‘Celebrity Gogglebox’ is priceless telly about…absolutely nothing!
Line of Duty cast in Celebrity Gogglebox for Stand Up to Cancer Special. Photo: Channel 4
Five years ago, I was introduced to a phenomenon known as Gogglebox. The world has not been the same since. Every so often, along comes a television series that simply defies logic. Realizing that at even 5 years ago I was a day late and a dollar short when it came to hearing about this series, I am rapidly became a huge fan of the Channel 4 ‘documentary’ series.
I’m also finally admitting publicly that I used to religiously watch The Royle Family because I knew, at some point, Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson) was going to get up out of that chair and I didn’t want to blink and miss it. If you thought the Manchester-set series centered around a family fixated on watching television (from the television’s perspective, no less) was a show about nothing, Gogglebox is The Royle Family on steroids.
Gogglebox is a British observational documentary that has aired on Channel 4 since March 2013. The show features recurring couples, families and friends from around Britain sitting in their telly-centric living rooms watching weekly British television shows. The show won a BAFTA award in 2014 and a National Television Award in 2015.
Last night’s Stand Up to Cancer special which aired on Channel 4 in the U.K. took Gogglebox to whole new level…Celebrity Gogglebox! Much like Red Nose Day and Comic Relief, the entire country seems to get behind the initiative and the Channel 4 special which supports Cancer research in the U.K.
The stellar line-up for this year’s special included the stars of Jed Mercurio’s Line of Duty, Adrian Dunbar, Vicky McClure and Martin Compston, who took a break from series 6 filming, The Who’s Roger Daltrey, Johnny Vegas (Still Open All Hours, Good Omens), Emilia Fox (Silent Witness, Rebecca, Pride and Prejudice) and David Mitchell (Upstart Crow, Mitchell and Webb) and his wife, Victoria Coren Mitchell among others.
David and Victoria Mitchell on Celebrity Gogglebox. Photo: Channel 4
While the Mitchell’s ‘assessed’ the horror classic, Scream, others participating in the night of TV watching offered their MST3K-like comments on BBC2’s Simply Nigella, BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Shor, ITV’s Family Fortunes and The Million Pound Cube and the ITV/BBC News.
Appropriately, the original Gogglebox series was narrated by The Royle Family co-creator/writer, Caroline Aherne. Gogglebox is flat out brilliant telly that, while it’s about nothing, I can’t turn away from. Celebrity Gogglebox takes it to a whole new level….
In: Odds & Sods
