As co-writer and co-director of BBC’s The Office, Stephen Merchant is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais. The British writer, director, radio presenter, stand-up comedian and actor added a London West-End appearance a couple of years ago to his CV with his first play, The Mentalists by Richard Bean, alongside Steffan Rhodri at the Wyndham Theatre. Known for his brilliant command of […]
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As if I needed yet another reason to pack my bags and work remote from a flat on the banks of the Thames, Notting Hill, South Kensington or any point in-between, here comes the news that Sybil Fawlty has assumed control of all the beautiful people that had previously run Hotel Babylon. In this 2007 […]
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Harold Snoad, long-time sitcom producer and director for the BBC passed away 2 June at the age of 88. Best known for Keeping Up Appearances, it was Snoad who cast Dame Patricia Routledge in the lead role, explaining: “I wanted the character of Hyacinth to be a sort of stately galleon. I didn’t want somebody lightweight, […]
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Today, William Shakespeare would have been a mere 460 years old. While his true birthdate remains a mystery (he was baptized on April 26, 1564), it is generally celebrated on April 23, the same day England’s patron saint is celebrated with a laundry list of ‘happenings’, St. George’s Day. It was a mere 408 years ago […]
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Four thought to be lost episodes of The Complete and Utter History of the British Isles, created in 1969 by soon-to-be Pythoners Michael Palin and Terry Jones, have been found by the ITV Archive team as part of a huge project to fully identify every archive asset ITV holds, “The series had been sitting in the ITV vaults […]
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One simply cannot let Easter pass without paying tribute to the genius that is Monty Python & the Holy Grail. There are literally thousands of lines and/or scenes that millions of fans worldwide can quote or reference, and there are few that don’t gravitate to a seemingly innocent looking rabbit that surprises a group of tourists who seek […]
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Once again,Red Nose Day has distinguished itself as the single most brilliant example known to man and/or woman of how an entire country demonstrates the ability to create brilliant content and rally around a charitable cause. To label Red Nose Day in the UK as a cultural phenomenon is doing it an injustice. It’s an institution. The entire […]
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Red Nose Day has to be the single most brilliant example known to man and/or woman of how an entire country demonstrates the ability to create brilliant content and rally around a charitable cause. To label Red Nose Day in the UK as a cultural phenomenon is doing it an injustice. It’s an institution. The entire country gets […]
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Just how does one tinker with perfection? This had to be a question that has run through John Cleese’s mind palace over the years when the annual question would come up as to why there has never been a Fawlty Towers remake. I’m guessing the same with Ricky Gervais when thinking about The Office (even though the American […]
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I’m re-posting this 2020 blog post to remember the greatness of Terry Jones. He passed away four years ago on January 21, all too soon. ======== January 23, 2020 — These R.I.P. posts seems to be coming at an alarmingly fast rate these days and while all of them are devastating to those of us […]
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