Press clippings Page 3
Cast announced for Dawn French's Delicious
Emilia Fox, Iain Glen and Sheila Hancock have joined the cast of Delicious, the Sky series in which Dawn French will play a cook.
British Comedy Guide, 4th August 2016BBC announces Salford Sitcom Showcase 2016 shows
The Late Late Morecambe And Wise Show, The Russ Abbot Sketch Show, Home From Home and Lodger will form the BBC's Salford Sitcom Showcase 2016.
British Comedy Guide, 6th June 2016Guests revealed for Harry Hill's new Teatime show
The guests have been revealed for Harry Hill's new comedy show, Harry Hill's Teatime which is being made by Sky. They are Joey Essex, Gok Wan, Emilia Fox, Martin Kemp, Jason Donovan and Paul Hollywood.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 5th June 2016Cumbria park stars in new Johnny Vegas comedy
Comedian Johnny Vegas has been trying his hand at holiday home living on a Cumbrian park this spring - and BBC TV viewers will be see the results later this year.
Jon Boston, Cumbria Crack, 16th May 2016Say what you like about Rob Brydon - and I certainly plan to - but he hosts a brain-ruining celebrity quiz show with aplomb. Those hours spent remaining cheerful while dining opposite Steve Coogan's wet-weekend-in-Ancoats face on The Trip to Italy are certainly paying dividends.
How bad is The Guess List (BBC1)? It's as likely as Michael McIntyre's chatshow to make it to a second series. It makes Would I Lie to You?, Brydon's other quiz show, seem like a work of shattering genius.
That said, I couldn't look away. "How lovely to be this close to a fox and not worry it's going to sniff round your bins," said Brydon introducing his first celebrity guest, Emilia Fox. "I speak for everybody when I say I loved The Vicar of Dibley," he said, introducing Jennifer Saunders. He went on with similar amiable insults to the other usual suspects (Simon Callow, Louis Smith, James Corden), while they kept their smiles mirthlessly frozen. If there isn't yet a Bafta for best rictus in quiz show adversity, it is only a matter of time.
The idea is, five celebrities come up with a plausible answer to a question, and then two contestants have to decide which, if any of those suggestions, is most plausible. For example: "According to a poll, what should old people do three times a week to help them live longer?" "Tango," said Callow, insanely. "Orgasm," said Corden, sensibly. "Exercise," said Smith, boringly. The answer? Oh come on! It's have sex.
Only one of the contestants seemed to have trouble with The Guess List's concept. Naturally, she won. But then she also told us she'd moved from Birmingham to Australia after watching Wanted Down Under, which is the very definition of madness.
Celebrity input seemed so superfluous that the show could readily have been renamed Pointless Celebrities. Here's my question: "Which of the following collective nouns is the odd one out: A) murder of crows; B) whoop of gorillas; C) busyness of ferrets; D) pointlessness of celebrities?" Answer: D) I want to hear more from the other three.
Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian, 14th April 2014Radio Times review
In theory we have a new game show here but in practice, that's overstating it. This is a chance for Rob Brydon to flex his comic muscles as bullying, joshing host. There's a good ten minutes of jokey chit-chat at the start as we meet the celebrity panel ("Emilia Fox... have you ever done a real autopsy?") and then the contestants. The game itself is so barely there that after half an hour (and this really isn't a spoiler) only one point has been scored.
But Brydon's relentless comic energy drives the thing on as he tries to get Simon Callow to tango or has Louis Smith sing a song with James Corden. It's hard to resist smiling in the face of the Brydon hurricane but we could do with more game and less show.
David Butcher, Radio Times, 12th April 2014Radio Times review
If you've seen Richard E. Grant being interviewed before, you'll know it's only a matter of time before the subject of breaking wind crops up. The man is obsessed. True to form, he cheerfully expounds on matters flatulent in the latest edition of this affable comedy chat show.
Joining him on the couch in the Kumars' flat of chat are actresses Emilia Fox and Caroline Quentin. The apparently rib-tickling double-meaning of Fox's surname is ground into the ground, although host Sanjeev Bhaskar does crack a decent gag at the expense of her illustrious acting dynasty: "As kids, were you, like an Indian family, forced into the family business?"
Paul Whitelaw, Radio Times, 12th February 2014If you couldn't tell that The Wrong Mans was a Big Deal from the explosive trailers and high production values, then the quality of the supporting cast should confirm it: Dougray Scott, Sarah Solemani, Benedict Wong, Emilia Fox, Nick Moran, Dawn French, Tom Basden...
Even more impressively, each turn (Fox and French excepted, although we suspect there'll be more to come there) makes an impression, while creator-stars Mat Baynton and James Corden nail the odd couple dynamic that keeps this occasionally leaky vessel afloat. We join Sam (Baynton) and Phil (Corden) drifting further out of their depth at the hands of psychotic gangsters Moran and Wong, before a show-stopping presentation from Sam saves his professional hide while bringing the danger even closer to home.
It's in these collisions of the workaday and the white knuckle that The Wrong Mans works best, as the more traditional thriller elements stubbornly fail to coalesce with any conviction. But it's never dull and frequently very funny.
Gabriel Tate, Time Out, 1st October 2013Spoofing action-filled, big budget American TV series, The Wrong Mans is both sitcom and thriller. Created by and starring James Corden and Matthew Bayton, as a luckless duo working for Berkshire County Council whose blue-collar lives are turned upside down by a chance phone call. Mistaken identities prompt comic mishap as they are drawn into a murky world of international espionage. The supporting cast includes Dawn French, Sarah Solemani, Rebecca Front, Dougray Scott, Emilia Fox, Nick Moran, Stephen Campbell Moore and Tom Basden - the very Best of British.
Holly Williams, The Independent, 15th September 2013Often the best bit of The Rob Brydon Show is his banter with the audience. Here he has fun with a mother and daughter who "show miniature horses". "Show them what?" wonders Brydon. "A good time?" There's a similar laidback feel to the sofa chat. Sir Tom Jones roars into the studio to tell us of his blues and gospel influences and how he was held at gunpoint on his first trip to the States. Deadly 60's Steve Backshall shows us a nasty bite on his leg and Emilia Fox, from Silent Witness, joins a read through of Brydon's new crime drama idea, CSI: Cardiff.
Alison Graham, Radio Times, 11th September 2012