| Bremner, Bird and Fortune | |
|---|---|
Bremner, Bird & Fortune title card |
|
| Format | Satirical Comedy |
| Created by | Rory Bremner, John Bird and John Fortune |
| Starring | Rory Bremner, John Bird, John Fortune, Pauline McLynn and Frances Barber |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. of episodes | 85 (to 6 May 2010) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (included Television advertisements) |
| Production company(s) | Vera Productions |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel Four |
| Original run | 17 October 1999 – Present |
Bremner, Bird and Fortune is an award-winning satirical British television programme produced by Vera Productions for Channel Four, uniting the longstanding satirical team of John Bird and John Fortune ("the Two Johns") with the satirical impressionist Rory Bremner.
The show started in 1999. The fourteenth series was shown in November 2008. A new series of 3 episodes, The Last Show Before The Recovery, started on 7 June 2009. The most recent set of 3 episodes, The Daily Wind-Up, aired from the 2nd of May until the 4th May 2010, and focused on the 2010 United Kingdom General Election.[1]
Contents |
The show is almost entirely political, but in recent series different genres of sketches have been introduced. The programme features regular stand-up impressionism sections by Bremner.
Another feature is interviews between Bird and Fortune, one of them normally as George Parr, a man in a government position or a businessman, who normally ends up exposing the idiocies of their area of expertise.
There are also heavily researched, bitingly satirical three-handed historical narratives; the dinner party sketches, featuring Bird, Fortune, Pauline McLynn and Frances Barber; and other small sketches. The show ends with a (usually political) musical number.
Bremner, Bird and Fortune was filmed up until the second series 11 in 2006 at the Riverside Studios. It is now filmed in Teddington Studios, South London. Series 11 was filmed in Studio 1 and Series 13 was filmed in studio 2. Teddington Studios was once the home to comedy greats as Benny Hill, Kenny Everett and Tommy Cooper.
The next series, 14, is being filmed at the Fountain Studios in Wembley, London where Series 4 - 8 were also filmed.
The show started in 1999.
In 2002, three members of the show's production team, Geoff Atkinson, Steve Connelly and Tristam Shapeero, were nominated for a BAFTA for Best Comedy Programme or Series.[2] Bird and Fortune were nominated for a BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance in 2001 and Best Comedy Performance in 2002.[3]
In 2003 the episode "At Her Majesty's Pleasure" won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Entertainment.[4]
In October 2004, they published a book based on the show, called You Are Here: A Dossier (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 288 pages, ISBN 0-297-84778-3, also available as a paperback from Orion mass market paperback, ISBN 0-7528-6493-9).[5]
In 2004 Rory Bremner was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance.[6]
In November 2008 a four-part mini series was produced, called Silly Money. The trio looked at the economic downturn, with fewer of the usual sketches and co-stars. The episodes contained many more George Parr sketches than usual. They also included a number of archive clips to further illustrate points and create satire from them based on hindsight.