BCG Daily Wednesday 23rd April 2014
News
Features
Press clippings
Warren United - TV review
If there were problems with Warren United, they were that the writing wasn't good enough and the animation crude.
Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian, 23rd April 2014Chris Addison on swapping politics for pillow talk
The Thick of It favourite thinks the romcom is an 'awful genre'. So why is he happy with a starring role in Sky Living's new Lake District-set series Trying Again? Alice Jones finds out.
Alice Jones, The Independent, 23rd April 2014Radio Times review
Life isn't exactly turning out as planned for 20-something Marcella (Roisin Conaty). She wants to be an actor, but has ended up in "communications" (she delivers post) and spends her weekends overindulging in fried chicken and sambuca.
However, with a birthday on the horizon, she decides that something needs to change. Cue enrolment with a strait-laced life coach who believes that all her problems would be solved if she found the right man.
Happily, our fiery protagonist isn't having any of it, preferring to mastermind her own, alternative fresh start in quick-witted, raucous fashion.
Ellie Austin, Radio Times, 23rd April 2014Ricky Gervais' Derek: has he toned it down for series 2
The controversial sitcom about a mentally disabled man in a care home is back for another series. But are there signs that the creator has taken on board the vociferous criticism?
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 23rd April 2014Ricky Gervais: I'm considering a third series of Derek
The comic insisted that he will round off his Channel 4 comedy with either a full third run or a one-off special.
Morgan Jeffery, Digital Spy, 23rd April 2014Simon Munnery opens Fylm School
Maverick comedian Simon Munnery is expanding his Fylm project from next week, hosting screen-based comedy nights in which other performers will also try out his innovative technique of sitting in the audience and having his performance projected onto an onstage screen.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 23rd April 2014Russell Brand: the "magical" time he used a prostitute
But the comedian and actor insists "I am no libertine" and warns people tempted to follow his example to be "careful with their souls" on documentary Love for Sale.
Ben Dowell, Radio Times, 23rd April 2014QI: Nature's great and gory defence mechanisms
A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week: QI's defences are up.
Molly Oldfield and John Mitchinson, The Telegraph, 23rd April 2014Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense review
This clever PG Wodehouse tribute reproduces the manners of the Edwardian English upper classes, while cunningly sending them up.
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 23rd April 2014Derek, series 2, episode 1, review
There are reports that a third series is being considered. My advice, for what it's worth, is: don't do it. It is possible to have too much of a sloppy, sentimental, embarrassing thing, you know - even when it stars Ricky Gervais.
Terry Ramsey, The Telegraph, 23rd April 2014GameFace, TV review
Roisin Conaty shoves a series' worth of plot into 22 minutes.
Will Dean, The Independent, 23rd April 2014Glenn Wool prepares 'greatest hits' show
In terms of his solo career, Wool has earnt a loyal fanbase, who are about to be fully rewarded for sticking with their guy in a show that's as close to a greatest hits tour as you could get in stand-up comedy. The Jokes I'm Most Fond Of will cull material across 20 years of performing and seven solo Edinburgh Fringe shows.
Brian Donaldson, The List, 23rd April 2014Frank Skinner: YouTube has already killed the anecdote
The comedian talks to us about live performance and dirty jokes ahead of his Man in a Suit tour.
Brian Donaldson, The List, 23rd April 2014Why Ricky Gervais and Derek are Normcore but nice
Yes, Normcore. The 'theory' proposed by American trend forecasting collective K-Hole and picked up by New York Magazine as a fashion (or anti- fashion) movement that has become such a 'thing' that it's even been given a full page explanation in The Sun.
The idea is that rather than trying to be different with what you wear, you try to be 'ardently ordinary' or 'endearingly awkward', and, for a character rarely seen out of his zip-up polyester cardigan and sweat pants, it means Derek is not just riding a Normcore wave, he's the king of the movement.
Tom Atkinson, The Huffington Post, 23rd April 2014I can't get my head around Derek
A second series does give Gervais the chance to explore the characters more deeply, but with Karl Pilkington leaving in this opener the series instantly loses its main comedy draw.
The Custard TV, 23rd April 2014Confusing comedy returns with a lacklustre opening
My issue with Derek is that I can never really relax into it and believe that I'm actually watching a group of characters who live and work in a care home.
Matt D., Unreality TV, 23rd April 2014Review: Derek had me laughing, crying and hating myself
The new series of Derek opens with brilliant comic scenes about spiders, electrocution and sex between clowns and chimps but, by the end of the half hour, viewers just might be quietly weeping.
Julie McDowall, The Herald, 23rd April 2014Derek, series two, TV review
The trouble isn't Derek's condition, or lack of, it's Derek himself. He feels like a cartoon in a world of verisimilitude.
Will Dean, The Independent, 23rd April 2014TV review: Derek
It's a fine start overall, with numerous emotional responses neatly housed within an ultimately safe environment.
Julian Hall, Chortle, 23rd April 2014Dundee screenwriter awaits reaction to her anti-romcom
A Dundee screenwriter's "anti-romantic comedy" movie will hit her home town next month. Jill Mannion, 34, and co-writer, fellow Dundonian Kevin McComiskie, 31, wrote Random Acts of Romance at film school in Vancouver in 2006.
Graeme Ogston, The Dundee Courier, 23rd April 2014James Campbell's "Comedy 4 Kids" comes to Brighton
James Campbell returns to TOM with his hit show Comedy 4 Kids right at the end of Brighton Fringe, offering a welcome respite for parents fed up with face-painting, macaroni workshops and clowns with his unique brand of stand up comedy that is just as likely to have the adults laughing as the children.
Broadway World, 23rd April 2014Things we've learned in Derek Series 2 so far
Ricky Gervais and Karl Pilkington are back for the second series of Derek and we've already learned some pretty important lessons.
Emily Hewett, Metro, 23rd April 2014Ricky Gervais: I've attempted to be a good person
Ricky Gervais sat down with HuffPostUK's Culture of Kindness to talk about his motivation for his own favourite character.
Caroline Frost, The Huffington Post, 23rd April 2014Doll & Em review
I've never seen a programme quite like Doll & Em and I can really tell it is a product of love, both for the show and for each other.
Becca Moody, Moody Comedy, 23rd April 2014Catasha interview
'I have been at it about 6 years now in a very lackadaisical manner.'
Comedy Blogedy, 23rd April 2014Video: Ricky Gervais on David Brent and getting older
Ricky Gervais joined BBC Breakfast to talk about David Brent and getting older.
BBC News, 23rd April 2014Vikki Stone interview
Vikki Stone is a comedian, actress, DJ, singer, newspaper columnist and musician.
Martin Walker, Broadway Baby, 23rd April 2014Sean Hughes interview
Sean's career defining show Life Becomes Noises, is out on DVD. It's follow up, Penguins will be released in the autumn.
Martin Walker, Broadway Baby, 23rd April 2014David Isaac: Mind the Gap
Writing a sitcom script is very hard. Writing a great sitcom script is even harder. Writing a great sitcom script that turns into a great sitcom episode is so hard it is literally beyond your control.
David Isaac, Sitcom Geek, 23rd April 2014Videos
TV & radio
Incredible Women
Series 3, Episode 3 - Rita RaynerJeremy meets singing legend Rita Rayner. She and her sisters are reforming the Rayner Sisters close harmony group, to record a song for a new album of 50s hits with the likes of Michael Buble, Rod Stewart and Ozzy Osborne.
Gloomsbury
Series 2, Episode 4 - Ever Decreasing Literary CirclesFlushed with success, Ginny holds a literary salon at Vera's castle. Disappointingly the glitterati stay away. Only Venus turns up and she has never read a book in her life.
Susan Calman Is Convicted
Series 2, Episode 4 - What Makes Humans Human?Susan asks if you can really describe a person by simply stating their genetic code.
Derek
Series 2, Episode 1A year has gone by since we last visited Broad Hill Retirement Home and there's some new residents, additions to the staff and the welcome return of a few familiar faces.
Alex Zane's Funny Rotten Scoundrels
Episode 4Alex Zane introduces more stand-up from London's Century Club. Featuring Kerry Godliman, Dan Schrieber and Rhys James.
GameFace
Episode 0 - PilotIt's Marcella's birthday and this year she's determined to turn over a new leaf. But first she has to work out whose bed she's in and why she's covered in fried chicken.
It Is Rocket Science!
Series 3, Episode 4 - Astronomical ErrorsA whistlestop tour of the history of astronomy and the mistakes that have taught us lessons and lead us out into the stars. Also Isaac Newton's x-rated teenage diary.
Bunk Bed
Series 1, Episode 4Patrick Marber and Peter Curran find refuge from the hurly burly of life in a bunk bed late at night, where they talk through the darkness.