Mock the Week
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| Mock the Week | |
|---|---|
 Mock the Week logo |
|
| Format | Comedy panel game |
| Created by | Dan Patterson & Mark Leveson |
| Presented by | Dara Ó Briain Host (All Series) |
| Starring | Hugh Dennis (All Series) Frankie Boyle (All Series) Rory Bremner (Series 1 - 2) Andy Parsons (Series 3 - present) Russell Howard (Series 4 - present) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 33 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Angst Productions
[Dan Patterson, Mark Leveson, Ewan Phillips, Ruth Wallace |
| Running time | 29 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC Two |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Original run | June 5, 2005 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Mock the Week is a British topical panel game, hosted by Dara Ó Briain. It is made by independent production company Angst Productions and made its debut on BBC Two in 5 June 2005. Episodes regularly attract 3.5 million viewers.[1]
Created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson, the same people responsible for the comedy game show Whose Line Is It Anyway?[2] Mock the Week is usually described as a cross between Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Have I Got News For You. The show's theme music is "News of The World" by The Jam.
Contents |
[edit] Panel
There are two teams of three, with Frankie Boyle and Hugh Dennis on one side and Russell Howard and Andy Parsons on the other (with one member of each team being a guest panelist each week). Russell Howard and Andy Parsons have been regulars on the show since series five (series 1 and 2 featured Rory Bremner and two guest panelists), although both were very frequent panelists in series 3-4.[3]
Next to Dennis's team is the Press Pit, which is a large desk where they play a round called Between the Lines. Next to this is the Performance Area which is a much larger area with a large TV monitor, normally used for stand-up challenges such as Dating Videos and Scenes We'd Like To See.
Although Hugh Dennis is in effect a team captain (and is sometimes referred to as such in publicity material), such a distinction is never made on the programme itself. For the first two series Rory Bremner was considered to be the other team captain, however he left the show after series 3 and was replaced by a different guest panelist each week. In series five, Andy Parsons and Russell Howard became regulars on the team opposite Dennis and Boyle, both having previously been described as regular guests (Andy Parsons appeared throughout series 3 and 4, while Russell Howard appeared in four out of six programmes in series 3 and all of series 4).
Although each episode has a winning and losing team, questions and games exist mainly to provide starting points for improvised comedy routines rather than to function as a serious competition and specific scores are never referred to. It is common for rounds to be contested with only members from the same team participating and for Dara O'Briain to end rounds by declaring simply "points for everyone".
[edit] Games
These rounds appear the most often:
[edit] Headliners
This round is played by all the players. In this round, a photo of someone famous in the news is given, along with the initial letters of a newspaper headline. The players have to guess what the headline is. Andy tends to win this round, immediately after another of the panel has given a guess as to one or two of the words, after which Andy guesses the often simple remaining word.
[edit] Between the lines
This game takes place in the Press Pit and for the first two series was normally played by the team captains. In series 3, when Rory Bremner left, Frankie Boyle took his place, despite the fact that both Dennis and Boyle are on the same team. In this round, one player tries to impersonate someone in the news that week giving a press conference. The other player (normally Hugh) tells us what the person is really saying. The best performance wins.
Exceptions to this come when Sandi Toksvig took over to impersonate Queen Elizabeth II. Rory Bremner has played Tony Blair, Prince Charles, George W. Bush, Charles Kennedy, and Michael Howard. Frankie Boyle has played Saddam Hussein, Sir Menzies Campbell, David Cameron, George W. Bush, Prince Charles, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Osama bin Laden, David Beckham and Vladimir Putin.
This game appeared regularly in series 3 and 4. It did not appear in series 5 until the clip show on 27 September when an unaired clip of Boyle and Dennis impersonating David Cameron was shown. This implies that this round was being played in front of the studio audience, but was always cut from the episodes for time reasons.
This round is very similar to the game Expert Translation from the UK version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. The only difference is both players are speaking in English.
[edit] Newsreel
This round is played by two players, one from each side. In this round, a piece of news footage is played with no sound. The players have to act out what each person is saying, although this usually bears no relation to what was actually occurring. The best individual performance wins.
Recently, this round was replaced with one called "Royal Commentary" with only Dennis playing, where he provides a commentary on a royal event.
[edit] Spinning the news
This game takes place in the Performance Area. In the first and second series all six players took part, but from the third series onwards, only four of the player take part, with the captains usually not playing (this means that guests who are not from a stand-up comedy background can sit this round out, as happened when Lauren Laverne was a guest). On the TV is a "Random News Generator" with several topics on it. A topic (such as the Olympics, the police, Scotland, the health service, etc.) is picked at random, and one of the players has to perform a piece on the topic it has landed on.
In series one and two Dara would judge whether the player had got a big enough laugh, if he decided they had that person would get to sit down. The first team to have all their players sitting down won the round. If one player from each team was left at the end, then it went to sudden death. A random topic was picked and both players had to perform on that piece. The one who got the biggest laughs won the round for their team.
In series three this format was changed. Now only four of the players (two from each team) take part and once they have performed they simply stand back in their place. After all four players have performed Dara simply chooses the best team to be the winners of the round. This way of playing is continued to be used throughout series 4 and 5.
Since series two, the name of this round has changed in every show, often reflecting a topical news event for that week (For example: "Harry Potter and The Wheel of News", and "Stand Up and Joke Off") or it can be part of a recurring joke of the episode (For example: "Don't put your Nuts On The Road"). For the last show of series two the name of the round was given in French.
[edit] If this is the answer, what is the question?
This round is played by all the players. A choice of six categories is given to one of the players (usually one of the guest panelists) covering topics such as sport, health, home affairs, world news, and the environment. Once they have chosen an answer is revealed and all players have to try and guess what the question was.
This is similar to the American game show Jeopardy! where players have to respond in the form of a question.
[edit] Scenes we'd like to see
This is normally the final round in the show and takes place in the Performance Area. All players participate in this round when they are given an unlikely scenario and they must come in with suggestions for if it ever did happen. Topics have included "Things the Queen would never say" and "Unlikely lines from the final Harry Potter book". Often contestants get confused over who is going to the microphone.
In one case Ed Byrne had repeatedly failed to get the microphone (the one time he almost got it, he allowed Gina Yashere to take it). He became very cross and resulted in shoving Hugh Dennis away from the microphone (Hugh had already been up to the microphone several times). Then he stole the microphone and ran away, returning several seconds later to put the microphone back in its original position. At this point, instead of saying his suggestion, he simply said "It's not going to be worth it now, is it?"
This is very similar to the game "Scenes from a hat" from both the British and American versions of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
[edit] Past games
These rounds have so far only been played in series 1 and 2. However Bombshell Phone Calls did make one appearance in the first episode of series 3.
[edit] Dating videos
This game takes place in the Performance Area. Normally two rounds are played, with one player from each team performing in the Performance Area. The player is given the name of a famous person and has to record a lonely hearts ad in the style of that person. The other players have to try and guess who they are.
[edit] Ask the politicians
This was Mock the Week's tribute to the current affairs program Question Time. Normally two or three players went into the studio audience whilst the others stayed in their seats. Dara acted as the host of the show, with the other players (normally the team captains and one or two other guests) playing politicians. Former team captain Rory Bremner was normally a famous Labour politician, and Hugh was normally a Conservative spokesman. The players in the audience would question the rest of the panel, and they had to answer the questions given to them in role.
Guest Al Murray has appeared twice as "The Voice of the Silent Majority," where he adopted a right-wing persona, normally xenophobic and with a harsh line on crime. He often used amusing phrases such as "speaking for the people who would have shot that burglar a third time..."; this was recognisable as an allusion to his famous Pub Landlord character.
[edit] Prime Minister's questions
This round was played by all the players. Dara would take the role of the Speaker of the British House of Commons, Rory would play the Prime Minister and the rest of his team would be front-bench MPs. Hugh's team would play the opposition party. Teams were given a rather trivial news story to debate, but would treat it as it was the heavyweight issue of the day.
[edit] Bombshell phone calls
This round was played by two players, one from each side. The two players (normally Rory and Frankie) played famous people having a telephone conversation. During the conversation, one of them would drop a bombshell, which the other player had to react to.
[edit] What on Earth
A round only broadcast during the clip show at the end of series 5. Dara introduced it by saying: "You at home may be thinking, 'Wow, I've never seen this round before', but that's because we never fucking broadcast it!" The round consists of the panel being shown a picture and them trying to figure out what on earth was happening.
[edit] Recurring jokes
- There was a running joke in earlier series which suggested that Prince Charles was not the father of Prince Harry.
- Hugh Dennis responds to many "Scenes We'd Like To See" with advertising slogans such as "Are you paying too much for car insurance?" or (in the topic, "Bad things to say when leading troops into battle") "Have you been injured at work?" He also refers to insurance companies several times throughout the shows. Similarly, there have been numerous instances of (usually wholly unlikely) people or events being described as "brought to you by Powergen" with examples including the Queen and the Live Earth concert.
- Hugh frequently impersonates Jimmy Savile, namechecking the group Showaddywaddy.
- Frankie Boyle frequently makes derogatory comments about Scotland, particularly the women of Dundee, and how his home city Glasgow is stuck in the 19th century. Another famous 'scenes we'd like to see' over the worst thing to hear on holiday Frankie said "Welcome to Scotland".
- There are many references (particularly by Andy and Dara) to the British people's love of orderly queuing.
- Hugh Dennis also makes frequent jokes on Chlamydia, usually when referring to a character in a film or book. Frankie Boyle has a similar ongoing joke with HIV.
- There are also many jokes about Abu Hamza al-Masri, the Muslim leader, often about his hook for a hand or eyes.
[edit] 7/7 taping
Following the July 7 2005 London bombings, the last programme in the first series, scheduled for July 10, 2005, was replaced at short notice by a selection of highlights from previous shows. This was mainly because the recording of the programme was due to take place on the evening of July 7 but the closedown of London's transport system meant that many audience members, as well as some of those due to appear on the programme, could not attend. However, the Channel 4 topical comedy 8 out of 10 Cats, which was being recorded in another studio at BBC Television Centre, did go ahead, making use of panelists and production team members from Mock the Week who turned up to fill the panel and audience.[4][5]
[edit] Series guide
A second series began in January 2006, ending in March. The previous clip show had rated well, so the second series ended in the same way. BBC Two then recommissioned Mock the Week for a third series on September 14, 2006, for six episodes, followed by another clip show on 24 December 2006. The fourth series began on January 12, 2007, with its clip show airing on 19 February 2007. The fifth series, extended to twelve shows, began on July 12, 2007, with its clip show concluding the run on September 27, 2007.
[edit] Products
A DVD, Mock the Week: Too Hot For TV was released on 26 November 2007. It contains 2¾ hours of material, including three extended episodes from series 5, containing scenes that were considered too rude for broadcast.[6] Boxtree is to publish two tie-in books, the first to be published in August 2008.[1]
[edit] Guest appearances
[edit] Most appearances
7 appearances
6 appearances
4 appearances
Andy Parsons made six appearances before becoming a regular, Russell Howard made four before joining permanently.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Richardson, Anna (2007-12-21). Boxtree ready to mock the week. The Bookseller. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
- ^ The Company. Mock the Week. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
- ^ The Show. Mock the Week. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
- ^ "Series 1, Episode 6". Mock the Week. 2005-07-10. No. 6, season 1.
- ^ "Series 1, Episode 6". 8 out of 10 Cats. 2005-07-08. No. 6, season 1.
- ^ The DVD. Mock the Week. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
[edit] External links
