Weekly Newsletter

Monday 17th January 2022

First round voting has concluded, and now it's time to unveil the shortlists as we prepare to name the very best television and radio comedy of 2021. Read on and make sure you have your say!

Latest comedy news

Sheridan Smith starring in new Sky comedy Rosie Molloy

Sheridan Smith starring in new Sky comedy Rosie Molloy

Two Pints writer Susan Nickson and star Sheridan Smith are to reunite for a new Sky comedy series about a recovering addict and mental illness sufferer. The broadcaster has already commissioned two series.

Comedy.co.uk Awards 2021 shortlist

Comedy.co.uk Awards 2021 shortlist

The 60 TV and radio programmes shortlisted across the 10 categories in the Comedy.co.uk Awards 2021 have been revealed. Voting is now open to determine the winners.

Romesh Ranganathan to star in sitcom Avoidance

Romesh Ranganathan to star in sitcom Avoidance

Romesh Ranganathan has created a new BBC One sitcom. He will star as beta male father Jonathan in Avoidance, forced to change his life for the sake of their son when his partner throws him out.

Hugo Chegwin and Big Zuu to star in new Dave sitcom Sneakerhead

Hugo Chegwin and Big Zuu to star in new Dave sitcom Sneakerhead

Channel Dave has ordered Sneakerhead, a new three-part sitcom set in a sports shop. Hugo Chegwin and Big Zuu star.

Tom Hiddleston to star in BBC broadcast of The Play What I Wrote

Tom Hiddleston to star in BBC broadcast of The Play What I Wrote

The BBC is to broadcast a recording of live stage show The Play What I Wrote, featuring guest star Tom Hiddleston.

Gary Waldhorn dies aged 78

Gary Waldhorn dies aged 78

Actor Gary Waldhorn, best known for his roles in sitcoms The Vicar Of Dibley and Brush Strokes, has died. He was 78 years-old.

Features

Nish Kumar on turning a bread roll into a comedy show

Nish Kumar on turning a bread roll into a comedy show

There can't be too many comedy touring shows this year revolving around the throwing of a bread roll. Nish Kumar's Your Power, Your Control strongly features that time he was on the receiving end of a baked-product hurling at a charity gig.

New British comedy TV series coming in 2022

New British comedy TV series coming in 2022

Here's a preview of some of the exciting British comedy series coming to TV in 2022.

Comedy Rewind: Sublime farce in An Actor's Life For Me

Comedy Rewind: Sublime farce in An Actor's Life For Me

From the co-writer of The Vicar Of Dibley, showbusiness comedy An Actor's Life For Me rings the bells as a funny, accessible comedy about the industry itself. Spanning both radio and television, find out here why it's a series worth discovering.

Colin Elmer on playing 'a bit of a cult', Kenneth Williams

Colin Elmer on playing 'a bit of a cult', Kenneth Williams

Colin Elmer is an actor who, for the last seven years, has played Kenneth Williams. In 2022 he's taking to the road again in Round The Horne and his one man-show Cult Figure: Kenneth Williams. Here he shares his story about when he was first cast as the iconic performer, and the experiences he's encountered.

British Comedy Quiz #185

British Comedy Quiz #185

Remember who was in Porridge? You'll have a good start on this week's quiz if so, but if not we've got a picture to help you.

Random 8: Robyn Perkins

Random 8: Robyn Perkins

Which Marvel star did Robyn Perkins get shirty with at a Boston bar? All will be revealed in our latest Random 8.

TV listings

Guessable?

Guessable?

Monday 9pm, Comedy Central

This week Rosie Jones, Roisin Conaty, Ed Byrne and Archie Maddocks are invited into the Comedy Central loft for more guessing games as they try to determine which clues will reveal the identity of the celebrity concealed in John's Mystery Box.

Toast Of Tinseltown

Toast Of Tinseltown

Tuesday 10pm, BBC Two

Toast is in a relationship with sexologist Shepherd Gerbil. Constantly researching for her job, she keeps 'scorecards' for Toast as well as all the other men she has slept with.

I Literally Just Told You

I Literally Just Told You

Wednesday 10pm, Channel 4

Jimmy Carr hosts the final episode of this series in which contestants must not only pay attention to the questions, but what happens between the questions.

Mandy

Mandy

Wednesday 10pm & 10:15pm, BBC Two

The final two episodes in the second series. Sir Tom Courtenay guest stars in an episode about fatbergs, then - in the other edition - Mandy is cursed.

Screw

Screw

Thursday 9pm, Channel 4

Episode 3 of the comic drama set in a prison. This time some of the wing's residents are trying dangerous new ways to get high.

Scot Squad

Scot Squad

Thursday 10pm, BBC Scotland

Fletcher and McLaren uncover a crafty criminal at a murder mystery party. Mindful of their duties, they bring in the bad guy without killing anyone's evening.

Would I Lie To You?

Would I Lie To You?

Friday 8pm, BBC One

Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, actress Briony May Williams and comedians Loyiso Gola and Jason Manford join the regular trio to sort the fact from the fiction.

QI

QI

Friday 9pm, BBC Two

Bridget Christie, Johnny Vegas and Mark Watson take part in an episode titled 'Saints And Sinners'. As in the past two weeks, it's the programme's XL edition debuting first.

8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown

8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown

Friday 9pm, Channel 4

Jimmy Carr hosts, as Roisin Conaty and Asim Chaudhry take on Jon Richardson and Josh Widdicombe. Bill Bailey is in Dictionary Corner.

The Graham Norton Show

The Graham Norton Show

Friday 10:35pm, BBC One

Rose Matafeo is set to appear this Friday, to talk about Series 2 of her sitcom Starstruck. Also: Kenneth Branagh, Vicky McClure, Rachel Zegler, and Emeli Sande.

The John Bishop Show

The John Bishop Show

Saturday 9:30pm, ITV

John Bishop returns for another episode, which this time is set to feature guests Oti Mabuse and Rob Brydon.

For a complete list of TV and radio broadcasts, including repeats, see our full schedule.

Shop

La Cha Cha

La Cha Cha

Out now. DVD

Solti Buttering (Liam Hourican) is on a road trip to scatter his grandfathers' ashes in the Wild West (of Wales).

Finding everywhere closed, he stumbles across La Cha Cha, a holiday park with a community of retired characters, living off grid and having the time of their lives. He soon discovers that feisty owner Libby Rees (Ruby Ashbourne Serkis) and her brother Damien (Sonny Ashbourne Serkis) are struggling to keep the place, and community, going. But they have a very unusual plan...

Filmed by a small crew between lockdowns in summer 2020, this independent feature is now available to own on DVD.

Sophie McCartney - Tired And Tested: The Wild Ride Into Parenthood

Sophie McCartney - Tired And Tested: The Wild Ride Into Parenthood

Thursday 3rd February 2022. Audiobook, Hardback and eBook

When it comes to adult life, and parenthood, you will never be ready. So what happens when you hit your mid-thirties and still feel like an out-of-depth teen trapped in the slightly sagging skin suit of a tired and tested mother of two? Join comedian Sophie McCartney as she shares her journey from wild child to with child.

A never-ending exercise in expectation vs reality (and the cleaning up of bodily fluids), she voyages deep into difficult and unchartered territories of mating, birthing, feral offspring, mums overdoing it at the watering hole, and the perilous viper nest of the school WhatsApp group. Overwhelmed by love, but exhausted by life, and with no idea if the 'five-second rule' applies to hummus, she, like most of us, has 100% NOT 'got this' - unless, of course, referring to parasitic organisms.

With "laugh out loud humour and eye-watering honesty", Sophie shows how whether you've had a day full of whining or a night full of wine, there's joy to be had in the perfectly imperfect wild ride into parenthood. Welcome to the jungle.

Time For Loving

Time For Loving

Monday 14th February 2022. Blu-ray and DVD

Filmed in Paris by Oscar-nominated director Christopher Miles from celebrated French dramatist Jean Anouilh's first original screenplay, this bittersweet, May-to-September romantic comedy-drama stars Joanna Shimkus, Mel Ferrer, Britt Ekland and Susan Hampshire.

A tale of three love affairs seen from the viewpoint of a small studio room in Montmartre, Time For Loving showcases a classic score from legendary composer Michel Legrand (with vocals from Dusty Springfield and Matt Monro) and is featured here as a brand new high definition remaster from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

Two additional short films from the director are included as extras, The Six-Sided Triangle and Rhythm 'n' Greens.

Jimmy Carr - Before & Laughter

Jimmy Carr - Before & Laughter

Thursday 12th May 2022. Paperback

Jimmy Carr: hilarious, successful and unmissable. At the top of his game, he is an award-winning comedian who consistently performs to sell-out arenas around the world. He's also, by his own admission, a happy guy. Yet it wasn't always like that.

Back when he was 25, Jimmy was in a white-collar job he hated. He was bored, felt unfulfilled and was generally pretty miserable. How did he achieve this level of success he is now enjoying, in both his professional and personal life? How did he manage to thrive as a comedian but also as a human being? The answers are in this book, which contains valuable and mind-opening advice that everyone will benefit from, at whatever point in their lives.

Jimmy knows all about the pursuit of happiness, having obsessed about and researched the subject ever since he chose to make huge changes in his life. From prioritising the future over the present to understanding the benefits of laughter, and from working on your disposition to finding your edge, he takes us through some key pillars to help us free ourselves from punishing patterns of behaviour and negative internal voices, so that we can pursue our dreams. He delves into specific moments and incidents in his own life that shows how he managed to make it work for him. And because we're talking Jimmy Carr here, there are jokes, jokes and more jokes throughout. This is self-analysis through the power of laughter at its most rewarding.

Hoffman

Hoffman

Out now. Blu-ray

One of the most unsettling films in the Peter Sellers canon, Hoffman sees the actor in a sinister starring role as a bachelor who obsesses over his secretary (Sinéad Cusack) and, discovering that her boyfriend (Jeremy Bulloch) has been fiddling the books at work, blackmails her into spending a week with him. Their time together reveals Hoffman's tragic, lonely existence.

Alvin Rakoff (Death Ship) directs a film that is by turns amusing, poignant and uneasy, and boasts a central performance so uncomfortable and revealing that its star tried to have the film's negative destroyed.

This Blu-ray world premiere release is a new restoration from a 4K scan of the original negative by Powerhouse Films.

For more, see our full list of new releases and items coming soon.

Comedy videos

Poppy - Driving Lessons

Poppy

A new online sitcom in which Poppy Hillstead plays a fictional version of herself: a 20 something year-old trapped in a tiny market town in the middle of Lincolnshire.

Buying Clothes Online

Buying Clothes Online

Stevie Martin and Lola-Rose Maxwell demonstrate how hard it is to buy clothes online.

Not So Fast... I'll Be Taking That

Not So Fast... I'll Be Taking That

When you're a rogue archaeologist in search of a surprisingly cheap-looking idol...

Michael Fabricant supports Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Michael Fabricant supports Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Michael Fabricant sticks up for the PM and his parties.

Women Make Better Films

Women Make Better Films

Wouldn't movies and TV be so much better if women made all the commissioning decisions? Wouldn't our entertainment at a stroke become more tasteful and sophisticated?

Celebrity Rebrand - Romesh Ranganathan

Celebrity Rebrand - Romesh Ranganathan

It's a new year and a new brand for Romesh Ranganathan. Amelia Dimoldenberg has her famous celebrity rebranding skills cut out trying to turn Romesh into the latest TikTok superstar. Can she do it?

At Home With... Nick Mullins

At Home With... Nick Mullins

Spend some time with football referee Nick Mullins, a man who has dreamt of being a referee since he was a child.

The end of Harry Potter 1, but you're in Slytherin

The end of Harry Potter 1, but you're in Slytherin

Slytherin were overlooked in the first Harry Potter.

Nick Dean is on Celebio

Nick Dean is on Celebio

Lesser known TV personality, Nick Dean, does his first live 'Celebrity Drop In' to a business video call and instantly regrets it.

An actor gets pencilled for a job

An actor gets pencilled for a job

What does it mean when an actor is 'pencilled'?

Spotlight

The Thoughts Of Chairman Alf

The Thoughts Of Chairman Alf

Long before the invention of Al Murray's multi-award-winning misinformed publican stand-up character, another patriotic but ill-educated loudmouth had delighted comedy audiences. Dating right back to 1965 and the now iconic, socially-satirical BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, Alf Garnett was the original know-it-all pub bore, delighting viewers through a string of hit television series and multiple feature films. Created and written by Johnny Speight and played by Warren Mitchell, 1998 saw a 1980 Queen's Christmas message-esque special return as a fully-fledged character comedy stand-up series on LWT. Broadcast shortly after Speight's death, it was doomed to only run for a single series, but Alf's observations, claims and thoroughly obstinate takes on modern life were as incisive as they had ever been. In a spoof Q&A format similar to the ITV broadcaster's celebrated An Audience With specials, the complete series is available to own on DVD.

Thanks for reading

Steve Blair has won the latest BCG Pro Gag-a-Week competition on the topic of "magic":

My best trick was to convince the judge that I was foreman of the jury. I'm a conjuror.

Here's the link to vote in our TV and radio awards.

British Comedy Guide
www.comedy.co.uk

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