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More Joyously Horrible History

22 Mar

© CBBC

New episodes of Horrible Histories will be hitting our TV screens soon!

The new series starts on 9th April on CBBC, although detailed listings are not yet available. This will be Series 4 of the multi-award-winning comedy sketch show for kids, and it features twelve standard and three special episodes.

Horrible Histories features performances from TVO favourites Simon Farnaby and Alice Lowe, and the new series also includes special guest appearances from League of Gentlemen stars Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, amongst others.

What’s more, there’s a 5 minute Sports Relief special of the show tomorrow at 5pm on BBC1. If you’re one of the show’s many adult fans and you’re not back from work in time, don’t forget that it’ll be available on iPlayer for seven days afterwards.

Finally, Series 3 of Horrible Histories is now available on DVD. If you need a reminder that history lessons can in fact make you giggle, you can purchase it at the TVO amazon store.

Nominations For All

28 Feb
© CBBC

The Shortlists for nominations for two award ceremonies were announced today: the Rose d’Or Awards and the RTS Awards - and there are nominations for several TVO-connected shows!

In the Rose d’Or Sitcom Category Life’s Too Short is up against Friday Night Dinner; both shows included an appearance by Matthew Holness, and Colin Hoult appeared in Life’s Too Short. Robert Popper has also been nominated in the Writer-Comedy Category of the RTS Awards for Friday Night Dinner.

TVO’s favourite history programme Horrible Histories has been nominated in the Children’s Category of the Rose d’Or and the Children’s Programme Category for the RTS Awards!

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror is nominated for the Comedy Award of the Rose d’Or.

BBC’s Rev. is nominated in Writer-Comedy, Scripted Comedy and Comedy Performance Categories at the RTS Awards. The reason we’re mentioning it here is because James Bachman had a small role in one of the episodes.

Also at the RTS Awards, The Crimson Petal & The White, starring Chris O’Dowd, is nominated in the Drama Serial Category.

Finally, Darren Boyd is also nominated for the RTS Comedy Performance for Spy, and as you know, the lovely Dolly Wells also stars in Spy.

We’ll be sure to let you know how they all get on when the gongs are handed out.

Fright Night With The Forgery Club!

23 Feb

© The Forgery Club

A sprinkling of TVO favourites are set to take over the Udderbelly on London’s Southbank as part of a special Forgery Club event.

Hosted by Pros From Dover, who of course feature TVO regular Richard Glover, the event on Friday 13th April will see the likes of Hot Brew, Steve Oram and Rachel Stubbings on the bill alongside Luke McQueen, Jamie Glassman, Spencer Jones, Moonfish Rhumba, The Real MacGuffins, McNeil & Pamphilon and Nathaniel Tapley.

This bumper Forgery Club begins at 10:45pm, and tickets start at £15 (£14 cons).  They can be bought via the Southbank Centre website – and more details on all forthcoming Forgery Club events can be found on their swanky new website!

Alice In Skins

17 Feb

© Channel 4

Alice Lowe made a surprise guest appearance in teen drama Skins this week.

The episode – the fourth in the current sixth series – sees troubled teen Franky in a bad place – unable to study and cut off from friends.  She finds herself drawn to bad news boy Luke, and turns to a psychiatrist for advise.

Enter Ms Lowe – looking surprisingly dowdy – as the rather unhelpful shrink!  The episode aired earlier this week, but thanks to the wonder of the internet, you can catch up via 4oD – which is available via the channel’s website or via YouTube over yonder.

Editors note: Thanks to Melanie Pearson for alerting about to this one!

Instant Snuff

5 Feb

© Severin Films

Snuff Box has been added to Netflix Instant Play.

Currently only available to American Netflix subscribers, Snuff Box in its entirety is available in DVD form as well as in an instant stream.

The series, starring Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher as a hangman and his assistant, and featuring guest appearances from Richard Ayoade, Alice Lowe and more, has gained quite a cult following in the States. This latest addition follows Snuff Box’s initial launch in the U.S., which in addition to the U.S. DVD release included a promotional tour in Los Angeles and New York  late last year.

Of course, UK Peelers feeling left out can always pick up a copy for themselves at the TVO Amazon Store.

Luxury Comedy In A Bargain-Basement Age

24 Jan

© Channel 4/Secret Peter

Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy is a show like no other you’ll see on television in 2012. It’s a show that has spent years gestating in the heads of its dual creators, Noel Fielding and Nigel Coan. It’s a show that combines live-action with animation in a crayola-drenched world filled with cartoon characatures that seem to have leapt straight out of the imagination of Fielding – as his longterm friend and colleague Dave Brown so eloquently put when talking to TVO last year – the show is a bit like downloading Noel’s brain.

More than a year in the actual, physical making, Luxury Comedy brings together a number of talents from that wider world of Booshdom we’ve been shouting about since our inception, and who we’ve all collectively been enjoying on stage and screen for the past fifteen years. Whilst its fair to say the show can never topple The Mighty Boosh in the hearts of many, the trick to watching Luxury Comedy is to block out all thoughts of that looming shadow of a cult classic and just enjoy the madness on its own terms.

© Channel 4/Secret Peter

Take for example, the character of Dondelion, images of which have been released to the press. On the surface, a cynical viewer may suggest he is a cast-off from the Boosh – a lost side-project from the days of the Zooniverse.  They would be wrong. Dondelion, like every other character Noel and Nigel have created – and there are many – is a brand new beast, the only similarities being that he has come from the same brilliant mind that co-created all those Boosh characters of yesteryear.

We’ve been living with the pilot since the summer of last year now, when Noel and his team at Secret Peter kindly invited The Velvet Onion to visit the set and document our findings. It’s multi-coloured, surrealistic world admittedly took us all by surprise on first viewing, but whilst not everyone was immediately in hysterics, repeat viewings found the laughs increased and, amazingly, a whole new realm of quotes and catchphrases subconsciously crept into our everyday lexicon.  We’ve been yelling “Fish Finger For Later” at one another since then, and random injections of “Paulsaid”, “LEEEGGGGOOOOHHHHH!” and rambling speeches about bikes, Gary Glitter and single baked beans have interjected our daily thoughts to the point where we started to wonder if we had developed a new form of madness. The show may be like downloading Noel’s brain, but more specifically it seems, for diehard fans that download will embed itself into the infrastructure of your mind’s root folders like a particularly shiny virus.

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Comedy Lessons From The Booshniverse

16 Jan

© LoCo

If  you’ve ever wanted to learn about comedy and film, the artists and acts we follow on TVO is a pretty good place to start!

LoCo is hosting Kickstart Your Comedy Career, a series of talks taking place on 26th and 27th January 2012 at BFI  Southbank in London. The two-day course is aimed at new and emerging comedy film-makers: you’re recommended to have made at least one short film and /or sitcom pilot in order to attend (please note that the course is not suitable for those solely interested in live comedy and stand-up, and it’s not aimed at fans of the artists appearing). Numbers are strictly limited to 50, so that everyone will have a chance to speak to the panellists and make important personal contacts.

Amongst a host of fantastic speakers TVO favourites Paul King, Alice Lowe and Oly Ralfe will be appearing. Ben Wheatley (Sightseers, Kill List) will also be one of the speakers at the event.

For more information about the talks and to purchase tickets (£100 for two days) visit LoCo’s website here. For anyone interested in a career in comedy and film, this is a great way to accelerate the learning process and make some useful contacts.

January Brew

12 Jan

© Becky Johnson / The Velvet Onion

TVO favourites Hot Brew are set to appear in Bethnal Green and Camden at the end of this month.

On Thursday January 26 at 8:00pm they are playing at Monthly Mirth Aid – Comedy Night  at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. Come along and spend some time with Crispin and Ooona. Steve Oram as Mary will also be making an appearance so be ready for that! The show also stars Jess Gunning who was in the Julia Davis & Jessica Hynes  pilot Lizzie & Sarah.

To find out more about this very special evening go to the website.

The following evening, Friday 27th they will be gracing Anything Bloody Goes at The Colonel Fawcett in Camden. For more information see the events facebook page

2011 Pops Off With a Bang!

8 Jan

The final months of 2011 were an exciting time for the Booshniverse. Join us for now for the final instalment of our four-part retrospective as we relive it all over again. . .

October

© BBC

October began buzzing with Booshy delights. The month’s start saw previews for the upcoming 25th series of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.  Meanwhile, Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher continued on their North American Snuff Box DVD tour in Canada, Los Angeles, and Fulcher in NYC.

While London Madcaps prepared to get their books scribbled by Noel Fielding and Dave Brown, the BBC were busy at work filming the Victorian spoof drama Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. The series, starring TVO regulars Katherine Parkinson and James Bachman, as well as Stephen Fry, is meant to start airing in the New Year. The Sightseers, the Alice Lowe/Steve Oram film collaboration was also underway by mid-October. For the nostalgic at heart, cult DJ extrodinaire Pogo released “Zoo Zoo”, a Mighty Boosh mash-up.

© IAMX

The first of four TVO Scribblings wristband competitions was announced, with peelers in London, and soon thereafter Edinburgh vying for guaranteed admission to meet the Shambletons. Psycho Delia mixed some tunes, and IAMX fans were pleased to see the band’s triumphant return to a London stage in one hell of a show! Friend of TVO, Hayden Black, saw Goodnight Burbank, his series that started as webisodes with cameos from the likes of Rich Fulcher and John Barrowman, make its North American televisual debut. Familiar face Alan Partridge, the infamous alter ego of Steve Coogan, announced his returning to both radio and TV.

© Steve Agee

Blackpool’s Comedy Carpet was unveiled, Booshy jaunts included! Lucky American peelers got the opportunity to catch the Matt Berry/Steve Agee film Angry White Men as it enjoyed a limited release in California and North Carolina. In yet another bout of nostalgia, Vlad the Impaler returned to the handlebars of Serge and the rest of Kasabian’s musical bicycle.

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Booshniverse At The BAFTAs – And Beyond

8 Jan

© Warp Films

The long list of films voted for by BAFTA members for entry in the 2012 Orange British Academy Film Awards has been announced, and there are a few Booshniverse-relevant favourites in there!

Richard Ayoade‘s critically-acclaimed debut Submarine is in the list for Outstanding British Film; and Anonymous, featuring Tony Way and Bunny & The Bull‘s Edward Hogg, is included in the lists for Best Original Screenplay, Production Design, Make-up And Hair and Costume Design.

Arthur Christmas, featuring the vocal talents of Rich Fulcher and Julia Davis is entered for Best Animated Film and Best Original Screenplay, and the much-lauded Girl With a Dragon Tattoo, which features Tony Way as hacker Plague, is listed in thirteen categories! Tyrannosaur, a Warp Films production (and therefore dear to our hearts!) is also listed in five categories.

Nominations in all categories will be announced on 17th January, and the winners will be announced at the Orange British Academy Film Awards on 12 February. For the full BAFTA long list click here.

© Optimum Releasing

While we’re on the subject of film awards, the ‘Critics Circle’ nominations have also recently been announced, and once again, the Booshniverse has fared well: Ayoade is up for Breakthrough British Film-maker and both Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige are nominated for Young British Performer of the Year – all for Submarine.

Modern horror, Kill List, directed by The Sightseers’ Ben Wheatley, and featuring TVO faces Gareth Tunley, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, also gains nominations for British Film and Supporting Actor of the Year. Tyrannosaur again features, with two nominations.

Click here for the full list of nominations for the Critics’ Circle awards. The awards ceremony takes place in London on 19th January.

Congratulations to all of the nominees. We’ll let you know how they all fair on the respective awards nights, so keep you fingers crossed!

A Not-So-Summery 2011…But Here’s A Summary Of July-Sept

4 Jan

When you think of last summer, what do you think of? Rain? Rioting? Well don’t think about that – if your memory fails you, first have a look at our reviews of January to June, and then let’s take a look at what happened in the world of Booshdom from July to September, in Part 3 of our review of 2011...

JULY

© Watch

2011 may have been a dreary and somewhat brief summer, but July kicked off with some magic as Dynamo showed off his skills to Noel Fielding, stunning him with a rogue deck of cards right in the palm of his hand!

The comedy world also saw acts big and small peeking out into the non-sunlight as they prepared for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! It was a busy month for comics, including Rich Fulcher who arranged warm ups left right and centre. As they all profusely scribbled down their work in the build-up to the festival, the musical Booshdom also picked up its pace. Robots In Disguise released their fourth album (funded by their fans!) Happiness vs Sadness. We were eager to listen to it ourselves and bring you a song-by-song evaluation of it.

© Becky Johnson

IAMX were also in the midst of releasing their new single Bernadette and at the same time brought us two alternative versions of the music video – we would expect nothing less from perfectionist Chris Corner!

This summer was also a lucky time for the Velvet Onion in terms of tracking down some great talent. We attended a Q&A with the cast of How Not To Live Your Life, then Richard Ayoade also answered some of our questions following the release of Submarine. Then there was even more excitement with the release of our chat with the delectable Hot Brew!

Someone who’s also always up for a debate is Steve Coogan, who voiced his opinions on Newsnight this month regarding the recent closure of News Of The World!

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CBooshies Return

3 Jan
© bbc.co.uk

CBBC’s I’m Sorry I’ve got No Head spin-off – Pixelface, starring David Armand and Gareth Tunley, started a new series today, with special guest star TVO favourite Colin Hoult! If you missed out, it’s on BBC iPlayer, and the second episode is next Tuesday (10th) at 4.30pm on BBC1. The first series is being repeated on Saturday mornings at 8.05am on BBC2.

Fans of Horrible Histories, starring Alice Lowe and Simon Farnaby, will be pleased to see it repeated on Fridays on BBC1 at 4.30pm, and on CBBC on Saturdays and Sundays at 1.25pm.

More exciting happenings on CBBC next Monday (9th) when there’s a new sketch show written by Vic Reeves and Steve Burge (from Burge and Way). Ministry of Curious Stuff stars Vic and Dan Skinner (Angelos from Shooting Stars) who lead a team of special investigators. In the first episode the team work out the chances of dinosaurs ever returning to roam the earth and find out if robots will ever take over the world. To discover the answers and see Vic dressed as a Kung Fu Monkey Warrior and as a girl who catches fairies, tune in to the CBBC channel at 5.45pm! As usual, the show will also be available on BBC iPlayer.

Spring Back In Time: A Look Back At April-June 2011

2 Jan

So far our review of 2011 has covered January to March. Today we bring you the sequel: April to June. Aaaah, Springtime…the time of fresh starts and new beginnings! And it turned out to be a very busy time in the Booshniverse too!

April

© BBC

April started with the news of Chris O’Dowd’s appearance in The Crimson Petal and The White, a Victorian drama adaptation miles away from The IT Crowd! It was a fantastic production with a great cast and Chris was excellent in it.

The London Comedy Writers Festival took place this month, with input from TVO favourites Alice Lowe, Jaqueline Wright and Colin Hoult. It was a very busy month for Alice, she starred in  Tap at the Window, appeared with Antony Elvin at Popcorn Comedy, and had the pilot  Alice’s Wunderland broadcast on BBC Radio 4. At the time we were lucky to bag an interview with her which you can read here. We also reviewed Jackal films 2010 calendar project.

Colin Hoult announced the second New Adventures show and Paul Foot was in Australia, tweeting as he went.

TVO enjoyed a bit of a spring clean itself in April with a revamp of the TVO Amazon store, making it even easier to cater for all your comedy needs!

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The Velvet Onion Calendar 2012

29 Dec

The Velvet Onion are pleased to bring you our exclusive 2012 calendar!

We’ve been working with a number of our friends both in front of the camera and behind it, to bring you twelve great shots to print out and stick up on your wall between January 1st and December 31st.

With a fantastic new design from Velveteer Lauren “Lozzy” Taylor, inspired by the beautiful design work Peeler Kerrie Leisch provided for the site back in 2010, we really hope you like the results – which are available for a free download by clicking on the picture above!

Thank you to everyone involved, and to all of you – our dearest Peelers – for a truly fantastic 2011… here’s to another great year in the realm of the Onion!

Kill List On Disc!

26 Dec

© Studio Canal

Ben Wheatley’s thriller Kill List is released on dvd and blu-ray today.

We first told you about the film just ahead of it’s theatrical release in the late Summer, after a string of rave reviews from just about every major publication that bothers to review movies.

Wheatley’s second feature, it was released just as his third, The Sightseers went into production – and the former director of The Wrong Door and Time Trumpet enlisted its stars, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram to make cameo appearances in Kill List, alongside fellow TVO allumni Gareth Tunley.

Now, following a win at the BIFA Awards, the film is released on dvd and blu-ray in the UK, boasting two commentaries, a making-of documentary and a number of interviews with the cast and crew.

Both versions are available now in The Velvet Onion Amazon Store – priced just £9.99 for the dvd, and £11.99 for the blu-ray/dvd combo.  If you’re still undecided, and five star reviews from the likes of Total Film aren’t enough to persuade you, you can check out the trailer below.

We hope to bring you more news on The Sightseers, currently in post production, as soon as possible… stay peeled!

Horrible Christmas

23 Dec
© Lion TV/Citrus Television

Horrible Histories Christmas Special is on  Christmas Day at 7.35am and 5.30pm. The BAFTA winning show starring Simon Farnaby and Alice Lowe takes a look at Christmas traditions and songs through the ages, and highlights some of the more gruesome festivities. If you’re too busy to watch on the day it’s available on BBC iPlayer.

Remember there is a wide variety of TVO related entertainment over the Christmas period. Take a look at our post to refresh your memory.

Hot Brew EXCLUSIVE: It’s The Last Christmas

19 Dec

© The Velvet Onion (Original Photo © Jimmy Crippen)

The Velvet Onion is proud to present it’s first ever mp3 download via the folky wonderment that is Hot Brew!

Oona & Crispin Wheatflake first came to our attention in Alice Lowe and Jacqueline Wright‘s excellent docu-short Roots, and since then, the pair – who bear an uncanny likeness to Alice and Antony Elvin – have been firm favourites here at TVO Towers, even allowing us into their humble abode for an exclusive interview earlier this year.

Now the duo have utilised their hessian string communication devices to attach a recording, made of vegetable peel, to the electronic mail system – and are offering you, dear Peelers, the chance to download it for free.

Spread the word, because their Christmas message comes with a serious point to make about the future of mankind.

You can hear it below, and download it for free HERE!

This Is More Jinsy

17 Dec

© 2|Entertain

This is Jinsy, the comedy from Sky Atlantic featuring Alice Lowe, Colin Hoult and many others, has been commissioned for an eight-part second series. It will be filmed next year and shown in 2013, for more details see this link.

Have a look at our article about This is Jinsy here, and the first series is available from The TVO Store.

Sky have also commissioned a new series of the award-winning  Spy starring Robert Lindsay, Darren Boyd, Mat Baynton (Horrible Histories) and Dolly Wells (Luxury Comedy). There will be 10 episodes in this series and a Christmas special.

Both commissions are part of Sky’s plans to increase its investment in original British content by 50% over the next three years.

British Comedy Awards Winners

17 Dec

© BBC

Last night saw the awards ceremony for the 2012 British Comedy Awards, hosted by Jonathan Ross.  A few Booshniverse-relevant artists went home with trophies; here’s our run-down of the winners:

Stewart Lee, famous for directing The Boosh’s first Edinburgh outing, won two awards: Best Male Comic and Best Comedy Entertainment Programme, for Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle. Horrible Histories, which features Simon Farnaby and Alice Lowe, picked up yet another gong – for Best Sketch Show. In doing so, it beat the Paul King-directed Come Fly With Me and This Is Jinsey, also featuring Alice Lowe and Colin Hoult.

One of the highlights of the evening has to be Armando Iannucci’s Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award! As a key contributor to On The Hour, The Day Today and numerous Alan Partridge outings (amongst many others!), he’s helped pave the way for great modern comedy along with a host of Booshniverse greats such as Chris Morris and Steve Coogan.

For the full list of nominees and winners visit The British Comedy Guide website. Congratulations to all the winners this year!

BIFA Awards

6 Dec

© Warp Films

As we mentioned previously, there was a strong Booshniverse connection to the British Independent Film Awards ceremony that was held on Sunday. Chris O’Dowd hosted and IT Crowd co-star Richard Ayoade and his debut feature film Submarine were nominated for several awards.

We are pleased to announce that Richard received the  Best Screenplay Award for Submarine.

Michael Smiley (Spaced), received the award for  Best Supporting Actor for his role in modern horror Kill List, directed by The Sightseers’ Ben Wheatley, which features TVO faces Gareth Tunley, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram (in cameos).

And Tyrannosaur,  produced by Warp Films who also produced Submarine and Kill List, won Best Film, Best Director and Olivia Coleman won Best Actress.

For a full list of winners head over to the BIFA Website.

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