British Comedy Guide

BCG Daily Thursday 3rd February 2022

News

Press clippings

After Life. Tony (Ricky Gervais)

After Life: Meet the owners of Netflix's number one dog

"Your dog looks like the one from After Life" is a phrase Ashley Foster and Beth Heale hear a lot. They are the proud owners of Antilly, the German Shepherd who plays Brandy in Ricky Gervais's After Life.

Maisie Olah, BBC, 3rd February 2022
Barry Cryer

Fond farewell to Barry Cryer, giant of comedy

Barry was the most universally loved comedian, talented writer and performer I've every met, writes Karen Koren.

Karen Koren, Edinburgh Evening News, 3rd February 2022
Murder In Successville. DI Sleet (Tom Davis). Copyright: Tiger Aspect Productions

Murderville misses what made UK original great

Global markets have a tendency to replace local idiosyncrasy with the accessibly bland. Murderville, a US series based on BBC Three's Murder In Successville, is worse off for just that reason.

Den Of Geek, 3rd February 2022
Starstruck. Image shows from L to R: Tom (Nikesh Patel), Jessie (Rose Matafeo). Copyright: Avalon Television

Rose Matafeo on reinventing the rom-com in Starstruck

The New Zealand comic tells Alice Jones about bringing back the much-loved TV comedy for a new series.

Alice Jones, The Times, 3rd February 2022
The Royle Family. Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson)

Ricky Tomlinson returns to the stage in new musical play

Ricky Tomlinson is to return to the stage in a new musical comedy that celebrates the best of Irish culture. Irish Annie's will perform around the St Patricks Day celebrations at St Helens Theatre Royal on Monday 14th March and the Epstein Theatre Liverpool on Saturday 19th March.

Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 3rd February 2022
Whyte & Mackay Glasgow International Comedy Festival 14 - 31 March 2019

Glasgow International Comedy Festival announces return

As exclusively revealed by beyondthejoke last month, the Glasgow International Comedy Festival is to return. The 19th Glasgow International Comedy Festival bursts back into life for three weeks between March 8 and March 27 and it promises to get straight back to (funny) business.

Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 3rd February 2022
Dave Cohen

Where do you get your ideas from?

This is one of the first questions writers are asked. Despite the often sneering and stupid answers it receives, is a very good one.

Dave Cohen, Dave Cohen's Blog, 3rd February 2022
Otiz Cannelloni

Otiz Cannelloni's oil paintings go on show

A stand-up who turned to painting his comedy heroes to get through lockdown has landed his first exhibition. Otiz Cannelloni will be displaying his oil portraits at Lauderdale House, a Tudor country house in London, under his real name, John Korn.

Chortle, 3rd February 2022
Catherine Bohart

Catherine Bohart interview

The Irish stand-up faced the Covid situation newly single, dealing with OCD and with her livelihood in tatters. Now she's back on tour, making comedy from mental health and heartbreak.

Brian Logan, The Guardian, 3rd February 2022
The Curse. Image shows left to right: Natasha (Emer Kenny), Phil 'The Captain' Pocket (Hugo Chegwin), Big Mick Neville (Tom Davis), Albert Fantoni (Allan Mustafa), Sidney Wilson (Steve Stamp)

The Curse: a comedy supergroup is born!

The Kurupt FM crew and comedian Tom Davis have joined forces on Channel 4's new 1980s-set crime caper. They talk gold bullion, 7ft women - and why they dream of making their dads laugh.

Stuart Heritage, The Guardian, 3rd February 2022
R.I.P - Rest In Peace

Jo Kendall obituary

Actor in the high-spirited Footlights revue Cambridge Circus in the 1960s who was a founding cast member of Emmerdale Farm.

Anthony Hayward, The Guardian, 3rd February 2022
After Life. Tony (Ricky Gervais). Copyright: Derek Productions

Why critics love to loathe After Life

Reviewers have lost touch with what audiences enjoy.

Alex Cameron, Spiked, 3rd February 2022
Barry Cryer

Funny how he wasn't Jewish... farewell to beloved Barry Cryer

The community mourns the late comic Barry Cryer, 'the most Jewish non-Jewish person' ever.

Mathilde Frot, The Jewish Chronicle, 3rd February 2022
The Late Late Morecambe And Wise Show. Image shows from L to R: Eric (Jonty Stephens), Ern (Ian Ashpitel)

Eric & Ern - York Theatre Royal review

Unlike The Play What I Wrote, which spools around the story of a different pair of comedians and foregrounds the costume "drama" and the guest star, Eric & Ern is simply and purely a brilliant re-creation of much familiar material.

Ron Simpson, The Reviews Hub, 3rd February 2022
The Curse. Image shows left to right: Natasha (Emer Kenny), Phil 'The Captain' Pocket (Hugo Chegwin), Big Mick Neville (Tom Davis), Albert Fantoni (Allan Mustafa), Sidney Wilson (Steve Stamp)

The Curse review

I'm not wholly sold on it after one episode, but then it's telling a story that'll play out over the entire series, so I do need to see more.

Dom Robinson, DVD Fever, 3rd February 2022
Barry Cryer

Family back plaque for Barry Cryer in Mornington Crescent

Barry Cryer's family are hoping that a New Journal suggestion of a plaque being erected at Mornington Crescent tube station in his memory could gather steam.

Harry Taylor, Camden New Journal, 3rd February 2022

Videos

TV & radio

Union Jack 7pm
60 min
Dead British

Dead British

Episode 5 - Jane Austen

This week we bring Jane Austen back from the dead and we discover how her rampage in a furniture shop had a major impact on British retail, her love of Monopoly, plus some unusual book writing techniques she employed.

Channel 4 logo. Copyright: Channel 4 Television Corporation 9pm
60 min
Screw

Screw

Series 1, Episode 5

With C Wing on lockdown, the prisoners' mental health reaches crisis point in an under-resourced and chaotic system. Meanwhile, Rose sees an opportunity, and Toby threatens to escalate his suspicions.

BBC Scotland channel. Copyright: BBC 10pm
30 min
Scot Squad. Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson (Jack Docherty)

Scot Squad

Series 7, Episode 5

Squire and McGill are on a lengthy stakeout, poised to pounce on their perpetrator. However, without sustenance, can they handle the hunger long enough to capture their prey?

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