Updated : Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000
Nelson, Marion, Destiny, Kali and Vince returned last week with a double bill of Mongrels! Check it out on iPlayer if you missed it. We've managed to coax Nelson and Marion out of their East London pub garden to join us for a live web chat after the show TONIGHT at 11pm. All they asked for was a copy of Ben Fogle's autobiography and a big bag of catnip - you can decide for yourself who asked for which item! They'll be here to answer your questions, so if there's anything you wanted to know from an urbane fox or a homeless tomcat, then be sure to join us on tonight at 11pm. Mongrels is on BBC Three every Monday at 10.30pm. Terms and Conditions: All comments are pre-moderated which may delay publication. It is not possible to publish all comments; only questions and/or comments of interest and relevance to the programme and its themes will be chosen. Do not include personal information in your comments (eg email addresses, telephone numbers); comments and questions will not be published if they contain personal information or if they contain material that may offend other users. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites linked from this page. And if you want to find out more, go to our Terms and Conditions site. More from Mongrels:
Publ.Date : Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:51:07 +0000
Roger and Val Have Just Got In returned to our screens on Wednesday 8th February. Beth Kilcoyne co-wrote the show with her sister Emma, and stopped by to talk to us series two: Beginning to write a second series of Roger & Val was like trying to get a swing-boat started: hard, which is why the man on the swing-boats gives you a push and you catch the rhythm with the rope. But there was no one outside: just me & Emma, not swinging, with 2 ropes. We began. It's a series about distraction: what do you do to get through? We decided to look at Roger being at home all day and focus his neurosis on the washing: "Val? I've got that stain out of your purple blouse" one unmemorable line I remember, as the Tribunal was pointedly ignored. We wrote and wrote, hour after hour, and got to the end, where the stain had come out of the blouse, but, hanging up to dry like a headless person, it gave Val a shock. It was awful. Dreary. Dull. The characters didn't even sound like Roger & Val; they sounded like people doing an imitation of Roger & Val. I tried to be hopeful it had "just come out wrong", excusing myself with the fact that you can't CUT in R&V, and I'd forgotten the difficulty. But the next draft was even worse; they were now sounding labored, eg. Roger droning on that mozzarella cheese in a packet feels like a ganglion. Over-thought, turgid, flat-footed drivel, leading up to Val's decision to actually apply for the Deputy Headship and Roger opening his Tribunal mail. I couldn't understand why all of a sudden the show said nothing, apart from Roger thought the dirty clothes is an ideal environment for growing mushrooms. At about this time my house got infested with mice; I saw one in the bathroom, which next day got caught in a trap, so I was hopeful it had been acting alone. No one would believe this if you put it in a script, but the day we handed in the first draft about the washing, I opened my own washer. There was a... thing on the rubber rim. All its fur had been hideously washed off but the tail was still on, grey, shiny, dead but for once clean, tufts of black fur skidded round it and no doubt in among my clothes, which I couldn't throw out because they were all my best ones. Aaaurrgh - visceral - on me. I didn't dare look for its eyes. I retched, and started hopping from foot to foot, stating the obvious but in a weird chant: "There is a mouse in the washer, mouse in the washer, a MOUSE!" to which my partner unwisely replied, "What's the matter? It's dead." We really now had taken far too much time on this now-laboured Episode 1. On its final night I went to get fish & chips, in panic. When I sat down to eat, there was an alive mouse at the bottom of the stairs. It didn't even bother to run away and I didn't bother to react, because I knew what it had come to tell me: the script was awful. I just sat there, fish and chips slopping out of my exhausted, not-screaming mouth: rock bottom. We started Episode 2 the next day, when Dave the fantastic Mouseman called to say he had solved the problem. This script wrote like a dream - zinging out from all over the place, free and alive, both characters wholly themselves, ideas toppling over each other to get in, and Val got shortlisted for the interview. Plus we introduced the over-arching story. "What a pity this can't be Episode 1 instead of that boring one about the washing" said my Mum. Of course, it was Episode 1; we had been writing Episode 0 - the characters before we got them going again. So I am grateful to that awful script now, dreadful as it was, because it was the push outside the swing-boat for Series 2. And I never saw a mouse again.
Publ.Date : Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000
The celebrated stories of PG Wodehouse will be coming to life on BBC One as Timothy Spall and Jennifer Saunders star in Blandings, a new comedy series written by Guy Andrews and based on Wodehouse's work. PG Wodehouse is hailed as one of the greatest comic writers in the English Language, and Controller of BBC One, Danny Cohen is very excited about bringing the tales to a new generation of TV viewers. Describing the series Guy Andrews said: "Blandings Castle is dysfunction junction, the home of a chaotic family struggling to keep itself in order. Clarence Emsworth, ninth earl and master of Blandings Castle, yearns with all his soul to be left in peace; preferably in the company of his beloved pig, The Empress. But he never is. There is always someone who wants him to do something. Presiding over the blitzkrieg on his equilibrium is the baleful figure of his sister Connie, with whom he shares the house; at her shoulder is Clarence's brainless younger son Freddie and a panoply of friends, enemies, servants, spongers, private detectives, bookies and confidence tricksters. "Only Beach, his loyal and long-suffering butler, provides consolation. Storm-battered Clarence, somehow never vanquished, occasionally makes everything right through an inspired or accidental intervention. "For any writer, it is the rarest privilege imaginable to have Wodehouse legitimately available as source material. Instead of just stealing from him as we usually do.' The six self-contained episodes will be set 1929, and will be filmed on location in Northern Ireland with the support of Northern Ireland Screen. Timothy Spall will play the amiable and befuddled Lord Emsworth (Clarence to his friends), with Jennifer Saunders as his indomitable sister Connie. The series will be produced by Spencer Campbell (Cold Feet, Mad Dogs) and directed by Paul Seed (BAFTA winning Just William). The show is a co-production with Mammoth Screen and the BBC.
Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:50:00 +0000
Stephen Merchant, Warwick Davis and Ricky Gervais Another "cruel" and "controversial" comedy from Ricky Gervais. Yes, just a couple of the words some people are using to describe a show they haven't seen yet. In the many interviews I have done over the past few weeks to promote Life's Too Short, the same few questions always seem to come up. The first one is, not surprisingly, "What's it about?" Life's Too Short is a fake documentary about a showbiz dwarf who has agreed to let the cameras into his life to turn his fortunes around. View the full blog post to access video content. In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions Warwick Davis plays a twisted version of himself. He has a massive tax bill, he is going through a messy divorce and the phone has stopped ringing with job offers. It's not a sitcom about being short at all. It's a sitcom about a man with a small man complex. He is angry, arrogant, manipulative, selfish, and above all, fame hungry. It was a thrill for me returning to the fake doc format because I find realism quite addictive. But if The Office reflected those quaint docu-soaps of the 1990s that followed ordinary people in ordinary jobs getting their 15 minutes in the limelight, Life's Too Short reflects the docs of today. Desperate, ruthless monsters living their lives like an open wound in search of another 15 minutes at any cost to dignity and decency. View the full blog post to access video content. In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions After I've answered this first question they've usually only digested the fact that it's "about dwarves." The second question is usually, "Are you worried that people will be offended?" I don't know why anyone would ask that question? Is it because the central character is a dwarf? Or is it because they buy into this myth that I am a shock comedian? Anyway, I'll answer the question. I always expect some people to be offended. I know I ruffle feathers but some people's feathers need a little ruffling. And remember: just because someone is offended doesn't mean they're in the right. Some people are offended by multi-culturalism, homosexuality, abortion, atheism... what should we do? Ban all those things? You have the right to be offended, and I have the right to offend you. But no one has the right to never be offended. I never actively try to offend though. That's churlish, pointless and frankly too easy. But I believe you should say what you mean. Be honest. No one should ever be offended by truth. As a comedian I think my job isn't just to make people laugh but also make them think. As a famous comedian I also want a strict door policy on my club. Not everyone will like what I say or find it funny. And I wouldn't have it any other way. There are enough comedians who try to please everyone as it is. Good luck to them, but that's not my game I'm afraid. This is not a democracy. No art form is. I love the creative process and I love being a complete dictator when it comes to my work. It's my way or no way at all. I'm quite Darwinian about it. I do my thing and I survive or I don't. The next question is nearly always, "So where do you draw the line in your comedy?" I'm not one of those people who think that comedy is your conscience taking a day off. My conscience never takes a day off and I can justify everything I do. There's no line to be drawn in comedy in the sense that there are things you should never joke about. There's nothing that you should never joke about but it depends what that joke is. Comedy comes from a good or a bad place. The subject of a joke isn't necessarily the target of the joke. You can make jokes about race without any race being the butt of the joke. Racism itself can be the butt for example. When dealing with a so-called taboo subject the angst and discomfort of the audience is what's under the microscope. Our own preconceptions and prejudices are often what are being challenged. It comes back to honesty again. I don't like racist jokes. Not because they are offensive. I don't like them because they're not funny. And they're not funny because they're not true. They are almost always based on a falsehood somewhere along the way, which ruins the gag for me. Comedy is an intellectual pursuit. Not a platform. Usually when someone says I crossed the line, they mean the line they drew, not me. Ricky Gervais wrote and directed Life's Too Short, alongside Stephen Merchant. Life's Too Short begins on Thursday 10 November at 9.30pm on BBC Two. Related Links:
Publ.Date : Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:17:40 +0000
How about a bit of good news for the middle of the week? Yes? OK then - detective comedy Vexed has begun shooting the next series with stars Toby Stephens (Jane Eyre, Robin Hood, Cambridge Spies) playing D.I. Jack Armstrong, and Miranda Raison (Spooks, Merlin, Married Single Other) playing new character D.I. Georgina Dixon. The show is being filmed in Dublin and will air six episodes later this year on BBC Two. This series is definitely one to watch with creator Howard Overman (Misfits) at the helm & episodes written by Chris Bucknall, James Wood, Steve Coombes and Harry & Jack Williams. So, what's going on in series two I hear you ask? Well, D.I. Jack Armstrong has a new partner in the shape of D.I. Georgina Dixon. Armstrong is charming, disorganised and prone to laziness so it comes as no surprise that sparks fly when he's partnered with the ambitious and highly efficient Dixon. Jack's best friend, café-owner and ex-cop Tony (Roger Griffiths) and colleague Naz (Ronny Jhutti) complete the crime solving team. Episode one sees the duo tackle the murder of a cocky car salesman, but things are not quite as they seem. Chris Sussman, Executive Producer for the BBC, said: 'We're very much looking forward to the return of Vexed. The second series promises to be just as much fun as the first, and with Miranda Raison joining Toby Stephens as new partner D.I. Dixon, we're hoping it's going to be all guns blazing.' Jill Green, Executive Producer, Eleventh Hour Films added "In a recession we need shows that make us laugh, and that's where Vexed fits in - a perfectly distinctive 'yin yang' take on modern day life." If you just can't wait for the next series to air, here's a clip from the last episode of series one: In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
Publ.Date : Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000
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