We first caught wind about The Sapphires last August, but only last week it premiered in Cannes to positive reviews. The Sapphires is set in the late ‘60s and tells the story of four young, talented singers from a remote Aboriginal mission who are discovered by an unlikely talent scout (O’Dowd), and branded as Australia’s answer to The Supremes. It’s an adaptation of the successful Australian stage musical of the same name, and is inspired by the true story of writer Tony Briggs’ mother and her family.

The Sapphires is released in Australia on 9th August. In the meantime, you can watch the trailer by clicking on the image below:

© Dee Plume

Dee Plume launched her new website today.

The site features general information about Dee, her DJing, and her involvement in Robots in Disguise and Psycho Delia. There are also photos and a gallery of her art, which you may not have seen before.

Click here to access Dee’s website.  From the look of it, she’ll be updating the site on a regular basis, so keep your eyes peeled for more Plume-related snippets!

© Empire

Chris O’Dowd is set to star in TV comedy from This Is Spinal Tap‘s writer and star Christopher Guest.

The show is an improvised genealogy comedy called Family Tree, which follows the efforts of one man (O’Dowd) as he attempts to track down his real family.

There is not much information about the show yet, but as soon as we find out more we’ll let you know, in the meantime you can read all about it here.

© E4

Last week, we pointed you towards up and coming E4 sketch show The Midnight Beast, which is set to feature guest appearances from Simon Farnaby.

Now the musical sketch trio have uploaded a clip from the show to their official YouTube page, featuring Simon as you’ve never quite seen him before.

We’re used to seeing Farnaby in all manner of daft costumes, but in the build up to the Jubilee, he was the last person we were expecting to dress up like Queen Liz 2.0 – and his cameo appearances in this video are the icing on the cake for a rather brilliant rap summary of those poncy fools we’ve all seen in Camden, the Northern Quarter, or any other ‘trendy’ zone.

You can catch the video below…

The Midnight Beast will air on E4 this summer, directed by Ben Gregor, whose links with Booshdom go way back – together with Tim Plester, he created a trio of shorts featuring the likes of Farnaby, Tom Meeten, Steve Oram, Kevin Eldon, Waen Shepherd and Stephen Evans featuring famous stars of yesteryear in ordinary present day situations: Ant Muzak saw Adam & The Ants go late night shopping, Blake’s Junction 7 had the crew of the sci-fi classic stop off at a service station, and World Of Wrestling featured 70s Brit grapplers take a drunken night bus home.

Gregor then went on to make The Wingnut Tapes with Oram & Meeten, in which the Mancunian rave band attempted to unleash their concept album upon the world, before Ben headed up series of Ideal, No Heroics and The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret.

With The Midnight Beast reuniting him with Farnaby, and the show being produced by Mary Burke (Submarine, Bunny And The Bull), we’re going to be keeping a close eye on this one…

Editors note: Thanks to @LaurenW_x for finding this video for us!

© Rich Fulcher

June is almost upon us, and with it comes a tiny smattering of Rich Fulcher on London stages.

Friday, 1st June, sees Rich return to The Udderbelly, with a special edition of James Wren’s clubnight Spank!  Fulcher joins the bill alongside another TVO face - Rufus Jones, who will be performing with Alex Kirk.  Comedy rap duo Abandoman are also on the bill, as are Jamie Glassman, Jonny & The Baptists and sketch trio The Ginge, The Geordie & The Geek.

Tickets for this rather splendid sounding night are available now right over yonder.

A few days later, on 3rd June, Rich will be appearing at Max & Ivan’s Roffle Club at the Leicester Square Theatre, alongside Matt Crosby, Jigsaw and Lady Garden. Tickets are on sale now via Ents24.

That’s not all, with an appearance at Concrete for Time Of The Month on 7th June, and at Steeles on 9th June coming up too!

Before of that, however, we regret to confirm that due to scheduling conflicts, Rich will be unable to make a surprise guest appearance at Thursday’s very first Velvet Onion live night at The Vandella.

We – and Rich – had hoped to sneak in a set from Fulcher, unannounced, but Rich is unavailable that night, as he is working towards a great cause instead.

If you’re unable to make it to TVO Live, you can head to the opposite end of London to see him compere a night in aid of Centrepoint, a charity that supports homeless young people in London.  You can get tickets for the show in Hackney here, and find out about the brilliant work Centrepoint do over yonder too.

Believe us – together with Rich we tried to find ways for him to ‘double-dip’ that night, so he could appear at both events, but alas, it was never meant to be.  Rest assured if we ever make a TVO Live II, Captain Fulchybaby will be top of our agenda.

In the meantime, you can see him in action once again below, with a brilliant new Tiny Act of Rebellion…

© Team 17

INCOMING! Oi, Nutter. Grab yer pineapples and run! What on earth are you waiting for, the 1940s? A Donkey, a donkey, my kingdom for a donkey!

Such lines have gone down in gaming history as part and parcel of the legendary turn-based Worms series, which has spawned numerous incarantions since its inception in 1995, on just about every platform from PC to Gameboy, from Playstation to smartphones.

Now the legacy of classic quotes will continue with the latest game in the series, Worms Revolution – which will benefit from the fruity, dulcet tones of Matt Berry.

Berry has signed on to narrate the Worm on Worm carnage as the unseen wildlife documentary maker, Don Keystone.

Developed once again by British indie firm Team 17,  the team have released an image of Matt hard at work narrating the action.

© Team 17

We can’t lie… the combination of classic gameplay and the voice of one of our favourite people has got us itching to see this game in action.  Team 17 have assured fans expecting something new that the game has been redeveloped from the ground up with a completely new engine, making this instalment different to previous releases, whilst still unmistakably Worms.

They said: ”Exciting new features and challenges have been introduced whilst old favourites such as the Super Sheep and Holy Hand Grenade remain to thrill fans.”

Worms Revolution is headed to PC and console platforms in the Autumn.  You can see a launch trailer – complete with appropriately named worm teams Rich & Dave – below, and we’ll be bringing you pre-order links as soon as we can. Stay peeled.

© Sky Arts

As regular readers know, The Snipist, “a bleak dystopian drama’ written and directed by Matthew Holness for the Sky Arts Playhouse season, was shown on Thursday.

The show starring Douglas Henshall and the voice of John Hurt,  was definitely bleak.  The premise of the story is that rabies is rapidly spreading through the country, killing animals and humans in their thousands. Set in bleak countryside with only fields and the occasional building.  We only see The Snipist (Henshall) who has been ordered to ‘watch and protect’, in his bunker, a young woman on a farm and hear the voice of The Ministry (Hurt). There are also some dream/flashback sequences that are equally dark. Sirens go off to warn of ‘an attack’, but we only ever see one dog. Most of the scenes are claustrophobic, and are relentlessly bleak.

It’s difficult to describe what happens without spoiling the ending, but when the ending does come it’s not a happy one.  Matt Holness has done a wonderful job of portraying a future which is both horrific and eerily quiet, and the lead performance is perfectly judged with very little dialogue.

If you watched, you will know what a brilliant piece it is, if you missed it or would like to see it again, you can catch the repeat tomorrow at 11pm on Sky Arts 1.

© Rook Films / Big Talk Pictures

Sightseers, Ben Wheatleys’s dark comedy written by and starring Steve Oram and Alice Lowe, has been impressing the critics in Cannes this week.

Reviews of the film have been springing up everywhere, offering up a consistently positive perspective.  Comments have included: “The script is also well-written, with plenty of laugh out loud moments”, “flesh-creepingly funny” and  ”Sightseers is the perfect film for horror fans and dark comedy aficionados looking for a refreshing break from the norm.”

Furthermore, according to reports on twitter, the film received a ten-minute standing ovation!

To read the latest reviews in full check out The Telegraph, Evening Standard,  CineVue, The Guardian and FirstShowing.net.

How awesome does that sound?

© Go Faster Stripe

You Are Nothing, a new book by Robert Wringham, tells the story of the early performances of a host of TVO-related comedians at Cluub Zarathustra

Cluub Zarathustra was an unorthodox comedy club based beneath an Islington pub between 1994 and 1997. Audiences got to see Kevin Eldon, Waen Shepherd, Graham Linehan and Julian Barratt, amongst many others. According to the book they were also insulted, dribbled on, and forced to wear dunce’s caps. We like!

The book is based on new interviews with the principal cast, supporting artists, and audience members, and includes “drunken half-memories from two decades ago.”

For more information and to purchase a copy for £12 click here.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to @elincat for this information.

© Katy Brand

Katy Brand‘s Unbound appeal for her first novel, Brenda Monk Is Funny, is now up and running.

The story of a woman who breaks into stand up comedy will be released via Unbound’s pay-to-publish scheme, which lets interested readers pledge various amounts in return for the book and additional prizes depending on the donation.

To aid her cause, Brand is offering a set of tiered prizes – from a simple e-book right up to becoming a character in the book yourself or gaining advise on scriptwriting and the comedy industry at a private meeting with Katy.  You can even go out for a gig and a curry with her, or attend the launch party for the book, or simply get yourself a signed hardback copy.  It’s all up to you!

To find out more, here’s a message from Katy herself.   If you like what you see, click here to buy the book!

£10 – Digital e-book edition, access to Katy’s shed & your name in the back of the book.

£20 – 1st edition hardback, digital e-book edition, access to Katy’s shed & your name in the back of the book.

£50 – Signed & personally dedicated 1st edition hardback, digital e-book edition, access to Katy’s shed & your name in the back of the book.

£250 – 1 invitation to Katy’s launch lunch, 2 tickets to the launch party, signed & personally dedicated 1st edition hardback, digital e-book edition, access to Katy’s shed & your name in the back of the book.

£300 – Come to a comedy gig with Katy and go for a curry afterwards, 2 tickets to the launch party, signed & personally dedicated 1st edition hardback, digital e-book edition, access to Katy’s shed & your name in the back of the book.

£1,000 – Your name will be used as a character in the book and one joke, written by you with Katy, will be used in the book by your character, plus 1 invitation to Katy’s launch lunch, 2 tickets to the launch party, signed & personally dedicated 1st edition hardback, digital e-book edition, access to Katy’s shed & your name in the back of the book.

£2,500 – Advice on any comedy script or stand-up set you have written, and a private comedy insiders drink with Katy and another professional comedian with advice on how to get started in the comedy industry, plus 1 invitation to Katy’s launch lunch, 2 tickets to the launch party, signed & personally dedicated 1st edition hardback, digital e-book edition, access to Katy’s shed & your name in the back of the book.