The Road To Brexit

I loved... bits... of the Road to Brexit, a spirited if ultimately futile half-hour attempt to rip the remaining bejesus out of that political fiasco, in the week Theresa May (favourite sportsman: Geoffrey Boycott. See above, under "obdurate") had told us, 180 times, we were hog-certain slated to leave. Wisely I think Arthur Mathews and Matt Berry had chosen to go not the way of satire but of surreality, and most of the smiles came via much misplaced archive footage - Robert Redford as Alan Johnson, say, or a plucky child in a chariot race being used to illustrate DUP charmer Arlene Foster - but the laughs didn't exactly flow.

Berry is often sublime, and his skewering of pompous pop historians, toothachingly trendy Smug Remainers, sinister Tory bigots, hit in hindsight more targets than I'm giving the programme credit for. But, in the end, no spectacle can compete for humour with the one unspooling before our eyes nightly. A theatre of the absurd, on loop, performed with increasing ineptitude by children who drink, after which one retires hurt to crisp clean sheets, yet carrying the faint, damp whiff of rhinoceros shit.

Road to Brexit review

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to find Matt Berry funny - but somehow this one-off comedy fell flat. Perhaps we're too depressed to laugh now?

Matt Berry is reunited with his Toast of London collaborator Arthur Mathews for the first time since that series finished. This one-off comedy marks the approaching article 50 deadline, with Berry assuming the guise of Michael Squeamish, a bumptious historian on a mission to discover the origins of Britain's decision to leave the EU - undaunted by the need to delve all the way back to the 50s.

Review: The Road To Brexit, BBC2

I didn't write about this Matt Berry one-off written by Arthur Mathews earlier because I assumed it would be postponed when Brexit was postponed. Instead it is going full steam ahead, so at least there is something to laugh about at the moment.

Road To Brexit review

The one-off Road To Brexit is a bit of an oddity, as much funny peculiar as funny ha-ha; but with so much calamitous news surrounding our chaotic leaving of the EU, it's good to have a laugh that isn't dependent upon cynical views of the political shambles, and is simply just daft instead.

The Road to Brexit review

Despite the po-faced title, you realise very quickly that it's not yet another drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch - rather it's a clever, very, very funny parcel of 'bollocks to Brexit'.

Road to Brexit, BBC Two review

Matt Berry's delusional mash-up of history reflects the state of the nation.

Matt Berry on his new Brexit comedy

'I've never wanted to do comedy with a message, I've never been interested in that. Comedy is about taking you out of your situation, for me. It's absurd and it's escapist.'

TV shows to watch from Road to Brexit to Partridge

Previews of The Road to Brexit, This Time with Alan Partridge, All Round to Mrs. Brown's and Derry Girls.

Fear not! While the title might suggest another plodding doc about the EU referendum, this is actually something much more exciting: a reunion of Matt Berry with his Toast of London writer Arthur Mathews. Berry stars as historian Michael Squeamish in a daft send-up of Starkey, Schama et al, complete with references to Euro 96, Billy Idol and HP Sauce.