British Comedy Guide
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Press clippings

Blazer worn by Eric Morecambe at final Tewkesbury performance rediscovered

The blazer worn during his final live performance by beloved comic Eric Morecambe has been rediscovered by the theatre that played host to him.

David Wood, Punchline Gloucester, 1st July 2025

"We told jokes in the camps" - but is Jewish comedy doomed?

David Baddiel, Howard Jacobson and others discuss the idea of 'Jewish wit' and whether anti-Israel hostility poses it an existential threat.

Claire Allfree, The Telegraph, 1st July 2025
Harry Hill's TV Burp. Harry Hill. Copyright: Avalon Television

Harry Hill will never bring back TV Burp - but he wants someone else to revive it

The comedian loves crime dramas but finds property shows "triggering".

Michael Hogan, Radio Times, 1st July 2025
Monty Python Live (Mostly). Image shows from L to R: John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle. Copyright: Phil McIntyre Entertainment / Hipgnosis

Monty Python props go under the hammer

Dozens of props from Monty Python's final live shows are being auctioned. The items, from Terry Gilliam's personal collection, include a life-size llama and the iconic dead parrot, complete with cage, as well as costumes from the troupe's Live (Mostly) gigs at London's O2 arena in 2014.

Chortle, 1st July 2025

Jason Manford left furious after being forced to share a hotel bedroom

Jason Manford was left utterly furious after he was forced to share a hotel bedroom with his pal - despite booking two rooms.

The touring comedian, 44, blasted the chain as "naughty" after learning they had overbooked - and he would have to double up.

Joshua Rom, The Sun, 30th June 2025

James Buckley and wife 'stalked by woman, 26, and threatened with violent acts'

The alleged stalker has been banned from using any electronic devices to contact the couple.

Thomas Godfrey, The Sun, 30th June 2025
Seann Walsh

Seann Walsh was the victim of a mugging

Taking to his Instagram Stories, Seann revealed: "My phone was stolen (yes out of my hand and yes, I live in London) a week or so ago and it is now in China if anyone happens to be passing by."

Joanne Kavanagh, The Sun, 30th June 2025
Extras. Darren Lamb (Stephen Merchant). Copyright: BBC

Stephen Merchant dusts off his 1994 Glastonbury appearance with Pulp

Stephen Merchant marked the Sheffield band's appearance by posting a clip of himself in the crowd singing along with Jarvis Cocker when they appeared there in 1994. At the time Merchant was only 19 and was studying for a BA in Film & Literature at the Univeristy of Warwick. He had not met Ricky Gervais. They met in 1997 when Gervais hired him as his assistant at Radio X and they went on to co-write The Office.

Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 29th June 2025
Such Brave Girls. Image shows left to right: Josie (Kat Sadler), Deb (Louise Brealey), Billie (Lizzie Davidson)

Such Brave Girls: TV so hilariously savage it will make you yowl with pleasure

Move over Julia Davies and Sharon Horgan - this devastating, ruthless sitcom is basically the British psyche on a screen. It's just the medicine.

Rhik Samadder, The Guardian, 28th June 2025
Such Brave Girls. Image shows left to right: Josie (Kat Sadler), Deb (Louise Brealey), Billie (Lizzie Davidson)

'Better dead than single': The dark comedy inspired by 'bleak' dating scene

Horrible snogs. Hideous outfits. Heinous crimes. Between bursts of laughter, that's how real-life sisters Kat Sadler and Lizzie Davidson describe the new series of their BBC comedy Such Brave Girls.

Shola Lee, BBC, 28th June 2025
The Fast Show. Image shows from L to R: Paul Whitehouse, Simon Day, Arabella Weir, John Thomson, Caroline Aherne, Charlie Higson, Mark Williams. Copyright: BBC

The Fast Show slapped with trigger warning over infamous scene

Nineties sketch comedy The Fast Show has been given trigger warnings by the BBC including for one of its infamous Suit You Sir scenes.

The Corporation has flagged up two episodes of Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson's classic series on iPlayer for using "discriminatory language".

Felicity Cross, The Sun, 27th June 2025
Peep Show. Image shows from L to R: Mark Corrigan (David Mitchell), Jeremy Usbourne (Robert Webb). Copyright: Objective Productions

Do you recognise unassuming tower block?

This seemingly plain tower block appeared in a hit noughties sitcom - but could you recognise it now?

The flats featured in a much-loved British TV show, although it might look a little different to how you remember it.

Summer Raemason, The Sun, 27th June 2025
Chicken Town. Graham Fellows. Credit: Jessica Sansom

Chicken Town review

A comedy great gets lost in an English backwater.

Helen Hawkins, The Arts Desk, 27th June 2025
The Ballad Of Wallis Island. Image shows left to right: Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden), Charles Heath (Tim Key), Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan)

The Ballad Of Wallis Island is a masterpiece of the extraordinary made ordinary

With The Ballad Of Wallis Island, Tom Basden and Tim Key have written a poignant and comical exploration of music, loss, nostalgia and hope.

Nicola Bishop, The Conversation, 26th June 2025
Chicken Town. Graham Fellows. Credit: Jessica Sansom

Chicken Town review

A larky comedy from the badlands of Lincolnshire.

Danny Leigh, The Financial Times, 26th June 2025
Bob Flag

Kim Wells on the never less than oddball British comedian Bob Flag

Kim Wells established and ran the legendary Earth Exchange Cabaret venue at a vegetarian restaurant in London from 1980 to 1989 - in the early days of Alternative Comedy in the UK... The Earth Exchange was situated on the Archway Road in Highgate, where I lived for a few years (in a flat beside the Archway Road, not in the road or in the venue). Kim brought up the subject of British performer Bob Flag.

Kim Wells, John Fleming's Blog, 26th June 2025
I'm Alan Partridge. Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan). Copyright: Talkback Productions

The first thing we see in Alan Partridge's hotel room

The opening episode of the first series of I'm Alan Partridge, A Room with an Alan, was broadcast on the 3rd November 1997. What is the first thing we see Alan Partridge doing in his room at the Linton Travel Tavern? Oh, the usual stuff. Some bad programme ideas. The first of many dream sequences. But the very first thing we see is him doing is reading a newspaper article about Tony Hayers... the person who is about to deny him his second series.

A Young(ish) Perspective, 26th June 2025
Chicken Town. Graham Fellows. Credit: Jessica Sansom

Bleak landscapes and banjos: composer Bernard Hughes discusses his score for Chicken Town

Composer Bernard Hughes first met director Richard Bracewell when working on the film Bill, a 2015 Horrible Histories take on the life of Shakespeare for which he provided some of the score. The pair were keen to collaborate again but the pandemic put paid to their plans. The new black comedy Chicken Town sees the pair reunited.

Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk, 26th June 2025
Chicken Town. Graham Fellows. Credit: Jessica Sansom

Film review: Chicken Town

Typical. You wait ages for a gentle comedy about an unlikely drug dealer and then two come along at the same time. No sooner has Rosie Jones' C4 sitcom Pushers bedded in than Chicken Town is released, an engagingly quirky tale of dopey folk set on the fringes of Norfolk. Which is apt, because the characters here have norfolking idea how to be dealers.

Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 26th June 2025
R.I.P - Rest In Peace

Tributes paid to comedy producer Joanna Beresford after her death at 68

She was head of production at Avalon for more than a decade until her retirement in 2022, overseeing shows such as Catastrophe, Taskmaster and Not Going Out.

Chortle, 25th June 2025
Transaction. Image shows left to right: Tom (Thomas Gray), Millie (Francesca Mills), Simon (Nick Frost), Linda (Kayla Meikle), Liv (Jordan Gray)

ITV workplace sitcom Transaction breaks away from trans tropes with panache

Jordan Gray is excellent as the snarky, manipulative and completely unsackable new shop worker Olivia.

Phil Harrison, The Independent, 25th June 2025
Transaction. Image shows left to right: Tom (Thomas Gray), Millie (Francesca Mills), Simon (Nick Frost), Linda (Kayla Meikle), Liv (Jordan Gray)

Transaction review

Jordan Gray is excellent as the snarky, manipulative and completely unsackable new shop worker Olivia.

Phil Harrison, The Independent, 25th June 2025
Chicken Town. Graham Fellows. Credit: Jessica Sansom

Chicken Town review

Sparky performances lift this British crime comedy about a pair of young drug dealers who forge an unlikely alliance with a retired busybody.

Cath Clarke, The Guardian, 25th June 2025
The Trip. Image shows from L to R: Steve (Steve Coogan), Rob (Rob Brydon). Copyright: Baby Cow Productions / Arbie

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan in town as The Trip comes to Kent

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan were spotted in Kent as filming gets underway for the fifth instalment of The Trip.

Louis Walker, Kent Online, 24th June 2025
Transaction. Image shows left to right: Tom (Thomas Gray), Millie (Francesca Mills), Simon (Nick Frost), Linda (Kayla Meikle), Liv (Jordan Gray)

Transaction review

Jordan Gray's ITV2 sitcom Transaction isn't afraid to poke fun at its lead character, but does every punchline have to be about being trans?

Anita Singh, The Telegraph, 24th June 2025
Transaction. Image shows left to right: Tom (Thomas Gray), Millie (Francesca Mills), Simon (Nick Frost), Linda (Kayla Meikle), Liv (Jordan Gray)

Transaction review

It may well turn out that this ITV sitcom becomes another pawn in the culture wars, with the press taking sides depending on where they stand on issues (The Telegraph, for example, called it "a crude, one-note trans comedy"). But you definitely don't have to be involved in the politics of gender to watch it. You could always just sit back and laugh as Linda carries away a handful of penis-shaped baguettes.

Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 24th June 2025
Transaction. Image shows left to right: Tom (Thomas Gray), Millie (Francesca Mills), Simon (Nick Frost), Linda (Kayla Meikle), Liv (Jordan Gray)

Transaction review

Depending on which echo chamber you inhabit, trans people are usually portrayed as either noble victims or society-destroying predators. But some of them are just knobheads.

Chortle, 24th June 2025
Transaction. Liv (Jordan Gray)

I talk to Jordan Gray

"Putting it out now means so much more than if it had come out two years ago. I'm really proud of ITV for doing that."

Elliot Gonzalez, I Talk Telly, 24th June 2025

Our UK seaside village is inundated with tourists after Doc Martin made us famous

Tens of thousands of fans flock to the peaceful fishing town of Port Isaac each year.

Sam Creed, The Sun, 23rd June 2025
Transaction. Image shows left to right: Tom (Thomas Gray), Millie (Francesca Mills), Simon (Nick Frost), Linda (Kayla Meikle), Liv (Jordan Gray)

Jordan Gray on trans TV 'milestones' as her new comedy show Transaction arrives at ITV

"We are a storytelling species - it's as necessary to us as reproduction and we need it," Jordan tells Attitude in a new interview,

Jamie Windust, Attitude Magazine, 23rd June 2025

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