News
After more than eight years chronicling the exploits of an interconnected alternative comedy family, The Velvet Onion is taking an extended hiatus. Editor in chief, Paul Holmes, explains why, below… If you’re out there reading this, there’s a good chance that at some point since
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May 18, 2018 // 6 Comments
Sky and HBO have commissioned Sally4Ever, a new comedy series from Julia Davis. The brand new series, written and directed by Julia Davis, promises to “explore the facets of love and sex in our confused, obsessive and gender-fluid world”. Starring alongside Julia are Catherine Shepherd
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May 1, 2018 // 0 Comments
Katherine Parkinson is set to star in new BBC Two comedy Defending the Guilty. The new comedy, written by Kieron Quirke (Cuckoo) and directed by Jim Field Smith (The Wrong Mans), is based on the book ‘Defending The Guilty: Truth And Lies In The Criminal Courtroom’ by Alex McBride. Will
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May 1, 2018 // 0 Comments
Aisling Bea and Sharon Horgan are going to play sisters in a new Channel 4 sitcom. Happy will star Aisling Bea as a woman suffering from anxiety and depression, with Sharon Horgan playing her older sister who is struggling to look after her. The dark sitcom has been written by Bea and will be
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April 25, 2018 // 0 Comments
BBC comedy The Wrong Mans is getting a US remake. The Wrong Mans aired on BBC2 for two series in 2013-2014, written by and starring James Corden and Mat Baynton. Corden is also set to star in the planned US remake, with Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation, House of Lies) stepping into
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April 24, 2018 // 0 Comments
Steve Pemberton will star in new factual drama The Interrogation on Channel 4. The Interrogation will focus on the case of Tony Martin, played by Steve Pemberton, who was sentenced to life after shooting dead 16 year old burglar Fred Barras in 1999. The one-off hour-long programme will offer up
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April 24, 2018 // 0 Comments
Alice Lowe will star in new sci-fi film The Encounter. Set in the 1980s, The Encounter takes place in Philadelphia, USA, where a struggling family discovers the truth about their missing daughter through a series of frightening encounters with otherworldly beings. The film is directed by Carl
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April 18, 2018 // 0 Comments
The Velvet Onion is tremendously saddened to be writing about the death of actor Alex Beckett at the age of just 36. Beckett, who died suddenly this week, was perhaps best known to comedy audiences for his role as hipster PR man Barney Lumsden in John Morton’s Twenty Twelve and W1A alongside
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April 13, 2018 // 0 Comments
The lineup for this year’s Pilot Light TV Festival has been announced. Manchester’s festival dedicated to celebrating the best in TV and web series from around the world is back, for its third year, on 3rd-6th May. The lineup this year includes a 20th anniversary screening of Big
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April 6, 2018 // 0 Comments
Short film Alpha Beta, starring Richard Glover and Rufus Jones, is now available to watch on Vimeo. In the 10-minute film, written and directed by Tom Hemmings, Richard Glover and Rufus Jones play two police marksmen – one of whom is an alpha male, while the other is more of a beta.
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April 2, 2018 // 0 Comments
Gemma Whelan stars in new BBC Radio 4 comedy drama Rude Not To. Bobby (Gemma Whelan) has the usual problems that afflict London singletons. Like – how long should you wait to ask your boss out when his wife walks out on him? Without anyone else in the office finding out? While keeping your
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April 2, 2018 // 0 Comments
Channel 4 has revealed more details about Stath Lets Flats which is due to air this year. The new six-part comedy has been written by Jamie Demetriou and Friday Night Dinner creator Robert Popper. Jamie stars in the series as the incompetent Stath, who works at a dodgy London lettings agency
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March 28, 2018 // 0 Comments
Katy Brand’s Book Group will be at the Underbelly Festival on Thursday 26th April. The one-off show will see Katy Brand talk about and read from her favourite books (good ones, bad ones, childhood ones, dirty ones…), and chat to two celebrity guests (to be announced) who also combine
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March 27, 2018 // 0 Comments
Travel Man will return very soon with a 48-hour trip to Brussels. Richard Ayoade is heading to the capital city of Belgium with Lee Mack. The episode is set to air Monday 2nd April at 8.30pm on Channel 4. It looks like they will be visiting the Atomium… And the infamous Manneken Pis…
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March 26, 2018 // 0 Comments
Cunk on Britain will begin Tuesday 3rd April on BBC Two. In the new five-part series, Philomena Cunk (aka Diane Morgan) will be taking us on a journey through the history of Britain. Since starting out in Charlie Brooker’s Wipe shows, Philomena has presented Cunk on Shakespeare and Cunk on
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March 22, 2018 // 1 Comment
Lou Sanders has teamed up with fellow comic Luke McQueen to create the podcast Why is Your Bottom so Dirty?; a totally improvised fictional chat show that isn’t really as vulgar or disgusting as it may sound. The pair have taken on the challenge of helping various people who are damaged in a
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March 20, 2018 // 0 Comments
Katy Brand has written her first play, 3Women, which will soon be at Trafalgar Studios. The play will star Anita Dobson, along with Debbie Chazen, Maisie Richardson-Sellers and Oliver Greenall. 3Women is a comedy drama set in a hotel room, where a family is reunited for one evening. It follows
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March 20, 2018 // 0 Comments
Rachel Parris features in new dark comedy webseries M.O.T.H.E.R Knows Best. Set in an Orwellian, dystopian future, a permanently tired and dejected interviewer in a product testing government facility works under the authoritarian matriarch, M.O.T.H.E.R. Each episode sees him testing a new product
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March 19, 2018 // 0 Comments
Rachel Parris and Justin Edwards are among the lineup for Criminal: An Improvised Murder Mystery at the Underbelly Festival on the Southbank. In the improvised, anarchic murder mystery night, produced and hosted by Ralph Jones and Joel Gatehouse, the crime in need of solving will be the murder
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March 15, 2018 // 0 Comments
Natasia Demetriou and Ellie White Are Gettin’ Big will run at the Soho Theatre Monday 9th – Wednesday 11th July. In their new show, best friends and fierce rivals Natasia Demetriou and Ellie White promise to try out a brand new hour of character comedy, martial arts and electric tap,
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March 13, 2018 // 0 Comments
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