Actualités

Yes, you read the headline right; Bradley Cooper’s next directorial effort is a film based on comedian John Bishop. More on that below.

Bradley Cooper is getting comfortable in the director’s chair again with a rather surprising film. Is This Thing On?, which has just wrapped filming according to Beyond The Joke, is a rom-com inspired by the life and adventures of John Bishop. Comedian Chloe Radcliffe originally revealed the movie was in the works on Richard Herring’s Rhlstp podcast.

Not only is Is This Thing On? directed by Cooper, he’s also co-written the script with Will Arnett, who is also starring in the film as a man who turns to stand-up comedy after his marriage breaks down. Cooper will also play the lead character’s best friend in the movie.

Bishop himself is on board as an executive producer. The film is only loosely based...

For decades, the conversation has echoed in pubs, bars, WhatsApp group chats, living rooms, and office canteens. What would you do if you won the ultimate lottery jackpot? The ultimate prompt to indulge in the ultimate daydream.

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, has partnered with EuroMillions from The National Lottery to find out what celebrities would spend their hypothetical winnings on, creating a captivating new podcast series titled Rich Beyond My Wildest Dreams. Launching today, Friday, September 27th, the series features a lineup of celebrities exploring the fantastical possibilities of winning a £200 million jackpot in an original idea from Acast.

Hosted by Sarel, known for her engaging style in the Closet Confessions podcast, the series brings together high-profile guests, including Pete Wicks and Sam Thompson, Grace Dent, Richard Herring, and Andi and Miquita Oliver.

Every Friday, a new guest will be invited to sit down and plan...

With General Election campaigning in full swing, young people feel more disenfranchised in politics than ever. Speaking to this, the turnout at the 2019 General Election amongst 18–24-year-olds was just 47%, compared to 74% of over-65s. Politics Uncensored, hosted by Ali Milani on Fubar Radio, the premier talk radio station for Gen Z and Millennials, offers a platform for young people to discuss the issues that matter to them. The show gives a voice to those usually silenced by mass media, aiming to challenge the perception of a disillusioned youth by speaking to the campaigners and politicians trying to make a difference in Westminster and beyond. Duncan Smith, CEO of Fubar Radio, discusses how the show aims to reignite interest in politics amongst young people.

With guests including Yaz Ashmawi - the protestor representing “People Demand Democracy” who gained notoriety for pouring glitter over Sir Keir Starmer at the Labour Conference in...

In 2023, comedian and broadcaster Jon Holmes was diagnosed with prostate cancer – which came as a bit of a surprise because quite frankly he was far too busy for all of that nonsense. After a very odd, intense, unexpected, ridiculous year, Jon realised that men don’t tend to talk openly about the preposterous indignity of dealing with cancer. So he decided he would, with other men who have been through it.

In a new eight part series for BBC Radio 4, Jon Holmes Says The C-Word, Jon will be joined by comedians Stephen Fry, Mark Steel, Richard Herring, Matt Forde, and Eric Idle, actors Colin McFarlane and Ben Richards, rock star and The Alarm frontman Mike Peters, and journalists Jeremy Langmead, Nick Owen, and Jeremy Bowen as they share their own personal experiences of undergoing cancer treatment.

Jon Holmes says: “If there had been a podcast like this when I...

Joe Pasquale has a Pampers advert and Bob Hoskins to thank for landing a role in 2006’s Garfield movie: more here.

If you’re reading this from the UK, then you may already be acquainted with the work of comedian Joe Pasquale, whose all-but-trademarked squeaky voice is a distinctive part of his act. It’s also a voice that’s earned him a lot of professional voiceover work, and one of those jobs many moons ago was for a nappy advert.

As he explained on the Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, he was hired to do one particular Pampers campaign with the late Bob Hoskins. Unusually, the pair were to sit in a recording booth together, rather than record their lines separately. Yet as Pasquale explained, Hoskins didn’t believe the sound coming out of his co-star was quite right. “That voice… I’ve never heard it come...

Ghosts may have ended on the BBC, but the beloved sitcom continues to live on around the world. In addition to the hit American remake on CBS, multiple new international versions are in development, as reported by Deadline.

At the 2024 French TV industry festival Series Mania, BBC Studios’ Matt Forde confirmed that “there are two or three other versions [of Ghosts] in the works.” The warm-hearted comedy about a woman who inherits a dilapidated mansion along with a gang of spectres from across the centuries will be remade for multiple international audiences.

Which countries are about to get their own version of Button House and its comedy spirits? According to Ghosts co-creator and star Simon Farnaby speaking on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast (Rhlstp to friends) in November 2023, Germany and Spain are among them. So, get ready for ‘Der Geister’ and ‘Los Fantasmas’?

The US Ghosts is currently airing...

Taskmaster: Champions Of Champions 3 airs on the 14th January, Channel 4 has confirmed. More details here:

Now that we’ve had the joy of the Taskmaster New Year Treat with Deborah Meaden, Kojey Radical, Lenny Rush, Steve Backshall and Zoe Ball, we now look to the future, and we’re back at the time where a very special head-to-head occurs between previous winners.

As Taskmaster aired more and more series, Alex Horne and company began making Champion Of Champions specials after the fifth series.

The past Champion Of Champions winners were Josh Widdicombe and Richard Herring.

Taking part in the Champion Of Champions 3 are Sarah Kendall, Morgana Robinson, Sophie Duker and Dara Ó Briain. Series 15 winner Mae Martin was unavailable at the time of filming, so runner-up Kiell Smith-Bynoe took their place.

With Taskmaster commissioned all the way into 2026, there’s a very real possibility of there being a Champion...

Rob Reiner is finally set to get the cameras rolling on the sequel to his directorial debut feature This is Spinal Tap. Announced in May 2022, the sequel has been long awaited by fans and will finally begin filming early next year in February. The director recently revealed on the Rhlstp with Richard Herring podcast, “We’re making a sequel,” Reiner said.

This Is Spinal Tap 2 is a sequel that takes place 40 years after the original movie, featuring most of the original cast and creatives. The sequel will pay tribute to the late Tony Hendra by using his character, Ian Faith, as inspiration for the story. Plans for the movie's release have faced delays due to strikes, but the increased time may allow for more satirical commentary on real-world events.

Filmmaker Rob Reiner teases guest appearances and gives filming update for This Is Spinal Tap 2. The mockumentary will see returning stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer taking the band Spinal Tap on the road for a farewell tour in the vein of real-life rock groups that have done the same. This Is Spinal Tap 2 will take place 40 years after the original movie.

While speaking on the Rhlstp With Richard Herring podcast, director Reiner revealed that the upcoming This Is Spinal...

Director of the beloved mock-rock-doc confirms filming will start on a sequel next year, with most of the original cast and a few new big names to feature

Paul McCartney and Elton John will appear in the sequel to cult mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, for which filming is due to get under way early next year, it has been revealed.

Rob Reiner, director of the original 1984 release as well as the sequel, was speaking to comedian Richard Herring on the latter’s Rhlstp (Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast). Reiner told Herring, after the latter expressed his admiration for This Is Spinal Tap, that “everybody’s back” for the sequel and that filming would begin at the end of February.

An exciting new update on This Is Spinal Tap 2 has been shared by Rob Reiner.

Reiner, who wrote, directed, and played a key role in the popular comedy movie This Is Spinal Tap, recently appeared on the Rhlstp with Richard Herring podcast. He commented on the planned follow-up film and how it's now scheduled to start filming in early 2024. Better yet, he also confirmed how he'll be joined by the original starring cast with everyone on board to reprise their roles from the original film. As the director explained, "We're making a sequel. We're going to start shooting in the end of February and everybody is back."

Related Tim Burton Addresses Nightmare Before Christmas Sequel Possibilities 30 years later, Tim Burton has weighed in on whether The Nightmare Before Christmas should get a sequel.

In the original film, Reiner played Marty Di Bergi, a documentarian following the fictional rock band comprised...

Break out your old records of “Shark Sandwich.” Rob Reiner will be returning to his classic rock mockumentary after forty years to film the sequel to 1984’s This is Spinal Tap. Reiner’s comedy is a famous satire of the chronically flawed rock band Spinal Tap, which features comedic actors Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as the English band. The film follows Spinal Tap as they encounter mishap after mishap during their run as a music group, including concert set-ups that don’t quite work out, awful reviews, getting lost on the way to the stage and a number of other classic gags.

Variety has reported that Rob Reiner is planning to film his sequel in February of 2024. McKean, Shearer and Guest are set to reprise their roles. Reiner will once again be portraying Martin “Marty” Di Bergi as he catches back up with the aged rock band.

Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John are to feature in the sequel to 'This Is Spinal Tap'.Director Rob Reiner has confirmed that production on the follow-up to his acclaimed 1984 rock mockumentary will begin in February 2024 and is set to include cameo appearances from the two music titans.The 'Misery' filmmaker also revealed that country star Garth Brooks will feature and teased a "few other surprises".Rob told the Rhlstp with Richard Herring podcast: "We're making a sequel. We're going to start shooting at the end of February and everybody is back."'This is Spinal Tap' starred Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as members of the fictional English heavy metal band Spinal Tap. Reiner played the role of filmmaker Marty Di Bergi who puts together the mockumentary that chronicles the lives of the band during the American leg of their tour.McKean, Shearer...

Director Rob Reiner confirms that Spinal Tap 2 is very much alive and will go before cameras in a couple of months.

It’s been well over a year since we heard that Castle Rock Entertainment, the brilliant production company that gave us such late 80s/early 90s classics as When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men and Before Sunrise, was reforming. After a stellar run, the company peaked in the mid-90s and was eventually folded into Warner Bros by 2002.

However, Castle Rock Entertainment relaunched its film division in October of 2022, still under the ownership of Warner Bros, and last summer the production company announced its first project: This Is Spinal Tap II.

The legendary ‘rock doc’ spoof was (Castle Rock Entertainment co-founder) Rob Reiner’s first film as director and it was announced last year that he would be returning to make the sequel. Original stars Micheal McKean,...

Legendary musicians Elton John and Paul McCartney will both star in a sequel to the hugely popular film ‘This Is Spinal Tap’.

The original rockumentary about fake band Spinal Tap, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year, is set to have a follow up film, reports Mirror.co.uk.

Director Rob Reiner, who directed the original 1984 movie, confirmed cast members Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer will be returning as well as being joined by music icons Paul McCartney and Elton John.

As per Mirror.co.uk, the sequel to ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ was originally to be released in March 2024 to coincide with the original film’s 40th anniversary. However with filming set to begin in February next year, a release date hasn’t been confirmed for the movie to be available for viewers.

Speaking on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast about the sequel, which...

Legendary musicians Elton John and Paul McCartney will both star in a sequel to the hugely popular film ‘This Is Spinal Tap’.

The original rockumentary about fake band Spinal Tap, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year, is set to have a follow up film, reports Mirror.co.uk.

Director Rob Reiner, who directed the original 1984 movie, confirmed cast members Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer will be returning as well as being joined by music icons Paul McCartney and Elton John.

As per Mirror.co.uk, the sequel to ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ was originally to be released in March 2024 to coincide with the original film’s 40th anniversary. However with filming set to begin in February next year, a release date hasn’t been confirmed for the movie to be available for viewers.

Speaking on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast about the sequel, which...

Last year, a sequel to This Is Spin̈al Tap was announced. Now, director Rob Reiner has not only confirmed that shooting will begin next year, but has even a sneak peek at some of the “surprise” guests who will be featured the film, including Paul McCartney, Elton John, and more.

“We’re making a sequel,” Reiner told Richard Herring on an episode of his Rhlstp podcast, adding that “everybody’s back” for the project. Reiner will reprise his role as filmmaker Marty Dibergi, and Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer will return as Spin̈al Tap’s Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls, respectively.

Continuing, Reiner confirmed that the film is “going to start shooting at the end of February,” and revealed: “Paul McCartney is joining us, and Elton John, and a few other surprises, [like] Garth Brooks.”

Last year, Reiner spoke about the sequel with NME,...

Rob Reiner, who directed the original 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap, revealed during a podcast aired Monday that Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Garth Brooks will make appearances in a new sequel.

The original starred David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), and Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) who played band members of the fictional English heavy metal band Spinal Tap. During an interview on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, Reiner said part two, which was announced May last year, would begin shooting by the end of February.

Rob Reiner, director, writer and star of This Is Spinal Tap, is talking about the sequel to the mockumentary and revealing when the follow-up film is set to start filming.

“We’re making a sequel,” Reiner said during an appearance on the Rhlstp with Richard Herring podcast. “We’re going to start shooting in the end of February and everybody is back.”

Reiner also teased that Paul McCartney, Elton John, Garth Brooks and “a few other surprises” would be making cameos in the film.

This Is Spinal Tap was released in 1984 and it starred Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as members of the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap. Reiner played the character of Marty Dibergi, a filmmaker in the mockumentary that chronicles the lives of the band during their American leg of the tour.

Following the relaunch of Castle Rock’s film division, Reiner set forth a...

Kendall. Robinson. Duker. Ó’Briain. Martin. The fight is On.

The winners of Taskmaster series 11-15 are currently doing sit-ups, drinking pints of raw egg, and running up and down the steps outside Chiswick Library. They’re in training for Taskmaster’s third Champion of Champions contest.

A little reminder of the contenders for this title now, on account of the internet having destroyed everybody’s attention spans, and shrunk our ability to retain information for longer than it takes a toaster to pop.

Champion of Champions 3 Line-Up Sarah Kendall

Representing series 11 is the magnificently-maned Sarah Kendall, Australian comic, writer and actor. She’s technically the dunce of this operation going in with a whole-series points score of just 158, but a dynamite chick like her isn’t about to let that get in the way. The woman’s ready for the apocalypse at all times, do not underestimate her.

Morgana Robinson

The series 12 champ,...

Is Richard Osman’s House of Games the perfect teatime quiz show? It’s certainly in contention. Silly, funny and warm, it makes very good company. The armchairs exude a sense of convivial relaxation. There are no flashing-lights podiums or tense burden of cash prizes, making it a wholly gentler experience than, say, The Chase. It keeps the same four contestants all week long, meaning that the kind of rapport other quiz shows try to manufacture in rapid-fire Q&As with the host can naturally develop. The personalities and relationships are almost as important as the rounds and questions, and it’s all done with a sense of humour – from the deliberately naff 1970s gameshow-style fondue sets and carriage clock prizes, to the enjoyable silliness behind almost every round.

To celebrate the new series airing now on weekdays at 6pm on BBC Two, here are a few fun titbits about the show.

What’s your favourite Taskmaster task? Did it result in a delicious failure or a triumphant win? Was it a crafty solution from a cunning mind, or a bonkers, impractical response that could only have come from the brain of John Kearns?

We asked our writers to nominate their favourites, in order (and not including Prize Tasks because that’s already been covered here), and collated the results into the Top 50 below. With 15 series proper, two Champion of Champions specials, and multiple New Year’s Treat episodes, there were approximately 89,000 tasks to choose from, hence a nice, neat 50.

If you’re at all concerned about the scientific robustness of our approach, rest assured that Google Sheets formulas were used in the creation of this list, resulting in an entirely accurate ranking order that cannot be questioned. Well alright, you can question it.

So, what are the best Taskmaster tasks of all time?...

Get to shout out "Rhlstp!!" like a proper cool kid as the multi-award-winning and perennially popular live podcast interview series in which comedian Richard Herring chats with some of the biggest names in comedy and entertainment tours this autumn. Usually recorded in London’s glittering West End, Rhlstp is going on the road. The UK & Ire 2023 / 2024 tour will start in September and includes dates in Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Salford, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff and Dublin, along with multiple dates at the show’s spiritual home in London’s Leicester Square Theatre.

Tickets go on general sale at 10am on Friday 30th June with an exclusive fan pre-sale on Thursday 29th June for Rhlstp badgers and plussers. To become a badger/plusser or to view all dates visit, visit richardherring.com

Richard Herring enjoys continual success as both a writer and performer and is widely known an innovator in the world of podcasts,...

Imagine being someone who’s never seen Taskmaster. A virgin to joy. Someone whose eyes have never before drunk in the sight of a banana-Noel Fielding hiding in a fruit bowl, of Joe Wilkinson presenting the mayor of Chesham with 42 Calippo ice lollies, or of Charlotte Ritchie stumbling around a golf course blindfolded like an adorable Minion. What promise awaits! The prize tasks, the flashes of creative genius, the glorious failures… Alex Horne’s challenge-based comedy panel show is one of the most reliably entertaining TV programmes ever made.

If you’ve yet to have the pleasure, and would like a steer as to which series are the best of this show, then here’s our attempt to lead you though the highs and less-highs. Please note that this ranking was produced by democratic process, which means that even we don’t agree with it (the Daisy May Cooper...

Forget the Countdown teapot or the Pointless Trophy. The most coveted prize on UK television has four wheels, an extendable handle and a quiff.

Since October 2019, Richard Osman’s House of Games has occasionally offered a wheelie suitcase among its selection of kitsch branded prizes. For context – whichever celebrity contestant wins that day’s episode has a choice of five rewards decorated with the face of host and creator Richard Osman. The prizes range from the glamorous (a decanter) to the practical (gardening gloves) to the playful (a dartboard) to the esoteric.

The greatest of these, and by far the most popular, is the wheelie suitcase. In the 430 or so episodes since its first appearance in October 2019, the luggage has been chosen by celebrity contestants 60 times out of a possible 86*. In other words, the baggage reclaim at Edinburgh airport around the time of the Fringe Festival is chock-a-block with them.

Bob Mortimer has said he is “not very healthy right now” after going to hospital at the weekend.

The comedian, who had major heart surgery in 2015, told his fans that he ended up in hospital after filming Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.

Despite this, he was able to attend a recording of Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, which is recorded live at the London venue, on Monday (26 September).

“I am not very well,” he told Herring, stating: “I am not very healthy at the moment.”

Mortimer, 63, elaborated: “I did a show last week, a fishing show, and there was only two and a half days filming and I did it Tuesday, Wednesday and half of Thursday and I was in hospital on the Saturday.

“I am sorry, I should not have said that should I? It’s a real downer.”

He also discovered that, after being free of rheumatoid arthritis for 29 years,...

Barry Cryer, the much loved British comedian and TV writer, has died at the age of 86.

Cryer was most known on UK shores for being a founding member and consistent panelist on long-running BBC Radio 4 surreal comedy show I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, first appearing when it launched in April 1972 (and briefly sharing hosting duties before Humphrey Lyttelton took that on full time), and last making a guest appearance in 2020.

Outside of Radio, Cryer was a noted writer for comedians, with the wide roster of performers he penned material for including the Two Ronnies, Morecame and Wise, Spike Milligan, Richard Pryor, Bob Hope, Bruce Forsyth and Rory Bremner.

He also wrote episodes for TV comedy series Doctor In The House, and wrote and appeared in further TV work.

Cryer married his wife Theresa in 1962 and the pair had four children and seven grandchildren.

Tributes this morning...

Ding ding, everybody off the Taskmaster bus! New passengers incoming! Series 12 – which taught us that Victoria Coren-Mitchell never learned how to ride a bike, Guz Khan owns more framed portraits of himself than is sensible, Desiree Burch can’t burst a balloon with a fork to save her life, Morgana Robinson is able to get goose bumps at will and Alan Davies still has a Jonathan Creek wig in his loft – has reached its climax. One lucky winner has skipped away merrily with the Taskmaster’s gleaming head as a prize and plenty of time to prepare for the inevitable Series 11-15 Champion of Champions special. Meanwhile the other four have skipped away safe in the knowledge that nobody is ever again likely to ask them to sit on a cake.

That means it’s time for the next line-up, which is confirmed to feature (in alphabetical first name order): Ardal O’Hanlon,...

To celebrate the release of Giddy Stratospheres which will be available on digital download from the 19th July, we have a digital download copy up for grabs courtesy of Bulldog Film Distribution.

Giddy Stratospheres follows Daniel (Jamal Franklin) and Lara (Laura Jean Marsh), indie-kid soul mates in the centre of the storm of guitars and broken glass that was the 00’s indie music scene. Beautiful, mischievous, dishevelled, and on a quest for the ultimate euphoria and excitement that comes with dancing and thrashing on the front row to your new favourite song by your new favourite band. They don’t miss a gig. They don’t miss a beat. But as the night draws to a close, a darkness looms in the shadows of the after party. And the next day Lara can’t quite work out why Daniel is so desperate for her to remember the events of the night before.

Contains spoilers for the Taskmaster series 11 finale

The suit. The ‘tache. The smile. The preternatural speed with which he’s able to snatch a marshmallow from an opponent using a pair of kitchen tongs. There’s a great deal to admire about Taskmaster series 11 contestant Mike Wozniak, so admire him we will. Right here. Starting now. Tick tock: it’s Wozniak o’clock.

Who is Mike Wozniak?

He’s an absolute bloody milk guzzler, that’s who.

Like Harry Hill, Graham Chapman, Graeme Garden and Paul Sinha before him, Mike Wozniak trained and worked as a doctor before becoming a stand-up. Healthcare’s loss was comedy’s gain. His 2013 Edinburgh Fringe show, in which Wozniak played an outmoded light entertainer, received a Best Comedy Show nomination.

On the subject of Edinburgh, series 11 isn’t Mike Wozniak’s first Taskmaster experience. Before he developed the format for television, Alex Horne performed...

All change! No sooner had Mike Wozniak charmed the nation by undermining a vole, and put us all off our tea with his downstairs casserole, than it was all over. The current cohort of Taskmaster contestants have finished their last task, and it’s time for a new set of contenders. Please give a warm welcome to series 12 contestants: Desiree Burch, Victoria Coren-Mitchell, Alan Davies, Guz Khan and Morgana Robinson.

Series 12 is set to air at an unconfirmed date later this year on Taskmaster’s still-relatively new home of Channel 4. It’s “Coming Soon” according to the post-finale teaser.

Also arriving in 2021 is the show’s second Champion of Champions special miniseries. That one is set to welcome back the overall winners from series six to ten: Ed Gamble, Lou Sanders, Kerry Godliman, Liza Tarbuck and Richard Herring. If Taskmaster keeps going until series 25 then presumably they’ll be...

Project produced by Studio Pow, which has credits including ‘Funny Cow’ and upcoming Brian Epstein film ‘Midas Man’.

Filming has completed on location in Wales on the latest comedy feature from UK director Jamie Adams.

The cast of the untitled film is led by Fleabag star Sian Clifford, Russell Tovey, whose more recent credits include The Good Liar and Years And Years, and Rosie Day, who has starred in episodes of Outlander and feature Down A Dark Hall. Day was named a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2013.

Screen can also reveal an exclusive first-look at the film, which shot in...

10 short weeks ago, none of us had seen Richard Herring feed half a watermelon to a slathering Daisy May Cooper, and frankly, we were the worse off for it. Neither had we witnessed The It Crowd’s Katherine Parkinson philosophically asking “Am I the spider?”, known how rigorously Johnny Vegas would apply himself to the task of putting the heaviest thing through a Christmas tree-bagger, or enjoyed Mawaan Rizwan thinking that if he filled an egg with helium, it would float like a happy little bee. All these, the tiny joys of a new series of Taskmaster.

Now that series 10 is over, eyes to the horizon for series 11. The new contestant line-up has been announced, along with confirmation of a second Champion of Champions mini-series featuring the winners of 6-10. First up, here’s who’ll be competing for the Taskmaster’s approval in series 11:

Lee Mack

The comedy TV veteran,...

Remember thinking you’ve reached the end of a Christmas stocking, and then discovering an additional lump of festive fun stuffed right in the toe? Such joy. Thanks to Channel 4, that’s the case with this year’s Taskmaster, which has announced a one-off Christmas Special episode for 2020.

There’s no air date confirmed for the festive episode as yet, but seeing as the currently airing series 10 finale arrives on Thursday the 17th of December, it’ll be after that.

In 2017, the comedians-do-silly-challenges show aired a two-part Champion of Champions special at Christmastime featuring the winners of the first five series. This time, the Special will feature an all-new cast of five contestants brand new to Taskmaster.

Production company Avalon is staying coy about the newcomers’ identities, only announcing that “Our well-known contestants are experts in their respective fields, and will be revealed in due course.”

Experts in their fields,...

BritBox’s reboot of British satirical puppet show Spitting Image has been renewed for a second season just days after it premiered the first episode of Season 1 online.

The Avalon-produced caricature comedy will be back in fall 2021 after BritBox said its first series premiere helped boost new subscribers ten-fold compared to its average daily sign-up rate.

Reemah Sakaan, group director of ITV SVOD and chief creative and brand officer of BritBox, said: “The fantastic response to Spitting Image just goes to show how much the world needs public service satire. Not only can subscribers look forward to another 9 weeks of anarchy but also now another series in 2021.”

The renewal comes just hours after executive producer Jon Thoday revealed that NBC backed out as Spitting Image’s U.S. broadcast partner just weeks before the premiere. The Avalon founder said there was “too much nervousness” about its satirical content among NBC executives.

Exclusive: The reboot of classic British comedy series Spitting Image is set to premiere on Facebook – a day after its UK debut.

The Avalon-produced puppet parody, which is headed up creatively by co-creator Roger Law and The Simpsons’ Jeff Westbrook as showrunner, will launch on Facebook Premiere at 9Pm Pt and will be available for 24 hours. It was commissioned in the UK by BritBox, the streaming service run by ITV and BBC Studios.

Deadline understands that a broadcast network deal for the show, which was hastily rewritten to include President Donal Trump’s Coronavirus diagnosis, was close but that fell away around four weeks ago.

The show, which was well liked in many liberal circles in the States, is still expected to find a home for the full season, however, the fact that the comedy is quite close to the bone, featuring a skewering of the Commander in Chief, made...

Like that guy who didn’t sign The Beatles and those publishers who turned down the first Harry Potter book, Channel 4 must have spent some portion of the last five years kicking itself. A little kick every time Taskmaster – the comedy show it developed but then let go – was nominated for a Bafta, another little kick every time the show set a ratings record for its home on digital channel Dave, and yet another kick every time the show received a giddy press write-up.

Kick no more, Channel 4. Taskmaster is once again yours. After airing nine series and a champion-of-champions special on Dave, Alex Horne’s inventive entertainment format is now back in the C4 fold with a six series deal. And by the looks of this first official trailer, Channel 4 is leaning into its past mistake and, to use the common parlance, owning it.

Taskmaster series 10 is “coming...

Cineworld will begin reopening its cinemas in England with a lineup featuring a special 4Dx screening program that includes four films projected for the first time in the chain’s exclusive multi-sensory 4Dx extreme cinema format.

Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” Chris Columbus’ “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” Alfonso Cuarón’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” and Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” will get Cineworld’s 4Dx treatment in 24 cinemas across England. They will be joined in cinemas this weekend by “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” previously screened in 4Dx by Cineworld.

4Dx screenings use in-room practical effects such as motion, water, wind, scent and lighting, timed to what’s happening on the screen. Utilizing high-tech motion programming, audience members’ seats also move in synch with the film’s action.

During the Covid downtime, Cineworld executed full scale refurbishments and special format installations in Wolverhampton, Swindon,...

It’s the announcement Taskmaster fans have been waiting for – who will be occupying the five (socially distanced this time around) chairs on stage alongside Greg Davies and Alex Horne for series 10. Now confirmed, the quintet facing the silliest and funniest challenges on television will be:

Daisy May Cooper

The co-creator and star of the BBC’s excellent rural mockumentary This Country, which concluded with series three earlier this year. Cooper is also soon to appear alongside previous Taskmaster contestant and official Task Consultant Tim Key in new BBC comedy The Witchfinder.

Richard Herring

Award-winning stand-up, top podcast host, tireless Scope UK fundraiser, former Fist of Fun and This Morning with Richard Not Judy star, and patient answerer of ‘when is International Men’s Day?’ questions on Twitter. An excellent choice.

Katherine Parkinson

Jen from The It Crowd, Laura from Humans, Kitty from Sherlock, loads of people in loads of great things.

As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.And now they've quietly disappeared William Fox's name from the company: guilty by association with Rupert Murdoch, even though he never associated with him.***I really love old movies, and in tough times escaping into the past can be awfully attractive. Even the uglier side of studio product, for instance the racial caricaturing can seem like the necessary abrasive element in an otherwise smoothly pleasurable experience.I suppose everyone has their own tipping point, though, when the uncomfortable or disturbing elements overwhelm the entertainment. I can laugh at (not with) the jaw-dropping "Goin' To Heaven on a Mule" number in Warner Bros' Wonder Bar (1934), with its blackface afterlife and spot...

Without comedy panel show Taskmaster, the world would be a worse place. There’d be no Tree Wizard, no Bob Mortimer-designed pork pie presentation unit, a great deal less footage of the brilliant weirdness of Sally Phillips, Josh Widdicombe wouldn’t have a Greg Davies foot tattoo and the mayor of Chesham would never have been presented with the rare gift of 42 Calippos.

Created by Alex Horne and developed for television from his 2010 Edinburgh Fringe show, Taskmaster brings extreme and silly joy; it is to be cherished.

Nine series of the show that pits comedians against absurd and pointless challenges to see just how their minds work have aired on Dave since 2015. This year, it’s packing up and moving to a new home on Channel 4, a move confirmed in November 2019 with these words from Alex on the official website:

‘I promise the show won’t change & there...

Pete Dillon-Trenchard Sep 29, 2016

Samsara simultaneously harks back to classic Red Dwarf while trying something new, resulting in some outstanding comedy moments...

This review contains spoilers.

11.2 Samsara

The television landscape has changed a lot since Red Dwarf made its debut back in 1988. One of the more interesting developments of the 21st century has been that, thanks in no small part to shows like Lost, non-linear storytelling is now as much a part of the language of television as the cliff-hanger or the third-act twist. In a series that has, with rare exceptions, always featured at least one of its regulars in any given scene, Samsara breaks with Red Dwarf convention in a major way.

The Epg description for Samsara will tell you that it’s a story in which the crew find an escape pod which leads them to a crashed space ship (the titular Samsara), and the Cat and...

facebook

twitter

google+

Can you help us spread a video, to let people on the wrong side of fortune know that others are on their side?

We're keenly aware that, whilst our Geeks Vs Loneliness columns on this site reach a good number of people, that there are many more people out there. People who may be having a tough time, or on the wrong side of fortune.

We're thus trying something a bit different to try and reach as many people as we can. With the help of some amazing people, who have donated their time for free, we've put together this short video. Let's show you that first, before we ask a favour of you...

Bluntly, we need your help. Can you help spread the word of this video for us? We're not, to be clear, trying to get website hits - the separate YouTube URL is below...

Star Wars fans were excited to check out The Phantom Menace, the first of George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels featuring the origins of Darth Vader. But actually seeing it proved to be a let down. Actor Peter Serafinowicz, who voiced the Sith warrior Darth Maul in the film, had the same experience, and he discussed his disappointment in an interview back in 2012. Serafinowicz had hit up Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast and talked about landing the role, voicing the character, and finally seeing the end result on the big screen. As a Star Wars fan, he recalled the surreal moment when he realized he landed the role, and watching the trailers for the film thinking it to be a great sci-fi achievement. He purchases a thousand-dollar ticket himself to sit in the audience during the premiere, but as soon as the film started everyone ...

Grr, argh. Sit, Ubu, sit. I made this! What’s the story behind the production company tags added onto our favourite TV shows?

Closing logos have evolved into a TV production company’s tiny stamp of individuality. They’re a single snippet of screen time not at the mercy of network notes, audience feedback or sponsorship concerns.

A closing tag doesn’t need to sell a show, tell a story, or lasso an audience back for the next episode. It’s simply a signature, a few seconds entirely belonging to the creatives, to do with what they will.

As such, closing logos are as self-indulgent or esoteric as the production company wills them. They’re perhaps the only place in television production where in-jokes, family photos, personal homages (or extended rants in the case of one comedy producer) and kid-drawn scribbles usually found taped to the fridge door are entirely welcome.

Richard Herring doesn't know the meaning of slowing down. The stand-up comic will stage his 12th new show in 15 years later this month, but that's not all.

He will also be staging each of his previous 11 shows over the course of the next six weekends at London's Leicester Square Theatre, culminating with new show Happy Now?.

Ahead of his epic adventure, we chatted to Richard about the daunting challenge, why he decided not to return to the Fringe this year, and the current state of UK comedy.

Feeling awkward with old shows

"It would be weird if it didn't. But also, weirdly, the first time I listened to Someone Likes Yoghurt I couldn't believe how long it was. I'm like a dog with a bone and refusing to let go of it, but actually from listening to it a few times I kind of respect myself!

"Some of the shows are quite full-on and edgy,...

Whose Line Is It Anyway? will be staged at this year's Edinburgh Fringe as a live show.

Clive Anderson will return as host of the new version of the improvisational comedy show, retitled Whose Live Show Is It Anyway?.

Channel 4 regulars Greg Proops and Stephen Frost will appear for the full 14-night run at the Underbelly's McEwan Hall.

Colin Mochrie and Josie Lawrence will be among a rotating line-up throughout its run. Ryan Stiles will not appear, as he has a fear of flying.

Paul Merton and Phill Jupitus have also been approached to participate, according to Chortle.

The show first emerged as a BBC Radio 4 comedy in 1988 with regulars including Stephen Fry and John Sessions. It later transferred to Channel 4, before Us network ABC adapted it to great success.

"I don't want to name names, Anderson said of possible guests. "But I've bumped into three people who...

Thanks to fellow locker of shadows Richard Cosgrove I found myself heading sweaty palmed into London. A hearty Mcdonalds saw this country mouse ready for action among the snooty town mice and so having left my rubbish on the Kindertransport memorial (as is the custom) I set out for the Ministry of Sound. I really did think it would be bigger, the legendary Ministry and it was not at all like the Ministries in Orwell's 1984 which you can see for miles around and that saddened me.

Mustering all my #swag I let it be known that I was on the list dahling and strode manfully forth. I was given pause by a diner in the courtyard, one of those ones made out of an old cargo container, it was a good one though not all grotty and seeing it was nearly a fiver for a beer and the Gdp of...

Rachel Riley has told Digital Spy that there is "no truth" in rumours she is being courted to replace Susanna Reid on BBC Breakfast, commenting that she couldn't handle all the early starts.

The Countdown favourite was reportedly being lined up to join Bill Turnbull on the programme after her Strictly Come Dancing co-star Reid defected to ITV's upcoming Good Morning Britain.

However, Riley told DS that she believes herself to be so unsuitable for the role that her friends "laughed their heads off" when the story first appeared.

"There's no truth in that, I'm not sure where that's come from," she said of the BBC Breakfast rumours.

"I had quite a few messages from friends that just laughed their heads off at the thought of me doing anything that early in the morning. No, there's no truth in that.

"That's a job for a journalist and I'm sure they'll...

The list of celebrities taking part in the latest Pointless specials has been announced.

Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman will be joined by famous faces for six new primetime episodes of the hit game show, kicking off on Saturday, April 12.

The first special will have a 1970s theme, with Wizzard and Yes stars Roy Wood and Rick Wakeman facing actors Paul Henry and Madeleine Smith, and Sally Thomsett and Anna Karen, and children's television stars Ed Stewart and Sally James.

Elsewhere, Sir Geoff Hurst and George Cohen MBE will team up in the World Cup special, facing Peter Shilton and Steve Bull, Hope Powell and Casey Stoney, and Graeme Le Saux and commentator Jonathan Pearce.

The Eurovision Pointless special is a thing to behold, with Bucks Fizz's Cheryl Baker and Mike Nolan trying to prove their wits against Martin Lee and Sonia Evans, Dana and Johnny Logan, and Jemini's Chris Cromby and Gemma Abbey.