Trinny and Susannah web comedy series moves to C4
Channel 4 is to broadcast highlights from the hit internet web comedy series Trinny & Susannah: What They Did Next.
The part-scripted comedy mockumentary focuses on the private lives of fashion experts Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine. The fictionalised series follows the What Not To Wear presenters, famed for their harsh but fair fashion advice, as they are dumped from TV and thus must find new sources of income - from trying to becomes the faces of cleaning product Cillit Bang to selling underwear at a trade show.
The show started out as sixteen 6-minute episodes distributed by the website ivillage.co.uk, but now Channel 4 is aiming to bring the show to a wider audience by broadcasting a one-off episode which brings together the best bits from the series.
What They Did Next is party-improvised, with the scripted elements written by comedy writers Matthew Leys and Martin Trenaman. The show also features a number of comedy actors, including Not Going Out star Katy Wix as the duo's overworked assistant, and Benidorm star Nicholas Burns as their agent.
The online web series has fought off inital scepticism from viewers and the press to win a number of fans. The Telegraph said the show was "funny, frank and amusingly up-front", whilst The Guardian observed the comedy was "an elaborately knowing spoof - part Alan Partridge, part The Office, part The Thick of It." Meanwhile The Sunday Times praised the format for breaking new boundaries, commenting: "given the push by ITV, Trinny and Susannah were facing tough times. Their hilarious solution puts them at the forefront of the TV revolution."
Channel 4 will air the one-off show in a post-watershed slot later in September. Here is the trailer: