The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008 was the fourth show in the Secret Policeman's Balls series of benefit shows for Amnesty International.
In July 2008, Amnesty announced that it would present another show in its long-running series[1][2] Like its immediate predecessor, The Secret Policeman's Ball 2006 the show was a single-night live event at London's Royal Albert Hall. It took place on Saturday 4 October 2008.
In common with other Amnesty benefit shows in recent years, the majority of the performers were British (or UK-based) and well-known primarily just in Great Britain. (There was one Canadian comedian Russell Peters - who appeared via a pre-recorded video-tape.)
Performers who were listed to perform were: Frank Skinner, Alan Carr, Graham Norton, Sean Lock, Kristen Schaal, Fearne Cotton, Matt Berry, Katherine Parkinson, Mitchell and Webb, Jason Manford, Shappi Khorsandi, Russell Howard, Russell Peters (via video-tape), Katy Brand, Tim Minchin, Sarah Millican, Kayvan Novak, Meera Syal, Sean Williamson, Sharon Horgan, Nick Mohammed, Dan Clark, David Armand, Eddie Izzard, Ed Byrne, Deborah Meaden, Jon Culshaw, Gok Wan, Michael Fenton Stevens, Keane, Razorlight.
The 3-hour event was video-taped and a 95-minute television special adapted from the show was broadcast the following day (Sunday 5 October 2008) on Britain's Channel Four. There was also a "cinecast" in which the Royal Albert Hall event was shown live in 35 cinemas in major British cities. [1] It was also available live in 4 cinemas in Australia. [2] The "cinecast" was available in cinemas in six of Canada's thirteen provinces and territories. The Cineplex cinema chain made the film available on 50 of its 1,317 screens. [3]. Unfortunately for Canadian audiences, Amnesty and Cineplex did not make any public announcement in Canada about the Canadian "cinecast" until Wednesday October 1 2008 [4] - just three days before the screenings and thus not allowing sufficient time for the event to be effectively promoted in Canada.