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Coogan Welcomes Fifth Bafta

13 May

© Baby Cow Productions / Sky Atlantic

It was an evening of mixed fortunes for TVO related artists at the television BAFTA’s held last night.

Steve Coogan picked up his fifth BAFTA in the Male Performance in a Comedy Programme category for his performance in Welcome to the Places of My Life.

Julia Davis and Hunderby missed out to Bad Sugar co-star Olivia Colman and Twenty Twelve in the Female Performance in a Comedy Programme and Situation Comedy categories.

The Radio Times Audience Award went to Game of Thrones, which has TVO connections through Tony Way and Paul Kaye.

To see the full list of winners and the red carpet pictures, including a lovely one of Julia Davis and Julian Barratt with a Dalek, click on the BAFTA website.

A peep at Coogan’s Look of Love

14 Apr

©2013 BSkyB

Peelers who got excited reading our last entry about Steve Coogan’s upcoming movie The Look of Love can now get a peek at some exclusive pics!

Coogan’s turn in the role of Paul Raymond, adult magazine publisher and nightclub owner dubbed the “King of SoHo,” has surely whet our appetites. So pop on over to the the Sky Movie HD Gallery and have a Look.

 

And for those who missed it, or want some more . . . enjoy the trailer!

Hunderbafta… With Alan Partridge.

9 Apr

© Baby Cow Productions / Sky Atlantic

No, it’s not the title of another useless television pitch by yer man Alan, but the news that TVO’s top hitters are up for yet more gongs – this time at the BAFTA Television Awards.

The seemingly never ending cycle of BAFTA award ceremonies is no bad thing when the likes of Hunderby, Alan Partridge and Game Of Thrones continue to get nominated.

Hunderby - Julia Davis twisted period black comedy co-written with Barunka O’Shaughnessy and featuring Rufus Jones, Kevin Eldon, Arnab Chanda, Princes In The Tower and the dulcet narrative tones of Julian Barratt – has been nominated in the category of Situation Comedy, where it must fend off competition from Episodes, Twenty Twelve and the incredibly popular The Thick Of It. 

The latter also has a TVO connection, with Justin Edwards in its huge ensemble cast, and its creator Armando Iannucci being one of the driving forces behind Partridge all these years.

Speaking of Partridge, the Dave Lambert directed special Welcome To The Places Of My Life has been nominated for Best Comedy Programme, against The Revolution Will Be Televised, Mr Stink and Cardinal Burns.  The one off show was the first original slice of Alan made for Sky Atlantic last year, after they bought the rights to web-show Mid Morning Matters.

© Baby Cow Productions / Sky Atlantic

Alan’s alter-ego, Steve Coogan, has a lot to celebrate – he’s also been nominated for Male Performance In A Comedy Programme – versus Greg Davies (Cuckoo), Hugh Bonneville (Twenty Twelve) and Peter Capaldi (The Thick Of It).  Similarly, the Female Performance In A Comedy Programme list features none other than Julia Davis once again, for her role in Hunderby – a show made by Coogan’s BabyCow Productions.  She’ll be up against old friends Jessica Hynes and Olivia Colman (both for Twenty Twelve) and Miranda Hart (Miranda).

TVO would like to extend our congratulations to all at Baby Cow and especially everyone involved with Hunderby and Welcome To The Places Of My Life, and assure you our fingers are crossed for your victories!

For the full list of nominations, check out the Radio Times website, where you can also vote for the Radio Times Audience Award BAFTA.  This highly charged poll battle is between some serious tv big-hitters: The London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, directed by Danny Boyle, could be expected to walk away with the trophy, but it’ll be up against stiff competition from Strictly Come Dancing, The Great British Bake Off, Call The Midwife, Homeland and Game Of Thrones - the latter of which has featured Tony Way and Paul Kaye amongst its guest cast.  Vote for your favourite now!

Catch Up With Onion Land

4 Apr

© BBC

The last remnants of your Easter Eggs are starting to look like wicked reminders of pure liquid gluttony.  Spring is officially here, though some parts of the country seem to have swapped sunshine for snow.  As you stop to take a breath, you realise this seemingly barren period in Onion Land is actually filled with glorious programming you might have missed!

There’s a number of TVO regulars cropping up in various shows at the moment, and as some of them won’t be on catch-up for very long, we thought it was as good a time as any to give you a brief round-up.

For starters, Colin Hoult and Steve Oram appeared in the Easter Special of Life’s Too Short - the mockumentary series about Multiverse head-honcho Warwick Davis.  Oram’s also been regularly appearing in Heading Out with Sue Perkins, and all six episodes can be caught on catch-up at present.

Then there’s our full blooded TVO shows to savour – with It’s Kevin halfway though it’s initial run, and all episodes available on iPlayer, you can savour Kevin Eldon, Julia Davis, Justin Edwards, Matt Berry, Alex Kirk and many more joining The Actor, Kevin Eldon for some full blooded titting about.  The show continues on Sunday evening.

© Dave King / Roughcut Television

Over on 4oD is every episode of Anna & Katy - the silly channel-hopping style sketch show from Anna Crilly and Katy Wix, which also features appearances from Fergus Craig, Colin Hoult and David McNeill.  The show wraps up next Wednesday.

There’s also the brand new series of Game Of Thrones featuring Paul Kaye airing on Sunday evenings, which is available on catch-up exclusively to Sky customers, alongside Dan Clark and Katherine Parkinson in Love Matters.

If radio is more your thing, don’t forget that Matt Berry returned for Series 2 of I, Regress last night on Radio 4, who are also in the middle of a rerun of Knowing Me Knowing You… With Alan Partridge.

And if repeats are all you crave, you’ll be pleased to know that Mongrels will be heading to freeview channel Dave from April 12th. All this, plus the release of Sightseers on dvd and blu-ray, and a wealth of archive materials available from our TVO Amazon Stores now!  Get stuck in!

Alan Partridge Movie – Releases And Revelations!

14 Mar

A bit of a stir was created earlier today with the release of the first official photograph from the Alan Partridge Movie.

© Baby Cow

The image is classic Partridge, although sadly it doesn’t tell us a great deal about the film’s plot. Indeed, plot details for the film have yet to be revealed, although writers Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons said last year that the comedy will follow Alan’s radio station North Norfolk Digital being taken over by a giant media conglomerate and renamed Shape.

We also know that Alan’s faithful PA Lynn (Felicity Montagu), Geordie BP garage worker Michael (Simon Greenall) and rival DJ Dave Clifton (Phil Cornwell) will return for the movie.

We won’t have to wait much longer to find out more, because the official trailer for the film is being released online at 12 noon tomorrow, Friday 15th March. The official title of the film will be revealed at the same time, and what we can tell you is that it won’t be called The Alan Partridge Movie!

Watch this space for our link to the trailer as soon as it’s released tomorrow…

And here it is – the trailer for the movie, which will be called Alpha Papa (all is explained in the trailer below!)

Coogan Movie Trailer Released!

7 Mar

The trailer for Steve Coogan‘s latest feature film has just been released!

We’ve written about it a few times already, but for the uninitiated, The Look of Love is Michael Winterbottom’s biopic of Paul Raymond, the nightclub owner and adult magazine publisher who earned the nickname ‘the King of Soho’. Coogan stars as Raymond, with the film covering his colourful life and career from the 1950s to the 1990s. You can watch the trailer for the film below:

You can also see some rather gorgeous photos from the film here.

The Look of Love is released in the UK on 26 April.

Coogan Caught On Camera

1 Mar

Regular peelers will be aware that Steve Coogan is starring in two hotly-anticipated new feature films: The Look of Love and the Alan Partridge movie. Well now photos have been released from both productions!

© Radio Times

In The Look of Love biopic Coogan plays the role of Soho porn baron, Paul Raymond. Talking about the film, Coogan said: “Like 24 Hour Party People, it’s a very British story about an eccentric character at the centre of pivotal events in British culture…it has that strange combination of comedy and tragedy that Michael Winterbottom (director) manages to pull off with a real deftness of touch. Like very few films these days it’s actually about something without being portentous. Oh and there’s lots of naked ladies in it too!”

If a further TVO link were needed, one of the scenes in the film was shot at Maison Bertaux, the gallery which has hosted both of Noel Fielding‘s two solo art shows. Whooo!

The Look of Love will be released in UK cinemas on Friday 26 April, but to tide you over until then, check out Coogan as the medallioned ‘King of Soho’ in the picture above. For more photos from the film take a look here.

© Shortlist

And now back to Alan Partridge, with Shortlist magazine previewing photos from the shoot that’s currently taking place; they show Alan brandishing an air rifle on Cromer Pier. Kevin Loader, a producer on the movie, said, “Alan has finally decided the time is right to make the jump to the big screen…we felt that to do the movement to the big screen justice we needed something that would register properly cinematically and I think Cromer Pier will do that job brilliantly.”

The Alan Partridge movie will be released later this year; in the meantime you can see Coogan brandishing his rifle on Cromer Pier in the picture on the left.

Who Makes You Chortle?

28 Feb

© Mog

Voting is now open for the 2013 Chortle Awards, the UK online comedy guide.

Nomination are now up and include a couple of TVO-connected acts (as well as a whole host of other worthy nominees).

There are a few omissions that we’d like to correct given half a chance, but we’re very glad that the awesome Tony Law is up for two awards: Best Club Comic and Best Show (for the critically-aclaimed Maximum Nonsense), and 2012′s Alan Partridge Sky Atlantic TV Specials are also nominated in the Best TV category.

To view the full list of nominations and to vote click here.

Dave Lambert: Not Your Common Man

17 Feb

Common Ground is a new series of shorts currently showing on Sky Atlantic on Monday evenings. The anthology of ten stories follows the ordinary lives of some rather interesting characters, with two episodes airing each week.

© Dave Lambert

We were lucky enough to talk to the show’s director, Dave Lambert, a man already well-known to us through his work with the Mighty Boosh and Steve Coogan, amongst others:

Dave, can you tell us how Common Ground come about and how you first became involved in the series? 
Baby Cow were approached by Lucy Lumsden, Head of Comedy at Sky, to come up with ten shorts for Sky Atlantic featuring brand new comic characters. I became involved after Ali MacPhail, the producer, had been working on it for a while and had narrowed down the potential scripts.

We met with the writers/performers to develop the scripts and started to cast the episodes. Then we got out there and shot them. I’m really proud of the show and hope lots of people see it.

Do you have a favourite episode or character from the series?
No! They are all my favourites! Seriously, I do love them all because they are all different and each tells a different story. There really is something for everyone in this series.

Could you see any of the stories developing for a second run?
Definitely, whether it is a standalone series for the individual characters or a second series of Common Ground – I think these characters need to be seen again, 11 minutes leaves you wanting more. I don’t think it’s the last you’ve seen of them.

© Sky Atlantic

At TVO, we’re increasingly directing people to Sky Atlantic to watch the TV shows we write about. Do you think Sky has taken over as the home of interesting TV comedy?
I think Sky have been fantastic over the last couple of years in regard to TV comedy in the UK. There’s energy and excitement around the industry and there’s some great shows being made. Sky Atlantic are all about trusting the talent to deliver the goods and they also give the perfect amount of guidance and input. As a viewer I really like the channel, ‘Girls’ is one of the best things on TV at the moment.

© Baby Cow/Sky Atlantic

Over the years you’ve been involved in a number of Steve Coogan projects, most recently producing and directing him as Alan Partridge. Why do you think Partridge has been so popular for so long?
Alan is one of the great comic characters. I grew up watching it religiously and it blows my mind that I’ve had the chance to produce and direct Partridge shows. I think audiences will always want to hear his views on the world. He’s always relevant and he’s just brilliantly performed by Steve.

Do you think the character of Partridge has evolved over time?
Steve himself said that in ‘Mid-Morning Matters’ we are seeing more of a ‘pure’ Alan. It’s just him, Simon and sometimes a guest, there are two cameras in that room and you see everything, there’s nowhere to hide. The performance is more nuanced and Alan is a little older. For ‘Places of my life’ that carried on but it was Alan in full presenter mode as well, which is a joy to behold!

You’re also famous around these parts for your Mighty Boosh documentaries. What was it like working with them, given they’re notoriously difficult to organise?
I loved filming the Boosh! There was a period of time when whatever they were doing I would document it. I have  tons of tapes and drives with footage of them. In terms of organisation there were a few occasions where my schedule was more urgent then theirs but that happens sometimes! They are a joy to be around, one of my best memories was making the documentary ‘A journey through Time and Space’ and revisiting the venues where they met and did early gigs. It was so funny and great to hear their memories.

The Nominations Are ….

7 Feb

© Baby Cow Productions / Sky Atlantic

There are TVO connections in two different awards nominations this week.

First the South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2013 have nominations in the Best Comedy section for Julia Davis’s Hunderby and Alan Partridge: Welcome to The Places of My Life starring Steve Coogan.

More details and a full list of nominations can be found here.

The Broadcasting Press Guild Awards also feature  Hunderby and Chris O’Dowd’s Moone Boy, both in the Best Multichannel Category.

To see the other nominations click here.

NME Awards 2013 – Get Nominating!

16 Dec

© NME

The nominations are now open for the 2013 NME Awards, and it’s up to you who gets shortlisted!

Of course, there are several categories that deserve, nay demand, a TVO-related nominee! And 2012 has kindly provided us with a few options. For Best TV Show the psychedelic colour explosion that is Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy surely warrants a nomination? Or there’s award-winning Hunderby, Moone Boy, new Alan Partridge or the much-missed Mongrels.

Best Film?  How about Sightseers, written by and starring Alice Lowe and Steve Oram? For Best video you could nominate Tanlines ‘All of Me’, directed by none other than Julian Barratt, and for the various musical category nominations take a long look at the ‘Musicians‘ panel on the right hand side of this page and get typing! Wouldn’t it be nice if someone a bit less predictable won Best Album this year (Sue & The Unicorn or Loose Tapestries anyone?).

Finally, would it be too cheeky to suggest that The Velvet Onion Live would be a worthy nominee for Best Small Festival? And then there’s Best Fan Community? Ahem ;-)

You can make your nominations here. Go on, let’s make the 2013 awards our own! We’ll be letting you know when the subsequent voting commences, but in the meantime it’s over to you…

Hunderby Does The Double

13 Dec
© british comedy awards

© british comedy awards

Julia Davis’s dark, costume-drama comedy Hunderby picked up both Best Sitcom and Best New Comedy Programme awards last night at the British Comedy awards.

The show beat off competition from The Thick of It, Rev and Twenty Twelve in the Sitcom category and Alan Partridge, Cardinal Burns and Chris O’Dowd’s Moone Boy in the Best New Comedy Programme category.

Hunderby was not the only TVO related winner on the night, the Best Comedy Entertainment Programme award was won by Harry Hill’s TV Burp directed by Spencer Millman.

Nathan Barley writer Charlie Brooker won Best Comedy Entertainment Personality and Horrible Histories was beaten this year by Cardinal Burns (script edited by Rufus Jones) in the Best Sketch show category.

David Rawle from Moone Boy missed out on Best Comedy Breakthrough Artist to Morgana Robinson, but he has plenty of time to win awards!

Another TVO connection was that Katherine Parkinson was on the Jury this year.

Noel Fielding also popped up on film in a tribute to Vic and Bob, talking about Toasty Surrealism!

The full list of winners can be found below, and the whole ceremony is available on 4OD.

Best Comedy Entertainment Personality – Charlie Brooker

Best Sitcom – Hunderby

Best Male TV Comic – Lee Mack

Best Comedy Entertainment Programme – Harry Hill’s TV Burp

Best Comedy Breakthrough Artist – Morgana Robinson

Best TV Comedy Actress – Rebecca Front

The Writers Guild of Great Britain – Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer

Best TV Comedy Actor – Peter Capaldi

Best Female TV Comic – Jo Brand

Best Sketch Show – Cardinal Burns

Best New Comedy Programme – Hunderby

Outstanding Achievement – Sacha Baron Cohen.

Uncle Wormsley’s Christmas

4 Dec

Way back in August we told you there was a special Christmas treat in store. Well now we have more details of Uncle Wormsley’s Christmas, which will be broadcast over the festive season on Sky Atlantic.

The new children’s animation stars Julian Barratt as Uncle Wormsley, Julia Davis as Mrs Goodington and Jon Thompson as Mr Goodington, with Steve Coogan as the narrator. It tells the story of a solitary old man whose only friend is a giant crab.

It will be broadcast on Sky Atlantic HD on Christmas Eve at 10pm, Christmas Day at 7pm and Boxing Day at 3pm, also one hour later on Sky Atlantic + 1 and on Sky Go.

For a sneak peek at the show (and to hear some Barratt singing), watch the clip below. There are a couple of other clips on youtube too.

TVO Stars Up For British Comedy Awards!

3 Dec
© British Comedy Awards

© British Comedy Awards

The nominations for the 2012 British Comedy Awards have been announced, and a number of TVO flavoured productions are, quite rightly, in the running.

Amazingly, all four shows up for Best New Comedy Programme can be traced back to these very pages, starting with the remarkable Hunderby featuring Rufus Jones and Kevin Eldon, but most notably written by and starring Julia Davis.

The show will be battling it out against the wonderful Chris O’Dowd‘s sitcom Moone Boy and a third hilarious Baby Cow production, Alan Partridge: Welcome To The Places Of My Life which not only featured Steve Coogan as the titular character but was directed by Dave Lambert, no less!

The final show in this category has a less obvious TVO connection, but it’s there all the same – as sketch show Cardinal Burns was script edited by Rufus Jones!  So whoever wins, TVO can celebrate!

In other categories, Hunderby will be fighting for the Best Sitcom gong against Rev (which featured a guest appearance from James Bachman), Twenty Twelve and The Thick Of It.  A tough competition for that one, but we’re naturally rooting for Julia over here!  The aforementioned Cardinal Burns is also up for Best Sketch Show, as is CBBC behemoth Horrible Histories which counts Simon Farnaby and Alice Lowe amongst its ensemble cast.  They’ll both be going up against Facejacker (starring Four Lions and Bad Sugar star Kayvan Novak), and cult new show Very Important People.

Steve Coogan will be fending off challenges from Peter Capaldi, Hugh Bonneville and Tom Hollander for the title of Best TV Comedy Actor, whilst Bad Sugar star Olivia Coleman’s two roles in Twenty Twelve and Rev will be up against Lizzie & Sarah star Jessica Hynes, and The Day Today legend Rebecca Front for Best TV Comedy Actress.

Harry Hill’s TV, produced by Spencer Millman has received it’s final nomination for Best Comedy Entertainment Programme, which sees it square up to The Graham Norton Show, Celebrity Juice and Alan Carr’s Chatty Man for the title.   Hill will also be hoping to win Best Male Television Comic, and he’s up against the likes of Sean Lock, Blunder and Bruiser veteran David Mitchell and Boosh radio series star Lee Mack, who is perhaps now best known for his role in Not Going Out alongside Katy Wix.  The Best Female Television Comic section is the only one with no TVO link, and it will be decided between Jo Brand, Nina Conti, Sarah Millican and Sue Perkins.

© Baby Cow / Sky

© Baby Cow / Sky

Despite being a standup veteran, Nina Conti is also up for Best Comedy Breakthrough Artist, as are Cardinal Burns, Morgana Robinson and our personal favourite, young Moone Boy star David Rawle.  Finally, Best Comedy Entertainment Personality will be one of the following four men: Stephen Fry, Harry Hill, Graham Norton or Nathan Barley writer Charlie Brooker.

For more details on the awards, which take place on December 12th and are broadcast live on Channel 4, visit their official website now – and good luck to everyone nominated!

Sightseers Spotlight On: Steve Oram

1 Dec

Earlier today we profiled Alice Lowe, who played the female lead in Sightseers.  But what of her collaborator, co-writer and co-star? How much do you know about Steve Oram?  Trust us, there is far more to the man than just a ginger beard and a caravan. Please allow us to enlighten you…

Many Boosh fans were first introduced to Steve when he played the surprisingly articulate, cape-lovin, anti-hero, Donny the Tramp, in The Mighty Boosh episode, The Strange Tale of the Crack Fox. But in fact the industrious Mr. Oram has been at work behind-the-scenes and in front of the camera since 2001 as very productive actor, writer, and musician.

Steve Oram first came to our attention when he appeared as a policeman in the second series of the spoof documentary People Like Us. In 2002 came the hilarious Ant Muzak, a short film that chronicles Adam Ant and entourage as they grocery shop in the wee hours. In addition to performing his stand-up comedy, he made appearances on Greenwing, Tittybangbang, and also made a feature-length film,  It’s All Gone Pete Tong. 

Steve acted in the TV series The Comedy Lab, alongside many other well-known performers, including, Kevin Eldon, Ricky Gervais, Alice Lowe, Tom Meeten, and Katy Wix. One outstanding work that came from this series was the short film, Matthew and Tone: Tales of Friendship and Innocence. Steve starred as Tone, alongside Tom Meeten’s Matthew. In fact, Tom and Alice often create and collaborate with Steve, and appear with him in shows.

Continue reading →

Sightseers Spotlight On: Alice Lowe

1 Dec

As you’ve probably gathered by now, here at The Velvet Onion we’re more than a tad giddy about the UK release  of Sightseers. There are many, many things about the film that make it worthy of merit, not the least of which is the rather wonderful person who plays Tina, the female lead. For anyone who’s unfamiliar with her work, please allow us to introduce you to the writer-actor-comedian-singer-performer extraordinaire, Alice Lowe:

© Big Talk Pictures

If you’re a regular reader of TVO you’ll be aware of Alice’s more recent projects (of which there are many); what you may not fully appreciate, however, is how many seminal comedy happenings (and comedy people)she’s been involved with during her career.

Sightseers isn’t Alice’s first time in a feature film; she’s even played another Tina in a film before, in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz. Alice also appeared briefly in Ben Wheatley’s previous release, Kill List.

But let’s start back at the beginning, before the movie roles. Alice started out co-creating and performing in surreal experimental theatre shows such as City Haunts, Snowbound and Progress In Flying Machines with David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Since she first graced our TV screens in 2004 in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace as Madeleine Wool/Dr. Liz Asher, Alice’s TV appearances read like a ‘Best of British Comedy’ roll call. There have been parts in the Mighty Boosh (as Monkey in Priest & The Beast), The IT Crowd (as Patricia in Fifty-Fifty), Snuff Box (as David Bowie), This is Jinsey (as Soosan Noop) and Man to Man with Dean Learner - plus roles in game-changing TV shows such as Little Britain, Pulling, Horrible Histories, Skins and Black Books, amongst others.

She also wrote and starred in E4′s overlooked comedy series Beehive (take a look here for our review of the show if you want to know more). Plus, she’s performed with the likes of Rob Brydon, Harry Enfield and Katy Brand in their various TV outings. So far so impressive.

© Jackal Films

For anyone unfamiliar with Alice’s comedy acting skills, for a quick immersion session we’d recommend a gander at Jackal Films creative output.  In 2010 Alice teamed up with director Jacqueline Wright to produce and release a short  film per month – that’s twelve shorts in total.

The quality and range of the films is truly impressive, as are Alice’s performances - take a look at them all here. You can also see some other shorts that Alice features in by clicking on this.

Impressive stuff, but one could argue that her talents are best experienced live, where her uncanny ability to portray the unhinged and yet also sing like an angel, really come to the fore. She was part of Ealing Live in the early/mid-2000s, an experimental comedy group where many of the UK’s finest (i.e. the artists that we write about) started their stand-up careers; take a look at the column on the right of this page and you can see who was involved.

Since then Alice has performed on stage with many of her contemporaries, and we’ve been lucky enough to see her live on a number of occasions, most recently at Oram & Meeten’s Club Fantastico, where she truly shone. Alice and her co-star in Sightseers, Steve Oram, also performed together during Steve Coogan’s 2007 tour, and some would argue that their supporting role, filling in between Coogan’s character changes, provided some of the funniest moments of the show.

Continue reading →

Hacked Off… With Alan Partridge

23 Nov

If you’ve been following media coverage of the phone hacking scandal, you’ll know that Steve Coogan is particularly vocal in his criticisms of those responsible – and quite rightly so.

Unfortunately, it seems the man he helped make famous doesn’t agree.  Shamed former BBC sports commentator and talkshow host Alan Partridge, who bounced back to regular slots on Radio Norwich before going into the digital age, has been looking at the publication of a new book on the inquiry, Everybody’s Hacked Off, and he isn’t impressed…

If you want to see what Alan’s going on about, and chances are you side more with his benefactor Mr Coogan, you can buy the book yourself over yonder.

The Moone, The Matters & The Bubbly Milk… New TVO DVD’s From Baby Cow!

19 Nov

Today sees the release of two of the latest additions to the TVO canon on digital versatile disc… as both Hunderby and Moone Boy are unleashed to the world, joining Alan Partridge: Mid Morning Matters which was released last week.

© 2|Entertain / Baby Cow Productions / Sky Comedy

Julia Davis‘ period comedy Hunderby also features the likes of Rufus Jones and Kevin Eldon in it’s powerful ensemble cast, and as rumours of a second series begin to gain strength, we’re pleased those who loved the show on Sky Atlantic can be joined by those who didn’t have the chance to appreciate this instant classic.  You can order a copy to accompany your bubbly milk right here for just £13.99.

Meanwhile, another production from Baby Cow sees the big man himself, Steve Coogan, make a guest appearance.  The charming Moone Boy written by, and starring Chris O’Dowd is also released today, in which Chris plays the imaginary friend of young dreamer Martin Moone.  The rural Irish setting and 80s period flavour combine with a whimsical style that again, deserves to return for another series as soon as possible, and it can be bought for only £13.69 by giving a dead bird the kiss of life, or just clicking here.

Finally, last week saw the release of another Baby Cow and Coogan concoction – the latest piece of the Alan Partridge saga.  Mid Morning Matters started life as a series of webisodes, before being picked up by Sky for broadcast earlier this year.  With another run currently in production, and the long awaited Partridge movie gearing up for production soon, this is a great chance to catch up with a legend of local broadcasting, and you can grab a cup of beans with a sausage in them to go with your dvd, which is only £14.15 in our store now.

Preview Peeling: Mooneboy

7 Sep

© Baby Cow / Sky

Next week sees the launch of Moone Boy on Sky 1 HD – the semi-autobiographical sitcom from Chris O’Dowd which is set to feature Steve Coogan in a guest role.

The Velvet Onion has been lucky enough to see a preview of the first episode, ahead of the double-bill launch of the show at 9:30pm on Friday 14th September.

Our editor in chief shares his thoughts on the show below…

Chris O’Dowd’s star is truly in the ascendant. A few years ago, the budding comic actor was best known as slovenly Roy Trenneman in The IT Crowd, and his other roles had either been in supporting roles (Simon Swafford in The Boat That Rocked, for example), or leading parts in minor cult pictures which barely made a splash at the box office (including an incredible performance in Festival). He was one of those actors lots of people knew when they saw him, but was often just “that guy out of that thing”. When The IT Crowd was victim of an aborted reboot in the USA, it was his co-star Richard Ayoade who was retained, not O’Dowd.

Not any more. Following a leading role in popular costume drama The Crimson Petal And The White, he was soon the villain in Jack Black’s Gulliver’s Travels and then the love interest in smash-hit rom-rom Bridesmaids. Suddenly, America knew who he was, and wanted him to be in something – and so too, did the rest of the world. Chris is now a bona-fide movie actor – such a recognisable name that he’s even guested in Family Guy. Twice.

Yet it is at this point in his life that he’s opted to go for broke, and try writing his first ever piece of dramatic comedy. What started as a one-off episode of Baby Cow Productions and Sky’s festive anthology series Little Crackers, has developed into Moone Boy – a six part, half hour sitcom a world away from the restraints of the three-walled, traditional filming style of his most famous sitcom role.

From the off, it’s clear that Moone Boy has been a labour of love not just for O’Dowd, but for the rest of the cast and crew, including co-writer Nick Vincent Murphy and legendary director Declan Lowney, whose past credits include Father Ted, Help and Little Britain, and whom will be helming the forthcoming Alan Partridge movie – also for Baby Cow. Continue reading →

Uncle Wormsley’s Christmas Treat

22 Aug

We’ve recently caught wind of another TVO-related TV treat due for release at Christmas!

Uncle Wormsley’s Christmas is an animated production from Baby Cow. It tells the story of a solitary old man whose only friend is a giant crab, and it’ll be airing on Sky Atlantic during the festive season. It features Steve Coogan as narrator, plus the voices of Julian Barratt and Julia Davis in the roles of two of the lead characters (all of whom sound rather unlike their usual selves).

We’ll let you know as soon as we have the transmission details; in the meantime, you can take a look at the short clip below:

Editor’s Note: Many thanks to Goldfish for this info.

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