Weekly Newsletter |
Monday 12th October 2020 |
We've got two brand new columns to share with you this week: Comedy Rewind and Balls Etc - we hope you enjoy!
Latest comedy news
Al Murray to star in Radio 4 sketch show
Al Murray is to appear as himself in a new Radio 4 sketch show called Al Murray: Totally Out Of Character.
Ed Gamble to host official Taskmaster podcast
Taskmaster: The Podcast is being launched to coincide with Series 10 of the hit show. Ed Gamble will act as the host.
Jon Courtenay wins Britain's Got Talent 2020
Musical comedian Jon Courtenay won Britain's Got Talent 2020 at the weekend. You can watch his performance in this news story.
The Amelia Gething Complex to return for Series 2
BBC children's sketch show The Amelia Gething Complex has been renewed for a second series.
The Thick Of It writer pens Cold War satire
The Thick Of It's "swearing consultant", Ian Martin, is writing a Cold War satire. Tear Down This Wall is based on the historic 1986 Reykjavik summit between US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev.
Sukh Ojla writes her first novel
Stand-up comedian Sukh Ojla has written her debut novel. Sunny is about a 30-year-old woman who has just moved back in to the family home.
Katherine Ryan announces Missus 2021-2022 live tour
Katherine Ryan has announced details of her next major live tour. She will perform Missus from September 2021 into mid-2022.
Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed! gets cinema release
Hit animated CBBC comedy Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed! is coming to cinemas this half term, with a feature comprising six episodes plus one not yet aired on television.
Radio 4 orders Michael Spicer sitcom series
Radio 4 has ordered a series of Michael Spicer: Before Next Door, the semi-autobiographical sitcom created by The Room Next Door star.
Advert
Web series Tuesday Afternoon Kitchen sees retired teetotal wine critic Rupert Sebacious-Smythe and host Simon Chantry bring you the very best soft drinks from around the world. You can watch the pilot episodes online now, with a new series coming to Amazon Prime Video and the Apple TV app on Thursday. Watch
Features
Bill Bailey - Strictly Come Dancing interview
Bill Bailey talks about taking part in the 2020 series of Strictly Come Dancing. The dancing show kicks off on BBC One this Saturday.
Comedy Rewind: The Old Guys: The familiar unfamiliar
In the first edition of new retrospective column Comedy Rewind, we're going back just 11 years to look at a very familiar unfamiliar sitcom, starring Clive Swift and Roger Lloyd-Pack. Peep Show fans read on!
First Gig, Worst Gig: Gary Delaney
His bursting-with-gags debut book has just arrived, but how did Gary Delaney's favourite gig benefit from a busting biker?
Balls Etc: Their Greatest Sporting Moments. And the Pre-Match Toss
Welcome to Balls Etc, where comedy and competitive games collide. To kick off, we asked a bunch of great stand-ups for their greatest sporting moments.
Joz Norris Builds a Weirdly Brilliant Thing, with a Romanian Troll-Goblin
What happens when you find a troll-goblin head while filming in Romania? Joz Norris thrust it into a show, which has now become an impressively inventive film.
British Comedy Quiz #122
Sitcoms feature heavily in this week's set of questions. How much do you remember?
Random 8: Izzy Askwith
Proud winner of this year's Funny Women award, Izzy Askwith recalls a genuinely nerve-wracking night out.
BCG Pro
If you're a writer, performer or producer then head over to our BCG Pro website to find our latest newsletter running down the news and opportunities from the comedy industry.
Podcasts
The always-enlightening Sitcom Geeks podcast has reached its 150th episode. The guests in this edition are Outnumbered and Kate & Koji writers Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. It's a very interesting chat.
Advert
A pilot episode of The Intrepid Adventures Of Pamplemousse Lautrec, 1970s-style spoof about a bumbling secret agent's comical misadventures, is available to watch online now. Watch
TV listings
Ghosts
This week we get the backstory of how Thomas died. However the truth is muddied when the other ghosts tell their version of events. Meanwhile Mike struggles with his own memories of Alison's past.
Guessable
Martin Kemp, Aisling Bea, Jessica Knappett and Miles Jupp take part in the games this week. There's a preview clip on our website of Kemp having a shocker of a round.
Hey Tracey!
Russell Kane, Paige Turley and Radzi play against Jorgie Porter, David Potts and Suzi Ruffell on the second show in the new series
Craig & Danny: Funny, Black And On TV
ITV's Black History Month programming continues with this celebration of pioneering black comedians in Britain, and examination of the future. It's hosted by Red Dwarf's Craig Charles and Danny John-Jules.
Bash The Entertainer: Behind The Smile
A documentary following Scottish social media star Bachala Mbunzama, AKA Bash The Entertainer.
Sorry, I Didn't Know
Russell Kane, Verona Rose, AJ Odudu and Nathan Caton join team leaders Chizzy Akudolu and Judi Love to take viewers on a tour of black British history.
Comedy Game Night
Kerry Godliman, Andrew Maxwell, chef Andi Oliver, sports legend Kriss Akabusi, Game Of Thrones star Hannah Waddingham and BBC Breakfast's Dan Walker are the players this week.
Urban Myths: Joan Rivers And Barbra Streisand
A one-off comedy drama based on Joan Rivers's recollections of a play she starred in with Barbra Streisand. Katherine Ryan and Jessica Barden star.
Taskmaster
Series 10 of the hit comedy challenge show begins - now on Channel 4. Daisy May Cooper, Johnny Vegas, Katherine Parkinson, Mawaan Rizwan and Richard Herring are the contestants.
The Russell Howard Hour
Russelll Howard continues to entertain with his mix of topical features. If you missed the highlights from previous weeks, see the video clips on our pages for his show.
Frankie Boyle's New World Order
A highlights episode featuring the best bits from the previous six weeks. Fingers crossed for a re-run of his end monologues, a couple of which have had panellists crying with laughter.
Black, British And Funny With Mo Gilligan
Mo Gilligan looks at the black comedy circuit in this documentary. He also talks to various comedians to find out why so few black comedians have found mainstream success in this country.
Stand Up For Live Comedy
Fern Brady introduces Kimi Loughton, Andy Field and Toussaint Douglass in this episode, which was filmed in Glasgow.
Have I Got News For You
Stephen Mangan always does a good job hosting the panel show. This time he's set to be joined by contemporary artist and writer Grayson Perry and comedian Janey Godley.
The Graham Norton Show
Dawn French will be joining Graham this week, promoting her new novel Because Of You. One of the more interesting guests is likely to be football manager Arsene Wenger, a man not known for his humour. Also Samuel L Jackson, Freddie Flintoff and singer Michael Kiwanuka.
Spitting Image
Another riotous adventure into the worlds of the rich, famous and powerful with the mischievous puppet merchants.
The Jonathan Ross Show
Series 16 of the chat show. Katherine Ryan leads the line up, with Truth Seekers stars Nick Frost and Samson Kayo. Plus Clare Balding and Billy Ocean.
The new series starting on Radio 4 this week are Rebecca Front's Incredible Women (Monday-Friday, 10:45am) and The Hauntening (Wednesday, 11pm), Meanwhile Breaking The News returns to BBC Radio Scotland (Friday, 1:30pm). For a complete list of TV and radio broadcasts, including repeats, see our full schedule.
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The Bruce Forsyth ShowThe King of Light Entertainment, Bruce Forsyth's career on television spanned a remarkable seven decades - from the London Palladium shows of the 1950s to more than ten years of Strictly Come Dancing. An all-round entertainer and light comedian, Brucie was perhaps never better than on the run of shows he did in the mid 1960s with Morecambe & Wise's scriptwriters, Sid Green and Dick Hills. Mixing music, dancing and comedy in the time-honoured tradition, ABC's The Bruce Forsyth Show focused on laughter, glamour and big name guests, including Diana Dors, Cilla Black, Dudley Moore (and his trio), Tommy Cooper, Harry Secombe and dozens of others. This release contains all nine programmes that survive (of 13) from this classic light entertainment series, including the 1965 Christmas special - plus an incomplete Frankie Howerd edition from 1966. |
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Stephen Fry - TroyThe story of Troy speaks to all of us - the kidnapping of Helen, a queen celebrated for her beauty, sees the Greeks launch a thousand ships against that great city, to which they will lay siege for ten whole and very bloody years. It is Zeus, the king of the gods, who triggers war when he asks the Trojan prince Paris to judge the fairest goddess of them all. The stage is set for the oldest and greatest story ever told, where monstrous passions meet the highest ideals and the lowest cunning. In Troy you will find heroism and hatred, love and loss, revenge and regret, desire and despair. It is these human passions, written bloodily in the sands of a distant shore, that still speak to us today. Troy is a myth in which we seek the truth about ourselves, which Stephen Fry brings "breathtakingly to life for our modern age". |
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Al Murray - The Last 100 Years (Give Or Take) And All ThatA "brilliant and hilarious" new gallop through British history by everyone's favourite pub landlord and comedian, Al Murray. 1066 And All That, the famous tongue-in-cheek parody on British history has been a family favourite ever since it was first published in 1930. But so much has happened since then - and who better to provide an update than stand-up comedian Al Murray? Forget dusty, dry history books from your classroom days. This will bring the last 100 years alive as you discover historical facts that you never knew. |
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Bill Bailey - Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide To HappinessIn Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide To Happiness, Bill explores the nature of happiness and ways to be, well, happy. Being Bill Bailey however, he does so in his own, remarkable, Bill Bailey way. From paddle-boarding down the Thames in a Santa hat to wild swimming in a glacial river, Bill considers the exhilaration of the outdoors, as well as the quieter pleasures of clearing out your moth-eaten grey t-shirts. He attempts to see beyond the mumbo-jumbo of the wellness industry and aims for the heart of real joy and contentment - and how we can all achieve it. |
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Derry Girls - Official 2021 CalendarBased on the characters of Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle and James as they experience their teenager years while living in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in the troubled 1990s, Derry Girls is now approaching its 3rd series. With filming delayed this year due to coronavirus, fans can capture a little of the sitcom's brilliance throughout 2021 with this new, official calendar. |
For more, see our full list of new releases and items coming soon.
Comedy videos
Hands Face Space
In case the Government's three phrase slogans aren't simple enough to remember, they're now releasing song versions of their coronavirus advice. A very short sketch from Gethin Alderman.
The Watch - Teaser Trailer
A first look at The Watch, the new comedy drama based on the characters created by Sir Terry Pratchett. The series, which will launch on BBC America in January, is expected to be shown in the UK later next year.
Truth Seekers - Gus And Twins
A clip from the new comedy drama thriller. Gus (Nick Frost) tries to get into a sold out event.
What Americans think British kids sound like
All Americans think British kids sound like they're in Mary Poppins. Just a silly sketch about that. Nothing demonic about it.
Zoom Goes Wrong
The stars of The Goes Wrong Show have made a sketch for the internet, in character. Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society tries to perform an exclusive new work in aid of The Massive Get Together via Zoom. It goes... well, you can probably guess!
3MMs
The first episode in a new sketch show series. Three Princesses get together for a much-needed lunch to catch up on things, and we follow pop group Satsoomarooma as they prepare to make a comeback.
Rain Bloke and Susan
A short starring Nick Helm. Keith thinks he can predict when it's going to rain, with the help of his stick, Susan.
Gollum vs Donald Trump
We are all grappling with how to feel about the news from America. Here international spokesman, Smeagol/Gollum, articulates our conflict.
Ramona Marquez in 7 Hours On Earth
A clip of Outnumbered star Ramona Marquez appearing in 7 Hours On Earth, a film which is out now on demand.
Rothrow
A short documentary featuring right-wing comedian Rothrow.
Spotlight
Zapped
We were shocked to note that this wonderfully inventive fantasy sitcom from Dave is already a stonking four years old this year. Sadly cancelled by the channel after just three series, it stars Inbetweeners alumnus James Buckley, Paul Kaye, Two Doors Down's Sharon Rooney, plus Kenneth Collard, Louis Emerick and others, in the tale of a mundane office worker, Brian, who finds himself taken to a parallel world and stuck in the town of Munty. It went a little under the radar when originally aired, but all fifteen wonderful episodes are available on demand for free through UKTV Play.
Thanks for reading
Graham Parry has won the latest BCG Pro Gag-a-Week competition on the topic of pets:
The fish in my pond are hiding behind rocks. Or maybe they're just being koi.
British Comedy Guide
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