TV review by Steve Bennett
It will come as little surprise to anyone who’s encountered Mark Kermode’s film criticism on the radio or in print that his TV essay on British comedy movies is incisive, informed and intelligent, yet effortlessly accessible.
His celebration of the genre is impressively wide-ranging, from Chaplin to the Personal History Of David Copperfield via the likes of Ealing comedies, Carry Ons and the ‘Three Flavours Cornetto’ trilogy fronted by Simon Pegg. Breezy rom-coms like Bridget Jones’s Diary nestle alongside grittier work such as Ken Loach’s output.
Mark Kermode’s Secrets Of Cinemas is essentially a classier breed of clip show, with both classic and lesser-known scenes skilfully weaved around a discussion half a dozen enduring cinematic themes, such as the ‘little man’ as central character – either plucky archetype like George Formby or those with petit bourgeois pretentious like Alan Partridge – to obsessions with class and manners
Former BBC New Comedy Award-winner
BBC New Comedy Award winner Stephen Buchanan is to record his first stand-up show for Radio 4.
In Talking Shop, the comic talks about his chequered work history and his attempts to help Dove, a Vietnamese refugee who lives with himself and his mum, on to the career ladder.
Buchanan took the BBC title in 2018, after three times making the final of the Scottish Comedian Of The Year competition. He has appeared on Jonathan Ross’s Comedy Club and The Now Show and written on the likes of Scot Squad and Breaking The News.
His show will be filmed in front of a virtual audience next week, and joins a roster of forthcoming Radio 4 stand-up specials that includes shows from Imran Yusuf, Jayde Adams, Elvis McGonagall and Gemma Arrowsmith. Kiri Pritchard-McLean’s show, Egg-sistential crisis aired last night.