Dame Lauren Alicia Mishika Tanisha Felicia Jane Cooper is a fictional character in The Catherine Tate Show. Lauren is one of the show's main characters and is portrayed by Catherine Tate. The character was "killed off" in the 2007 Christmas Special which aired on 25 December.
Lauren is a 15-year-old schoolgirl with a surly attitude and was most widely known for her phrase "Am I bovvered?" (i.e. "bothered" pronounced with th-fronting). When feeling angry or embarrassed, she frequently replies with defensive responses such as "Am I bovvered?", "Do I look bovvered?" or "Are you disrespecting me?", among others. As demonstrated through her clothing and mannerisms, Tate portrays Lauren as a caricature of a chav.
She claimed to have been made a Dame at the end of her sketch on the Royal Variety Performance 2005.
The Catherine Tate Show
In series one, sketches feature Lauren arguing with authority figures such as train conductors and teachers, as well as her best friend Liese Jackson (played by Niky Wardley) and boyfriend Ryan Perkins (played by Mathew Horne). She normally utters her trademark catchphrases only after being provoked or embarrassed. Lauren is one of the most popular characters with fans, and is arguably the most recognizable from the show. She is listed as "Fly Girl" on the series one DVD.
In series two, Lauren becomes more offensive than ever before. One notable change is that Lauren starts being insulting without provocation, while in the past, her catchphrase of "Am I bovvered?" was only used after she believed that she had been wronged in some way. She is now aged 15 and, according to one of her teachers, in grave danger of leaving school with no GCSEs.
In the 2005 Christmas special, her singing is revealed as poor when she, Liese and Ryan as "the Flygirl Collective and MC Perkins" audition for Fame Academy. In their audition, they sing their own rendition of "Shut Up" by The Black Eyed Peas which is poorly received by Richard Park.
In series three, she spends the summer holidays working at "Billy's Burger Bar". Her attitude at school remains the same as before. She has a new rival for Ryan's affections, a girl called Kelly, (played by Natalie Cassidy), and falls for a fake marriage proposal from Ryan. She is due to marry Ryan in the final episode, but he jilts her at the altar because of his embarrassment of Lauren after she sings a very squeaky, off-key version of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" to him. Lauren even insulted the reverend by using her catchphrase as well as calling her a lesbian and being transgender and stating that god doesn’t exist.
Despite Lauren's blatant disregard for authority, and chav-like demeanor, she sometimes shows surprising intelligence. She is well-versed in the Periodic table, she apparently knows Shakespeare, as shown in the sketch in Comic Relief 2009 with David Tennant playing her Scottish literature teacher, knows how to say "Am I bovvered?" in British Sign Language, and she even speaks French, once surprising her French teacher by asking her "Regardez mon visage. Suis-je bovvered? Est-ce que vous appelez ma mère une pikey? Est-ce que vous appelez mon père un gypo?" ("Look at my face. Am I bovvered? Are you calling my mum a pikey? Are you calling my dad a gypo?"), although she refuses to speak any French for her oral exam.
Other appearances
Lauren made an appearance during the BBC's Comic Relief telethon in March 2005. The sketch features fans of McFly asking the group questions. Lauren decides to ask them: "Why are you so rubbish?" When told by Simon Amstell, who is hosting the segment, that only positive questions are allowed, Lauren uses a variety of her catch phrases, including "Am I bovvered?" ("I ain't McBovvered") and continues to question them in a harsh manner. Lauren is then "ordered" to put a more positive question to the group, and confuses them with Busted, asking "Are you gutted that Charlie left?" She is told to leave the set, and as she does so, she asks Danny Jones from McFly to sign her knee, but walks away promptly saying "You can't even spell."