Weekly Newsletter |
Tuesday 4th January 2022 |
Happy New Year! Until the civil war and Puritan abolition of Christmas, twelfth night - 5th January - was the most important day (celebration, party and feast!) of the season. Who's up for resuming that tradition from next year? The campaign for another full week off work begins here...
Latest comedy news
Janey Godley's debut novel to be published this autumn
Janey Godley's debut novel, Nothing Left Unsaid, is about a dying Glaswegian woman and survival of abuse. It will be published later this year.
Philomena Cunk return confirmed by BBC Two
BBC Two has confirmed that Diane Morgan will return as Philomena Cunk for new five-part spoof documentary series Cunk On Earth.
Rob Beckett to pilot ITV comedy entertainment show
Rob Beckett is to front a comedy entertainment pilot for ITV in which celebrities complete challenges.
Sean Lock honoured in Comics' Comic Awards results
Sean Lock has been posthumously awarded an Outstanding Achievement title. The Comics' Comic Awards 2021, which are voted on by comedians, also saw wins for Jo Caulfield, Mark Nelson, Ninia Benjamin and Paul Smith.
BBC Audio Awards 2022 nominees
Bridget Christie: Mortal, God Squad, The Musical Life Of..., Olga Koch: OK Computer and Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen? are amongst the nominees for the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2022.
Radio 4 piloting free speech show Unsafe Space
Radio 4 is piloting a "provocative" debate show with outspoken free speech advocate comedians, including Tony Law, Andrew Doyle, Leo Kearse, Mary Bourke, Nick Dixon and George Zach.
Features
Toast Of Tinseltown: Matt Berry and Arthur Mathews interview
Toast writers Matt Berry and Arthur Mathews talk about why their Toast Of London characters are returning to TV tonight.
The film of 2021? Why UK comics love The French Dispatch, and the worlds of Wes Anderson
Lots of UK comics got excited when Wes Anderson's new film emerged in late 2021, with an accompanying exhibition - but what makes Wes's worlds so special?
Comedy Chronicles - Gang Aft Agley: The Day TV Broke Hogmanay
Graham McCann looks at Hogmanay television broadcasts over the years, including Live Into 85 - a show "so stupendously awful" that it killed that deeply dubious broadcasting tradition stone dead. You might also like the Comedy Chronicles article about Christmas TV.
Union JACK Radio's Ones to Watch 2022
Radio station Union JACK has created a 'Comedians to Watch in 2022' list. It features Sam Williams, Fiona Ridgewell, Jessie Nixon, Sian Davies, Christian Jegard, Omar Badawy, Lauren Douglin, Marjolein Robertson, Liz Guterbock and Seeta Wrightson.
Bilal Zafar on watching The Witcher with the doctor
Before becoming the lockdown king, Bilal Zafar got bang into The Witcher after a bad Edinburgh. Then he and Ed Patrick decided to dissect the contentious TV show, on tape.
British Comedy Quiz
We'll be back with a new quiz tomorrow, but in the meantime do make sure you've given our brain-teasing special Christmas edition a go!
Random 8: Matt Winning
Breaking off from saving the world with a new book, Matt Winning talks New Year's evolution.
Podcasts
Amongst the podcasts we published across the last couple of weeks was RHLSTP with Miriam Margolyes. As you can perhaps imagine given her outspoken nature, it's quite an episode!
TV listings
Toast Of Tinseltown
Steven Toast (and other characters) are back... but now on the BBC. The location is also different: Matt Berry's actor character is working in America.
I Literally Just Told You
Jimmy Carr continues to host this new game show in which contestants are given every answer with the questions written, literally, as the show is happening.
Mandy
Series 2 of Diane Morgan's somewhat bonkers sitcom. The first of the double-bill sees Mandy get a job as a tour guide at a stately home. The second sees the character accidentally appearing on a genealogy programme with Deborah Meaden.
Screw
A new comic drama set in a prison. Leigh Henry is a career prison officer who lives for her job, but has lost faith in the system - so she circumvents the rules, doing whatever's necessary to help the prisoners in her care.
Scot Squad
Series 7 of the hit Scottish mockumentary. Traffic cops PC Surjit Singh and PC Hugh McKirdy duet to cook-up a rhyme that bites. Elsewhere, Detectives Megan Squire and DC Andrea McGill pose undercover at a high-class spa.
Would I Lie To You?
Series 15 of the award-winning panel show kicks off with guests John Cooper Clarke, Judi Love, Chris McCausland and Caroline Quentin.
QI
Sandi Toksvig, Alan Davies, Cally Beaton, Jamali Maddix and Josh Widdicombe look at animals. This is actually the 45 minute XL version, which is appearing first as BBC Two had space in the schedules.
8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown
Jimmy Carr hosts as Roisin Conaty and Kiri Pritchard-McLean take on Jon Richardson and Rob Beckett. Huge Davies is in Dictionary Corner.
The Graham Norton Show
No news on the full line-up of this Friday's episode yet, but we do know Martin Freeman and Josh Widdicombe will both be on the show. Fresh from New Year's Eve, Years & Years will be in the musical slot.
The John Bishop Show
A new comedy entertainment show in which the Scouse comic performs topical stand-up routines and chats to guests from the worlds of film, TV, sport and music. It'll be recorded later in the week.
For a complete list of TV and radio broadcasts, including repeats, see our full schedule.
Shop
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Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators - Series FourThe fourth series of the hit BBC show. Starring Jo Joyner & Mark Benton and combining corpses, comedy and cracking mysteries, this quirky crime drama has won the hearts of over 200 countries. Now that Lu has passed her private investigator exams and Frank's tidied himself up a bit, there's no stopping them. But murder, kidnap, blackmail and infidelity still abound in the pretty tourist town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Welcome to the birthplace of the Bard, where low-life criminals get caught up in deliciously high drama. |
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C. K. McDonnell - This Charming ManVampires do not exist. Everyone knows this. So it's particularly annoying when they start popping up around Manchester . . . Nobody is pleased about it. Not the Founders, the secret organisation for whom vampires were invented as an allegory, nor the Folk, the magical people hidden in plain sight who only want a quiet life. And definitely not the people of Manchester, because there is nothing more irksome than being murdered by an allegory run amok. Somebody needs to sort this out fast before all Hell really breaks loose - step forward the staff of The Stranger Times. It's not like they don't have enough to be dealing with. Assistant Editor Hannah has come back from getting messily divorced to discover that someone is trying to kidnap a member of their staff and while editor Vincent Banecroft would be delighted to see the back of any of his team, he doesn't like people touching his stuff - it's the principle of the thing. Throw in a precarious plumbing situation, gambling debts, an entirely new way of swearing, and a certain detective inspector with what could be kindly referred to as 'a lot of baggage' and it all adds up to another hectic week in the life of the newspaper committed to reporting the truth that nobody else will touch. This Charming Man is the second book in the critically acclaimed The Stranger Times series. |
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Gilbert Without SullivanTen comic dramatisations based on the stories and plays of WS Gilbert. Sir William Schwenck Gilbert is best known for his operatic collaborations with Sir Arthur Sullivan, which captivated 19th-Century audiences and continue to delight today. But he also created numerous solo works, among them these 10 pieces, dramatised for radio by Stephen Wyatt and featuring Jonathan Coy as Gilbert. |
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Maddy Anholt - How To Leave Your Psychopath"Are you forever finding yourself in the stranglehold of controlling companions? Well, fear not, because once you've finished reading this book, you'll be able to wave ta-ta to unhappy and unhealthy relationships for good. Consider me the Psycho Sprucer, Bad Boy Buster, the Hot Mess Assessor - ready to leave your love life sparkling." How To Leave Your Psychopath is a candid account of the complex, subtle nature of coercive control and abusive relationships from comedian Maddy Anholt, who - until her eyes were opened - had spent her entire dating life trapped in them. Relatable and accessible, the book covers all the common techniques these toxic twerps use to exert control, including gaslighting, bread-crumbing and negging. This book is the ultimate handbook to help you see and respond to red flags, recognise controlling traits, and learn to give any prospective date a score on Maddy's unique 'Psychometer', from super-empath to psychopath. Vitally, by interweaving psychological insight and autobiographical anecdotes, Maddy shows you the road to self-discovery, leading you on the path to safer dating and a healthier, more joyful life. "Funny, judgement-free and full of brilliant first-hand advice", this empowering guide will help anyone ditch their controlling partner to find freedom and happiness. |
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Casino RoyaleThis swinging spoof of Ian Fleming's spy hero concerns an aging James Bond (David Niven), reluctantly dragged out of retirement to face down the evil crime clique called SMERSH. In order to confound the enemy, the Secret Service sends five other agents, also under the name "Bond", and all six converge on the titular casino. Woody Allen, as the retiring superspy's nephew, causes havoc, while a flood of famous faces (and directors) revel in the silliness. And there's a great Burt Bacharach score to boot. |
For more, see our full list of new releases and items coming soon.
Comedy videos
James Bond... On A Budget
What would Mr 007's life look like if it was funded by £007? A Channel 4 sketch starring Jason Forbes as a somewhat miffed Bond.
Foodfarms January Sale
Pay attention... there's a sale on at Foodfarms. Some more bonkers editing from Greig Johnson in this video.
The Artists
A three-part sitcom created by Huge Davies in which we follow the fates of a hopeless set of buskers in the small seaside town of Wybridge.
Celebrity Rebrand
Channel 4 asked Amelia Dimoldenberg to rebrand comedian Rosie Jones. Her mission... to turn Rosie into the next big action hero.
Shaun The Sheep - Behind the Scenes
If you enjoyed the new Shaun The Sheep Christmas special (it's on iPlayer, if you missed it), you'll want to check out this video in which the Aardman team show you how they made the programme.
Buying food online
Stevie Martin and Lola-Rose Maxwell demonstrate how online supermarket shopping could be better.
Bad TV Impressions: Succession
The latest impressions from Kieran Hodgson - this time he's spoofing the various characters in hit US TV drama Succession.
Spotlight
Father Dear Father
Running for a whopping seven series from 1968, Father, Dear Father is the kind of hit TV sitcom that is now often overlooked, despite achieving sufficient popularity to warrant a feature film spin-off. Released after the final series in 1973, the big screen adaptation reunited comic favourite Patrick Cargill with Natasha Pyne, Anne Holloway, Noel Dyson and the likes of Richard O'Sullivan, Beryl Reid and Donald Sinden for a final outing. Having followed novelist single father (Cargill), his two teenage daughters (Pyne & Holloway) and their beloved housekeeper/nanny (Dyson), the film outing sees Patrick struggling (as ever) to steer his offsprings' youthful instincts, this time in the face of a possible marriage. It was restored and released on Blu-ray - with some lovely special features - last year.
Thanks for reading
Chris Collyer has won the 2022-themed BCG Pro Gag-a-Week contest:
In 2022 I intend to keep everything in sharp focus, therefore my new year's resolution is going to be 1080p.
We'll be back in your inbox next Monday with a look ahead to forthcoming comedy offerings, the longlist voting for our annual awards, and more.
British Comedy Guide
www.comedy.co.uk
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