© bbc.co.uk
It would be hard to not have noticed that the new BBC1 series of Sherlock ended in a dramatic way on Sunday!
There were a couple of familiar faces in the episode, starting with the blink-and-you’ll-miss-him appearance of Tony Way as a guard!
Katherine Parkinson had a very important role in the episode, which you will know if you saw it, and if you’ve missed it I won’t spoil it for you.
If you did somehow manage to miss The Reichenbach Fall, it is available on BBC iPlayer.
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
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.
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.
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!
© bbc.co.uk
Don’t forget Matt Berry‘s six part radio series called I, Regress starts tomorrow. As we told you last month, the 15 minute show is written by and stars Matt as a hypnotherapist and features a host of guest ‘patients’.
In the first episode of the dark comedy, Karen House-Water (Katherine Parkinson) visits Dr Berry to treat her fear of water, and finds that the cure can sometimes be worse than the disease.
Tune in at 11pm on Radio 4 tomorrow (3rd January) if you dare, or catch up on BBC iPlayer during daylight hours! For more information visit the BBC Website.
Edit: It’s available here until 10th January.
© Channel 4
On Saturday Catherine Tate hosted a look back at the comedy that made the decade from 2000-2010, including some TVO favourites! It’s not just one of those clip and talking head shows that seem to be around at this time of year, as Catherine interviews fellow stars of comedy including Alan Carr, David Walliams, Noel Fielding and Rob Brydon, as well as her Doctor Who co-star, David Tennant.
There are also insights into the news and pop culture at the time the shows aired to give context to the comedy of the era.
If you missed it, it’s available on 4OD for the next 28 days.
This show was the second in a short series, the first one (shown in August) highlighted the 1990′s with Jennifer Saunders and Ben Elton will celebrate the 1980′s on 28th December.
As you’ll be aware if you’ve read our Christmas television post, there is an array of TVO-related shows on TV over the Christmas period – and tomorrow is a bumper day for them!
BBC2 is awash with Booshdom, starting at 8.30pm with The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff, starring Stephen Fry, Michell and Webb and TVO regulars James Bachman and Katherine Parkinson, as well as a host of well-known faces! If you want a sneak preview then head over to the BBC website.
Following this, at 9.30pm, is the Christmas edition of The Rob Bryden Show with guest Noel Fielding and maybe a hint of Luxury Comedy. See Noel backstage here.
Then at 10pm John Barrowman hosts the Christmas edition of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
It’s not over yet, you’ll have to turn over to BBC 3 at 10.30pm after Buzzcocks to see the final two episodes of Mongrels (take a look at the preview clips below to see what pleasures await you…).
Go on, put your feet up tomorrow evening – there really is no need to move from the sofa!
December 11th
© Channel Four
Black Mirror
The second episode of Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker‘s techno-satire, features Booshdom’s Julia Davis. Davis plays a judge on a talent contest called ‘Hot Shot’, which in this reality with nothing but a gloomy future where the residents toil away, is the only way out of misery.
More information about Black Mirror and the Fifteen Million Merits episode can be found at our previous post.
Black Mirror airs on Channel 4 at 9.30PM.
December 17th
© Andrew Crowley
Catherine Tate: Laughing at the Noughties
A new addition to our Christmas viewing guide! @ChloeeCakes has alerted us to Catherine Tate: Laughing at the Noughties, a 2-hour show presented by Catherine Tate that casts a look back at the best comedy of the the last decade. We hope to see a few of the acts that we cover on TVO included in that one! Noel Fielding is listed as one of the contributors to the show as well, so it’s well worth a look.
It airs at 10pm on Channel4.
December 19th
© BBC
© Matt Berry/Myspace
The BBC Media Centre has announced that Matt Berry has his own six part radio series starting in the new year. I, Regress is written by Matt who stars as a twisted regression therapist, taking his patients on a surreal and unsettling journey into their unsuspecting sub-conscious.
The all-star cast includes Matt’s IT Crowd co-star Katherine Parkinson, Morgana Robinson, Simon Greenall, Jack Klaff, Tara Flynn, Alex Lowe and Playschool’s Derek Griffiths!
The first of the weekly 15 minute shows is on Tuesday 3rd January at 11pm on BBC Radio 4, and will be available on iplayer after this.
You may remember a while ago now we mentioned Bride Of Vernon – a student made animation which featured the voice talents of our very own Dan Clark and IT Crowd’s Katherine Parkinson.
At the time we could only provide you with the trailer but now, the short is available to watch in all it’s glory online!
This film, based on the classic Frankenstein story by Mary Shelley, follows Vernon who finds a partner in Mary Mae before it all goes awry. This Ardman inspired stop-frame animation really shows you what today’s aspiring filmmakers can achieve and can even gain the help of some well known names. Not too long ago, Steve Coogan offered his help to a film student in Brighton by agreeing to cameo in his horror-film project.
We admire the help that these talents offer to those budding filmmakers out there and we encourage you to take a look at Bride Of Vernon below and let us know what you think!
TVO regular Katy Wix and comedy partner Anna Crilly are set to appear at this weekend’s Soho Later comedy night.
Starting at 11.30pm and with a 1am licence, the regular comedy night, hosted by TVO regular Sarah Kendall, is playing host to a wide range of great comics every Saturday night until the end of December.
This weekend she will be joined by double act Wix & Crilly, alongside Popcorn Comedy creator Holly Walsh.
Tickets priced at £15 (£12 concessions) are available from ticketweb or the Soho Theatre website.
The duo recently appeared in a one-off comedy sketch show, Anna & Katy, as part of E4′s Comedy Lab, and also appeared with Katherine Parkinson in Coma Girl earlier this year. You can still catch both shows on 4OD.
© Talkback Thames / Steven Peskett
Graham Linehan has confirmed that The IT Crowd is to end next year, following an extended special.
Previous announcements were made in regard to a fifth series expected in April 2012, and indeed, writers were attached to the show’s brainstorming stages in a bid to support Linehan’s scriptwriting work on the show.
TVO had heard mumblings that the fifth series may not be emerging some time ago, but naturally, kept silent until we could be certain.
That certainty arrived last night, when Linehan engaged in a Reddit chat with fans, stating:
“I’ll say right off the bat…the bad news is no IT Crowd Series 5. The good news is an extended special next year called…actually I won’t tell you the title because you’ll end up imagining better storylines than the one I’ve written.”
Answering questions from fans, he continued by explaining that he “just wasn’t looking forward to it the way [he] used to”, despite the last series giving him some of his favourite episodes. However, he promised a big special to round off and didn’t rule out a movie if the idea was strong enough.
Taking to Twitter post-discussion, he also defended the increasingly popular cast from accusations they had become too big for the show stating: ”They were all up for it. Even Chris [Morris]. I was the one who couldn’t face it.”
So there you have it – we at TVO will naturally be sad to see it go, as will a great number of people worldwide, but with one more special episode to look forward to next year, and maybe even a film version in the pipeline, there’s just enough life in the Crowd yet. And what a glorious run of episodes they leave behind – all of which you can buy on dvd now from The Velvet Onion Amazon Store!
As we mentioned a few weeks ago, the BBC are filming a spoof Victorian drama to mark the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens.
Bleak Old Shop of Stuff stars Katherine Parkinson together with a host of familiar comedy stars including James Bachman and Colin Hoult.
James has tweeted some interesting pictures of the production with some of himself and Kevin Eldon dressed in Victorian costume. He also tweeted some of the funny Victorian posters from the set, like the one on the left.
If you want to see more pictures and details about the show head over to the behind the scenes BBC blog, and if you’d like to see more snippets from Mr Bachman then you can follow him on Twitter.
© radiotimes.com
The BBC have started filming a new series called Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff, a spoof Victorian drama which forms part of the BBC’s celebrations for the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens. The series opens with a one-hour Christmas special, starring Stephen Fry, followed by three more episodes in the New Year.
The IT Crowd‘s Katherine Parkinson stars in the series as Conceptiva, the wife of shop owner Jedrington Secret-Past, played by Robert Webb. The series also stars David Mitchell, who appeared in the original radio series Bleak Expectations, alongside TVO favourite James Bachman. The all-star cast also includes Johnny Vegas, Kevin Eldon, Father Ted’s Pauline McLynn and Celia Imrie, who also starred in the radio show.
Both series are written by Mark Evans, and while Bleak Old Shop of Stuff is set in the same world as Bleak Expectations, it has a completely new set of characters.
To find out more visit the Radio Times Website
Two stars of The IT Crowd are appearing in separate panel shows on Friday night (23rd September).
First up is Katherine Parkinson, who joins David Mitchell, Rob Brydon and Lee Mack in Would I Lie To You?, which airs on BBC1 at 9.30pm.
Next Richard Ayoade is joining Jimmy Carr, Sean Lock and Jon Richardson in 8 Out Of 10 Cats, which is shown on Channel 4 at 10.30pm.
As we have mentioned previously, The IT Crowd is due to be back on our screens in the Spring.
Edit: Both shows are now available to view online.
Click for Would I Lie to You?
Click for 8 out of 10 Cats
Two new comedy shows are on Channel 4 and E4 tomorrow, and both have TVO connections.
© Channel 4
Coma Girl stars Katherine Parkinson, Sarah Solemani (Psychoville), Katy Wix, and Anna Crilly (Katy’s comedy partner) as Lucy, the girl in the coma. The four meet every month in the Intensive Care Unit, and as Lucy becomes more aware, funny moments from her subconscious are revealed. Coma Girl is on Channel 4 tomorrow (9th September) at 10.30pm on Channel 4. For more about the show click here.
© E4
If you turn over to E4 at the end of Coma Girl, you can watch Totally Tom, a half-hour scripted comedy sketch show written and performed by Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton, and directed by Dave Lambert, the director of The Mighty Boosh: The Making of Series 2, Boosh Publicity, The Mighty Boosh: A History and The Mighty Boosh: Inside the Zooniverse. Follow the link for more about Totally Tom.
Both shows will be available on 4OD after broadcast.
© Anna Crilly & Katy Wix
Katy Wix is to appear in three different pilots this Autumn for Channel 4.
The actress and comedienne is perhaps best known in the UK for her role in Not Going Out, alongside former Boosh radio series star Lee Mack, whilst international audiences may recognise her for her appearance in the third series of Torchwood, and regular TVO readers will recognise her for her appearances in Jackal Films, Time Trumpet, Horrible Histories and FM.
We told you back in May about her involvement with Comedy Showcase pilot The Fun Police - which also features Vic Reeves & Rhys Darby, and is produced by Ash Attalla.
Since then, details have also emerged about a second Comedy Showcase pilot she’ll be featuring in alongside The IT Crowd‘s very own Katherine Parkinson entitled Coma Girl - an intriguing premise featuring three old school “friends” visiting a coma patient together despite their drastically different outlooks.
The new season of Comedy Showcase is due to transmit in the Autumn, but before then, Wix can be seen in her own pilot as part of the Comedy Lab range.
Set to air on September 2nd, Anna & Katy, features Wix alongside Anna Crilly in their own sketch show, which appears to feature a variety of channel hopping tv genre spoofs, including daytime TV, game shows and a German soap opera. Eamonn Holmes and Lee Mack are due to make special appearances in the pilot, which airs at 11pm on Channel 4.
As with previous editions of Comedy Lab, the episode will be available on catch-up service 4oD after transmission right here.
© Talkback Thames/Steven Peskett
The fifth, and likely final series of The IT Crowd looks set for a Spring broadcast.
Speaking to The Guardian this weekend, Channel 4′s head of comedy Shane Allen, discussed his plans for the future following a whopping £9m addition to his comedy budget after the channel dropped reality series Big Brother.
Alongside plans for fresh episodes of Peep Show and the long awaited one-off return of The Comic Strip Presents…, Allen confirmed that The IT Crowd would return in April.
At present, judging by the increasingly successful careers of its stars, it’s looking increasingly likely this will be the show’s final run. Richard Ayoade recently told The Velvet Onion he planned to move increasingly behind the camera after the next series, stating: “If I was better at it, I’d probably be more keen. It’s not really my strength, so I think just on the basis of ability, I’ll probably end up doing less of it.”
The article also makes a passing reference to the forthcoming Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy, and notes that a new three part series about the perils of technology, entitled Black Mirror, is being written by Nathan Barley co-creator Charlie Brooker, as well as indicating that teen sitcom The Inbetweeners (which has previously featured our very own Waen Shepherd) is to go on hiatus indefinitely.
If you missed them last summer, don’t forget you can download exclusive IT Crowd wallpapers from our Downloads page.
To celebrate the release of Submarine on 1st August, Channel 4 have a competition to win prizes including the whole of The IT Crowd on DVD, and a copy of Submarine author Joe Dunthorne’s new novel Wild Abandon. One lucky winner will also get a copy of Submarine on Blu-ray and a Panasonic Blu-ray player to watch it on! Five runners-up will win copies of Submarine on Blu-ray.
Click here for more information and to enter the competition.
Don’t miss our exclusive interview with Submarine director Richard Ayoade.
If you aren’t lucky enough to win the Channel 4 Competition, then you can buy Submarine and The IT Crowd from The Velvet Onion Amazon Store.
© Calvin Dyson & Jonathan Tolson
A new short film with some interesting Booshdom connections has crept past our peelers. The Bride of Vernon is a short film made by film students Calvin Dyson and Jonathan Tolson.
This 15 minute stop frame animation stars Dan Clark , Katherine Parkinson and David Schofield, who have donated their voice talents to this Frankenstein-esque comedy about Vernon (Clark), who attempts to make himself the perfect woman until he comes across Mary Mae (Parkinson) – who puts off his experiment in more ways than one.
This film may be in the can after it was completed by Dyson and Tolson at the Northern Film School, but it’s still waiting for a distributor, so let’s encourage it to be released to the masses by ‘liking’ it over on their official Facebook Page! You can also read up on the background of the film on Tolson’s blog.
Once the group reaches 100 ‘likes’ we may also be treated to a teaser trailer, so keep your eyes peeled and get liking!
Editors Note: As promised, now that the Facebook page has reached over 100 fans we can now take a peek at the trailer! Just surf your mouses below to see!
© BBC
Two familiar faces from the realm of TVO have now appeared in the second series of black comedy Psychoville.
The cult show, written by and starring Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton [half of the team behind The League of Gentlemen], is reaching the conclusion of its two-series arc, revolving around the mysterious goings on at Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital. Also featuring Dawn French and Daisy Haggard [The Persuasionists] in its ensemble cast, episodes four and five of the second run have now featured two actors better known for their contributions to the Booshniverse.
Last week, Nathan Barley himself, Nicholas Burns appeared as a wealthy man celebrating his birthday with an illegal operation on a willing donor. Burns, of course, also portrayed The King Of Xooberon in The Mighty Boosh episode Fountain Of Youth.
Tonight’s episode featured none other than Katherine Parkinson - better known as Jen from The IT Crowd. As part of the same sub-plot, Parkinson’s character was working at a scientific research facility where frozen body parts are a speciality.
The final episode of the series airs on BBC2 on Monday at 10pm, and every episode from this series is currently available on the iPlayer catch-up service until June 13th.
If you’d prefer to own the episodes on dvd, and TVO cannot recommend the show highly enough (!) – you can preorder Series Two or, for the complete experience, the Series One & Two boxset from The Velvet Onion Amazon Store now. Both titles are released the same day the show disappears from iPlayer: June 13th.
