Philomena Cunk is heading back to screens in brand new BBC series ‘Cunk On Cinema‘, with Diane Morgan (Mandy, After Life) once again teaming up with Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror, Screenwipe) for another gloriously absurd deep dive into human culture, this time turning her attention to the history of film.
Made by Pacesetter Productions for BBC iPlayer and BBC Two, the new three-part mockumentary follows Philomena as she tries to get to grips with cinema’s long and often baffling history. Across the series, she’ll be grilling experts on everything from the invention of the camera and the rise of New Wave filmmakers in the 1960s, through to CGI, AI, and the future of the movies, all while trying to work out what cinema actually is, where it came from, and what exactly it wants from us.
That setup feels like a perfect fit for the ‘Cunk’ format, which has already tackled everything from history and the earth itself to Shakespeare and Britain. Shifting the focus to film opens up plenty of room for Brooker and Morgan to poke fun at movie culture, cinematic self-importance, and the kind of expert analysis Philomena is uniquely qualified to completely misunderstand.
Philomena Cunk said: “Cinema has given the world some of the most profound, memorable and moving visual moments in its unswerving depiction of the human condition: the shower scene in Psycho, Death playing chess in that Swedish thing, and Tom Selleck’s glistening moustache in Three Men And A Little Lady, to name but all three of the only examples I can think of at the moment. There will, unfortunately, be some bits in black and white, but we’ll keep that to the barest minimum.”
Charlie Brooker said: “Now that Sora has killed off Hollywood and itself (presumably as part of a murder-suicide pact), it’s the perfect time to look back at two hundred centuries of cinema, in the company of an idiot we’re apparently cursed to employ: Philomena Cunk.”
Jon Petrie, Director of Comedy at the BBC, said: “Philomena Cunk is back! As our leading intrepid documentary filmmaker, who better to investigate the world of cinema? This series follows in the hugely successful footsteps of other Cunk projects, so we can’t wait to see what she unearths this time around. A huge thank you to the incredibly talented team at Pacesetter, Diane and Charlie for bringing Philomena back onto our screens.”
‘Cunk On Cinema’ is a 3 x 30-minute Pacesetter Production for BBC iPlayer and BBC Two. Brooker leads the writing team and also executive produces alongside Morgan and Sam Ward. The series is directed by Al Campbell, with Jessica Rhoades executive producing and Mark Kinsella serving as co-executive producer for Pacesetter Productions. Outside the UK and Ireland, ‘Cunk On Cinema’ will stream on Netflix.
‘Cunk On Cinema‘ does not yet have a premiere date but will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two in the UK. If you want to keep track of this or any other shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date. Visit Never Miss.
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