British Comedy Guide

BCG Daily Friday 10th September 2021

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Image shows from L to R: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

Review: Comedy Greats - Laurel & Hardy

Children today, once they get accustomed to the strangeness of the pre-war clothes and the flickering black-and-white film, will still find their surreal antics hilarious. Bring back Stan and Ollie!

Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 10th September 2021
Sex Education. Image shows from L to R: Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa), Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey), Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield). Copyright: Eleven Film

Asa Butterfield and Ncuti Gatwa on Sex Education 3

As the Netflix phenomenon returns, its stars and creator talk new relationships, morals and how Covid has changed the way we think about intimacy forever.

James Mottram, i Newspaper, 10th September 2021
Phil Wang

Phil Wang on racist heckling and Asian stereotypes

Phil Wang talks to Sathnam Sanghera about Empire, racism and his surprising defence of Seventies sitcoms.

Sathnam Sanghera, The Times, 10th September 2021
Ghosts. Thomas (Mathew Baynton). Copyright: Monumental Pictures

Mathew Baynton on Ghosts, clowning and his inner poet

Actor Mathew Baynton says he is aware of the stereotype, but the truth is that he was an attention seeking child whose most formative memory was "being jealous and aggrieved that I didn't get a proper role in the Nativity."

Harry Bennett, Royal Television Society, 10th September 2021
Roy Chubby Brown

The snobbery of Roy 'Chubby' Brown's critics

In a few hours' time, comedy fans in Sheffield will take to the streets in protest. Their cause? Not Brexit, or climate change, but the decision to ban Roy 'Chubby' Brown from performing a gig in the city.

Andrew Tettenborn, The Spectator, 10th September 2021
The Cleaner. Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies)

Review: The Cleaner

In Man Down, he created one of the most stupidly funny - and underrated - sitcoms of recent times. But Greg Davies new BBC One project, The Cleaner, is - ironically enough - a messier mix of laughs and drama.

Steve Bennett, Chortle, 10th September 2021
Olga Koch

Review: Olga Koch, Soho Theatre, W1

The audience was thoroughly entertained, there's no absolutely zilch debate about that and I'd happily recommend that you run out and buy a ticket. In fact Koch probably left the audience wanting more. I also wanted more. But specifically more about Koch's unique perspective on the UK. If she wanted that odious black non-EU passport so much there must surely be an entire one hour show in there itching to get out.

Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 10th September 2021
James Corden

James Corden 'granted temporary restraining order'

James Corden has reportedly been granted a temporary restraining order against a woman the presenter claims wants to marry him.

Louis Chilton, The Independent, 10th September 2021
Nick Park

Nick Park reveals Wallace & Gromit statue in Preston

Oscar-winning animator Nick Park has said he felt "very proud" as he unveiled a bronze statue of his much-loved duo Wallace and Gromit in his birthplace Preston.

BBC, 10th September 2021
Roy Chubby Brown

Protest held to support Roy Chubby Brown in Sheffield

Protesters took to the steps of Sheffield City Hall this morning to make their voices heard over the decision to cancel the Roy "Chubby" Brown gig in the city.

Adam Fowler, ITV, 10th September 2021
The Cleaner. Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies)

The Cleaner star Greg Davies hints at Series 2 plans

"I don't want to tempt fate, but I would love to continue with it."

Patrick Cremona, Radio Times, 10th September 2021
Ed Gamble

Ed Gamble ties the knot

Ed Gamble has married his fiancée Charlie Jamison - in front of the creme of the comedy circuit.

Chortle, 10th September 2021
Local Hero

Local Hero phone box in Pennan to be kept in service

A phone box made famous by the film Local Hero is to be kept in service, Aberdeenshire Council has said.

BBC, 10th September 2021
Roy Chubby Brown

Roy 'Chubby' Brown protest draws just 20 people

The modest but vocal rally met in the city centre today, Friday, September 10, wearing masks of the foul-mouthed comedian's face and dressed in his signature checkered suit and goggles. They carried banners to the town hall and blared 'we want Chubby' on a megaphone.

Alastair Ulke, The Sheffield Star, 10th September 2021
The Cleaner. Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies)

Greg Davies leads a dark and curious comedy

The Cleaner (BBC One) is a strange creation, and - while intriguing - it may turn out to be an acquired taste.

Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian, 10th September 2021
The Cleaner. Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies)

The Cleaner review

Greg Davies is brilliantly funny in intriguing crime scene sitcom.

Sean O'Grady, The Independent, 10th September 2021
The Cleaner. Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies)

The Cleaner review

Strange and tonally disparate, I hoped for more from Greg Davies' black comedy.

Emily Baker, i Newspaper, 10th September 2021
Paul O'Grady's Saturday Night Line-Up. Paul O'Grady

Paul O'Grady: Woke would have cancelled Lily Savage

"People say to me, 'Would you do Lily again?' And I say, 'Good God no, I wouldn't last five minutes'. It's just the things that she comes out with. It's a different time now."

Rod McPhee, The Sun, 10th September 2021
The Cleaner. Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies)

The Cleaner, review

Once you get past scenes of Helena Bonham Carter defecating, Greg Davies's anarchic sitcom develops into something genuinely moving.

Benji Wilson, The Telegraph, 10th September 2021
Have I Got News For You. Ian Hislop

Ian Hislop & Adam MacQueen on 60 years of Private Eye

Private Eye is celebrating 60 years in print next month. The secret to its success is apparently simple: its unique formula of jokes and journalism, or "spoofs and scoops" as the Eye team would have it.

Freddy Mayhew, The Press Gazette, 10th September 2021
Alma's Not Normal. Alma Nuthall (Sophie Willan)

I talk to Sophie Willan

"With the industry being as it is, people need to put you within a context that they've already seen and understand ...then you can evolve that and do it your own way."

Elliot Gonzalez, I Talk Telly, 10th September 2021
Lynn Ruth Miller

Lynn Ruther Miller obituary

Lynn Ruth Miller, journalist and teacher who overcame illness and unhappy marriages to find a new life in her 70s as a hit stand-up comic at the Edinburgh Festival

The Telegraph, 10th September 2021

Kiell Smith-Bynoe interview

The Ghosts, Stath Lets Flats and Man Like Mobeen actor on the things that make him laugh the most.

The Guardian, 10th September 2021

Greg Davies interview

Greg Davies gives us the lowdown on his new star-studded BBC show The Cleaner.

Laura Jane Turner, Digital Spy, 10th September 2021

Videos

Podcasts

TV & radio

YouTube 9am
32 min
No More Jockeys. Image shows from L to R: Mark Watson, Alex Horne, Tim Key

No More Jockeys

Set 4, Episode 14 - Set 4, Game 15

Mark has taken us to the bridge following last week's victory. He is now just one game behind Tim and Alex, for whom victory today will result in a set point. Will they get it, or will Watto level the set? With guest Lianne Coop.

BBC Radio Scotland 1:30pm
30 min
Mark Nelson

The Good, The Bad And The Unexpected

Series 9, Episode 2

This week Mark is joined by a queen of Scottish comedy, Karen Dunbar, who establishes herself as a queen of Abba too. Also on the show, news man Martin Geissler shares his story about meeting the most famous man in the world, and Pippa Evans learns the hard way that whisky is a sipping drink.

CITV 5pm
15 min
The Rubbish World Of Dave Spud

The Rubbish World Of Dave Spud

Series 2, Episode 23 - Tiny Problem

It is Anna's birthday and the Spuds have planned a seaside picnic - when Dave's party food shrinks them all to the size of mugs, the Spuds must adapt and find a way for the celebrations to still go ahead.

CITV 5:15pm
15 min
The Rubbish World Of Dave Spud

The Rubbish World Of Dave Spud

Series 2, Episode 24 - Electrogran

Dave makes a weathervane in his metalwork class at school and tests it on the roof of Grimsby Heights - things go well until his assistant, Gran, gets struck by lightning. Charged with electrical powers, Dave must run Gran down like a battery before she causes too much mischief.

Radio 4 6:30pm
30 min
The News Quiz. Andy Zaltzman

The News Quiz

Series 106, Episode 2

Andy Zaltzman is joined by Mark Steel, Olga Koch, Athena Kugblenu and Scott Bennett, as they look at the National Insurance tax hike, the new Texan abortion laws, the Taliban's all male cabinet, Gavin Williamson and Jeff Bezos's investment in a life-extension company.

BBC One. Copyright: BBC 9:30pm
30 min
The Cleaner. Image shows from L to R: Sheila (Helena Bonham Carter), Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies)

The Cleaner

Series 1, Episode 1 - The Widow

Crime scene cleaner Wicky heads to the suburbs to "cleanse" a particularly grizzly murder. However, he finds himself continually getting interrupted by people unexpectedly dropping in on the crime scene - including a mysterious, heavily armed woman.

Channel 4 logo. Copyright: Channel 4 Television Corporation 11:05pm
30 min
Big Age. Image shows from L to R: Dela (Racheal Ofori), Ṣadé (Ronke Adekoluejo). Copyright: Tiger Aspect Productions

Big Age

Comedy pilot following four young black-British friends in the "big age" era of their lives. Sade Layode has turned 25, quit her job to be a writer and decided to tell her friend Zeke how she really feels - all before 10am. When free-spirited Dela, prescribes a day of decadent distraction to celebrate turning "twenty-thrive", Sade's quickly on board. Bumping into her old crush wasn't in the plan, but that meeting alongside a chance encounter with an icon are just a few of the twists and turns that lie in store for her.

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