Russell Brand's Ponderland

The second series of Ponderland was broadcast just as a media storm was whipping up around Russell Brand. The episode was broadcast a day after it was announced that Brand had been suspended by Radio 2. Over 18,000 people complained to the BBC about a controversial segment in the comic's radio show.

A spokeswoman from Channel 4 said at the time: The second series of Russell Brand's Bafta-nominated Ponderland is a pre-recorded show. It's a witty observational comedy, in which he provides surreal perspectives on diverse themes, from pets to family and illustrates them with archive TV clips. All episodes were filmed some weeks ago. As with all commissions, Ponderland has been reviewed internally by our editorial and legal teams. We have no plans to pull it from the schedule.

Ponderland was the most praised broadcast on Channel 4 in October 2008. The network received 212 positive emails and phone calls about the broadcast.

Many of these were no doubt from fans of Brand, looking to support the star after the prank call troubles (see other trivia item).

Although the first episode of the new series of Ponderland received this praise, it also received 164 complaints. However, it should be noted many of these were complaints about the principle of broadcasting the show, rather than any specific content.

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