brum.
- Big Bad getting beached on the lake’s dock and arrested in “Brum and the Splash and Grab” is symbolic on the following levels;
- Him getting beached on the dock shows how he's going to end up in the dock to be sentenced for his thefts.
- Getting arrested dressed in red swimming overalls symbolises how he's been caught red handed. This is doubly ironic as red is also symbolic of a higher risk inmate.
- Him getting reeled in by Brum on the lake is kind of a pun on how he and his girlfriend are what inmates call "fish", a term that relates to new prisoners.
- His defeat in “Brum and the Balloons” is ironic. Him falling into a construction pit and emerging covered in mud shows how pitiful he is as a criminal.
- After Nick and Rob, Big Bad is the 2nd most recurring antagonist on Brum with a total of 4 episodes spread across 2 seasons.
- Despite being one of the most recurring villains on the show, Big Bad is not officially named in any of his appearances. This includes the credits in his episodic appearances and the book adaptations where he is simply credited as a “baddie”. This is noteworthy because Big Town Baddies like The Rascally Big Town Robber, The Shadow, Penny Pincher and Pickpocket Polly are named despite only having 2 episodes each.
- With a total of 3 partners in crime across his appearances Big Bad is noteworthy because Big Town Baddies generally work alone or with 1 accomplice.
- Out of the 4 episodes where a male and female Big Town Baddie are shown working together, 2 feature Big Bad.
- Ironically Big Bad’s accomplices are each more criminal than the previous one.
- In “Brum and the Pantomime Cow” Big Bad’s Assistant only helps him steal a busker’s money which could only be a couple hundred pounds at most.
- In “Brum and the Snow Thieves” his 1st girlfriend helps him steal a chunk of the Big Town Ski Slope’s takings. This would only be worth a thousand pounds at most.
- In “Brum and the Splash and Grab” his 2nd girlfriend helps him steal a silver swimming trophy and all of the competition’s medals before helping to steal a speedboat.
- Building on the previous ironies noted above, Big Bad’s thefts on the show become progressively more criminal with each of his appearances.
- In “Brum and the Balloons” Big Bad only steals a bunch of balloons from a seller.
- In “Brum and the Pantomime Cow” Big Bad steals a busker’s earnings.
- “Brum and the Snow Thieves” sees Big Bad and his 1st girlfriend rob the Big Town Ski Slope of at least half their takings.
- Finally, “Brum and the Splash and Grab” sees Big Bad and his 2nd girlfriend steal the Big Town Silver Swimming Trophy and all the medals from a children’s swimming competition before stealing a high-powered speedboat to make their getaway.
- Ironically, despite their relatively quarrelsome relationship he and his 2nd girlfriend are frequently shown walking and running in sync with each other, implying that the two are the perfect Big Town Baddie couple. This is consistent with the visual storytelling of the show.
- Conversely, despite having a more stable relationship with his 1st girlfriend the two aren’t protective of each other as shown by them cowering when they are pelted with snowballs in the Ski Dome.
- He is the only character on Brum to sneeze on-screen.
- The online Brum flash game, depicts Big Bad as having dark hair. In his live action and book appearances he is bald. Unfortunately, this game is no longer available due to adobe flash being no longer supported.
- The Big Town Bumper Book reveals that Big Bad has also targeted Mr. Brillo’s gnomes before in the same way that Nick and Rob do in “Brum and the Kidnapped Garden Gnome”.
- Given how he attempted to pull Brum into the Big Town Lake after the superhero managed to get onshore, it is possible that Big Bad was charged with attempted murder. However, this would involve proving intent which would prove to be very difficult.