Brass Eye
- TV comedy
- Channel 4
- 1997 - 2001
- 7 episodes (1 series)
Anarchic spoof news programme fronted by Chris Morris. Also features Mark Heap, Kevin Eldon, Doon Mackichan, David Cann, Barbara Durkin and more.
Press clippings Page 2
Video: Brass Eye's 'Sutcliffe: The Musical'
It caused a pretty big furore at the time, imagining that Sutcliffe had been allowed out of Broadmoor on day release for rehearsals to star in the show. According to the clip this sequence below was banned, but it looks pretty familiar to me. I should imagine if it was made now everyone involved would be sent to the Tower and told they would never work in television again whether it was shown or not.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 13th November 2020The 100 best TV shows of the 21st century
The Thick Of It is the highest rated British comedy in fourth place. Also listed: The Office (6), Fleabag (8), Peep Show (9), Nighty Night (16), Black Mirror (23), Spaced (29), Catastrophe (34), Brass Eye (37), Detectorists (38), Nathan Barley (47), Black Books (53), Inside No. 9 (66), Shameless (70), The Inbetweeners (74), Gavin and Stacey (81), Fresh Meat (86), Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (92), The Trip (95) and The Mighty Boosh (98).
The Guardian, 16th September 2019Chris Morris - the master satirist of his day - followed his TV news spoofs On the Hour (1991-92) and The Day Today (1994) with this glorious send-up of investigative journalism.
Again starring Morris in stentorian, Paxmanesque anchorman mode, the series tackled such weighty themes as animal welfare and drugs in ludicrous fashion, conning well meaning and/or publicity hungry celebrities into endorsing bogus causes without bothering to do their research. The show's overblown graphics were particularly inspired.
Brass Eye's "Paedogedon!" special caused uproar in 2001 but the sight of pop star Phil Collins wearing a baseball cap promoting "Nonce sense" belongs to the ages.
The provocations of Sacha Baron Cohen's recent Who is America? owe a huge debt to Morris.
Joe Sommerlad, The Independent, 6th September 2018Meet Brass Eye, the original Who Is America?
The premiere of Sacha Baron Cohen's new show, Who Is America?, surprised viewers by exposing the incredible lengths some politicians and pundits will go to when provided with a teleprompter to read from while on a legitimate-looking television set. Fans of British satirist Christopher Morris's 1997 TV show Brass Eye, however, were already well-aware of this phenomenon.
Ramsey Ess, Vulture, 17th July 2018Ali G vs Trump - and other inspired spoof interviews
Fifteen years ago, when Donald Trump was merely a business tycoon and not the most controversial US president since Nixon, he found himself face to face with Sacha Baron Cohen's cult comedy alter-ego: aspiring UK rapper Ali G. Now that Diane Morgan's Philomena Cunk is currently rekindling the trend for spoof interviews, we look back at one of the best.
Mark Butler, i Newspaper, 4th April 201839 of the best quotes from The Day Today & Brass Eye
The Day Today and Brass Eye were both amazingly subversive satires, upending the news and current affairs of the day in gloriously silly - and sometimes controversial - style.
i Newspaper, 28th March 2018Watching Brass Eye as a documentary
The genius of Brass Eye's satire meant it was never too far off the tabloid journalism it skewered.
Emma O'Brien, The Skinny, 5th February 201820 years on, how Chris Morris invented fake news
Out-takes from Brass Eye have been made into a film to mark its birthday - but fans of the cult show can only view it at rare live cinema screenings.
Vanessa Thorpe, The Guardian, 22nd October 2017Gallery: 20 politically incorrect 'modern' comedies
Here are 20 recent comedies that wouldn't have been green-lit today.
Ed Power, The Telegraph, 17th October 2017Oxide Ghosts: the Brass Eye Tapes - review
This is one for Morris completists, I think. If you have no idea who he is or what Brass Eye was, this really isn't going to be much help. And the chances are you'll leave the cinema feeling distinctly underwhelmed.
Philip Caveney, Bouquets & Brickbats, 17th September 2017