British Comedy Guide
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Jo Brand's Great Wall Of Comedy. Image shows from L to R: Rebecca Front, Jo Brand, Barry Cryer. Copyright: STV Productions
Jo Brand's Great Wall Of Comedy

Jo Brand's Great Wall Of Comedy

  • TV panel show
  • U&Gold
  • 2013
  • 5 episodes (1 series)

A series celebrating the great British sitcom. Two teams, lead by Barry Cryer and Rebecca Front, are asked questions by Jo Brand. Stars Jo Brand, Barry Cryer and Rebecca Front.

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Episode menu

Series 1, Episode 1

A fun panel show about all things sitcom, with Jo Brand hosting, Barry Cryer and Rebecca Front as team captains, and Tony Robinson and Hugh Dennis the first guests.

Notes

Rebecca and Hugh won.

Broadcast details

Date
Sunday 16th June 2013
Time
7:30pm
Channel
U&Gold
Length
40 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast
Jo Brand Host / Presenter
Barry Cryer Team Captain
Rebecca Front Team Captain
Guest cast
Hugh Dennis Guest
Tony Robinson Guest
Ian Lavender Self
Lesley Joseph Self
Shaun Williamson Self
Andrew Sachs Self
Writing team
Kevin Day Writer
Will Ing Writer
Giles Pilbrow Writer
David Reilly Writer
Aiden Spackman Writer
Dan Swimer Writer
David Quantick Writer
Production team
Geraldine Dowd Director
Matt Nida Producer
Gary Chippington Executive Producer
Steve Dix Editor
Tim Ellison Editor
Richard Drew Production Designer
Dobs Vye Composer
Jo Bunting Consultant Producer

Press

Eager to know why Manuel from Fawlty Towers had a moustache? The worst thing about being in Blackadder? Or maybe which actors had to bring their own clothes to film a hit pilot? The answers to these hot-button issues in Jo Brand's poorly disguised old-timey clip-show are perfectly pitched, provoking - if anything - the kind of weary, non-committal, slightly surly shrug that's engendered by watching the actual programme itself.

Brand presides over a genial half-hour of sitcom quizzery that sees team leaders Rebecca Front and Barry 'Mine's a Large One!' Cryer joined by Hugh Dennis and Tony Robinson for a trawl through some well-thumbed snippets from the BBC archives. Andrew Sachs and Ian Lavender deliver creaky old war stories and Cryer delves into his endless fund of Willie Rushton anecdotes, before a round where the guests all try on a variety of wigs puts the show out of its misery.

Brand and guests are very easy people to like, but this is the worst kind of filler; to damn it with even fainter praise, it's the sort of programme that Alan Partridge would consider 'classic broadcasting'.

Adam Lee Davies, Time Out, 16th June 2013

Radio Times review

This is billed as a panel game but it's more of a parlour game - perhaps after a stodgy supper, given the pervading air of lethargy - in which four comedy stars flop out on sofas separated by a bank of TV screens from host Jo Brand.

Team captains Rebecca Front and Barry Cryer are joined by guests Tony Robinson and Hugh Dennis, who divulge a few of their own comedy secrets and answer questions that pop up on screen from the likes of Andrew Sachs, Lesley Joseph and Shaun Williamson. It's mildly amusing, but Jo Brand is always better unscripted.

Patrick Mulkern, Radio Times, 16th June 2013

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