British Comedy Guide
British Comedy Guide

BCG Daily Thursday 22nd February 2024

News

Casting Directors' Guild Awards 2024. Image shows left to right: Heather Basten, Adjani Salmon. Credit: Spotlight Pro

Heather Basten wins Best Casting in a TV Comedy Series award

Heather Basten has won the trophy for Best Casting in a TV Comedy Series at the Casting Directors' Guild Awards, for her work on Dreaming Whilst Black.

Ruth Bratt People

Ruth Bratt joins The Comedy Store Players

Improv group The Comedy Store Players are to be joined by a new core member for the first time in almost thirty years. Ruth Bratt will start performing at the weekly show from March.

Image shows left to right: Christina Riggs, Peter Tellouche Pro

Christina Riggs & Peter Tellouche are BBC Studios' 2024 staff writers

BBC Studios has announced that Christina Riggs and Peter Tellouche are the comedy writers selected for its year-long staff writing contracts.

Janice Okoh TV

Janice Okoh pens BBC comedy drama about siblings with a missing mum

We Go Again, a BBC Three comedy drama series about three stubbornly optimistic siblings with a dark secret pertaining to their mother, has been created by writer Janice Okoh.

Dear England. Credit: Marc Brenner TV

Gareth Southgate play Dear England to become BBC series

Dear England, the hit comedic stage play about Gareth Southgate and the England men's football team, is to become a BBC One series.

Charlotte Regan TV

Scrapper director Charlotte Regan creates crime family series for BBC

The BBC has commissioned Mint, "a darkly comic and unconventional drama about what it means to be part of a crime family", from writer and filmmaker Charlotte Regan who garnered critical acclaim for her recent BAFTA-nominated film Scrapper.

Image shows left to right: Aimee Lou Wood, Ralph Davis. Credit: Matt Holyoak, Michael Shelford TV

Film Club romcom series coming to BBC Three

Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood and SAS Rogue Heroes actor Ralph Davis have teamed up to make Film Club, a romantic comedy drama series for BBC Three about two people who are in love with each other but aren't telling each other.

FYI

NextUp Online

NextUp adds Brighton venues

Comedy platform NextUp has added two more clubs to their list of regular streaming venues, bringing the total up to 10. The new additions are both in Brighton: The Forge and The Secret Comedy Club at Artista.

BCG Pro

Big Comedy Conference 2023. Image shows left to right: Joel Morris, Christine Rose, Gráinne Maguire Pro

Big Comedy Conference video: Jokes

Jo Bunting analyses joke creation with the help of Gráinne Maguire, Joel Morris and Christine Rose in this, the last of the recordings from our 2023 Big Comedy Conference.

Press clippings

Bill Bailey

Bill Bailey: Thoughtifier, Brighton Centre review

Bailey's fusion of studied musicality and off-the-wall wordplay remains one-of-a-kind.

Thomas H Green, The Arts Desk, 22nd February 2024
John Challis

Boycie actor items sold for animal charity

Items owned by Only Fools And Horses star John Challis are to be auctioned to raise money for a Shropshire animal charity.

BBC, 22nd February 2024
Jo Caulfield

The Stand announces first Edinburgh Fringe Shows

The Stand has announced its first Edinburgh Fringe 2024 shows.

Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 22nd February 2024
Bill Bailey

Bill Bailey review

Bailey's fusion of studied musicality and off-the-wall wordplay remains one-of-a-kind.

Thomas H Green, The Arts Desk, 22nd February 2024
Phil Wang

Phil Wang: Crooning - not comedy - is my true passion

Phil Wang has revealed he plans to release an album of swing music.

Chortle, 22nd February 2024
Image shows from L to R: Dave Kear, Dave Perkin, Jason Manford. Copyright: Frog And Bucket

In pictures: 30 years of the Frog and Bucket

One of the longest running comedy nights outside of London, the club opened in 1994 in a room above the now demolished Britannia pub in Newton Street in the city's Northern Quarter, with a capacity of 60 people.

Chortle, 22nd February 2024
Michael McIntyre's Big Show. Michael McIntyre. Copyright: Hungry McBear

Michael McIntyre inspires linguistic study of slang synonyms for getting drunk

Michael McIntyre has a standard bit in his stand-up routines concerning the many (many!) slang terms posh British people use to describe being drunk. These include "wellied," "trousered," and "ratarsed," to name a few. McIntyre's bit rests on his assertion that pretty much any English word can be modified into a so-called "drunkonym," bolstered by a few handy examples: "I was utterly gazeboed," or "I am going to get totally and utterly carparked." It's a clever riff that sparked the interest of two German linguists.

Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 22nd February 2024
Bill Bailey

Bill Bailey: a comic maestro of bits, bobs and barbs at the Tories

Thoughtifier, a new European tour, brings familiar whimsy from the Strictly Come Dancing champ. But does the mirth cramp his musical stylings?

Brian Logan, The Guardian, 22nd February 2024
Boarders. Image shows left to right: Toby (Sekou Diaby), Jaheim (Josh Tedeku), Leah (Jodie Campbell), Omar (Myles Kamwendo), Femi (Aruna Jalloh)

Boarders: The new BBC series TV viewers are 'resisting the urge' to binge

New comedy drama is set to be a huge hit.

Jacob Stolworthy, The Independent, 22nd February 2024
Wicked Little Letters. Image shows left to right: Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley)

Wicked Little Letters review

Olivia Colman hurling expletives is enough to sustain this witty true-life comedy.

Clarisse Loughrey, The Independent, 22nd February 2024
Crackanory. Tamsin Greig. Copyright: Tiger Aspect Productions

Tamsin Greig interview

British comedy icon Tamsin Greig talks to us about her role in Apple TV+'s new fantasy series, The Completely Made-Up Adventures Of Dick Turpin, breaking down how she brought Lady Helen Gwinear to life.

Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com, 22nd February 2024
Image shows from L to R: Dave Kear, Dave Perkin, Jason Manford. Copyright: Frog And Bucket

Manchester comedy club where Peter Kay started out hits 30

The Frog & Bucket, a comedy club that hosted Peter Kay's first stand-up gig and John Bishop and Johnny Vegas as newcomers, has celebrated its 30th birthday.

BBC, 22nd February 2024
Wicked Little Letters. Image shows left to right: Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley)

Wicked Little Letters review

Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman star in a very English comedy.

Leslie Felperin, The Financial Times, 22nd February 2024
Wicked Little Letters. Image shows left to right: Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley)

Wicked Little Letters review

This British chocolate-box period comedy thinks that excessive swearing works as a substitute for a good plot - but it really doesn't.

Robbie Collin, The Telegraph, 22nd February 2024
Wicked Little Letters. Image shows left to right: Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley)

Wicked Little Letters review

A depressing, obvious, clunky waste of a stellar cast.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 22nd February 2024
Wicked Little Letters. Image shows left to right: Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley)

Wicked Little Letters review

The stellar cast is wasted with silly script and cartoonish crime capers.

Dulcie Pearce, The Sun, 22nd February 2024
Wicked Little Letters. Image shows left to right: Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley)

Wicked Little Letters review

Olivia Colman entertains in thin British comedy.

Victoria Luxford, City AM, 22nd February 2024
Wicked Little Letters. Image shows left to right: Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley)

Wicked Little Letters review

A flimsy comic farce.

David Jenkins, Little White Lies, 22nd February 2024

My Beautiful Laundrette at Curve, Leicester

My Beautiful Laundrette is back for another spin. Adapted for the stage by Hanif Kureishi - whose 1985 movie of the same name catapulted Film4 to mainstream success - it continues to put a gay, cross-cultural relationship in the neon spotlight.

Tanyel Gumushan, What's On Stage, 22nd February 2024

Videos

Canteen Gang Online

Canteen Gang

3 mins, 17 secs

That'll teach Pierce to have a sneaky plan...

Podcasts

Leo Reich

The Comedian's Comedian Podcast with Stuart Goldsmith: 448 - Leo Reich

79 minutes

Leo Reich is a comedian and writer, with his smash debut, Literally Who Cares?! winning Best Newcomer at the Dave Comedy Awards and culminated in a sold out show at...

TV & radio

Radio 4 2:15pm
45 min
BBC Radio 4

Second Hand Rose

An 80-year-old drag queen's life gets turned upside down when a young care nurse enters his life.

CBBC logo. Credit: BBC 6pm
25 min
So Awkward Academy

So Awkward Academy

Episode 4 - Phantom Of The Orchestra

In a bid to prove to Claire that she is an inspiring leader, Lily Hampton has stolen Teyah's trumpet to improve the school orchestra.

Radio 4 6:30pm
30 min
Conversations From A Long Marriage. Image shows from L to R: Roger (Roger Allam), Joanna (Joanna Lumley)

Conversations From A Long Marriage

Series 5, Episode 1 - On The Road Again

Roger's plans for Joanna's birthday take a wrong turn.

BBC Radio Wales. Copyright: BBC 6:30pm
30 min
The Learners. Copyright: Giddy Goat Productions

The Learners

Series 3, Episode 3 - Roc a Rol

It's a big night out for Wales's worst Welsh learners - even bigger for their teacher, Jonesy, whose band find themselves in a competition. But who is the bloke in the bucket hat?

Sky Max. Copyright: Sky 9pm
60 min
Rob And Romesh Vs. Image shows left to right: Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan

Rob And Romesh Vs

F1, Episode 2 - Monaco Pt 2

Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan continue their Formula 1 journey in Monaco, hanging out with driver George Russell, before Rob finally takes his manual driving test.

U&Gold channel logo. Credit: UKTV 9pm
60 min
Billy Connolly Does.... Billy Connolly

Billy Connolly Does...

Series 3, Episode 3 - Revolutions

From bedroom politics to the race to conquer space, Billy has more wise words on the topic of revolutions.

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