In May, a 19-year-old Northumberland woman briefly achieved national celebrity because of an unflattering resemblance to Vicky Pollard, the socially excluded, inarticulate teenager from the television programme Little Britain. The "real Vicky Pollard", as the press labelled Kerry McLaughlin of North Tyneside, shared the television character's tracksuit, lack of erudition and "Romford facelift" (a hairstyle so called because the ponytail is pulled back so tight).

McLaughlin had inspired 111 complaints from neighbours, and entertained police on 25 occasions, for alleged offences that ranged from tying a naked teenager to a lamppost, to making threats with a hammer. At the McLaughlin house, children as young as 10 were said to have drunk the night away, with parties often followed by moped races outside. Miss McLaughlin's punishment was an order that banned her from ever returning home, causing a nuisance to neighbours or "intimidating people who may be called as witnesses about her behaviour".