Back review: farewell to Mitchell and Webb’s squirmingly good...
Simon Blackwell’s comedy about a suspected cuckoo in the nest was surprisingly touching without veering into sentimentality. Bring on series twoChannel 4 likes its comedies to emerge all tangled up in...
View ArticleWould I Lie to You review: it's hilarious – honestly
The panel show remains razor-sharp in its 11th series, with host Rob Brydon and team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell a perfect combination. Plus, Storyville: My Mother’s Lost ChildrenAnd here he...
View Article‘Shakespeare was an overworked commuter’: David Mitchell and Ben Elton quiz...
A new series of Upstart Crow, starring David Mitchell as Shakespeare and written by Ben Elton, begins this week. They talk life, love and drinking too muchBE QI host: Stephen or Sandi? (Come on,...
View ArticlePeppa Pig: how the ham-fisted cartoon butchered its charm
While not without its controversies, the porcine kids’ show matured into a true worldwide phenomenon. Then, like Skynet, it became too self-awareKids are morons. You can’t talk to them about Brexit, or...
View ArticleGreed review – Steve Coogan gleams in knockabout satire of the mega-rich
Michael Winterbottom’s entertaining mockumentary about a high-street fashion tycoon presents a hideous carnival of obscene wealth, vanity and moral squalor That exhilaratingly prolific film-maker...
View ArticleDavid Mitchell and Ben Elton's Upstart Crow sitcom to become stage show
Comedian will make his West End stage debut as Shakespeare in comedy adaptation promising troubles, twins and a dancing bearBen Elton’s sitcom Upstart Crow, which imagines the beleaguered personal and...
View ArticleBrydon, Mack & Mitchell review – backchat and banter from TV trio
Cliffs Pavilion, SouthendRob Brydon, Lee Mack and David Mitchell take the off-the-cuff gags of Would I Lie to You? on the road for a nonessential but entertaining night of comedyThe panel show offers a...
View ArticleThe muzzling of Michael Winterbottom: how Sony censored Greed
His fashion tycoon send-up, starring Steve Coogan with alarming teeth, was meant to end with shocking figures about workers’ pay. But the studio said no. The director relives a six-month spatEvery year...
View Article‘Smartphones are worse than nuclear weapons’: an extract from David...
In this extract from the introduction to the comedian and writer’s new collection of his Observer columns, he takes on the scourge of modern life• David Mitchell: ‘I have no reason to have these...
View ArticleDavid Mitchell: ‘I have no reason to have these apocalyptic musings’
He has a happy home life, two sitcoms on the go and a new book in the offing. So why is the comedian, actor and Observer columnist still so crotchety?• Read an extract from David Mitchell’s new bookAn...
View ArticleThe Upstart Crow review – authentically Shakespearean right down to the...
Gielgud theatre, LondonDavid Mitchell is engaging and confident as Ben Elton brings his hit TV sitcom to the stage – it’s the definite articleAudiences unfamiliar with British TV will wonder why every...
View ArticleDavid Mitchell: ‘I see myself as a coward’
The former Peep Show star felt right at home playing a lily-livered journalist in Michael Winterbottom’s film Greed. He talks about marriage, capitalism – and Armageddon ‘I find nuclear war quite...
View ArticleAlas, poor Hamnet: spotlight falls on Shakespeare’s tragic only son
Maggie O’Farrell is the latest modern writer to explore the mysterious life and early death of Hamnet ShakespeareIf William Shakespeare wrote about his son’s death at all, he concealed it in the lines...
View ArticleThe Upstart Crow review – a sitcom ripe for a theatrical remake
Gielgud, LondonDavid Mitchell makes a rollicking stage debut as the Bard in this bawdy adaptation of Ben Elton’s BBC seriesOf all the sitcoms to be turned into a stage show, Upstart Crow is an obvious...
View ArticleGreed review – Steve Coogan entertains in broad satire
A caricature of Philip Green is the heart of Michael Winterbottom’s rambunctious comedyIt could be said that writer and director Michael Winterbottom and star Steve Coogan have created a monster in the...
View ArticleRobert Webb: 'The doctor said my heart was about to fail. That got my attention'
Months after emergency surgery saved his life, the comedian is returning with his sitcom Back. He talks about acting with a swollen heart – and why he’s given up booze, cigarettes and TwitterRobert...
View ArticleBack review – Mitchell and Webb's return is well worth the wait
After a four year gap, the second season of this hilarious sitcom finds the pair at their passive-aggressive bestThey met in Footlights, at the University of Cambridge, of course, but it was Peep Show...
View ArticleThe week in audio: 606; Mitchell on Meetings; Instant Genius; Conflict of...
The moaniest of football phone-in shows doesn’t disappoint; David Mitchell rails to perfection; and Carey Mulligan hears first-hand about the war in Syria606 (BBC 5 live) | BBC SoundsMitchell on...
View ArticleOutsiders: David Mitchell’s desperate bid to outdo the genius of Taskmaster
From wielding axes to rescuing parachutists, Mitchell’s new show gives comics wacky missions to complete. It’s great fun – but it would be far better if a certain other series didn’t existWhen...
View ArticleVictoria Coren Mitchell: ‘I’m not at all competitive, which surprises people’
The writer, presenter and professional poker player on taking part in Taskmaster, her pub quiz dilemma and a life surrounded by comediansVictoria Coren Mitchell was born and went to school in...
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