The series satirises the globally popular TED talks as the speakers earnestly and seriously deliver a short, silly lecture on variety of topics including ‘People Are Not A Fruit’, ‘Unlocking The Power of Emojis’ and ‘How To Turn Around, All The Way Around In A Circle’.
Written and performed by eight comedians, including two Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award winners, the Dave TALKS series carries the tagline ‘Ideas No One Needs.'
The channel previously screened David 'The Hayemaker' Hayes' memorable return to the ring after a three and a half year break. In January, 3.2 million viewers tuned in to watch Haye knockout Mark de Mori in two minutes.
Dave is now preparing to air Hayes' match against Swiss fighter Arnold 'The Cobra' Gjergjaj from the O2 arena in London, for the next Haye Day event.
So before the sun miraculously parts the clouds, the daffodils thrust their heads through the earth and the rain stops, there is just time to catch up on all top TV that you may have missed.
Deadliest Pests Down Under follows the trial and tribulations of nine British pest controllers as they are moved thousands of miles to Australia, where the critters are bigger, scarier and have many more teeth.
"Imagine Rodney Trotter meeting Crocodile Dundee, and it should give you an idea of the comedy potential this trailblazing new series has” says Popkorn TV’s Rory Wheeler.
The former world champion will take on Australian heavyweight Mark De Mori in his first fight in over three years.
Haye, also known as The Hayemaker, said he was "delighted" that his comeback fight would be available to watch on the free-to-air channel: “I was determined to make this comeback fight free to everybody and fans should sit back and get ready for another fun-fuelled ride as I look to regain the heavyweight championship of the world.”
Last year saw UKTV deliver a 9.27% share of social impacts (SOCI), putting it marginally ahead of Sky’s branded channels (9.25%) and Channel 5’s portfolio (9.26%).
The results follow a big drive by the broadcaster to commission more original content. Storage Hunters UK Celebrity Special and Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish received UKTV’s highest ratings last year. Meanwhile comedy gameshow Taskmaster and sitcom Marley’s Ghosts also contributed to a boost in audience share.
Five years ago, UKTV was seen as the home of the BBC’s archive shows and the owner of a channel called Dave. Everyone in the industry thought Dave was named after the company’s former CEO, David Abraham.
Fast forward to today. The 300-strong company that began life as a multichannel archive business 20 years ago has grown. It now runs 11 channels, ranging from natural-history channel Eden to Good Food, and has a commercial television market share of 9.3%.
The classic sitcom no longer rules the TV schedules in the way that shows such as Fawlty Towers, Open All Hours and Porridge did in the 1970s. Or does it?
A panel of TV practitioners attempted to tease out the answer last month at an RTS early-evening event, “No laughing matter: how does comedy fight back?” This stimulating debate made one think that we could be living through another golden age of TV comedy without necessarily knowing it.
Plans to put BBC Three online could rob a new generation of comedy writers and performers of the opportunity to find an audience, said Jessica Knappett, creator of E4 sitcom Drifters.
Knappett, who writes and stars in the series said: "I feel like BBC Three going online is a door closing, it's an opportunity that's been taken away from me. I feel personally it's exactly the sort of channel I would write for and I found it difficult enough to get an audience on E4."
