Pls Like
- TV sitcom
- BBC Three
- 2017 - 2021
- 18 episodes (3 series)
Mockumentary starring Liam Williams as a man learning how to become a YouTube star. Also features Tim Key, Emma Sidi, Jon Pointing, Arnab Chanda, Tom Stourton and more.
Episode menu
Series 1, Episode 1 - Welcome To YouTube
Broadcast details
- Date
- Saturday 11th February 2017
- Time
- 9am
- Channel
- BBC Three
- Length
- 15 minutes, 4 seconds
Cast & crew
Liam Williams | Liam |
Tim Key | James Wirm |
Emma Sidi | Millipede |
Jon Pointing (as Jonathan Pointing) | Charlie South |
Edward Richards | YouTuber |
Anjana Vasan | Competition Vlogger |
Libby Carradice | Competition Vlogger |
Verity Richards | Competition Vlogger |
Isabelle Keenan | Competition Vlogger |
Bobby Archer | Competition Vlogger |
Liam Williams | Writer |
Tom Kingsley | Director |
Rupert Majendie | Producer |
Jenna Jones | Executive Producer |
Marigo Kehoe | Executive Producer |
Olly Cambridge | Associate Producer |
Tom Kingsley | Editor |
Maxwell Fine | Production Designer |
Will Hanke | Director of Photography |
Lucy Williams | Costume Designer |
Nicola Schuller | Make-up Designer |
Tom Kingsley | Graphics |
Alex Moody | Commissioning Editor |
Tilusha Ghelani | Commissioning Editor |
Press
Pls Like is a wonderful find. No matter that vloggers, with their kickably infuriating perfect lives and immaculate optimism and terribly healthy sponsorship deals, are overripe for ridicule: the real discovery is Liam Williams. The young comedian, who describes himself winningly as "a 51-year-old grumpy technophobe in the body of a 28-year-old grumpy technophobe", likes to mock all matters relating to video-logging and its absurdly perky proponents, until he gets the chance to win £10,000 by successfully passing vlogging "challenges" - the beauty tips, the fitness, the "pranks" - oh God, the pranks. Cue much ill-willed raising of Liam's eyebrow as he must undergo mentoring in the art of solipsistic indulgence by soft minds with hard bodies and too many followers. My favourite exchange, in the "health and beauty" episode:
Peppy vlogger Millipede and bestie Chloe: "Can you take a selfie of us?"
(Liam tries awkwardly to get into shot)
"No, can you? Take a selfie? Of us?"
Liam, after tired pause: "You mean... a photo."
But in truth, every passage fizzes with real wit. Over the series minds are changed, and not just those of the characters. It's subtle, bright and hilarious, which makes it all the more astonishing it's being hidden, although This Country, their mockumentary anthem to doomed Cotswold youth also showcases the digital channel's new gift for brilliance.
Euan Ferguson, The Observer, 19th February 2017Review: Pls Like, BBC Three, YouTube, Episode One
The show balances a subtle undoing of the phenomenon with unabashed digs in the narration and cuts to acerbic 'facts' about vlogging. In asking some important questions as we enter a new dawn of television-slash-content consumption, Pls Like is a pretty good starting point.
Beyond The Joke, 18th February 2017Pls Like: a brutal new mockumentary satirising YouTube
With comedian Liam Williams at the helm, this short series skewers the sinister product placements and creepy insincerity of the world of vlogging.
Stuart Heritage, The Guardian, 10th February 2017