Britcom Goes To The Movies

Happy St David’s Day! To mark the occasion here at Britcom Goes to the Movies, we are celebrating one of Wales’ most beloved comedy sons, Rob Brydon, and…actually, it is just a ham-fisted way of doing a round table episode on Cruise of the Gods!

This TV film was written by Tim Firth (remember him from our Blackball episode?) and contained not only some Britcom heavyweights of the time, but also ground zero for the careers of some of the most controversial Britcommers of the 21st century, including Russell Brand, David Walliams, and James Corden.

Despite all that, its stars Brydon and Steve Coogan, along with its premise of forgotten 80s kids sci-fi being celebrated by nerds on a cruise, made it a firm favourite for Rob and Guy, and they welcomed back returning guests Steve Dunne and Stuart Laws, neither of whom had seen the film before. So how would this have aged, and would our guests immediately be regretting their decision? Only one way to find out. Join us in Leicester, 1982…

Cruise of the Gods - Full Film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uPsHGPKnWk

Children of Castor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPOMIHJHPks

Sherlock Holmes in Miami

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj8A3OEicBg

Human Remains - Swingers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVAqWMGyqH0

Marion and Geoff - Student House

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5V60QG0mJ0

You’re a Star - New Faces theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMfzr2Bufkk
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Here at BritCom Goes to the Movies, we love each and every one of our listeners. That is why we’re giving you this Valentine’s present. Rob & Guy discuss their favourite British sketches of all time. To make sure there were no clashes, notes were compared before, duplicates removed, and of course, the arbitrary rule of no more than one sketch from one show per host. 

These two top-ten lists have a little something for everyone. A good mixture of styles, eras, tones, and formats. So settle in for nearly two hours of discussion of some of the greatest sketches in the history of British comedy!

Of course, there are some obvious omissions, and some of you may want to take to the socials to share your favourites or give us grief for ours. Both are encouraged! You can find links to every sketch discussed below, but of course, these are in no particular order to avoid spoilers.

Bit of a Chat - Peter Cook & Dudley Moore 

https://videopress.com/v/IBVjIA8I

⁠ Dirty Fork - Monty Python 

https://youtu.be/Z9VLwV48OHs?si=rYfeDwrAXXrrzwkc

Jackson Jeffrey Jackson - The Fast Show 

https://youtu.be/LwbJ-N8rrek?si=U0qdYsRvlkKwOF4r

Tory Conference - Not The Nine O’clock News 

https://youtu.be/qB0ZOu_EZ2M?si=lpBupRZ8w36a7Gsb

Billie Piper - Big Train 

https://youtu.be/4_3oU-Z4Vxo?si=Hva6PalUR40g82-h

Yoker - Limmy 

https://youtu.be/0YfRbNipdOg?si=ON_QecbOTrcnKXgs

Wedding Registry - Smack The Pony 

https://www.facebook.com/Channel4Homes/videos/1101703119964373/?vh=e&fs=e&mibextid=wwXIfr

Credit Card Application - Armstrong & Miller 

https://youtu.be/loaP46f8Lhw?si=7YILcGPHTANVCHxu

Vape Doms - Ellie & Natasia

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0c9983q/ellie-natasia-series-1-episode-4

Balham Gateway to the South - Peter Sellers

https://youtu.be/8RTWk9QIKS0?si=ABCE1fZbTsR3QgxG

French and Saunders - Silence of the Lambs. 

https://share.google/xvd7XeKyrdR2O0d2R

The Two Ninnies - not the 9 o clock news

https://youtu.be/IbC3Fdv5wKU?si=MPY4UulwEDyfBvZs

Adam and Joe - People Place 

https://youtu.be/s1myCos0xXI?si=Ge42ZkfXXHrTY-Xb

Goodness Gracious Me - Going for an English 

https://youtu.be/H-uEx_hEXAM?si=wG8IWxZzjWSL0KhG

Brass Eye - Oh Me Oh Myra 

https://youtu.be/wVibsNPXBx0?si=ySFCFVmy2LiMBtf_

Alistair Green - Punk Squirrel IPA 

https://youtu.be/-wP3BjTdogY?si=G_jh4OGM7Up8OMDe

The Peter serafinowicz show - Brian Butterfield diet plan

https://youtu.be/1NjTWvl8x-U?si=TSC31Jkk3JLvyFyK

Vic and Bob - BBC licence advert

https://youtu.be/xhPVP8cghN4?si=hasgqfSIRU8Gzy8V

Two Ronnies - Mastermind 

https://youtu.be/y0C59pI_ypQ?si=7krxJroa1tFKxi4X

Fast Show - Monkfish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_ohQ7yP0-I&list=PLu_1AWOleoaWWstu62EEnWzDGhOwo1GtD
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Merry Christmas to our beloved BritCom Goes to the Movies listeners!

Thanks for seeing in the festive period with us. This is our third Christmas episode, and while our previous two were a bit of a mixed bag, we’ve finally found a film we can all agree on: the 2009 classic, Nativity!

Writer and director Debbie Isitt was already the pride of the West Midlands theatre scene before turning to film. Her previous feature, Confetti, boasted the cream of British comic talent, even if some of the cast later tried to disavow the experience!

For her first festive foray, Isitt enlisted everyone’s favourite wise-cracking sitcom star, Martin Freeman, at a point in his career where he was firmly transitioning into a leading man. He’s joined by oddball comedian Marc Wootton as Mr. Poppy, Extras star Ashley Jensen and a whole host of familiar British faces, as well as an ocean of charming, non-theatre-school kids.

Joining Guy and Rob to discuss Nativity! (and Martin Freeman’s forgotten early-2000s sitcom Hardware) is writer and film critic Kat Hughes. Kat is the co-host of Movies with Mummy—the podcast where she and her daughter watch films together. But does Nativity! have what it takes to meet their high standards?

We also have the thrilling climax to our Quiz Season. With the scores currently deadlocked at 24-24, it’s all to play for!

So, join us for some "Ho-Ho-Hos" and a whole lot of sparkle and shine. Merry Christmas!

Bruiser - A Level Geography 

https://youtu.be/pHmcBFxgov4?si=pNC_rUWx7atIUPrU

Bruiser - Martin Freeman 

https://youtu.be/8w55vM3jwuA?si=Z3rgT1xTas8zMsxM

Robert Webb on Confetti

https://youtu.be/16xLrzEuLoM?si=uwIRD78sQFGSZ7YI

Hardware - Student 

https://youtu.be/EMDwINZmwp4?si=g68dvIPmkfsnx348

Hardware - S1e1

Dailymotion https://share.google/BACweRPsFHozyTy7o

Martin Freeman argues with Tim Lovejoy 

https://youtu.be/cqK-i6KSY88?si=Mmi2JUZ-5usxeNNW

Nativity! - Trailer 

https://youtu.be/6DaaTsSQktk?si=-tOiWjTSdavTjoaP

Nativity! - Sparkle and Shine 

https://youtu.be/dO6qmNNiAts?si=NUKNVKIv49MFZZir
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1991 was the year for beloved British comedy performers to try and make their names stateside.  We already heard about Rik Mayall’s experience with Drop Dead Fred, but the same year, Lenny Henry, riding high off the success of Live & Unleashed, was able to take advantage of a spot on a high-concept comedy caper vacated by Eddie Murphy (and others) called True Identity.



Were the Americans ready for Lenny? Well, as it turned out, no, they weren’t. But that wasn’t necessarily down to him, as we’ll find out in this episode. It was a troubled production with rather large amounts of meddling from Disney execs, throwing Henry and his director, the highly sought-after Charles Lane, under a bus. (One of those big American school buses, no doubt.)



For an American take on this British hope gone wrong, we invited the incomparable Tessa and Nicole from Doom Generation, themselves huge fans of British comedy, to join us and discuss not just this film, but Lenny Henry’s career leading up to it. New territory for the Doom Dames, who had never heard of our Lenny before.



there’s also the closest ending to a quiz series we’ve had, with the scores locked at 23-23, so join the four of us as we dive headlong into True Identity. 

Lenny Henry Show - Thriller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jfXzx1SHsY

Lenny Henry Show - Prince

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zmSn8tnJtA

Lenny Henry Show - Sitcom ep1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWcBsaWpQQY

EMF Unbelievable Andrew Dice Clay Samples

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QQCDE1Uy__c

Lenny Henry - Live & Unleashed Intro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3W17Z7ZTVM

True Identity - Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyHLV90D8pY

True Identity - Transformation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heP9g22t_m
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There are a few entries from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant on our long list at Britcom Goes to the Movies, but we start with perhaps their least remembered and least successful offering, the period coming-of-age comedy/drama Cemetery Junction.

In contrast, the pair’s second sitcom offering, Extras, is in the annals of the all-time great British comedy shows. A by-product of a newfound celebrity and the connections it brought with it in 2005. Guest stars galore and a version of what might have been if The Office didn’t have the freedom to be itself.

Cemetery Junction was Gervais and Merchant’s first foray into cinema after Extras and is still the only film they have co-written and directed. Based on an idea they’d had for a 70s set sitcom, Ricky and Steve turned “The Men At The Pru” into a feature-length offering, with only small roles for themselves and focussing on the journeys of three young men in 1970s Berkshire. They made it clear as possible that this would be a departure and for audiences to expect the hilarity of Extras and The Office.

The result, it failed to penetrate the UK Box Office Top 10, but was that because it wasn’t any good? Stay tuned to find out what Rob and Guy made of it and a lengthy discussion about Extras as well.

Ricky Gervais on the 11 o Clock Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl_gS0FsIsM

The Ricky Gervais Show - Monkey News - Russian Chat Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikvq0wZAFLM

Extras - Les Dennis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytDCab8ZoIM

Extras - Ronnie Corbett Bloopers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2FNaXLe_ro

Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant - Finding Leo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHdTve2PpeI

Gervais and Merchant on Mark Kermode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz3MTwufC5s&t=104s

Cemetery Junction - Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYDeHIszUqA

Cemetery Junction - Snork performs Cum on Feel the Noize

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTRyiNVl_G0
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