News

What do Prince Harry, Paddington Bear and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer have in common?

The trio are set to appear in the next season of iconic puppet comedy Spitting Image, which is embracing the world of YouTube vodcasts.

Spitting Image: The Rest Is Bulls*!t has dropped teaser episode today and will launch on YouTube in the fall.

The series has gone 21st century with comedy appearances from Prince Harry, Starmer, Vladimir Putin, Elon Musk and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Today’s teaser gives insight into Prince Harry’s “truth” as he tries to “make a sh*t ton of money out of podcasting,” amongst other things.

The new series will be led creatively by Al Murray and Matt Forde, two of the writers of the stage show Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical.

Spitting Image was a feature on UK screens between 1984 and 1996 and returned to BritBox in 2020.

Spitting Image:...

This Monday, “The One Show” joins the Ve Day 80th-anniversary commemorations with a special hour-long edition at 6:30 Pm on BBC One. Hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp will guide viewers through an evening reflecting on this pivotal moment in history, sharing heartfelt stories along the way. The special features comedian Al Murray visiting 110-year-old […]

The One Show: Ve Day 80 Special...

Sad news from the world of comedy today as beloved funnyman Tony Slattery has passed away.

He was 65 years old.

News of Slattery’s death comes to us courtesy of a statement issued by his family:

Comedian Tony Slattery has passed away unexpectedly at the age of 65. (BBC (YouTube screenshot)) Tony Slattery’s Sudden Death: What Happened?

The press release revealed that Tony died on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack earlier in the week.

“It is with great sadness we must announce actor and comedian Tony Slattery, aged 65, has passed away today, Tuesday morning, following a heart attack on Sunday evening,” the statement read, according to the BBC.

Born into a working-class family in London, Slattery won a scholarship to Cambridge in his teens.

It was there that he honed his craft and formed friendships with fellow actors like Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

Slattery starred on the first...

Tony Slattery, star of Channel 4‘s Whose Line Is It Anyway? and contemporary of Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, has died. He was 65.

In a statement given to the BBC on behalf of Slattery’s partner, Mark Michael Hutchinson said: “It is with great sadness we must announce actor and comedian Tony Slattery, aged 65, has passed away today, Tuesday morning, following a heart attack on Sunday evening.”

The British actor and comedian was famed for his quick wit and improv on the popular comedy show, but also featured in films like Peter’s Friends (1992), alongside his Cambridge University peers Thompson, Laurie and Fry, and The Crying Game (1989).

Slattery received an Olivier Award nomination for best comedy performance for his role as Gordon in Tim Firth’s Neville’s Island.

Slattery with Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Imelda Staunton and Hugh Laurie on the set of Peter’s Friends.

On Sunday 10 November 2024, ITV broadcasts Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh!

Season 6 Episode 29 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh” promises a heartfelt and engaging experience as it airs on Remembrance Sunday 2024. Alan will welcome a special lineup of guests, including Sarah, Duchess of York, comedian Al Murray, and actress Ashley Jensen. Together, they will reflect on the significance of the day and share personal stories.

Drinks expert Andy Clarke will join the show to discuss wartime spirits. He has a unique tale to tell that connects to the history of the time. This segment is sure to add a fascinating layer to the Remembrance Sunday theme.

Viewers will also meet 101-year-old Betty Webb, one of the last surviving codebreakers from Bletchley Park. Her insights and experiences are likely to be both moving and informative, offering a glimpse into a crucial part of history.

Award-winning...

On Saturday 15 June 2024, ITV broadcasts Katie Piper’s Breakfast Show!

Season 3 Episode 19 Episode Summary

In this episode of “Katie Piper’s Breakfast Show” on ITV, viewers are in for a treat with a lineup of diverse guests joining host Katie Piper. This time around, filmmaker and comedian Danny Wallace, the beloved Pub Landlord Al Murray, and film and TV critic Rhianna Dhillon will share their insights and entertaining anecdotes.

From discussing the latest happenings in the entertainment industry to sharing must-see recommendations, Rhianna Dhillon will keep audiences up-to-date with all things film and television. Additionally, fitness instructor Kimberlee Perry will provide viewers with tips and tricks to stay active and healthy.

Tune in to ITV for “Katie Piper’s Breakfast Show” and join Katie Piper and her guests for an engaging and lively morning filled with entertainment, laughter, and valuable insights. Don’t miss out on this episode’s exciting lineup of...

Katie Piper’s Breakfast Show returns with a brand new episode on ITV1 this Saturday, June 15. The first of two episodes this weekend, Katie missed last week’s shows due to an unexpected medical procedure but she is back this week. In this installment, Katie is joined by an entertaining lineup of guests, including comedians Danny […]

Katie Piper’s Breakfast Show: Danny Wallace Al Murray...

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.

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...

Warning: This contains spoilers for all series of Taskmaster, including Series 15

Series 15 of Taskmaster has been delightfully ruthless already. So far we’ve had Ivor Graham sabotaging Kiell Smith-Bynoe in the first Live task and Greg Davies letting all the contestants get away with touching things in a task that said “you must not touch anything at any point”.

Then, in episode 4, the show joyously almost descended into full anarchy both over the definition of “throwing” and what a banana is (more on this later).

We suspect Taskmaster fans will be arguing over #throwgate for a while, but it’s not the first controversial decision to go down in the show’s history. In fact, for many, the mere mention of the words “potato”, “hula hoop” and “Mark Watson” are enough to trigger an epic Taskmaster rant to this day. Let’s take a look back at some of the show’s most questionable rulings.

Lee Mack poked fun at Prince Edward during his opening monologue at the Royal Variety Performance.

The stand-up comic hosted the annual celebration at the Royal Albert Hall, which was broadcast on Tuesday (20 December) and attended by the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

In his opening speech, Mack welcomed the audience to the show, before addressing Edward, who is the youngest of Queen Elizabeth II’s children.

“I’ve got three kids,” he told the audience. “The youngest is the naughtiest. It’s always the youngest that’s the trickiest, isn’t it?

“No disrespect,” he added, while the camera cut to a laughing Edward and wife Sophie Windsor.

“There goes the knighthood,” Mack added. “Wouldn’t work for me, anyway. Sir Lee – just sounds like I’m in a bad mood.”

The 2022 Royal Variety Performance is the first to be held since the death of the Queen in September.

Lee Mack poked fun at Prince Edward during his opening monologue at the Royal Variety Performance.

The stand-up comic hosted the annual celebration at the Royal Albert Hall, which was broadcast on Tuesday (20 December) and attended by the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

In his opening speech, Mack welcomed the audience to the show, before addressing Edward, who is the youngest of Queen Elizabeth II’s children.

“I’ve got three kids,” he told the audience. “The youngest is the naughtiest. It’s always the youngest that’s the trickiest, isn’t it?

“No disrespect,” he added, while the camera cut to a laughing Edward and wife Sophie Windsor.

“There goes the knighthood,” Mack added. “Wouldn’t work for me, anyway. Sir Lee – just sounds like I’m in a bad mood.”

The 2022 Royal Variety Performance is the first to be held since the death of the Queen in September.

The line-up for the 2022 Royal Variety Performance has been announced, with the annual event set to take place within days.

The event, held at London’s Royal Albert Hall, will be the first since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September.

As ever, the event is being held in aid of the Royal Variety Charity, which provides aid to those in the world of entertainment.

Previous years have seen artists including Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga and James Blunt take to the stage before the royals.

While Alan Carr has hosted proceedings for the last two years, hosting duties will this time be transferred to Not Going Out star Lee Mack.

Here’s what else we know about the event...

When is the Royal Variety Performance?

This year’s event is taking place on 1 December.

However, it will not air on TV until later in the month. The show will be shown on ITV1,...

Exclusive: Taskmaster, the quirky British game show, is taking another swing at the U.S. market with its own global streaming service.

The team behind the series, which is produced by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver producer Avalon Television, is launching Taskmaster SuperMax+.

The SVOD service launches today with a particular focus on the U.S. and Canada. The show’s YouTube channel has had over 3B impressions with around a third coming from North America.

It’s one of the first shows, rather than companies, to launch its own standalone subscription video platform.

It comes after a slightly damp squib of a launch in the U.S. in 2020 when The CW, which had acquired the original version of the show, pulled the show off the air after one episode. A U.S. remake of the show, hosted by Reggie Watts, aired for one season on Comedy Central in the U.

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...

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...

Discovery’s British free-to-air broadcaster Quest is moving into comedy for the first time with a quiz format produced by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Catastrophe producer Avalon.

The UK network has ordered a 21-episode run of Al Murray’s Great British Pub Quiz, fronted by the eponymous Pub Landlord comedian. The hour-long show will pit the UK’s most passionate pub quiz teams against each other.

Each pub quiz team – a rather British phenomenon – will be joined by a celebrity guest to compete for a golden tankard and a cash prize. Filmed with a live audience, Eastenders and Extras star Shaun Williamson will be the resident barman keeping score.

The show will launch on Quest, which is best known for series such as Salvage Hunters, in the first quarter of next year. It was commissioned by Simon Downing, Svp, Head of Quest and Eurosport UK and commissioning editor Victoria Noble.

Exclusive: A+E Networks UK is exploring more true crimes with its latest British origination – a series that looks at what killers do after their crimes, fronted by Life on Mars and Outcast star Philip Glenister.

The British arm of the U.S. cable giant has commissioned What The Killer Did Next, produced by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Catastrophe producer Avalon Television, for its Crime & Investigation (Ci) channel.

The eight-part series explores the aftermath of a series of gruesome killings. Each episode begins with a murder and aims to find the killer’s motive and discover what kind of person could commit this crime: not by looking at what happened before the murder but by studying the killer’s behavior after the heinous event.

Set to air in early 2019,What The Killer Did Next was ordered by VP of Programming Dan Korn and is exec produced by...

Exclusive: Why does everyone hate the English? That’s the question being posed by British comedian Al Murray in a five-part series for A+E Networks’ History.

The British pay broadcaster has ordered Al Murray: Why Does Everyone Hate The English? from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver producer Avalon.

The comedian, famous for his Pub Landlord alter ego, will find out what lies behind England’s greatest feuds with its closest neighbours: Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Germany and France. Each episode will see Murray partner with a local comedian and proud patriot – Antoine de Caunes in France, Henning Wehn in Germany, Fred MacAulay in Scotland, Elis James in Wales and Andrew Maxwell in Ireland – to explore stories of historic battles, massacres, riots and revolutions that have set the tone for our modern relationships with our closest neighbours.

The series, which will debut in the autumn, is directed by Top Gear’s Andrew Fettis,...

Exclusive: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver producer Avalon has lost its Chief Operating Officer. I hear Tim Robinson has left the British production company and talent management agency.

Robinson, a popular figure within the British television industry, joined the company, which has offices in London, New York and La, in September 2016 and left at the end of last month. He lead day-to-day operations at the business and managed the long-term strategic development of the group. He worked across the company’s production business, its talent management arm as well as studios, promotions and international distribution.

Deadline understands that Robinson’s departure was mutual and that he is currently in talks for a new role.

In addition to Oliver’s weekly HBO comedy show, Avalon produces series including Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s Channel 4 and Amazon comedy Catastrophe, UKTV format Taskmaster, which has just been remade in the U.

UTA has hired Bjorn Wentlandt as an agent in its comedy touring division.

Wentlandt joins the company with decades of experience and will specifically focus on expanding global representation and booking current UTA comedy clients internationally. He will work closely with the agency’s existing roster of worldwide acts, which include Impractical Jokers, Jeff Dunham, Flight of the Conchords, Jim Jefferies, Sarah Silverman, Jim Gaffigan, Rachel Bloom, and Sebastian Maniscalco, among others.

“As our touring division continues to grow with sold-out shows around the world, Bjorn’s extensive knowledge of the global comedy marketplace, combined with the great relationships he has built over the years, will benefit our clients and the agency’s profile at large,” said Nick Nuciforo, UTA’s head of comedy touring.

Wentlandt spent the last seven years at London’s top comedy firm, Avalon Entertainment, where he was responsible for running the group’s live company...

Distribution veteran died between Christmas and New Year.

Source: Manga Entertainment

Colin Lomax

Colin Lomax, CEO of Manga Entertainment and former head of Anchor Bay UK, has died at the age of 56.

The UK distribution veteran died unexpectedly between Christmas and New Year while in Devon. The cause of death has yet to be determined.

Day-to-day running of Manga Entertainment will be overseen by Manga Entertainment COO Jerome Mazandarani.

A statement from Manga Entertainment read: “The team here at Manga Entertainment is deeply shocked and saddened at Colin’s passing and our thoughts are with his wife, Lisa, at this time. We’d like to thank everyone for the tributes and many messages of support and condolence we have received.

“That 2017 was the label’s most successful year in its history is a fitting tribute to Colin’s commitment, dedication and drive. The company will continue to develop his legacy in the months and years ahead.”

Liz Bales, chief...

Distribution veteran died between Christmas and New Year.

Source: Manga Entertainment

Colin Lomax

Colin Lomax, CEO of Manga Entertainment and former head of Anchor Bay UK, has died at the age of 56.

The UK distribution veteran died unexpectedly between Christmas and New Year while in Devon. The cause of death has yet to be determined.

Day-to-day running of Manga Entertainment will be overseen by Manga Entertainment COO Jerome Mazandarani.

A statement from Manga Entertainment read: “The team here at Manga Entertainment is deeply shocked and saddened at Colin’s passing and our thoughts are with his wife, Lisa, at this time. We’d like to thank everyone for the tributes and many messages of support and condolence we have received.

“That 2017 was the label’s most successful year in its history is a fitting tribute to Colin’s commitment, dedication and drive. The company will continue to develop his legacy in the months and years ahead.”

Liz Bales, chief...