Several Brits have written to inform me that the first episode of “Cunk on Britain”, Philomena’s series on her beloved land, plays tonight on BBC Two. There will be five episodes, with two scheduled. The first is this evening at 10 pm England time (don’t ask me what it’s formally called)—about an hour and a half from this posting; and the second episode is in a week:
Little do the people who wrote me know that I won’t be able to SEE this, which makes me unspeakably sad. (BBC shows are embargoed in the US.) It’s like telling me they’re giving out free glasses of 1982 Petrus at a bar in Mongolia.
Here’s one clip, which makes me want to watch it even more (click on screenshot):
It’s called British Summer Time (at this time of year, as opposed to Greenwich Mean Time the rest of the year). 🙂
If it was true to its name, British Summer Time would last a single day.
it’s measured from the Greenwich Marillion Line, which is named after the band, who took their name from it…
And there would be a prize for the first person on September 21 to guess which day it was.
With the effect of global warming, It is rather a whole week now.
Quoth Flanders, “I missed Summer last year. I was in the bath.”
They’re giving out free tastings of 1981 Petrus?! Where in Mongolia?
1982 Petrus–far better (or so I’m told!)
Maybe later they will bring this over, never know. I remember some years ago we got the British series – Law and Order, UK. I thought it was better than the U.S. version.
I have always wondered if the experts she interviews are in on the joke, or if they are initially misled into thinking it’s for a real documentary. Does anyone know?
She’s well enough known that they would have to be in on it. Or else reaaaaaaaaly naive!
Yes, that’s my thought as well. But there must be some experts who hasn’t heard about her, and I wonder if they tell them in advance that it’s a joke or if they let them discover it the hard way.
Yeah, that kinda put-on has a limited shelf life. Dat’s why Ali G was in da house for only one season in da UK and two in da US of A.
She has said that some interviews are unusable due to them laughing. She much prefers ones where they get a little angry at her characters stupidity. Check out the Adam Buxton podcast, episode 65 for a interview with Diane Morgan
Thanks, will do!
Now, yes, their agents would have to be remarkably incompetent to not know who Cunk is. Originally … I think there were some genuine “What the flatulence!?” looks served up.
I recently had a trial subscription to BritBox (www.britbox.com). As you might guess from the name, it is a video streaming service specializing in British shows.
I got it in order to see Maigret, George Simenon’s work brought to the screen, starring Rowan Atkinson of Blackadder and Mr. Bean fame. No, Maigret is NOT a comedy. Unfortunately, there’s only two episodes and I didn’t find anything else that I wanted to see so I promptly canceled thereby getting to see them both for free.
Back to Cunk, I did a search on BritBox and they have none! Perhaps we should badger them.
I looked there, too! How can they have no Cunk?
I’ve just tweeted to Diane Morgan and emailed to her agent. Perhaps others have already tried this. I will certainly comment here if I hear anything useful.
(1) Demand; or
(2) Embargo. I would expect Auntie Beeb to keep broadcast rights to the paying audience for at least the first repeat cycle (in a couple of weeks). Then paying or co-producing partners. Then filthy lucre time (probably including box-sets of discs). And by that time it’s probably no worth the effort to try to keep off YouTube.
I’ve not seen it myself – set on the PVR to record as a series, and I’ll bulk-watch it as is my wont.
Have you tried using a Virtual Private Network (VPN)? These make you appear to be accessing sites from a different location from where you actually are, so you could appear to be accessing a UK website from the UK when you are actually in the USA. I’m in the UK and use Tunnelbear, and have been able to access some US sites that normally block non-US users, though haven’t tried it to access the BBC from the US. Costs £23 per year in the UK.
Tunnelbear doesn’t work to stream BBC iplayer – I tried it when I was abroad earlier this year. It used to work, but they’ve tightened up.
“Today Britain stands at a fork in its crossroads.” From trail to promote ‘Cunk on Britain’ tonight at 10 pm BST.
OFF TOPIC but there is an active shooter at You Tube HQ. This is on CNN now.
Said to be a female shooter…
Still very little information. Some people going to the hospital is about all. Very large employer in San Bruno, roughly 1700 people work there.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the cable station BBC America actually showed some British programming? The last I saw of this station (I dumped cable a year ago), BBC America had Star Trek Next Generation on pretty much all the time. Not a British show! I guess having Patrick Stewart was enough to make it British. What a shame. When it first aired, BBC America was one of my favorites.
More likely to get them on PBS. Lots of British shows there.
Hulu actually has a pretty good selection, including “Line of Duty” a police procedural that is my new favorite show.
Line of Duty is very good indeed. The latest series was the best so far.
Look out for Save Me from Sky Atlantic starring and written by Line of Duty‘s Lennie James. It’s gut-wrenching but if there’s a better acted series this year I’ll be very surprised.
Favourite line so far to one of the historians:
“We know that King Arthur came a lot don’t we”.
Oh yeah, like the Indians at Custer’s last stand.
If that lady historian was in on it she’s a very good actor
– No it’s CAMELOT
– Oh. But do we know if he came a lot?
– Well he only had one child . . .
England time? Um, GMT?
BST
I feel so universally uncoordinated at this time.
I read absolutely everything in this post with ruthless skepticism.
Example:
“BBC TWO *EXCEPT NORTHERN IRELAND*”
Me : ummmmm…. I think this is supposed to be sardonically witty but I don’t know how….
Nope. It mean what it says. It’ll be shown on BBC2 (the BBC’s second TV channel) in every region except Northern Ireland.
Your comment- it has a subtle wit to it.
This isn’t as sinister as it might appear. The BBC has a long tradition of regional and local programming. BBC Scotland and BBC Wales often run different schedules to BBC England outside of prime time, so you’re as likely to see “BBC Two except Scotland”. The English regions also get their own local programming, notably in the early evening, when the half-hour of national news at 18:00 is followed by a half-hour local news at 18:30. Here in the Cambridge area, the local news is listed, slightly confusingly, as “Look East (West)”.
BBC Wales used to be last week’s BBC England, not sure if thats still true.
It was great when visiting family whilst growing up abroad, as if there was a good movie on I’d catch it twice.
Filmon.com lets you watch live broadcast TV from the UK, though I see they limit your viewing time now.
Still you can pay for that service, uses some loophole of the antenna being used to receive the broadcast being located in the UK.
grab it while it lasts.
Thanks!
The Great British Penis
https://youtu.be/k8XrSeLBbGg