Weekly Newsletter |
Monday 22nd June 2020 |
Hello! Monday has rolled around once more, which means a new selection of news, videos and features to share.
Latest comedy news
Mark Rylance to star in golf film The Fantastic Flitcrofts
Mark Rylance is to take the lead role in The Fantastic Flitcrofts, a fact-based British comedy film about a golfer who gatecrashed the 1976 British Open.
The Lateish Show With Mo Gilligan to return
Channel 4 has ordered a second series of The Lateish Show With Mo Gilligan, to air in 2021.
David Tennant lends voice to new comedy pilot Heart To Heart
David Tennant voices a teenage girl's heart in a new romantic comedy pilot. Heart To Heart stars Fern Deacon as a patient waking from heart surgery, who hears a voice.
Expectation options Njambi McGrath's novel
The debut novel by comedian Njambi McGrath, Through The Leopard's Gaze, has been optioned for a television adaptation by production company Expectation.
Features
Stand-up specials released during lockdown
A surge of new live albums and specials are helping to maintain lockdown morale.
First Gig, Worst Gig: Joe Bor
He hit the depths pre-Daley and new heights before Norton: Joe Bor gets us all warmed up.
Mary Millington: the 70s cinema icon
As a new Blu-ray box set collating her films is released, its curator and her biographer, Simon Sheridan, explains all about Mary Millington, a pioneering personality of the 1970s.
British Comedy Quiz #106
Last Of The Summer Wine, On The Buses and Joyce Grenfell are amongst this week's question subjects.
Random 8: Alexander Bennett
Aardman admiration, Sheen envy and robot disappointment: Alexander Bennett takes the big eight.
BCG Pro
On our website for writers, performers and producers: an interview with directors Big Red Button; advice on how to perform online from home; an article about the benefits of learning how to pen topical gags; and more.
Podcasts
The latest Sitcom Geeks episode catches up with the news - provoking some interesting discussion topics. Meanwhile US comic Bill Burr is on RHLSTP.
TV listings
Comedians: Home Alone
Tom Allen offers some quarantine etiquette tips, Jason Manford demonstrates how to cook healthily for six kids, and Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar revisit The Kumars.
Agatha Raisin
When James vanishes after a blazing row with Agatha leaving behind only a trail of blood and a dead body, everyone is left fearing the worst.
Staged
The final two episodes of the sitcom... late on Wednesday night (Thursday morning), as football is now back on TV. Simon brings in an old friend to try to convince David and Michael to put their faith in him.
QI
Sandi Toksvig talks garbage as she asks Alan Davies and this week's guest panellists, Bridget Christie, Johnny Vegas and Holly Walsh, to reveal all they know about rubbish. This episode was recorded just as lockdown struck and thus there is no audience.
The First Team
The Chairman announces a caretaker manager in Episode 5 of the football comedy. After a poor start the team is forced to attend a pub night as an apology to the fans.
The Other One
Cathy proposes they get Colin a memorial bench but, as Cat doesn't have the money, she has to improvise. Cathy also agrees to teach Cat how to ride a bike, which doesn't go quite to plan.
Big Zuu's Big Eats
Big Zuu and the boys are going international - flying all the way to the Isle of Man to cook the perfect meal for comedian Josh Widdicombe. Click through to our website to read a quick-fire interview with Josh.
Michael McIntyre's Big Show
More highlights, including Peter Andre getting a shock when Michael wakes him to play The Midnight Gameshow.
New comedy on the radio this week includes Tourist Trap (today, 6:30pm, BBC Radio Wales), a new series of Breaking The News (Friday, 1:30pm, BBC Radio Scotland), and a Dave Podmore special (Sunday, 7:15pm, Radio 4). For a complete list of broadcasts, including repeats, see our full schedule.
Shop
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The Mary Millington Movie CollectionAs featured above, Mary Millington was a model, campaigning personality and actor, who became one of the '70s biggest British film stars but is now largely forgotten. More than 40 years since her early death, this special, limited edition Blu-ray box set features her most glamorous film roles in new, stunning HD restorations, plus a feature-length documentary about her life. Star of Britain's longest-running ever film, Come Play With Me (at one London cinema for nearly 4 years), which is included in the set, the films also amount to a who's-who of comedy names, including Irene Handl, Alfie Bass, Queenie Watts, Henry McGee, Ronald Fraser, Diana Dors, Kenny Lynch and Bernie Winters. It's released today. |
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Stewart Francis - Into The PunsetIn December 2019, Stewart Francis said goodbye to stand-up - and with it a 20-year career in comedy - with his tour Into The Punset, which had sold-out a multitude of venues across the UK and Ireland over the best part of two years. Now, thanks to the power of technology, one of these performances is being streamed. The genius of pun comedy can now be seen (and heard) in this recording of a Dublin performance in May last year, as a video download/stream, or in audio formats. |
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Monty Python's Flying Circus - Complete Series 4The fourth and final long-awaited, meticulously restored series of Monty Python's Flying Circus, starring Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Restored, remastered in HD and each episode fully recreated, with cuts reinstated and sketches returned to their original length, these final six programmes from Autumn 1974 are now presented on Blu-ray (or standard old DVD, if that's what you like) with studio out-takes, exclusive extras from the Monty Python archive, and more. |
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Georgy GirlOne of the defining films of the 1960s, Silvio Narizzano's adaptation of Margaret Foster's 1965 novel stars Lynn Redgrave in an Oscar-nominated role as the put-upon teenager Georgy Parkin, newly restored to high definition and containing a wealth of extra features. If you previously missed out on the slightly pricier, Blu-ray premiere limited edition release, this standard edition could be right up your street. Awkward and full of self-doubt, Georgy finds herself forever just outside of the 'Swinging Sixties' London life she craves. Marked by a wonderfully warm and appealing central performance from Redgrave, and with its superb supporting cast including Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates and the great James Mason, Georgy Girl captures the spirit of the era - and boasts one of the all-time great film theme tunes by Jim Dale. |
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Michael Spicer - The Secret Political Adviser: The Unredacted Files Of The Man In The Room Next DoorThe debut novel from 'The Room Next Door' sketch series star, comedian Michael Spicer, The Secret Political Adviser imagines the life of a secret political adviser working with clients such as Boris Johnson, Prince Andrew and Donald Trump. Little is known about the secret political adviser known as the Man in the Room Next Door - only a handful of people know his real name - but this explosive journal and collection of his correspondence offers a startling insight into his life. It reveals the elusive organisation that employs him, as well as reams of information about working with big-name clients. From leaked documents to illicit communications, and day-to-day notes on the treacherous world he inhabits, The Secret Political Adviser is a window into the world of the most influential political adviser on the planet. |
For more, see our full list of new releases and items coming soon.
Comedy videos
This Country - Deleted scenes
It turns out they filmed so much quality content for the latest series of This Country that the deleted scenes keep on coming. Head to our website to watch them all.
The Crime Scene
This should be an easy case to solve...
Comedians Solve World Problems
Ahir Shah and Dane Baptiste tear themselves away from their phones for five minutes to solve society's screen addiction.
There She Goes - Series 2 trailer
Critically acclaimed comedy drama There She Goes returns to BBC Two soon, continuing the story of a severely learning disabled 9-year-old girl Rosie. Here's the first look.
DJ! The Don Heckle Story
Trailer for the much anticipated documentary about Don Heckle, the guy who created the 'DJ!' sound on a Yamaha Keyboard.
Be careful sharing the Zoom invite
Oops... make sure you send the Zoom invite link to the correct people. This sketch from The Pin features various recognisable faces.
The Paddock - Episode Three
Phil Wang, Claudia O'Doherty, Jon Pointing and Tom & Demi are the comedians in E4's latest showcase episode.
Housebound - Episode Eleven
The sitcom made up of monologues continues. The cast list continues to add impressive names too - at this rate, everyone who has ever been in a sitcom will have appeared in Housebound by the time lockdown is done.
Spotlight
Waiting For God
Which sitcoms come foremost to mind when you think of the 1990s? Drop The Dead Donkey? Father Ted? Birds Of A Feather, perhaps? Red Dwarf? Despite being one of the decade's most popular comedies, BBC One's Waiting For God is probably not paramount in your list. A huge hit, it ran for five series in quick succession through the first half of the decade, bowing out after 47 episodes. Focusing on ever-angry Diana and fun-loving Tom, who strike up a friendship in a south coast retirement home, the comedy followed their varied adventures refusing to retire with quiet grace and decorum, despite the hopes of their families and Bayview Retirement Home's management. Wonderfully written, performed and produced, Stephanie Cole and Graham Crowden took the starring roles. All five series are available now to delight in afresh on DVD. Perfect timing, as Sunday will mark the comedy's 30th anniversary.
Thanks for reading
Jonny King has won the latest BCG Pro Gag-a-Week competition on the topic of "newspapers":
Every morning I get up and hate what I see in the mirror, but on the plus side the puzzles are good and it's cheaper than The Guardian.
You've reached the bottom of this email. Not enough? There's so much more on our website, including years worth of archive content, all for free! For example, here's an article in which we look at all the visual gags in Peter Kay's Car Share.
British Comedy Guide
www.comedy.co.uk
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