
Jack Whitehall
- 36 years old
- English
- Actor, writer, stand-up comedian and executive producer
Press clippings Page 52
Greg McHugh interview
As anticipation for the second series of Fresh Meat reaches dangerous levels, Digital Spy caught up with Greg McHugh to ask what's coming up in the new episodes, whether he's a fan of The Inbetweeners and how the success of Jack Whitehall's Bad Education has gone down with the team...
Daniel Sperling, Digital Spy, 2nd October 2012Jack Whitehall to host new panel and chat show pilots
Jack Whitehall has signed up to pilot two new TV formats: a music-based panel show for E4, and a chat show pilot co-starring his father.
British Comedy Guide, 21st September 2012The academic year is under way, and to celebrate freshers week Alan Carr has summoned the cast of Fresh Meat, the university sitcom loved by students and dreaded by their parents, who can be heard pathetically asking, "It's not really like that, is it?" To which the answer is a resounding silence. Brace yourselves for the double entendres. Also tonight, Doctor Who star Matt Smith discusses his reunion with the Daleks, and rapper Example performs his single, Say Nothing.
Jane Shilling, The Telegraph, 20th September 2012Jack Whitehall's Bad Education ended as it began, a baffling mix of great lines ('Pol Pot and Paul Potts, I always get those two mixed up') and misfiring scenes even Waterloo Road would have thought twice about. Still, it's worth a second term, if only to find out who's living in Mathew Horne's hair.
Keith Watson, Metro, 19th September 2012One of the chief joys of Jack Whitehall's sitcom is the superb supporting cast. Mathew Horne plays the tragically uncool head teacher, who longs to be everyone's best mate, to the chagrin of his cringeing staff. Equally hilarious is Green Wing's Michelle Gomez as the menacing, maroon-lipped deputy head who dreams of running the school like a concentration camp. Finally, there's Sarah Solemani as the hippy art teacher who loses her rag after our hapless hero, Mr Wickers, hijacks the school elections.
Claire Webb, Radio Times, 18th September 2012Everyone is on the campaign trail in this final episode of a series that never quite lived up to its potential. Jack Whitehall's slacker teacher wants one of his miscreants to thwart a junior politician-in-the-making for the job of school president, while Fraser (Mat Horne) campaigns to get his job back after a misdemeanour in the exam hall sees him suspended - much to the undisguised, flared-nostrilled glee of Michelle Gomez's evil Miss Pickwell.
Sharon Lougher, Metro, 18th September 2012School election time, and there's a clear favourite: budding Blairite David Millbank. With Fraser out as head after an unfortunate exam mishap, deputy headmistrix Miss Pickwell plans to use Millbank to convince the school governors that the role should be hers. Despite never having voted in his life - "My dad does my postal vote for me," - Alfie vows to stop her, and impress Miss Gulliver, by leading hapless Joe to power. Irrespective of your view of Jack Whitehall, this has made for a solid series, set to return next year.
Mark Jones, The Guardian, 17th September 2012The PE teacher's done a runner, so Fraser decides that Alfie should coach the students for the biggest football match of the year. Jack Whitehall's hapless toff teacher's knowledge of the beautiful game is skimpy; he doesn't even know there's a second half. Things get worse when he comes face to face with his old teacher, who's coaching the opposition. Can a Cheryl Cole-inspired pep talk at half time help Alfie's rubbish team win the match? If calling someone a "spineless little tagnut" makes you titter then you'll find much to guffaw at here, especially in the final moments.
Hannah Verdier, The Guardian, 10th September 2012Whether you like Bad Education, Jack Whitehall and Freddy Syborn's schoolroom comedy, will rather depend on how susceptible you are to the charms of Jack Whitehall, who plays Alfie, a feckless man/child teacher who is less interested in teaching his charges than getting them to help him win the affections of Miss Gulliver. This week, the class was off on a school field trip to the Tring Ink Museum and Petting Zoo, even less alluring than it might sound because an outbreak of worms has forced management to introduce a "look but don't touch" policy. Whitehall's character wobbles a little between a knowing cynicism and an over-contrived ingenuousness, but the comedy certainly has its moments. When the assembled pupils are asked if they have any questions by the Ink Museum's depressive manager, he gets this fine example of youthful curiosity: "Would you rather be a dog with a boy's head or a boy with a dog's head?" Takes some answering, that one.
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent, 5th September 2012Field trips were the highlight of any school year, a break from the monotony of study, a chance for students to run amok but, in this fourth episode of Jack Whitehall's classroom comedy, it's not only the pupils who are misbehaving. History teacher Alfie (Whitehall) is still bumbling and incompetent, both in his attempts to woo colleague Rosie and demonstrate a maturity that exceeds that of the cast of The Inbetweeners. Unfortunately, this instalment is stranded amid wannabe clever-clever lines, distracting editing techniques and awkward pauses that fail to amuse. Whitehall continues to deliver a poor impersonation of Jeremy from Peep Show and, although a bewigged Mat Horne as the wacky headmaster provides genuine comic relief, his interludes are few and far too brief. This needs to up its game.
Dylan Lucas, Time Out, 4th September 2012