That Mitchell and Webb Look

That Mitchell and Webb Look

An image from the show's opening sequence
Also known as Mitchell & Webb
Genre Sketch comedy
Written by
  • David Mitchell
  • Robert Webb
  • James Bachman
  • Mark Evans
  • Jesse Armstrong
  • Sam Bain
  • John Finnemore
  • Chris Reddy
  • Toby Davies
  • Abigail Burdess
  • Jonathan Dryden-Taylor[1]
  • Simon Kane[2]
Directed by
  • David Kerr (series 1–2)
  • Ben Gosling Fuller (series 3–4)
Starring
Opening theme "Alive & Amplified" by The Mooney Suzuki
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 4
No. of episodes 24
Production
Executive producer(s) Kenton Allen
Jon Plowman
Producer(s) Gareth Edwards
Running time 30 minutes
Release
Original network BBC Two
BBC HD (2008–2010)
Original release 14 September 2006 (2006-09-14) – 17 August 2010 (2010-08-17)
External links
Website www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/thatmitchellandwebbsite/
Production
website
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0092s71

That Mitchell and Webb Look is a British sketch comedy television show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. As well as Mitchell and Webb themselves, the writers include Jesse Armstrong, James Bachman, Sam Bain, Mark Evans, Olivia Colman, Joel Morris, John Finnemore, and others. It is produced by Gareth Edwards. Colman, Bachman, and Evans were also members of the cast, alongside Gus Brown, Sarah Hadland, and Paterson Joseph. The first two series were directed by David Kerr, and the third and fourth series were directed by Ben Gosling Fuller.

Many of its characters and sketches were first featured in the duo's radio show That Mitchell and Webb Sound. First aired on 14 September 2006,[3] a second series was commissioned later that same year[4] and shown between 21 February and 27 March 2008.[5] The third series began on 11 June 2009.[6] Since the second series, the production has also been broadcast on BBC HD. The first series won a BAFTA award in 2007. The third series started airing on BBC America on 14 April 2010. The fourth series premiered on BBC Two and BBC HD on 13 July 2010 with a total of six episodes commissioned by the BBC.[7] In a November 2011 interview, Webb stated that there are no plans for another series and added that "you'd have to ask the BBC" about further series.[8]

Recurring sketches

That Mitchell and Webb Look includes many recurring sketches, or sketches with recurring themes, including:

Other sketches feature media based on the Numberwang franchise, such as Wordwang ("The spin-off series with a difference and that difference is words"), an advertisement for a Numberwang board game or documentary of the show's history.[9]

Production

The show follows on from the duo's earlier TV series The Mitchell and Webb Situation, and is an extension of their Radio 4 sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Sound. The show's producer Gareth Edwards commented that the show's pitch to the BBC "was the shortest pitch I've ever written", citing that the show "has worked on the radio, just like Little Britain worked on the radio and Dead Ringers worked on the radio, and they transferred successfully to TV, so why don't you [the BBC] transfer this one to TV as well?"[3]

A pilot for the show was filmed on 27 January 2006 at BBC Television Centre,[12] with a full series being later commissioned.[13] Preview nights for the show were held at The Drill Hall in London on 11 January and 20 March 2006, and at Ginglik in Shepherd's Bush in London on 14 and 21 May 2006. These took the form of a radio recording, with verbal prompting to the audience for any visual element that would be required. The series was shot on location in June 2006 and three audience recording sessions were held in Studio 4 at BBC Television Centre on 14, 21 and 28 July 2006.

Following the first series, the pair went on a tour of 44 UK venues between October and December 2006, entitled The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb, featuring many of the same sketches as That Mitchell and Webb Look.

A preview night for the second series was held on 18 May 2007 at The Drill Hall in London. This series was shot in high-definition[14] on location during June/July 2007 and three studio recordings with an audience were held at TC8 in Television Centre on 3, 10 and 17 August 2007.

Two preview nights for series three were announced on 30 June 2008 on the BBC Tickets website; all tickets were booked in less than 24 hours. The first preview night took place on 13 July 2008 at The Drill Hall, with the second held there on 10 August 2008. Two audience recording sessions at Television Centre — with additional live sketches — were announced on 3 October 2008, and took place on 31 October and 7 November 2008, again in high-definition in studio TC8. A third recording session at the BBC Radio Theatre was announced on 10 October 2008, taking place on 18 November 2008.

A preview night for the fourth series was announced on 18 November 2009 on the BBC Tickets website; this was held on 26 November 2009 at The Drill Hall.

Reception

The show was nominated for two British Comedy Awards in 2006, in the categories of "Britain's Best New TV Comedy" and the "Highland Spring People's Choice"; it won neither of the awards.[15] However, the show did go on to receive a BAFTA in 2007, in the category "Best Comedy Programme or Series"[16] and been named "Best British TV Sketch Show 2006" in The Comedy.co.uk Awards[17] It was later nominated for another BAFTA in 2009, in the same category.

DVD release

The first series was released on DVD in the UK by Contender Home Video on 29 October 2007. Extras include Outtakes, Behind the Scenes footage and a Mitchell & Webb documentary.[18]

The second series was released on DVD in the UK by Fremantle Media on 20 October 2008.[19]

The third series was released on DVD in the UK by 2|entertain on 20 July 2009, meaning that the first three series have been released on different video labels.[20]

The fourth series was released in the UK by Fremantle Media on 4 October 2010.[21]

Worldwide broadcast

RegionChannel
 Arab League ShowComedy
 Argentina Film&Arts/i-Sat
 Brazil Film&Arts
 Australia ABC1 / ABC2 / UKTV
 Belgium Canvas
 Colombia Film&Arts
 Denmark DR2
 Finland Sub
 Iceland Stöð 2
 India BBC Entertainment
 Israel yes stars Comedy
 Netherlands Nederland 3
 New Zealand UKTV
 Norway NRK3
 Singapore StarHub Cable Vision
 South Africa BBC Entertainment
 Sweden TV4 Komedi
 United Kingdom BBC2 / BBC HD / Dave / Netflix[22]
 United States BBC America[23] / Hulu / Netflix

Notes

  1. That Mitchell and Webb Look: British Comedy Guide
  2. 1 2 Mitchell, Ben (27 August 2006). "Masters of comedy". The Observer. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  3. Ross, Deborah (2006-11-18). "Peep Show's David Mitchell and Robert Webb". The Independent. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  4. "BBC Week 8 Unplaced 2008". BBC Press Office. Archived from the original on 5 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
  5. Saffron Walden Reporter (2009-06-03). "That Mitchell and Webb Look". The Saffron Walden Reporter. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  6. "BBC That Mitchell and Webb Look: Series 4 episodes". BBC. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
  7. Nissim, Mayer (2011-11-14). "Robert Webb interview: 'We'll do Peep Show for as long as they let us'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  8. 1 2 "BBC - Comedy - That Mitchell And Webb Site - Numberwang". BBC. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  9. "Comedy > That Mitchell and Webb Site > Characters". BBC. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  10. "That Mitchell And Webb Look series two episodes". BBC Press Office. 2007-12-19. Retrieved 2007-12-27.
  11. "Mitchell and Webb bring critically-acclaimed radio sketch show to BBC TWO". BBC. 2006-11-24. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  12. "That Mitchell & Webb Look Goes HD". BBC Resources. 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  13. "Mitchell and Webb bring critically-acclaimed radio sketch show to BBC TWO". BBC. 2006-11-24. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  14. "The Nominees 2006". British Comedy Awards. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  15. "Victoria Wood scoops Bafta double". BBC News. 2007-05-20. Retrieved 2007-05-20.
  16. "The Comedy.co.uk Awards 2006". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  17. "That Mitchell & Webb Look: Series 1 (DVD)". BBC Shop. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  18. "That Mitchell and Webb Look: series two DVD review – Den of Geek". Denofgeek.net-genie.co.uk. 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  19. "That Mitchell and Webb Look: series three". Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  20. "That Mitchell and Webb Look: series four". Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  21. "That Mitchell and Webb Look on Netflix". Netflix. Retrieved 2014-01-03.
  22. "BBC Comedy Hit Heads to U.S.". NPR. Retrieved 2008-02-07.

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