Brian Pern promoted to BBC Two for second series
The BBC has ordered a second series of The Life Of Rock With Brian Pern, the spoof music documentary series starring Simon Day.
The comedy, in which Day plays Brian Pern, an 'art rocker' who is now no longer in the limelight but has been asked by the BBC to present a documentary on the history of music, premièred on BBC Four in February. The three episode series, which was co-written and produced and directed by Rhys Thomas, was a hit with critics and viewers.
The cast list for the show also features Day's fellow Fast Show star Paul Whitehouse, alongside Nigel Havers, Michael Kitchen, Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer and Lucy Montgomery. Series 1 notably included cameos from a number of well-known real-life musicians too, including Phil Collins, Rick Wakeman and Roger Taylor. Peter Gabriel, whom some people have suggested the character of Brian Pern is inspired by, also made an appearance at the end of the show.
Another three episodes are now being planned, to be broadcast at the end of the year. They could be coupled with a repeat of the first series to make a six-part run. Rhys Thomas also confirmed bon Twitter that the show will now move from BBC Four to the more high-profile BBC Two.
The Radio Times reports that the working title for the new episodes is Rock Apocalypse, with the first episode focusing 'on the history of the Christmas song, as Brian plans to release his own Yuletide composition'. Another episode will see Brian planning his own music festival, with his spoof documentary concurrently looking at the history of festivals. Meanwhile the third episode will focus on the history of the jukebox musical.
The Radio Times notes: "The deal for the new series has not yet been signed and names have yet to be confirmed", however Simon Day has posted on Twitter: "Brian Pern will he on bbc 2 this time around people, channel hopping is all the rage these days."
Below is the trailer used to promote the first series:
Full musical videos featuring Brian Pern's band Thotch, and videos for some of Brian's solo singles, were filmed for Series 1. Only snippets from these videos were shown in the TV series, but they are available to view in full via our guide to Brian Pern. The below video is Pern's 1986 hit Spirit Level: