News

From Garth Marenghi to The Mighty Boosh, Paddington’s blockbuster success stands on a TV comedy golden age and the early work of Paul King.

“The very gates of Hell” might not be the first place you’d look to find Paddington’s origin story. But with Paul King as director and future ursine-alumni Alice Lowe and Richard Ayoade on the stage, the 2000 Edinburgh Fringe run of Garth Marenghi’s Fright Knight proved not to be a half-bad training ground for the man behind the most successful comedy franchise of the last decade.

Pitched as a gory and melodramatic spoof of Stephen King-style scares, the show centred around Matthew Holness’ fictional horror author, Marenghi, and his inspired telling of another writer’s fight to rescue his muse from the forces of darkness. Fright Knight was nominated for a Perrier award. The follow-up, 2001’s Netherhead, won one. TV beckoned, and soon King,...

Piglets series 2 has been confirmed by ITV, with the cast and crew returning for a new bunch of episodes. More here.

Green Wing is one of the most memorable comedies of the early 2000s. Following the trials and tribulations of the staff who populate East Hampton Hospital, the writing was frequently silly and surreal, and it featured star making turns from the likes of Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Michelle Gomez.

Underrated comedy Campus followed a similar scenario, this time in the fictional Kirke University, where Andy Nyman’s domineering don Jonty De Wolfe ruled with an iron fist. That series has also built up quite a fanbase, and earlier this year the same creative team made police sitcom Piglets. Which is what brought us to here.

While critical reception was less than stellar, the series achieved good viewing figures and according to the British Comedy Guide, cast member Ricky...

NBC’s newest sitcom, St. Denis Medical, is still about a week away from its two-episode premiere, but if you’ve been watching literally any programming on the network, you’ve already been barraged with commercials that may have put you in the mood for a comedy that revolves around sick people and the professionals who look after them. While you kill time in the waiting room, here’s a selection of the best medical sitcoms you can stream instead. Doing so in a paper gown is optional.

[subtitle]1Childrens Hospital and Medical Police (Tied) [/subtitle]

Grey’s Anatomy was one of TV’s buzziest dramas when ex-Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry created Childrens Hospital, a broad spoof of shows in which sexy young doctors work out their interpersonal issues while barely paying attention to their patients. Corddry stars as Dr. Blake Downs, who is clearly aiming for a Patch Adams-esque...

When ITV announced Piglets, a new sitcom about rookie police recruits, reactions ranged from intrigue to indignation. Its creators hinted at humor with heart, yet its title upset some. Premiering, would it back bite or charm?

Set at Norbourne Police College, six trainees prep under strict superintendents Spry and Weekes. Steph and ex-Mike face past tensions. Leggo coasts on family ties, while Afia, Geeta, and Dev aim to prove themselves. Then there’s Paul, sent by his criminal kin to infiltrate.

With origins in Green Wing and Smack the Pony’s inventive absurdity, potential existed for Piglets to pierce policing’s pomposity through laughs. However, controversy clouded early judgments. Its name, invoking pigs as a slur against officers, disturbed some, given the real-world pressures they face.

This review aims to assess piglets on their own merits. How do its characters, comedy, and commentary come together? Does it find farcical fun or flounder in failed frivolity?...

Piglets, a new sitcom from the writers of Green Wing, is heading to Itvx soon. Here’s the trailer to prove it:

Green Wing is one of the most memorable comedies of the early 2000s. Following the trials and tribulations of the staff who populate East Hampton Hospital, the writing was frequently silly and surreal, and it featured star making turns from the likes of Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Michelle Gomez.

Underrated comedy Campus followed a similar scenario, this time in the fictional Kirke University, where Andy Nyman’s domineering don Jonty De Wolfe ruled with an iron fist. That series has also built up quite a fanbase, and rightly so. Now? There’s more for that fanbase to look forward to as well.

That’s because the same creative team has now created Piglets, which will be on Itvx soon. The synopsis reads as follows:

The government’s...

Cult classic sitcom Green Wing has been resurrected as a podcast with the original cast and creative team.

Back in 2004, fresh from the success of sketch show Smack The Pony, writer Victoria Pile created Green Wing, a sitcom set in a hospital.

With an ensemble cast that included Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan – who would later reunite to star opposite Matt LeBlanc in Episodes – the comedy is helped enormously by committed clowning the cast, particularly Mark Heap and Michelle Gomez. The show ran for two series from 2004 to 2006 and, in a move more in common with American sitcoms, had a large pool of writers.

After the show ended, the same creative team made the terrific University comedy Campus in 2009, which despite only running for one series is well worth tracking down, especially for the tour de force performance from Andy Nyman as megalomaniacal monster and Vice Chancellor Jonty De Wolfe.

Green Wing: Resuscitated is a new six-part Audible Original revisiting the stories of its characters 12 years on. Across the episodes, the series features the original cast and goes back to East Hampton Hospital. Created once again by Victoria Pile, and scripted by original writers including Robert Harley, James Henry, Oriane Messina and Fay Rusling, there will be more surreal twists and turns in the lives and loves of East Hampton’s staff.

Exclusive: Audible is today releasing Green Wing: Resuscitated, a six-part series revisiting the hit Channel4 hospital sitcom.

Spanning six episodes, Green Wing: Resuscitated features the original cast. Created again by Victoria Pile, and scripted by original writers including Robert Harley, James Henry, Oriane Messina and Fay Rusling, the show will explore more surreal twists and turns in the lives and loves of East Hampton Hospital’s staff.

The series revisits characters including Guy Secretan, played by Stephen Mangan, who is now a media sensation, balancing his TV and podcast appearances with his role as an anaesthetist. Following his many near-death experiences, ‘Mac’ MacCartney played by Julian Rhind-Tutt, has now returned to work as a surgeon, while Caroline Todd played by Tamsin Greig is making waves overseas as a medical pioneer. Joanna Clore, played by Pippa Haywood, is now imprisoned following her killing spree.

Olivia Colman, Mark Heap, Oliver Chris, Michelle Gomez...

Piglets, a new series from the writers of Green Wing, is heading to Itvx next year, and the first details of the new comedy have just landed.

Green Wing is one of the most memorable comedies of the early 2000s. Following the trials and tribulations of the staff who populate East Hampton Hospital, the writing was frequently silly and surreal, and it featured star making turns from the likes of Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Michelle Gomez.

Underrated comedy Campus followed a similar scenario, this time in the fictional Kirke University, where Andy Nyman’s domineering don Jonty De Wolfe ruled with an iron fist. That series has also built up quite a fanbase, and rightly so. Now? There’s more for that fanbase to look forward to as well.

That’s because the same creative team have now created Piglets, which heads to Itvx next year. The first details...

It takes many people to fill Richard Osman’s shoes, and not just because he wears a size 14. Back in April 2021, the TV presenter, producer and novelist announced that he was leaving his co-presenter role on Pointless to focus on his hugely successful Thursday Murder Club book series and other projects. Due to the ‘stars we see in the night sky are actually hundreds of years in the past’ nature of TV broadcast, by that point, Osman was already four months out of the job. His final episode of the regular Pointless (he’ll still appear on the celebrity editions) was filmed in December 2021 and aired in July 2022, with this touching message to Alexander Armstrong.

When Pointless returned for Series 28 in September 2022, it came with a rotating clutch of new guest-hosts sitting behind Osman’s fact-checking desk. First up was Sally Lindsay, and following her were Stephen Mangan, Lauren Laverne,...

Ask a young Emma Sidi which comedian had the “perfect career” she one day hoped to emulate, and she’d name a little-known sitcom actor best known for comedies like Green Wing and Peep Show. “I remember saying Olivia Colman,” she tells me with a laugh. “I was saying that in a particularly realistic and humble way, and them being like, ‘Olivia Colman? Who’s Olivia Colman?’ ‘She’s this comedy actress and she just does TV but I just think she’s fantastic.’ And they’re like, ‘I’ll look her up.’” A Hollywood career and an Oscar under her belt, Colman is viewed a little differently these days. “Now if you were to say Olivia Colman, people would be like, ‘Get over yourself,’” says Sidi.

She’s joking, but you can see the ways in which her own career has emulated Colman’s. She has become a staple...

In season one, Viscount Bridgerton was less hero than impediment. The eldest Bridgerton son, he assumed responsibility for the matches of his younger siblings Daphne and Colin, and spent the season throwing his weight around – sometimes literally in the case of the punch-up and dual with Daphne’s suitor Simon. Anthony attempted to control everybody else’s marriage responsibilities while refusing to face up to his own. His mistress Siena Rosso eventually made the decision for him, recognising that an opera singer with her past would never be found respectable enough to become a society Viscountess. Siena moved on, and urged Anthony to do the same.

In season two, Anthony’s search for a wife is centre-stage, making actor Jonathan the romantic lead. It’s not the first time the actor has told a love story in his established stage and screen career, which started in his childhood with the Royal Shakespeare Company,...

Doom Patrol has found its Madame Rouge in The Flight Attendant‘s Michelle Gomez.

Gomez, who also appeared as Madam Satan in Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, will join as a series regular and act alongside Diane Guerrero, April Bowlby and Matt Bomer in Doom Patrol season 3. She will appear as the DC Universe’s complicated and electrifying eccentric, who arrives at Doom Manor with a very specific mission… if only she could remember it.

In Doom Patrol, the ragtag group consists of superhero outcasts Cliff Steele aka Robotman (Brendan Fraser), Larry Trainor aka Negative Man (Bomer), Jane aka Crazy Jane (Guerrero), Rita Farr aka Elasti-Woman (Bowlby), and Victor Stone aka Cyborg (Joivan Wade). All of them have experienced trauma that gave them their special abilities, but with the guidance of The Chief (Timothy Dalton), they come together to help investigate phenomena as unique as them. When The Chief disappears,...

“The Flight Attendant” star Michelle Gomez is staying in business with HBO Max with a role in “Doom Patrol” Season 3.

Gomez will star as Madame Rouge, described as a complicated and electrifying eccentric who arrives at Doom Manor with a very specific mission, if only she could remember it.

Gomez starred as the deadly Miranda Croft in Season 1 of “The Flight Attendant,” with the show having received multiple SAG and Golden Globe nominations. Gomez also recently appeared in the Netflix series “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” in the role of Madam Satan. Her other notable TV roles include “Doctor Who,” “The Brink,” “Gotham,” “Green Wing,” and “Carrie and Barry.”

She is repped by Industry Entertainment, Peikoff Mahan and Viewpoint.

“Doom Patrol” was renewed for a third season at HBO Max in September. The live-action series first premiered in February 2019. It was originally developed for and streamed on DC’s online platform,...

The reintroduction of the Master, this time as a woman, during Peter Capaldi’s rookie season of Doctor Who, is perhaps what essentially fuelled Jodie Whittaker’s debut as the first female Doctor. And now, the actress who portrayed Missy has expressed an interest in reprising her role.

The quirky unpredictable villainess was a far cry from previous incarnations of the Master in terms of characterization, but Michelle Gomez’s spectacular acting chops and her unique dynamic with the 12th Doctor made her one of Steven Moffat’s most interesting additions to the lore of the sci-fi universe. But alas, things didn’t end well for Missy the last time she butted heads with the Doctor.

As you may remember, during the season 10 finale, the big bad finally decided to stand with her old friend. John Simm’s incarnation, meanwhile, had other intentions and wouldn’t allow that to happen.

The Capture is fundamentally a show about screens. Screens are the first things viewers see as the series heads behind the scenes at a CCTV control center where workers remotely take in something horrific happening on the streets of London.

Those same CCTV cameras and the screens they broadcast to are ever-present throughout the show’s six episodes, which tell the story of U.K. Special Forces Lance Corporal Shaun Emery (Callum Turner) who was failed by video surveillance technology once before and may be on the verge of being failed by it once again. The Capture wrapped up its compelling run in October of last year on BBC One. Now it’s set to thrill American audiences when it is included with new NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock at launch.

Given The Capture’s preoccupation with screens, four of the show’s stars spoke with Den of Geek about their own respective relationships with television.

Tamsin Greig stars in the new Epix limited series “Belgravia” from Emmy winner Julian Fellowes (“Downton Abbey”). He adapted his 2016 best-selling novel about the rise of the Trenchard family in London society in the 1840s and the secret that could be their undoing. As Greig explains in our interview (watch the exclusive video above), she is at the center of the action as Anne Trenchard, a mother still mourning her daughter who died giving birth a quarter-century earlier.

Greig is best known to American audiences for the showbiz satire “Episodes,” in which she played a beleaguered British writer at sea in Hollywood. In her native England, she is regarded as a triple threat, equally adept at drama, comedy and the classics. She won an Olivier (the British equivalent of the Tony) in 2007 for her performance in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of “Much Ado About Nothing.” And she has...

Altitude Films has debuted a new trailer for Simon Bird’s directorial debut ‘Days of the Bagnold Summer’ featuring Rob Brydon and Alice Lowe.

The film is an adaptation of Joff Winterhart’s graphic novel of the same name and follows a heavy-metal-loving teenager as his holiday plans fall through at the last minute, meaning he must spend the whole summer with the person who annoys him most in the world: his mum.

Related: Days of the Bagnold Summer – Lff 2019 Review

‘The Inbetweeners’ Simon Bird makes his directorial debut. BAFTA-winning actress Monica Dolan (Eye in the Sky, W1A), Earl Cave (True History of the Kelly Gang, The End of the F***ing World), Rob Brydon (The Trip, A Cock and Bull Story), Alice Lowe (Prevenge, Sightseers), Tamsin Greig (The Second Best Marigold Hotel, Green Wing), Tim Key (Greed, This Time with Alan Partridge) and Elliot Speller-Gillot (Uncle) all star in the film.

In “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels,” John Logan’s followup series to his previous three-season “Penny Dreadful” drama at Showtime, Natalie Dormer stars as Magda, a shape-shifting demon intent on sowing chaos wherever she goes. The backdrop is 1938 Los Angeles, an era rife with racial tension — the perfect opportunity for a hell goddess to start a race war.

“I think the mythology behind it was, to me, as she says in the first episode, ‘All mankind needs to be the monster he truly is, is being told that he can,” Dormer tells Variety. “She basically believes that mankind is inherently bad — that they will choose the baser, more selfish, more egocentric route whenever given a fork in the road.”

Magda manifests as three different human characters in the series, each with distinct looks and accents: There’s Elsa, a blonde blue-eyed immigrant from Germany with an abusive husband; Rio, a...

Producer Gareth Neame and writer Julian Fellowes struck Emmy gold with their last collaboration, “Downton Abbey.” That historical drama ran for six seasons and spawned a hit movie in 2019. The pair have reunited for “Belgravia,” a limited series based on Fellowes’ serialized novel of the same name that is airing on Epix.

Neame, who is the managing director of the production company Carnival Films, was delighted to get the chance to work again with Fellowes. But unlike “Downton Abbey,” where he had the idea and approached the Oscar-winning screenwriter (“Gosford Park), it was Fellowes who came up with this story. “Julian said I won’t show it to anyone else until you’ve read the book. It is a fun, accessible read with brilliantly drawn characters. It is dramatically different from ‘Downton’ but it has the comedy of manners and social observation that Julian does so brilliantly.”

While “Downton Abbey...

Fresh from the success of the “Downton Abbey” film, Oscar and Emmy winner Julian Fellowes returns with “Belgravia,” a new limited series on Epix that he’s adapted from his 2016 best-selling novel. Set in the well-heeled London neighborhood in the 1840s, the story chronicles the lives of the aristocratic Bellasise family and the upwardly mobile Trenchards.

Epix is rolling out this six-parter weekly with a new episode debuting every Sunday night. But Emmy voters don’t have to wait to see how the story unfolds – they can visit the Epix Fyc site to watch all six episodes now. “Belgravia” was directed by two-time BAFTA nominee John Alexander. With just one helmer for all the episodes, “Belgravia” has the feel of a film. That feeling is underscored by composer John Lunn, who won two Emmys for his work on “Downton Abbey.”

Period pieces like “Belgravia,” with their lavish attention to detail,...

Exclusive: UK actor, comedian and writer Stephen Mangan is set to make his feature film screenwriting debut with the adaptation of Alan Temperley’s popular children’s novel Harry And The Wrinklies.

First published in 1997, the book follows a young boy who, after the sudden death of his parents, is sent off to live with an eclectic band of oldies at his aunt’s house. Once there, he realizes there is more to the OAPs than meets the eye, discovering they are a gang of convicted criminals-turned-Robin Hoods who use their heist skills to battle social injustice.

More from Deadline'The Split': Abi Morgan's BBC & Sundance Drama Getting Korean Remake'The Iron Lady' Writer Abi Morgan Reveals Cancer Battle: "It's Been A Really Challenging 18 Months"All3Media International Inks First-Look Deal With Stephen Mangan & Louise Delamere's Slam Films

Mangan is best known for his performances in BAFTA-winning sitcom Green Wing and U.

Fresh from the success of the “Downton Abbey” film, Oscar and Emmy winner Julian Fellowes returns with “Belgravia,” a new limited series on Epix that he’s adapted from his 2016 best-selling novel. Watch the teaser trailer above for a taste of the fun to come in 2020.

Set in the well-heeled London neighborhood in the 1840s, the story chronicles the lives of the aristocratic Bellasise family and the upwardly mobile Trenchards. The plot pivots on one eventful night a quarter-century prior when, on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, British society gathered in Brussels for the Duchess of Richmond’s ball (Thackeray set the climax of his classic novel “Vanity Fair” there as well.)

For Sophia Trenchard (Emily Reid), daughter of the chief supplier to the British Army, this one night changes her destiny. Her fate becomes intertwined with that of the Bellasise brood, much as Matthew’s did with the Crawley clan in “Downton.

A major ensemble of stars from British TV and film has come together for upcoming dark comedy Paul Dood's Deadly Lunch Break. 

Tom Meeten (The Ghoul), Katherine Parkinson (The It Crowd), Kris Marshall (Love Actually), Kevin Bishop (Star Stories), Johnny Vegas (Benidorm), Alice Lowe (Sightseers), Mandeep Dhillon (After Life), Craig Parkinson (Black Mirror), Steve Oram (The End of the F***ing World) and Pippa Haywood (Green Wing) are set to star in the film from Nick Gillespie. 

Ben Wheatley's 2nd unit director and Shane Meadow's director of photography, Gillespie once again teams with producer Finn Bruce ...

A major ensemble of stars from British TV and film has come together for upcoming dark comedy Paul Dood's Deadly Lunch Break. 

Tom Meeten (The Ghoul), Katherine Parkinson (The It Crowd), Kris Marshall (Love Actually), Kevin Bishop (Star Stories), Johnny Vegas (Benidorm), Alice Lowe (Sightseers), Mandeep Dhillon (After Life), Craig Parkinson (Black Mirror), Steve Oram (The End of the F***ing World) and Pippa Haywood (Green Wing) are set to star in the film from Nick Gillespie. 

Ben Wheatley's 2nd unit director and Shane Meadow's director of photography, Gillespie once again teams with producer Finn Bruce ...

The Screen Awards take place on November 28 at The Ballroom Southbank in London.

Actress, presenter and comedian Sally Phillips will host the 2019 Screen Awards, which take place on November 28 at The Ballroom Southbank in London.

For more information on the awards, including how to book a table, visit the Screen Awards website.

As an actress, Phillips has featured in films including Bridget Jones’s Diary and its two sequels, Pride And Prejudice And Zombies and Blinded By The Light.

Phillips was also one of the original writers and performers on Channel 4’s acclaimed comedy-sketch series Smack The Pony, and...

Greenlit means a project is officially a go, so all you have to do is follow these leads to stay up to date. You never know where you’ll find an opportunity to land an audition! “Horrible Histories”Long-running and much-loved children’s TV series “Horrible Histories” is moving to the big screen, with a first feature shooting this year. Veteran TV comedy director Dominic Brigstocke is directing as he did for the series and writer Jessica Swale is confirmed to be scripting. “Love & Friendship” casting director Colin Jones is attached to the project, which begins filming soon. “The Mallorca Files”New daytime TV crime drama “The Mallorca Files” (Working Title) follows British and German detectives in Mallorca and the conflict caused by their starkly different approaches to policing on the island. For BBC One, it’s scripted by Dan Sefton and casting is by Vicki Thompson Casting. Episodes...

Allegiance, The Nutcracker and Doctor Who: Twice Upon A Time top our December Events listAllegiance, The Nutcracker and Doctor Who: Twice Upon A Time top our December Events listScott Goodyer11/30/2017 10:14:00 Am

The holidays are just around the corner and we've got some fantastic holiday event screenings on our big screens to get you in that festive mood! Check out our list below and stay warm out there!

Dec 3rd: Eagles at Seahawks - NFL Sunday Nights

For four regular season and three playoff games leading up to Super Bowl Lii, NFL screenings will be hosted at Cineplex’s luxurious, adults-only VIP Cinemas, where football fans can cheer on their favourite team from ultra-wide, luxury recliners. Fans will also enjoy in-seat food and beverage service throughout the game from an expanded menu, which includes a wide selection of beer, wine and spirits as well as classic game-day favourites likes burgers,...

Just call him LeBond...Matt LeBond.

Matt LeBlanc is channeling his inner James Bond in the newly released trailer for season 23 of Top Gear and Et has your first look!

In the minute-long teaser, the Friends alum drives onto a gloomy racetrack in the quintessential James Bond car -- Aston Martin -- Aston Martin DB11 to be exact, then stops and explains how the luxury vehicle isn't meant to live on the rubber burning course.

"Narnia had its wardrobe, Bill and Ted had their phone booth, and Star Gate had its…its Star Gate," says the 49-year-old car enthusiast. "Well Top Gear now has its left at hammerhead, that's right, left turn at hammerhead."

Watch: Matt LeBlanc's 'Top Gear' Debut Features One Dusty Ride Through Morocco

Just before peeling off into a time warp, the immortalized race car and a dapper LeBlanc are back on the road accelerating through a tunnel on a scenic...

Louisa Mellor Sep 28, 2017

To mark National Poetry Day in the UK, we celebrate a dozen of TV’s best worst fictional poets…

The best words in their best order. That’s how Samuel Taylor Coleridge summed up the task of a poet.

See related Star Trek: Discovery episode 2 review - Battle At The Binary Star Star Trek: Discovery episode 1 review - The Vulcan Hello Star Trek Discovery: take our special quiz here!

Not everyone, however, can be Coleridge, nor can they follow his advice, as this slim volume of fictional TV poets proves…

12. Charlie and Dee – It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Makeup... smearin'/No power steerin'/He be talkin'/but we don't be hearin'/Speaks like Zeus/Smells like poops/Rage all over from his head down to his shoes.

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s alliances between Dee and Charlie are always excellent value. She’s ridiculous,...

facebook

twitter

google+

We're Doomed: The Dad's Army Story is touching, humorous and ultimately heartwarming piece of television...

New Dad’s Army casts are like buses: you wait ages for one to come along, and then when two turn up at once they don’t like it up ‘em. While it’s never been far from the public consciousness, the sitcom about the Home Guard of Walmington-on-Sea seems to have experienced a surge in popularity over the last few years, with repeats on BBC Two having become a Saturday night staple - only a few weeks ago, it was the programme with the highest Appreciation Index for the whole of a Saturday which included Strictly, The X Factor, I’m A Celeb and the Doctor Who finale. And with the new Dad’s Army film starring Toby Jones and Bill Nighy set for release in February, it’s the perfect...

facebook

twitter

google+

Doctor Who's Missy, Michelle Gomez, will debut as ‘The Lady’ in tonight’s episode of Gotham season 2…

Here’s an interesting one – Michelle Gomez has landed a guest role in Gotham season 2, and she’ll make her debut pretty soon. Her character is called ‘The Lady,’ and she’ll arrive on American screens tonight (Monday the 16th of November), in an episode entitled A Bitter Pill To Swallow.

The Doctor Who, Green Wing and Bad Education star tweeted this image, with the caption “The Lady is waiting. Coming up on Fox Mon 16th Nov. #gotham”…

Place your bets now, then – which ‘lady’ from Batman lore could Michelle Gomez be playing (Phantom Lady, Lady Shiva, Lady Lunar?!), or do we think that this will be an entirely new character invented for the show? Guesses on the back of a postcard/in the comments section, please.

More Gotham season 2 news as it happens.

“If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you, and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives…could you then kill that child?”

It’s a classic philosophical question, one that the average person would never truly have to face. Of course, The Doctor is not the average person, and as such, has to face it nearly constantly. But never so personally, and so literally as when a young boy calls for help…and The Doctor walks away.

The Magician’S Apprentice / The Witch’S Familiar

Written by Steven Moffat

Directed by Hettie MacDonald

The Doctor lands on a planet torn asunder by war, a war going on so long that it’s using progressively declining technology – space fighters are being shot at with bows and arrows. When a young boy is trapped in a mine field,...

We interview Michelle Gomez about slapstick, stand-up, Steven Moffat, playing Doctor Who's Missy, and her new web series...

Michelle Gomez, seen last year as Doctor Who’s havoc-causing, murderous Missy, has a memorable history of bananas TV roles behind her. There’s been Green Wing’s Sue White, Bad Education’s Pickwell, and more recently Psychobitches’ meth-head Mary Queen Of Scots and projectile-vomiting Margaret Thatcher.

If you were to make a Venn diagram depicting the crossover between deeply funny and fundamentally unhinged TV characters, you'd likely end up with just a .gif of Gomez, gnashing her teeth and riding a camel.

In new web series Heather’s American Medicine, she takes on another comic persona, that of a straight-talking online agony aunt doling out highly questionable advice to America’s troubled citizens.

We caught up with Gomez, whose take on The Master is confirmed to be returning to Doctor Who this year,...

Sigthseers' Steve Oram will unleash his Ape-ified Romeo & Juliet epic upon us sometime in 2015, and today we've got this splendid poster to ogle over.Shot last spring, Aaaaaaaah! sees The Mighty Boosh's Julian Barratt and Green Wing's Julian Rhind-Tutt playing rival clan leaders, with Oram's regular comedic partner Tom Meeten and Australian actress Lucy Honigman also starring. When Todd reported on the film over a year ago it was stated that it would be performed with no discernible human dialog, with the actors going full ape. Now that the film is nearing screens, this one has certainly spiked on the ol' anticipation-meter.  ...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Tamsin Greig has joked that Green Wing would make a good musical.

The actress currently plays Pepa Marcos in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which debuted at London's Playhouse Theatre last night (January 12).

"I think comedy is the perfect vehicle for that which is slightly beyond life," she explained to Digital Spy and other press.

"I think going from doing TV and straight plays to Shakespeare is weird enough because you have this heightened language and you are telling a story through metric poetry. But I think music is that place beyond poetry.

"And I think comedy's a little like that. It's that place slightly beyond poetry where everything is heightened. So yeah, I mean, Green Wing the musical... who wouldn't do that?"

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is based on the 1988 film of the same name by writer and director Pedro Almodóvar, who attended the first show.

Paterson Joseph chats to us about Good Omens, Peep Show, being cut from Paddington, and why he'd "never say never" to playing the Doctor...

Where do you begin with Paterson Joseph? Be it on stage or the small screen, he’s popped up everywhere from Shakespeare to Survivors, from Casualty to Green Wing. To some, he’s the suave, sharply dressed and, latterly, lapsed alcoholic Alan Johnson in Peep Show. But to others, this writer included, he’ll always be the mysterious, flamboyant swashbuckler, the Marquis de Carabas, from Neil Gaiman’s rich sub-London fantasy Neverwhere.

Now, he’s appearing on BBC Radio 4 in a festive double bill of prestige productions. First, he’s giving voice to fast-food mogul and horseman of the apocalypse Famine in Good Omens, adapted from the novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Then, on New Year’s Day, he’s Pierre, the passionate protagonist...

Paddy McGuinness has joined the cast of The Delivery Man.

The Take Me Out host will play Ian in the ITV sitcom, the best friend of ex-police officer Matthew (Darren Boyd).

The Delivery Man follows Matthew, who quits his job as a policeman and becomes a midwife on a maternity ward.

The six-episode series also stars Aisling Bea, Fay Ripley, Alex MacQueen and Llewella Gideon.

The Delivery Man was picked up for a full series after a pilot aired earlier this year.

Written by Green Wing's Robert Harley and James Henry, the series will air on ITV in 2015.

It will be joining returning comedies Benidorm, Birds of a Feather and Vicious.

The first ever dramatisation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's 1990 novel, Good Omens, is coming to BBC Radio 4...

Here's some news to put a spring in any fantasy fan's step: following the success of 2013's splendid Neverwhere dramatisation, BBC Radio 4 is working its magic on another UK modern classic, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's 1990 novel Good Omens.

Due to air in six parts over a single week in December 2014, Good Omens comes from the creative team behind Neverwhere, with The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy's Dirk Maggs adapting and directing, assisted by producer Heather Larmour and of course, Neil Gaiman.

It's the first time the co-authored novel, which tells a raucous story of ancient prophecies, impending armageddon, and sushi, has been adapted for radio, with progress on a much-anticipated film version with Terry Gilliam appearing to have stalled for the foreseeable. The story of Good Omen's collaborative...

Ricky Gervais has confirmed that The Office's David Brent will be heading to the big screen with his own movie, Life on the Road.

So as we anticipate what Brent has been up to since the end of the BBC hit comedy, here's what the cast have done since:

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais played the lead role as David Brent - the embarrassing, toe-curling and cringeworthy boss of company Wernham Hogg, devoid of self-awareness but poised with an unwavering love for the paper merchants he manages.

Gervais went on to create comedy Extras with Stephen Merchant, which was co-produced by the BBC and HBO and aired between 2005 and 2007. Gervais played ambitious actor Andy Millman, afflicted with a useless agent played by Merchant. Guest stars have included Patrick Stewart, Samuel L Jackson, Ben Stiller and Kate Winslet.

In 2009, Gervais starred in, wrote and directed his feature comedy debut The Invention of Lying.

ITV has ordered a full series of sitcom The Delivery Man after a successful pilot.

Darren Boyd and Aisling Bea will star in the comedy about a policeman who decides to become a midwife.

The new six-episode series follows a pilot episode filmed earlier this year, which also starred Fay Ripley, Alex Macqueen and Dominic Coleman.

Written by Green Wing's Robert Harley and James Henry, the series is expected to air on ITV in mid-2015.

It will be produced and directed by Green Wing creator Victoria Pile.

Further casting details are expected to be announced in the coming months, ahead of its recording in October.

Boyd is best known for his roles in Sky1's Spy and for playing John Cleese in the drama Holy Flying Circus. He appeared in an episode of HBO's Veep earlier this year.

One thing we now know about the new season of the long-running sci-fi program Doctor Who: It’s going to feature the sound of clanking.

The BBC has posted a behind-the-scenes photo on the official Doctor Who Twitter feed of the show’s new star Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It) in the company of some Cybermen, the second-most-dreaded of the Time Lord’s metallic foes after the Daleks. The shot, reproduced above, also features actress Michelle Gomez (Green Wing) who, it was announced yesterday, is playing a character known as the Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere.

The photo was...

Michelle Gomez is to appear in Doctor Who's upcoming eighth series.

The actress, who has previously starred in Green Wing and Bad Education, will play the Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere.

Gomez said: "Well of course Peter Capaldi is our next Doctor, which makes complete sense. I'm thrilled to join him."

Showrunner Steven Moffat added: "I've known Michelle for years, and I'm thrilled to welcome her to Doctor Who.

"She's everything we need - brilliant, Scottish, and a tiny bit satanic."

Gomez joins a host of other guest stars who have been confirmed to appear in the upcoming series, including Ben Miller, Frank Skinner, Hermione Norris and Foxes.

Doctor Who returns with feature-length opener 'Deep Breath' on Saturday, August 23 in the UK and Us.

Doctor Who Steven Moffat: 'New series is biggest change since 2005'

Watch a teaser for Doctor Who series eight below:...

The latest series 8 casting news has Green Wing's Michelle Gomez playing "The Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere"...

News

"Brilliant, Scottish and a tiny bit satanic." That's how Steven Moffat describes the latest guest star announced for Doctor Who series eight: Michelle Gomez. 

Seen of late in BBC Three's Bad Education, Gomez is known and loved for her role as the unpredictable, devilish Sue White in Channel Four's Green Wing, and came to popular attention in Annie Griffin's The Book Group. She's also an accomplished stage actress, recently winning plaudits in the RSC's 2012 production of The Taming Of The Shrew.

Doctor Who fans though, will soon know Gomez as The Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere, pictured below in period dress. Filming continues on series eight.

Doctor Who returns to UK television on Saturday the 23rd of August.

BBC

Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here.

Stephen Mangan has revealed that Alan Partridge fans still regularly yell out "Dan!" to him - despite the sitcom moment being more than ten years old.

Mangan - who has since appeared in Green Wing and Episodes, and voiced the title character in Postman Pat: The Movie - played Dan Moody, a kitchen salesman who tried to lure Partridge into a menage a trois in I'm Alan Partridge.

"I get 'Dan' shouted at me almost every day," Mangan told Digital Spy, adding that festivals are "a dangerous area for me".

"If it gets around the crowd that I'm there, I've had 6,000 people shouting 'Dan' at me. Maybe it will morph into 'Pat'?" he said in reference to his role as Greendale's premiere postman.

Postman Pat: The Movie will open in cinemas on May 23.

Stephen Mangan has revealed that Alan Partridge fans still regularly yell out "Dan!" to him - despite the sitcom moment being more than ten years old.

Mangan - who has since appeared in Green Wing and Episodes, and voiced the title character in Postman Pat: The Movie - played Dan Moody, a kitchen salesman who tried to lure Partridge into a menage a trois in I'm Alan Partridge.

"I get 'Dan' shouted at me almost every day," Mangan told Digital Spy, adding that festivals are "a dangerous area for me".

"If it gets around the crowd that I'm there, I've had 6,000 people shouting 'Dan' at me. Maybe it will morph into 'Pat'?" he said in reference to his role as Greendale's premiere postman.

Postman Pat: The Movie will open in cinemas on May 23.

Have I Got News For You was once again Friday's (April 11) highest-rated show outside of soaps.

Hosted by Green Wing and Episodes actor Stephen Mangan, the comedy panel show was seen by an average of 4.71 million people (22.1%).

The One Show opened the evening with 3.26 million viewers (19%) at 7pm, and was followed by 2.85 million (15.1%) for A Question of Sport at 7.30pm.

Ratings jumped to 3.95m (17.6%) for the latest episode of Masterchef at 8.30pm, while Outnumbered attracted 3.05 million (14.7%) at 9.30pm.

BBC One capped off the evening with 2.80 million (21.4%) for The Graham Norton Show at 10.35pm. Norton was joined by Spider-Man stars Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and Andrew Garfield, as well as musical guest Paolo Nutini.

Over on ITV, The Cube: Celebrity Special saw Joey Essex and Coronation Street's Kym Marsh attempt to win £250k for charity. The episode entertained 2.91 million (14.1%) at 9pm.

Elsewhere, Weekend Escapes with Warwick Davis was seen by 2.61 million (12.6%) at 8pm.

Steve Oram to star in directorial debut alongside Julian Barratt, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Hannah Hoekstra and Tom Meeten.

Sightseers star and co-writer Steve Oram is to make his directorial debut on comedy Aaaaaaaah!, a film full of “sex and indiscriminate violence” in which actors will play monkeys and talk mostly “gibberish”.

Oram has assembled a comedy cast including The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barratt, Green Wing’s Julian Rhind-Tutt (most recently seen in Rush), regular collaborator Tom Meeten, and Hannah Hoekstra, star of App and sexually explicit Dutch arthouse film Hemel.

Speaking to ScreenDaily, Oram said: “The script is in ‘human dialogue’ but the actors will throw the script away once they’ve learnt it.

“We’ll mainly use noises. It will be a combination of gibberish and monkey talk and it will be about expressing things physically. We’ve already done a bit - it has been really funny and gone very well.”

The self-financed...

Here's a little something odd for fans of British comedy:Word is out that Sightseers star Steve Oram will be making his directorial debut with Aaaaaaaah! - eight 'a's and proper punctuation a vital part of the title, thanks - a film that he describes as Romeo And Juliet meets The Planet Of The Apes. What on earth does that mean? It means no dialogue - not in any recognizable language, anyway - but with all of the actors grunting and otherwise behaving like monkeys.And, yeah, that sounds crazy on paper and it sounds crazy brilliant once you learn who else is involved. The Mighty Boosh's Julian Barrett and Green Wing's Julian Rhind-Tutt will play the rival clan leaders with Hannah Hoekstra (Hemel) and Oram's regular...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Seann Walsh is to front a new BBC One comedy pilot.

The stand-up comic will star in Monks - co-created by Mongrels actor and writer Dan Tetsell, Broadcast reports.

In the studio sitcom, Walsh will play a former benefits cheat who decides to reform and become a monk.

James Fleet (The Vicar of Dibley) and Mark Heap (Green Wing, Friday Night Dinner) will also star in the pilot, co-written by Danny Robins.

Edinburgh Comedy Awards nominee Walsh previously starred in Comedy Central sitcom Big Bad World and an episode of Sky1's Little Crackers.

Monks will be shot at Elstree Studios later this month.

Seann Walsh on Seann Walsh World: 'Three girls, one jug? Bigger, badder'

Watch a clip of Seann Walsh on BBC One's Live at the Apollo below:...