A vintage late 90s sketch series featuring Tony Way, Steve Burge and a host of other big names is being released on dvd in November.

Barking was made for Channel 4 back in 1998, and as if to prove that nothing really changes, was immediately dumped in a graveyard slot and denied a second series.  Sound familiar?

What made Barking so unique is that its stars all went on to great success in their own right.  The show features a cast list which would be nigh on impossible to contain in one show now: Catherine Tate, Matt Lucas, David Walliams, Peter Kay, Omid Djalili, Simon Greenall, Mackenzie Crook, Marcus Brigstock, Mongrels star Dan Tetsell, Angelo’s and Lifespam star Steve Brody and the trio formerly known as Stay Alive Pepi – Rhys Thomas, Steve Burge & Tony Paul Way.

Tony has written about his experience on this, his first proper telly gig, and his earlier experiences guesting on the third series of The Fast Show, on his blog over yonder, where he also reveals the pilot episode was bolstered by The League Of Gentlemen, no less!

Of course, some of those stars have continued their associations with the acts we regularly cover on The Velvet Onion, too.  Catherine Tate went on to appear in the second series of Big Train, replacing our very own Julia Davies, and more recently appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks with Noel Fielding.  David Walliams hired Paul King to direct his airport based sketch-show with Matt Lucas, Come Fly With Me.  Omid Djalili hired Rich Fulcher to appear in his self-titled series, whilst Mackenzie Crook apeared in Ant Muzak alongside Oram & Meeten.

That’s not all.  Marcus Brigstock regularly appears on children’s sketch show Sorry, I’ve Got No Head with James Bachman, Rhys Thomas was a major part of Blunder with Tony Way, Simon Farnaby and Tom Meeten – and Steve Burge recently collaborated once more with Tony Way on a series of hilarious sketches which also featured input from Steve Oram and James Bachman.  It’s a small world, comedy, isn’t it?

Barking is available to pre-order now from The Velvet Onion Amazon Store, priced just £9.99.  The release is expected on November 7th.