Weekly Newsletter |
Monday 10th March 2025 |
Latest comedy news
Play That Goes Wrong team to launch Christmas Carol Goes Wrong
The creative team behind hit show The Play That Goes Wrong are to launch Christmas Carol Goes Wrong in November. It'll tour the UK and appear in London's West End.
Adrian Edmondson's Waiting For Waiting For Godot arrives on Radio 4
Adrian Edmondson is returning to Waiting For Godot, writing and starring in a comic reinterpretation of the play for Radio 4 set at the start of the coronavirus lockdown, co-starring Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Simon Callow, Christopher Hall and Madeleine Paulson.
Cally Beaton announces 2025 tour
Stand-up show Cally Beaton: Namaste Motherf*ckers will tour between September and December 2025.
Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable cancelled
Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable has been cancelled, following four series on the Dave channel between 2021 and last year.
Amandaland Series 2 confirmed by BBC
The BBC has now officially confirmed it has ordered a second series of Amandaland. The new sitcom has been watched by over 6 million viewers to date.
Channel 4 not taking 'James Acaster: People Person' forward
James Acaster has revealed that People Person, the riotous game show he piloted for Channel 4 last summer, is not being picked up for series. The filming was such a disaster that he asked Channel 4 to put the three-hour recording out as a six-part, car crash spectacle instead.
Super-producer Bill Dare dies
Prolific comedy producer and writer Bill Dare, perhaps best known as the creator of Dead Ringers, has died following an accident.
FYI
Ricky Gervais sets French record; Dabbers Bingo Comedy Caller Contest 2025 tickets on sale; Mel & Sue reunite for new podcast and scripted project together; Dawn French and Mark Heap start filming new BBC comedy; and Top TV comic 'swoops' in to join Last One Laughing UK.
Features
Comedy Chronicles: Let's do the show right here? The pros and cons of improv
Graham McCann takes on the topic of improv comedy. He notes that it is considered an almost magical kind of creative activity to some, while - to others - it is little more than a series of stabs in the dark being played out under a full set of lights.
Rachel Fairburn / Stuart McPherson - Bobby Carroll's Live Comedy Diary
Bobby catches up with two favourites, both of whom feel on the cusp of career evolutions.
First Gig, Worst Gig: Dulcé Sloan
Swapping The Daily Show for Soho, Dulcé Sloan talks us through her highs and lows.
Dave Cohen in tribute: Bill Dare
Comedy writer Dave Cohen pays tribute to his friend and colleague Bill Dare, the renowned writer and producer, who has died at the age of 64.
British Comedy Quiz #347
Topics this time include The Bash Street Kids, Fresh Fields and Jim's dog.
Random 8: Kate-Lois Elliott
Cult favourite Kate-Lois Elliott talks flag-waving, underwhelming rock groups and a whooping cousin.
TV listings
Dave Gorman: Modern Life Is Goodish
AI, honesty in TV, leaving London and notions of 'celebrity' all get the Goodish treatment in this final episode.
Amandaland
Amanda takes over organising the end-of-season football awards, so no more tracksuits and sausage rolls. It's now black tie and cocktails. Not everyone is happy about this.
Rob Beckett's Smart TV
Gyles Brandreth, Sope Dirisu, Helen George and Judi Love take part in another round of TV-related challenges and discussions.
Am I Being Unreasonable?
A death in the village reunites Nic and Jen, much to the disapproval of Ollie. Just when Nic thinks everything's back on track, the net appears to tighten once again.
Small Town, Big Story
It's Joanne's 18th birthday and the first day of filming for I Am Celt. Wendy comes face to face with the other ghosts of her past - her parents.
The Chief
It's the last in the series. The Chief dusts off the old Miekelson charm and gets set to explore the singles scene once again.
Horrible Histories
With everything from mid-battle diarrhoea to a warlord taking over a geography class, join us on a journey charting the rise and fall of some of history's biggest empires.
The Last Leg
Eshaan Akbar, Munya Chawawa and Rose Ayling-Ellis are lined-up to appear this Friday.
For a complete list of TV and radio broadcasts, including repeats, see our full schedule.
Shop
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Last Of The Summer Wine - The Complete CollectionWelcome to Holmfirth, a breathtakingly beautiful village in the heart of the Holme Valley, home to our favourite idiosyncratic retired gentlemen. As they amble about the countryside, these unlikely lads are now enjoying a mischievous second childhood, devising and executing a multitude of (grey) hare-brained schemes. Which is just what you'd expect from Britain's oldest, if not wisest adolescents, and their equally eccentric fellow townspeople. Helped by a supporting band of formidable wives, hen-pecked husbands, sexually-charged mistresses, inventors, pigeon fanciers and balding lotharios, our three heroes are never far from one adventure or another. It'll end in trouble - especially when the formidable Nora Batty finds out. Every single episode of the world's longest-running sitcom - all thirty-one series of the BBC's Last Of The Summer Wine - are included in this repackaged DVD box set. |
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Bridget Jones: Mad About The BoyTwo-time Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger returns to the role that established a romantic comedy heroine for the ages, a woman whose inimitable approach to life and love redefined an entire film genre. The feature will be issued on Blu-ray and DVD later this year, although the date has yet to be confirmed. This fourth film in the hit series finds Bridget widowed with two young children and navigating a relationship for the first time since Mark Darcy's death. |
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The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy - Shaun Of The Dead / Hot Fuzz / The World's EndA triple bill of British comedy features from the hit team of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright. In The World's End (2013), galvanised by Gary (Pegg), 40-somethings Oliver (Martin Freeman), Andy (Frost), Steven (Paddy Considine) and Peter (Eddie Marsan) return to their home town for one more attempt at trying to reach the legendary pub, 'The World's End'. Hot Fuzz (2007) sees a hotshot young London police sergeant, Nicholas Angel (Pegg), shunted to a rural posting after putting all of his colleagues to shame with his efficacy. The sleepy hamlet he's posted to however, behind all the lace-curtain politeness, is a hotbed of grisly murder and vigilante-ism. Shaun Of The Dead (2004) is a cult classic that fuses the style of classic zombie films with observational suburban comedy. Shaun (Pegg) is a useless but likeable thirty-something. Things get worse when the living dead make their appearance, threatening to spread their zombie curse across the nation. Will Shaun be able to rise from his sofa to save the lives of the two women he loves - Liz and his dear old mum? |
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The Punch And Judy ManAppearing in his second feature film-starring role, comedy legend Tony Hancock gives a memorable performance in this bittersweet comedy of small-town snobbery and one-upmanship, reissued on DVD and Blu-ray last week with a new extra feature from Paul Merton, and some very rare, archive television programmes. Content to scratch out a living in the faded seaside town of Piltdown, puppeteer Wally Pinner (Hancock) is unhappily married to Delia (Sylvia Syms), a gift-shop owner with social pretensions. When Wally is invited to perform at the town's anniversary gala reception, however, Delia scents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to raise the couple's social standing... |
For more, see our full list of new releases and items coming soon.
Comedy videos
America insists "we're not the bad guys" - Broken News
The United States insists it's still the hero of the story - despite trade wars, crumbling alliances, and adding skulls to the flag.
Chorts! 2024 winners
Take a look at the winners and runners-up in the recent Chorts! competition.
Night Terrors
A couple are woken in the middle of the night by the sound of someone in their house. When they realise they don't have their phones, they hatch a plan to scare them out.
The Oldest Comedy Club In Britain
This award-winning documentary about the iconic comedy venue Downstairs at The Kings Head, the oldest comedy club in Britain, is now available to watch online for free.
Big Boys - Bloopers
7 minutes of outtakes from the second and third series of Big Boys.
Comedy Central Live - Amy Gledhill
Not even buttery chips can save Amy Gledhill's relationship when her boyfriend drops this Beast-y bombshell.
Spotlight
The Frost Report
59 today, The Frost Report is one of the most important comedies of the 1960s, bringing together for the first time not only the Two Ronnies but also the five British members of Monty Python, alongside a host of similarly exceptional writing and performing talent. Presented and produced by the late Sir David Frost, the satirical comedy ran for just two series but was hugely influential in that time, helping to redefine comedy on television in its own right, nevermind the legacy of its talent. Just over half of its 28 episodes survive in full with the rest existing as audio recordings - yet not one has been commercially released to date.
Thanks for reading
Barry Dunstall submitted this gag to the singing-based BCG Pro Gag-a-Week competition:
I bought a car from an opera singer. It's a Nissan Dorma.
It's the last chance to enter our competition to win Tony Hancock films The Rebel and The Punch And Judy Man.
British Comedy Guide
www.comedy.co.uk
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