Brian Pern

Radio Times review

"In part two of this revealing but convoluted documentary," says narrator Rhys Thomas, our man Brian (Simon Day) enters the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This prompts a retrospective. In the 1970s and 80s, Brian enjoyed mainstream success, pitched here somewhere between Peter Gabriel and Dire Straits; meanwhile, Thotch carried on without their departed talisman, regrouping as an outfit very similar to Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac.

This is the funniest Pern yet. Every line of Thomas and Day's script brings a laugh, and even the editing and archive shots are carefully loaded with absurdity. Scorching guest turns come from Christopher Eccleston as the producer of Brian's awful Madchester LP, and Jane Asher as an apoplectic ex-wife.

TV preview: Brian Pern: 45 Years Of Prog And Roll, BBC4

Last time we saw Brian Pern he had had a heart attack and it looked like he might be retiring. But you don't get rid of prog rockers like Pern - played by Simon Day - that easily. He is on TV again for a new series exploring the highways and byways of the rock world.

Brian Pern hits the road for real

Brian Pern, who has presented two series about rock music on BBC television, is to play a rare live show. An Evening With Brian Pern will take place at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue on Monday 19th October.

TV preview: Brian Pern, A Life In Rock, BBC2, Episode 3

Apart from the absence of a mention for Rik Mayall, the other notable omission at last week's British Comedy Awards was Brian Pern.

In which Simon Day's progger attempts to stage a live performance of his Day Of The Triffids musical ("The Triffids descend from the skies/ To sting our eyes!") at Mount Kilimanjaro. What could possibly go wrong? Actually, aside from being mistaken for a racist, not much: Roger Moore's a hoot as the Richard Burton-style narrator, gamely ploughing on through a Triffid-human molestation sequence: as Tim Rice comments, "It didn't go down very well with Germaine Greer - or Percy Thrower."

Radio Times review

A second slice of the joyfully funny Simon Day-fronted spoof rockumentary sees our hero desperate to finally stage his Day of the Triffids rock opera. But will Pern be upstaged by the other members of his erstwhile prog-rock band Thotch (Paul Whitehouse's Pat Quid and Nigel Havers's Tony Pebble, pronounced "Pebblay")? Not likely.

He has a few problems ensuring the confectionery stand stocks vegetarian-only Jelly Babies, however, and a Twitter storm erupts when a stray mic catches him remarking how he "hates Blacks". Pern, of course, is referring to the outdoor clothing specialists. Roger Moore and Paul Young are among the guest stars.

Brian Pern: The funniest show on TV right now

He's the man who "invented world music" and who created the first ever music video using Plasticine. Yes, we're talking about '70s rock legend Brian Pern - the frontman of Thotch.

Brian Pern: A Life in Rock was very funny indeed, and featured great cameos from, among others, Martin Freeman, Kathy Burke and Tim Rice. It's splenetic, hilarious and just wrong. Can there be yet another urgent need to send up the pomp of the prog-rock years when it has already been spoofed so sublimely by Spinal Tap, and The Comic Strip's Bad News Tour?

Simon Day is behind this, and very good he is too, and you should watch it if you haven't watched any other satire on 70s musical vainglory. But if you have, you'll simply be asking yourself: why?

Anybody who saw the faux documentary presented by Brian Pern (Simon Day) on BBC4 knows that the frontman of Genesis-esque prog rock band Thotch is a great comedy creation.

Director Rhys Thomas, who co-wrote the series along with Day, brilliantly portrays the life of an ageing rocker as he tries to keep himself relevant with a modern audience. The stories of Pern refusing to be in a room with his former bandmates (played brilliantly by Paul Whitehouse and Nigel Havers) were perfectly pitched. The creation of a Thotch jukebox musical was an equally enjoyable subplot especially when the show's director Kathy Burke decided to cut all of the overly long Thotch songs from the show.

I personally enjoyed the final few moments of the comedy as Pern was dragged into the police station in a manner that would suggest he was part of a Yewtree-type investigation. But the punchline itself was brilliantly delivered as was the reaction from Pern's manager John Farrow (Michael Kitchen).

Part of the charm of Brian Pern is the fact that everyone is willing to go that extra mile and, in the case of those playing themselves, send up certain elements of their characters. Martin Freeman is a prime example of this as he tries to capture Pern's mannerisms in order to correctly portray him in the musical.

Meanwhile, a cameoing Tim Rice perfectly sums up his feelings about the Jukebox musical and how they've taken away from his type of musical theatre.

Although some of the jokes don't hit the mark, Brian Pern: A Life in Rock is a perfectly constructed mockumentary that owes a massive debt to the work of Christopher Guest. The fact that the sitcom is only three parts means that it won't outstay it's welcome and at the same time will leave the audience craving for more from Day's egotistical prog rocker.