Pickpocket Polly is a noted antagonist from the children’s show Brum. She is a light-fingered Big Town Baddie who is infamous for picking other people’s pockets.
She is played by Catherine Marmier.
Biography[]
Nothing is known about Pickpocket Polly’s life before her appearances on the show. All that can be inferred from her somewhat tacky outfit is that she is a lower class Townswoman who uses her affinity for pickpocketing for criminal gain.
Brum and the Bowling Alley[]
Pickpocket Polly is first seen sneaking up behind the queue at the Bowling Alley. At the front she sees the Visiting Man who has a wallet filled to the brim with cash. Covetously eyeing the cash stash down, she follows him and Brum into the bowling area whilst managing to avoid paying an entry fee. She then stands behind her intended victim as his wallet drops from his front shirt pocket. Polly becomes enthused after the Visiting Man stashes his wallet in his back trouser pocket before she is quietly warned off by Brum. Not wanting to draw any attention, the pickpocket picks up a ball and blends in while waiting for an opportunity.
Her chance comes when Brum bowls a strike which everyone celebrates. As she pretends to join in, the Visiting Man briefly dances with her before turning his back allowing her to pluck his wallet from his pocket. Polly briefly celebrates before taking off as Brum gives chase. Initially she staggers across the bowling alleys and runs in the direction of the bowling centre’s entry before opting to hide behind a rack of bowling balls. Once spotted, Polly sadistically pushes the rack over into Brum’s path before fleeing into the restaurant. In her haste she slips on a soapy patch of floor and drops her booty. Polly tries to use the nearby mop to gain traction as she retrieves her ill-gotten cash only to get the mop’s head stuck on her beanie. After removing it with a squelch she starts counting her riches until Brum catches up. In response, Polly runs further into the restaurant and clambers across Mr. Brillo’s table before accidentally stepping on his ketchup spraying him in the face. She then tries to block Brum using a restaurant trolley with a screaming grin only for the car to shove it out of the way.
Polly ends up back at the bowling games and runs in a complete circle of her previous route before she ends back at the centre’s entrance which is now blocked by a number of angry customers (including the Visiting Man and Mr. Brillo). Seising a small opening Polly dashes passed Brum and ends up on one of the bowling lanes. As she slips and slides, Brum literally bowls her over onto her chest with a ball, causing her to fling the wallet into the air onto Brum’s bonnet. After the superhero returns the cash everyone celebrates while Polly angrily glares at everyone from the floor while contemplatively tapping her fingers on what to do next.
Following this, the luckless pickpocket either flees off-screen or is forcefully thrown out of the bowling club and slapped with a ban. Regardless, Polly remains free to commit another crime another day.
Interim[]
In the following months, Polly would meet Magic Paul, a con man and fellow Big Town Baddie who was skilled with illusions and entertainment shows. Knowing how beneficial his skills could be, she forms an alliance with him and the two plan a scam. While he distracts the public with his magic tricks, she will hang around from behind and stealthily steal what she can using her dexterity. The pair also presumably plan to use their victims’ wallets to access their bank accounts and/or steal their identities.
Brum and the Pickpocket[]
On a day with rich pickings up for grabs, she and Magic Paul put their scam into action. He sets up a magic box near the Big Town Square’s fountain and attracts a sizeable crowd. Soon after, Brum arrives to watch as Polly steals a number of wallets and golden necklaces and bracelets. Magic Paul also manages to trick the Traffic Policeman into participating in an apparent magic trick so that Polly’s activities go undetected. After toying with the cop, he locks the policeman in the magic box before disposing of the key with a sleight of hand, much to everyone’s amusement. Once her red swag bag is full, she waves it in the air to alert Paul. However, when Brum expresses his anger at their criminal doings she throws it towards the magician in a fright only for the bag to land on Granny Slippers’ backpack as she scoots by. Dismayed, she dashes to the front as Paul expresses his annoyance. The criminals then notice a nearby tandem bike which they commandeer as a getaway vehicle while she dons herself and Paul with the available helmets.
With Brum giving chase, the crooks ride after Granny Slippers through the town square to retrieve their booty. As they ride along side Granny Slippers, the spry elderly woman treats it as a friendly race while Polly unsuccessfully reaches for her red bag. However, Brum heads them off causes them career through a row of trees. Having temporarily lost sight of their bounty, Polly looks behind and sees that Brum is still following and notices a blue bag attached to the back of the bike. She then spills its contents (Brussels sprouts) on the ground behind her which briefly slows him down. Up ahead she orders Paul to stop and holds out an elasticised rope which she plans to use to tie Brum down. Agreeing, Paul gets on the bike and slowly rides forward as Brum comes around the corner. Polly springs into action and hooks the rope onto Brum’s back bumper, snagging him on the nearby railing. Grinning happily, she and Paul ride off to track down their lost loot.
With Brum off their backs, Polly and Paul soon find Granny Slippers’ scooter outside of the Big Town Laundrette. As they peer into the shop they spot Granny Slippers accidentally placing their bounty into the washing machine causing them both to scream in horror. Crawling on their knees, the baddies sneak over to the machine and begin prying it open while Granny Slippers and the shop keeper have their backs turned. Unknown to them, Brum has freed himself and is now carrying the elasticised rope on his bonnet. As the car enters the shop, the thieves succeed in opening the machine which splashes them with dirty clothes and soapy water while simultaneously flooding the shop. Despite this, the two then pick up their bounty and ride off. In a panic, Polly sees Brum following and tells Paul to cycle faster. Turning back again, she is initially confused to see Brum stop only to scream in fear when she realises what the superhero is about to do. As she and Paul try to put enough distance between them and Brum, the latter uses the rope to halt them and send them reeling backwards. Polly then throws the booty into the air for Brum to catch as the bike uncontrollably cycles backwards to the scene of their crime. The two crash into the magic box and inadvertently free the still imprisoned Traffic Policeman before tumbling into the green fountain. Completely soaked through, a helpless Polly then dejectedly watches Brum return all of the stolen items. As Brum turns to face the sodden crooks, Polly acknowledges she’s been beaten by glumly waving at him. However, as the Traffic Policeman formally places her and Paul under arrest she is overcome with dread as the certainty of prison finally dawns on her. Brum then departs as everyone pays him an elated farewell while Polly blankly stares ahead with fear.
Following this, she and Magic Paul are taken to the Big Town Prison where they remain for the rest of the show.
Appearance[]
Pickpocket Polly is a woman of medium height with dark hair, brown eyes, pink lips and powerfully built legs. She almost exclusively adorns herself in denim as her trousers and jacket consist of this material. Incidentally, her trousers have no elastic and are held up by two braces concealed under her jacket. The only clothing items not made of denim are her pink hooded under jacket, dark green socks and red shoes.
Personality[]
Pickpocket Polly is shown be a covetous and petty person as she targets money, wallets and gold bracelets which may or may not be worth anything. Temperamentally, she appears to be a cross between sanguine and phlegmatic. When stealing, eyeing down her marks or believing that she’s found a way to hinder Brum, she expresses great eagerness and pleasure in doing so. This reveals Polly’s sadistic tendencies which are further exemplified by her delighting in pushing a bowling ball rack into Brum’s way and when she took pleasure in tying him to some railing.
However, as a leader Polly becomes more phlegmatic as she makes decisions in a relatively cool manner. Despite this, she doesn’t lose her more sanguine and enthusiastic manner. Additionally, she is less domineering than other baddies like Big Bad or his 2nd girlfriend as she treats her accomplice Magic Paul with respect and never attempts to dictate or demean him.
Moreover, Polly is revealed to be cowardly when faced with the consequences of her actions. When faced with prison she goes into a state of fear.
Tactics and abilities[]
Being a noted Big Town Baddie, Pickpocket Polly has unsurprisingly demonstrated a reasonable level of cunning. As a pickpocket, her tactics consist of her mostly staying behind her targets to avoid detection. To throw off suspicion she even engages with those whom she plans on stealing from, usually by feigning friendliness or by trying to be sociable. This is shown by her pretending to celebrate Brum’s strike at the bowling alley and dancing with the Visiting Man before opportunistically grabbing his wallet when he turns his back. Another example is her laughing with the crowd at the magic show while she discretely steals from them.
Polly is also among the few Big Town Baddies to premeditate their crimes. Usually, the crimes of the Big Town Baddies are improvised and opportunistic in nature. Following her failure to steal the Visiting Man’s wallet, Polly partners up with Magic Paul, a con artist to use his entertaining skills to distract a large crowd while she uses her skill as a pickpocket to quietly steal their valuables. Initially this is quite successful until Brum starts expressing his anger towards her. This causes Polly to try and toss the “swag bag” to Magic Paul only for her throw to fall short and land on Granny Slippers’ backpack as she scoots by. Although dismayed and distressed at losing the loot, she quickly recovers and steals a tandem bike with Magic Paul to retrieve their ill-gotten gains.
When on the run, Polly actively uses the environment against Brum and any pursuers. She does so twice in the bowling alley. She first topples a rack of bowling balls into Brum’s path and in the bowling alley’s restaurant she moves a food cart into Brum’s way. However, these tricks were ineffective as Brum easily drove over the bowling balls and casually pushed the food cart out the way. In her second appearance, Polly also proves to be resourceful as she uses the equipment on the tandem bike she and Paul stole to their advantage. She first finds a sack of Brussels sprouts and dumps them over the path, slowing Brum down. This allows her to stop further up ahead and use the elastic rope to tie Brum up. However, this backfires on her when Brum uses the same rope to send them careering backwards to the scene of their crime. In fairness, Polly likely wouldn’t have been able to foresee this happening.
Despite her clever tricks, Polly suffers from the classic strategic short-sightedness that is typical of the Big Town Baddies. One example is after temporarily blocking Brum’s path she fails to look ahead and slips on the wet floor. After picking herself up she then wastes time by counting the wallet’s money, allowing Brum to catch up with her. One obvious trick she could’ve used was to take the money out of the wallet and hide it in her jacket and then allow Brum to take the wallet back. Another example was when she and Paul were trying to retrieve their “swag bag” from a washing machine in the Laundrette. Instead of trying to turn off the machine and retrieve their loot, the pair pry it open and get themselves drenched. Additionally, in contrast to Big Bad’s 2nd Girlfriend, Polly proves to be slow-witted in tense situations. When caught between Brum and an angry group, Polly spends over 10 seconds thinking of what to do before finally darting off between Brum and a nearby table. This contrasts Big Bad’s 2nd Girlfriend who reacted very quickly when caught between Brum and a much larger angrier crowd.
- Dexterity: Being a pickpocket by trade, Polly has a highly developed level of dexterity. She is able to manipulate objects out of people’s pockets and off of their direct person without their notice. This is respectively demonstrated by her grabbing a wallet from a man’s jeans and her wriggling two gold bracelets off of two different women. She also uses this skill to ambush Brum and tie him to the railing.
- Stealth: Polly also demonstrates some skill with stealth as she able to infiltrate the Big Town Bowling Alley with no one’s notice despite not paying an entry fee. She is also able to remain behind the crowd while she steals their belongings without attracting anyone’s notice.
- Strength: Polly also shows a reasonable level of strength as she was able to topple a rack of bowling balls into Brum’s way. However, she fails to put enough force behind her throw that her “swag bag” ends up on Granny Slippers’ backpack.
- Acting: She also demonstrates some proficiency with acting as she was able to effectively feign laughter and amusement with the crowd while they watched Magic Paul’s performance.
- Bike riding: Polly is also a capable bicycle rider. She is able to ride a tandem bike is unison with Magic Paul and experiences no difficulties doing so even though the bike didn’t belong to them.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- As with all Big Town Baddies, her defeats are ironically symbolic.
- Brum toppling her with a bowling ball shows how she’s been tripped up by the supercar.
- Her getting waterlogged and arrested at the fountain in “Brum and the Pickpocket” is ironic because despite hiring a partner in crime and having a pre-meditated scam in place, she ends up getting soaked and arrested at the very fountain where she set up her scam. This symbolises how she’s been sent back to square 1 and then some because she ends up in prison.
- Another symbolic layer of her getting saturated in the fountain before she’s arrested shows how she what inmates call a “fish”, a new inexperienced prisoner. This is further showcased by her worried expression when she realises that she is going to prison.
- Pickpocket Polly’s second defeat parodies Penny Pincher’s first trouncing by Brum. Like Pincher, Polly falls into a fountain full of murky green water before being grabbed and placed under arrest by the Traffic Policeman. However, there are some differences.
- While Penny is hauled out of the fountain by the Traffic Policeman, Polly remains half in the fountain as she is placed under arrest.
- When the Traffic Policeman grabs Penny, he does so near her ear on the leather strap of the helmet. Contrastingly, when he arrests Polly he only grabs her shoulder.
- Additionally, their reactions to being arrested for their crimes are different. Penny doesn’t appear to be too bothered by going to prison but is visibly annoyed with Brum whereas Polly is visibly fearful.
- Furthermore, Penny eventually gets out of prison while Polly remains imprisoned following her arrest.
- She and Magic Paul are the last Big Town Baddies to be arrested on-screen.
- Ironically, before Brum miraculously causes them to cycle back to the scene of their crime where they fall into the fountain, the narrator exclaims that it’s “Time for some Brum magic.” This implies that Brum actually used magic to defeat them. If so this is a slight reference to the defeat of The Two Masked Bank Robbers who were magically teleported into the back of a police car. Incidentally, The Two Masked Bank Robbers were the first baddies to be arrested on the show.
- Out of the 4 episodes where a male and female baddie are shown to be partners, Pickpocket Polly’s appearance with Magic Paul is the only one out of these that shows a platonic criminal partnership.
- Along with The Rascally Big Town Robber and The Shadow, Pickpocket Polly is one of the few baddies to be named by Brum on-screen. However, unlike these 2, she is given a proper first name.
- Like The Shadow, Polly isn’t identified in her first appearance, but is at the beginning of her second appearance.
- Like Big Bad’s 1st Girlfriend, Polly stashes her bounty in a bag. However, the former’s bag is yellow whereas the latter’s is red. Additionally, Big Bad’s 1st Girlfriend’s yellow bag and the stolen money within it is left with the ski dome’s cashier while Polly’s red swag bag is left in Brum’s backseat.
- She is also among one of the few antagonists on the show to premeditate some of her crimes as she planned and arranged a public scam with Magic Paul to defraud people of their property.
- The scene involving Pickpocket Polly and Magic Paul at The Big Town Launderette is similar to washing machine scene in Stuart Little. In a similar way to how Eleanor accidentally puts Stuart in her front load washing machine, Granny Slippers unwittingly places their “swag bag” in a washing machine of a similar make. However, whereas Eleanor instantly yanks her washing machine open, spilling its contents everywhere to save Stuart, Polly and Paul initially struggle to pry the machine open before the door releases, flooding The Laundrette and splashing the crooks with soapy water and dirty clothes.