Frankie Boyle's New World Order back but Monarchy special in doubt
- Frankie Boyle's New World Order is set to return to BBC Two at the end of October for Series 6
- However, his new Channel 4 special Frankie Boyle: Monarchy is in doubt following The Queen's death
- After the success of his debut novel, he's revealed he is set to write another book at Christmas
Frankie Boyle's New World Order is returning for a sixth series on BBC Two, as the comic prepares to write a follow-up to his bestselling debut novel. However, the status of his Channel 4 stand-up documentary, Frankie Boyle: Monarchy, is in doubt following The Queen's death.
"Let's spare a thought for everyone who was just putting the finishing touches to a humorous documentary about the monarchy" Boyle tweeted on Monday. A Channel 4 spokesperson told British Comedy Guide that "we're reviewing our schedules closely in lights of events and any changes will be publicised", in response to an enquiry as to whether Monarchy and Kieran Hodgson's Prince Andrew: The Musical are still being readied for broadcast since The Queen's death last week, at the age of 96.
Developing material for the new series of New World Order with gigs at the Glee Club in Boyle's native Glasgow next month, the current affairs discussion show is set to return at the end of October, taping at BBC Studioworks' Kelvin Hall facility in the city.
The comic had told rapper-turned-actor Scroobius Pip on his Distraction Pieces podcast that he was happy to distance himself from the news until the show returned.
"I think it's necessary as well as a comic to not be on the news and on the internet all the time, you've got to be reading some stuff and doing some other projects" he told Pip, in a conversation released last month but recorded on 26th July. "To be an interesting enough person to talk about it."
He added that he had already begun developing his closing monologues for the new series, which he principally writes with script editor Charlie Skelton.
"Yesterday I started doing the first 'outs' on stage" said Boyle, who just completed his first full run of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe since 2007. "Considering the series won't start until the end of October, that's how long it takes to hone them. I'm doing about three or four gigs a week when we're doing the series and just before the series in pre-production. So I might do about 40 warm-up shows, trying out stuff and I would be doing this in all them and in other gigs before that.
"I'll do them live, see what works and start trimming stuff. There'll be a stage where I add things, particularly at the start, as I try and get [the audience] on board and create some confidence with them. So there's often a bit at the start where there's three big jokes that lead you in. It's a bit like The Simpsons structure where they have a mini-episode at the start and then go into the thing. We can do that and we connect those two - those are the best ones. We've got a bit of almost stand-up quality stuff at the top and we take you into this weirder journey."
Panellists for the new series of New World Order have yet to be confirmed. Regulars on the show, which was nominated for the best entertainment performance BAFTA in 2020, have included Sara Pascoe, Miles Jupp, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Katherine Ryan, Sophie Duker, Jamali Maddix and data journalist Mona Chalabi.
British Comedy Guide revealed in August that Boyle will focus on the end of the Royal Family for his latest stand-up documentary, Monarchy. The show's official blurb states that the comic will turn "his wry eye to the state of the British monarchy and its future, by looking back at its 1,000 year history."
Boyle also shared with Pip that despite playing Hamm in a stage production of Samuel Beckett's Endgame in Dublin earlier this year, he has no plans to do more acting. "No, not really" he said. "It's hard to imagine really doing it again. It felt like a one-off, really mad thing to do. Maybe that was it."
Last week, he posted on Twitter that he was going to begin writing his second novel at Christmas, "largely to drown out my internal monologue", following the critical and sales success of his Sunday Times bestselling debut Meantime this summer.
In a discussion at the Edinburgh Book Festival last month, he had said that he'd like to quit stand-up to focus on writing books instead.
"I would much rather, if I could, segue into writing novels and just stay in the house and not travel so much" he said in comments reported by The Scotsman. "I would happily do that if I could."
He added that writing helped him deal with filling "the sheer blankness of having done a show and being in a hotel somewhere ... You might as well write because you are not getting to sleep. You have so much adrenaline."
Asked if he found writing more enjoyable than stand-up, he replied: "Yeah, because you don't have to do the gigs. You don't have to go and sell it to people.
"There is that thing sometimes with stand-up where you have a funny idea, but will a bunch of people in a basement agree? You don't quite have that same dilemma when you write a novel. But it took equally long and it was equally difficult."
He also said he and his 14-year-old son Thor had discussed an idea for another novel, Target Man, about a second division footballer for Dumbarton "who gets involved in an Alfred Hitchcock-style North by Northwest conspiracy, which he never understands".