Cricklewood Greats

I didn't do a lot of laughing during Peter Capaldi's Cricklewood Greats (BBC4, Sunday). This may be because this kind of spoof documentary is rarely funny. Or because what is being sent up here - a particularly kind of reverential documentary - isn't enough of a phenomenon for most people to merit the ridicule. Or because acting (at which Capaldi is obviously brilliant) and writing are very different skills. Or a combination of all of the above. But I'm afraid it left me cold.

Cricklewood Greats: review

This smart and very funny spoof hit the mark every time.

Cricklewood Greats review: super spoof

Cricklewood Greats, a mockumentary which Peter Capaldi wrote, directed and presented, is a strange beast and unlike most comedies, gets stronger as it goes on. Excellent stuff.

I love a spoof documentary, me. Not, you understand, of the nonsensical Life's Too Short variety, but rather those spot-on parodies of pop culture epochs such as Eric Idle's magnificent Beatles spoof, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, and Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's criminally underrated Smashie and Nicey: End of an Era.

As well as being packed with exquisite gags, those mock-docs worked so beautifully because of their loving attention to detail, proving that the very best parodies are made by those who know their subject inside out. And while Peter Capaldi's the Cricklewood Greats doesn't quite reach such giddy heights, it certainly delivers in terms of affectionate irreverence and the care with which it's made.

Charting the wavering fortunes of a fictional British film studio - think Ealing by way of Hammer, and all stops in between - it functions not only as an impressively realised parody of the average BBC 4 entertainment documentary, but also of those insight-free films in which a celebrity hijacks an interesting subject in pursuit of their own meaningless "personal journey."

Written in conjunction with his The Thick Of It cohort Tony Roche - who also penned BBC 4's splendid Python biopic, Holy Flying Circus - Capaldi directs and also stars as himself, paying overly-reverential tribute to the ghosts of the Cricklewood dream factory, including thinly disguised versions of Gracie Fields, Peter Cushing and Kenneth Williams (the acutely observed pastiches of his withering diary entries are a particular highlight).

No "tears behind the laughter" cliché is left unturned in this modest treat for connoisseurs of archive film and television, which, although merely amusing rather than hilarious, is still witty and charming and thoroughly commendable.

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Peter Capaldi on Cricklewood Greats, interview

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Peter Capaldi is best known as splenetic spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in peerless political satire The Thick Of It. But he's a man of many talents, as he shows to full effect in this subtle spoof documentary, which sees him triple up as writer, director and presenter. It's film buff heaven; the tale of a now-defunct British movie studio, making room for classy cameos from Lyndsey Marshal and Terry Gilliam - and Capaldi's sharp wit.

The Thick of It star Peter Capaldi's spoof documentary pays homage to "some of the forgotten icons of British cinema" and a film studio "where dreams came true but only a little bit". Clever and mocking rather than laugh-out-loud funny, it tells the imagined history of the fictional Cricklewood Film Studios, from the days of silent films to the low-rent horror pictures of the Seventies, and recalls the tragic stories of its stars.

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Peter Capaldi honours spoof film stars

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