Comedy

This Country: Charlie Cooper discusses this year's comedy hit

It’s been a hectic series for the show’s stars, cousins Kerry and Kurtan, played by Daisy May and Charlie Cooper. There’s been fishing, tadpoles spawned in the pond, there was an incident with some aggressive sheep… A busy six weeks in the Cotswold town the pair call home – or rather it hasn’t. And that’s sort of the point.

What's on TV this week: 9 - 15 April

Auction

Monday: Sky Arts, 7pm

Take a peek inside some of the great art sale houses in the world in this new documentary series. From masterpieces of art to personal letters and artefacts, there’s sure to be a lot of money changing hands and this is a first class view of a world most mere mortals can only dream of. This season sees a rare Picasso go under the hammer.

 

Michaela Coel: How Chewing Gum got made

RTS Award winner Michaela Coel sits down with us at the RTS Programme Awards 2018 to reflect on two years of success since winning the inaugural RTS Breakthrough Award in 2016. 

Chewing Gum won three awards at the 2016 RTS awards, and has since gone on to win Baftas. The show is shown around the world, however it was Michaela's work on the recent series of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror that really shot her to international attention. 

Musical comedy group The Horne Section to film TV special

The Horne Section

The ‘unlikely jazz/comedy hybrid’ will feature guest performances from some of the biggest names in comedy and music.

The two hour show will be recorded live at The London Palladium later this year.

Alex Horne said, “I’m pretty sure no-one’s ever tried combining music with comedy before, let alone filming the whole thing and putting it on TV, so we’re pretty excited to see how Twitter will cope with jazz and jokes for two hours.”

First look at Idris Elba’s new comedy In the Long Run

In The Long Run

The comedy features an ensemble cast with Elba at the helm as family man Walter Easmon, alongside wife Agnes (Madeline Appiah), son Kobna (Sammy Kamara), Walter's younger brother Valentine (Jimmy Akingbola) and Walter’s best mate Bagpipes played by comedy favourite Bill Bailey.

The series, loosely based on Idris Elba’s own childhood, follows the story of Walter and Agnes Easmon whose life is all about quiet routine. They arrived from Sierra Leone 13 years ago and work hard to pay the bills, raise son Kobna as well as support their family back home. 

Why it pays to be on Jon Thoday's side

Jon Thoday (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

The lobby of Avalon’s office in west London is dominated by two monsters. One is a huge cast of Lenin in full declamation, the other is a Dalek. A visitor’s first thought is that you would not want to get on the wrong side of this entertainment giant – one-third talent agency, one-third live show promoter, one-third TV production company – or its famously effective Managing Director and co-founder, Jon Thoday. You would want Avalon and its boss fighting for you.

Martin Clunes stars in new BBC One comedy Warren

The new original series centres around the egotistical and self-assured Warren, who thinks the world is out to get him. The six-part series was penned by up-and-coming writers Jimmy Donny Cosgrove and Paul McKenna.

Warren grapples against problems and misunderstandings of his own making which often have chaotic and disastrous consequences for those around him, but especially for himself.