Upstart Crow Air Date: 11th September 8:30pm BBC2

The Radio Times are reporting that the second series of Upstart Crow will begin on Monday September 11th in the new, and rather promising slot of 8:30pm. After previously being shown at 10pm.

The first episode to air is based around Shakespeare’s Othello. Here’s what the BBC press office has to say:

Upstart Crow

The Green Eyed Monster

Huzzah! A new series of the situation comedy returns, starring David Mitchell as William Shakespeare, a man desperately balancing the competing claims of a busy family life in Stratford and trying to become the greatest writer of all time in London.

Will has to contend with the sneering rivalry of Robert Greene (Mark Heap) and the demands of having to churn out hits for a theatre company full of needy egos (played by Steve Speirs, Spencer Jones and Dominic Coleman), while at the same time facing one hell of a commute, back and forth to see the family in Stratford-upon-Avon, home of his wife Anne (Liza Tarbuck), stroppy teenage daughter Susannah (Helen Monks), his young twins, and his parents – dodgy dealing Dad (Harry Enfield) and posh-family-gone-to-seed mum (Paula Wilcox).

To make matters worse he has to contend with the Tudor public transport system that is almost as bad as the one we have today. Helping him keep it all together are his servant Bottom (Rob Rouse), his friend and would-be actress Kate (Gemma Whelan) and his dashing and not terribly trustworthy best friend Kit Marlowe (Tim Downie).

This week an African Prince is in town and Will decides that befriending him is the perfect opportunity to make his way into smarter social circles. But somebody is trying to turn Prince Otello (Steve Toussaint) against him. Written by Ben Elton.

 

I was lucky enough to be at the recording of this episode and as Shakespeare would say: ‘It’s a corker!’

This means brand new Back and Upstart Crow will be airing within one day of each other! A real treat for us Mitchell fans! Stay tuned for more information as we get it.

 

Back – TV Guide Interviews Round-up

As Back makes it’s TV debut next week the TV guides are full of interviews and very positive reviews. Here’s a selection:

Back Interviews, Character bios and Plot Synopses

Bradford Zone have posted a lot of information and interviews all about Back! So here are all the links to all the bits of news:

Here’s David’s interview:

http://www.bradfordzone.co.uk/back-interview-with-david-mitchell-who-plays-stephen/

And Robert’s:

http://www.bradfordzone.co.uk/back-interview-with-robert-webb-who-plays-andrew/

And Simon Blackwell’s:

http://www.bradfordzone.co.uk/back-interview-with-simon-blackwell-writer/

Here’s a rundown of the Characters:

http://www.bradfordzone.co.uk/back-character-biographies/

There’s also a page for Episode synopses that is full of spoilers! I was in two minds about whether to post it… THIS IS A SPOILER WARNING! IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ DETAILED EPISODE TEASER SPOILERS DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK:

http://www.bradfordzone.co.uk/back-episode-synposes/

Brydon, Mack and Mitchell tickets for Reading

Join David, Lee and Rob as they launch their tour! As we’ve heard from Lee Mack the gang are planning a tour in 2018/19 and are doing a number of warm up shows. This one will almost certainly be the first, at The Hexagon Theatre in Reading on the 30th of October. Tickets are going on sale at 10am tomorrow, that’s Wednesday 23rd. More details here:

http://www.readingarts.com/hexagon/whats-on/brydon-mack-and-mitchell

Robert and David in the Observer

David’s article and a moving extract from Robert’s new book ‘How Not To Be A Boy are both in The Observer today:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/20/theresa-may-donald-trump-charlottesville

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/20/robert-webb-autobiography-how-not-to-be-a-boy-peep-show

Also Back has a broadcast date! September 6th Wednesday at 10pm on Channel 4. Don’t miss it!

Back Trailer

It’s time to get excited Mitchell and Webb fans because the El Dude Brothers are here again…

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-08-16/first-trailer-for-mitchell-and-webbs-new-channel-4-comedy-back

We don’t know which Wednesday Channel 4 are referring to so keep your eyes peeled for this trailer across their networks…

I will try and embed a video of the trailer as soon as possible, for now here is a link to the trailer on the Radio Times website.

WILTY? Series 11 Line Up

Here’s the full line up for the new series of Would I Lie To You? which will likely be on TV in the coming months, but there’s no date yet.

Episode	Recording date	David’s team	Lee’s team	Scores
11×01	9 July 2017[3]	Nish Kumar and Joe Lycett	Nikki Fox and Miles Jupp	TBA
11×02	11 July 2017[4]	David Baddiel and Kimberly Wyatt	Ed Balls and Jo Brand	TBA
11×03	13 July 2017[5]	Melvin Odoom and Fay Ripley	James Acaster and Gabby Logan	TBA
11×04	15 July 2017[6]	Claude Littner and Jordan Stephens	Ade Edmondson and Cariad Lloyd	TBA
11×05	18 July 2017[7]	Susie Dent and Stacey Solomon	Bob Mortimer and Ore Oduba	TBA
11×06	20 July 2017[8]	Richard Osman and Katherine Ryan	Denise Lewis and Judge Rinder	TBA
11×07	24 July 2017[8]	Sheila Hancock and Stephen Mangan	Mark Bonnar and Anita Rani	TBA
11×08	26 July 2017[8]	Craig Parkinson and Claudia Winkleman	Steve Davis and Sara Pascoe	TBA
11×09	28 July 2017[fn 9][9]	Henry Blofeld and The Rev. Richard Coles	Kerry Howard and Clive Myrie	TBA

In other David Mitchell related news a trailer for a new movie ‘Gun Shy’ has just appeared online. Apparently this is the new title for ‘Salty’, the movie David filmed for last November. He appears for a split second holding up a tray in this trailer so see if you can spot him:

 

Robert Webb’s ‘How Not To Be A Boy’ tour

Robert Webb’s new teenage memoir is released on the 29th August and you can go and see him talk about it live! Tour dates are in the link below:

https://canongate.co.uk/robert-webb-tour/

No doubt some of Robert and David’s teenage adventures will be documented. In other news here’s David’s Observer column that I apparently forgot to post last week:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/30/we-should-take-pride-in-britains-acceptable-food-spanish-attitudes-visit-britain