Cunk on Britain

A clever satire on all those BBC and Channel 4 historical documentaries that we Canadians get to watch on public networks like TVO. I kept thinking, "this sure looks like a bad Neil Oliver doc", when lo and behold, Neil Oliver shows up answering Cunk's questions with a deadpan face. I swear that the steam train shots were taken from that show where the hosts try to live like Victorian farmers. Taking the piss in the nicest way.

In fairness, it is laugh out loud funny albeit a very guilty pleasure! Am not so sure I agree with other reviewers about the 'gotcha' interview comparisons with (the also wonderful) 'Brass Eye', 'The Day Today' et al. A sweeping generalisation I know, I'd wager virtually all the prominent figures interviewed would be entirely familiar with "1066 and all that" and I suspect they would have quickly cottoned on to what was happening - so fair play to all involved!

Less sensibly, the only negative is that there was no interview with Lance Armstrong - the first man to play trumpet on the moon for a 'Nescafé Advert' in 1995 (the first two words became half of what NASA is now named even to this day) - just four years after the last episode of Brush Strokes aired on UK TV.

Philomena Cunk looks at the history of British culture, giving her own unique spin on the history.

It's a wonderfully funny, smart and imaginative series, it's rips the educational, but often sober historical documentaries that have been the staple of The BBC for many years, expect many laughs, sarcasm, and just a refreshingly different brand of humour.

Diane Morgan, it doesn't matter what she does, she is an absolute joy, and incredibly talented. For me, she's one of the best on TV, I love her versatility and variety, she's so good at whatever she does.

It's the look on the faces of the special guests and interviewees that I most enjoyed, the looks of shock, disbelief and astonishment, it's all cleverly put together.

Some amazing location work here, she truly did get to some surprising locations, Italy in particular looked awesome.

9/10.

I watched this show not knowing much about the show or the character of Philomena Cunk which apparently had appeared in sketches on other shows. I had just seen a clip of the now famous (or perhaps infamous) interview about King Arthur and Camelot and managed to find the full episodes online. Oh man am I glad I watched the whole thing.

The writing is absolutely flawless. This show has the highest jokes per minute ratio of anything I've seen in recent memory. The send up of BBC historical documentaries is perfectly executed, and what a performance by Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk. It's perfection. Countless times I had to pause and rewind because I missed jokes due to laughing too hars.

I like that the interviewees were trying their best to keep a straight face, although I'll never understand how they weren't roaring with laughter. I would love to see the outtakes.

I was debating with myself whether to lower my rating for this to an 8...because Cunk is telling a story that is already familiar...we've heard about it a million times...it's not innovative...

it's just the same thing with just a little dose of comedy...but even horrible histories did that already too...that's another PHENOMENAL show people should check out...also British...

but Cunk really owns this...she makes it her own...she gives it her identity...her cold almost detached persona is fantastic...

yes some of the comedy is a little stale and lacks flavour...which is probably why am not giving this a 10...

the good Jokes land very very well...the mood and tone around this whole thing is consistent through out...which is a factor some shows fail in...

the intro is very good...why doesn't she change clothes though...i know that shallow and petty but come on...it's tv...make it interesting...even the small details matter...

the intricate jokes though are what won me over...and the documentary mockumentary style interviews was a genius idea...it's a reversal of expectations done so nicely...adds to the comedic element...