Robert Llewellyn's chat show filmed in a car moves to TV
Channel Dave is bringing Carpool, the popular internet chat hosted by Robert Llewellyn, to a TV audience.
Each Carpool episode features Llewellyn driving a well-known guest in his car and interviewing them during the journey. The videos, posted on www.llewtube.com, have become quite a hit. In the past 18 months, Carpool has had over 2 million downloads on iTunes.
The show started in 2009 when Llewellyn - who is probably best known for playing Kryten in long-running sitcom Red Dwarf and presenting TV series including Scrapheap Challenge - decided to try his hand a presenting a chat show. However, without finances to hire a studio or pay exorbitant appearance fees, he came up with a unique idea – he would offer his prospective guests a lift in his own car – in return they would allow him to film the conversations that unravelled along the way. Robert got to work with modern mini cams and radio microphones and Carpool was born.
Llewellyn has now interviewed over 70 stars in the online version of the show. In the early days of Carpool, he relied upon his contacts from the world of comedy and entertainment, with guests including Ruby Wax, Nigel Planer, David Baddiel, Jo Brand, and his Red Dwarf colleagues. Once filmed, Robert edited the videos himself at home and then posted them on his website. Carpool swiftly hit a chord with the online community who viewed the early shows in their thousands and without any press or PR, the actor's show had soon built a loyal fanbase. As a result, he was able to get big names such as Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross, David Mitchell and Sir Patrick Stewart to appear.
Following the success of the online shows, digital channel Dave has now ordered a 10 part TV series. Much like the online version, the TV broadcasts will be funded by Toyota, who also supply the Prius the show is filmed in. The overall approach to the show will remain the same, with guests given a lift to a location of their choosing and having an informal conversation in the process.
Robert Llewellyn says: "I started Carpool 18 months ago as an experiment. A sort of talk show recorded in a car as I drive busy people to meetings, events, gigs or just down the shops. The real joy is that people talk openly and intimately and it's not only funny but a real insight into the interviewees. It's been downloaded over 2 million times through iTunes and for many weeks was in the iTunes top 10 podcasts. Carpool takes the talk show format and stows it in the boot while the real talking takes place up front and I'm really excited to be bringing the show to Dave viewers."
The series will be shown on Dave from October, with all of the interviews available to watch on the channel's website and via existing Carpool outlets after the broadcast too.
News leaked earlier this month that UKTV Dave has also ordered two more series of Red Dwarf, following the good ratings of the three reunion specials shown in 2009.
Here is a video in which Robert Llewellyn explains more about the new TV show. It also features clips from previous Carpool outings...