Nathan Barley is a webmaster, guerrilla filmmaker, screenwriter, DJ and in his own words, a 'self-facilitating media node'. He is convinced he is the epitome of urban cool, and therefore secretly terrified he might not be, which is why he reads Sugar Ape magazine — his bible of cool.
In reality however his 'output' is of no real interest to anyone but him and his immediate friends. The website consists of stupid pranks caught on camera, photos of him with attractive women and photos of him standing on street corners in major cities around the world (purely to demonstrate that he has enough money to go there). He is of the belief that because he has a camera, some knowledge of web publishing and some webspace, that makes him talented.
ernestolynch
Cyderdelic (BBC 2002)
Cyderdelic was a BBC Three spoof documentary following the activities of a 'West Country direct action group within the growing anti-capitalist movement'. It was subtitled 'The Revolution Will Be Televised'.
Cyderdelic was narrated by John Peel and starred Barry Castagnola (Beetle), Marc Wootton (Su), Liam Woodman (Frogger), and followed the trio over two months as they traveled from the May Day demonstrations to the sunrise celebrations at Stonehenge. The lads spread their philosophy – 'overthrow capitalism and replace it with something nicer', 'cut the traffic, not the trees' and 'most women and foreigners can be as good as men'.
ernestolynch
Spaced (Channel4 1999-2001)
Tim Bisley (Pegg) and Daisy Steiner (Stevenson) are two London twenty-somethings who meet by chance in a cafe whilst both are flat-hunting. Despite barely knowing each other, they conspire to pose as a young "professional" couple in order to meet the requisites of an advertisement for a relatively cheap flat in the distinctive building at 23 Meteor Street, which is owned by and also houses the landlady, Marsha Klein (Julia Deakin). Also living in the building is Brian Topp (Mark Heap), an eccentric conceptual artist. Frequent visitors are Tim's best friend, Mike Watt (Nick Frost) and Daisy's best friend, Twist Morgan (Katy Carmichael). The series largely concerns the colourful and surreal adventures of Tim and Daisy as they navigate through life, decide on what they want to do with their lives, come to terms with affairs of the heart, and try to figure out new ways of killing time in largely unproductive ways. Tim and Daisy repeatedly stress that they aren't a couple to everyone but Marsha, but despite (or because of) this, romantic tension develops between them, particularly during the second series.
ernestolynch
Game On (BBC 1995-
Game On was a British sitcom revolving around the lives of three 20-somethings from Herne Bay sharing a flat in Battersea, London. It was produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC, and written by Andrew Davies and Bernadette Davis. (Andrew Davies subsequently adapted several classic novels for television, including the BBC's Pride and Prejudice mini-series.)
ernestolynch
Porridge (BBC 1974-7)
Porridge is a British BBC television sitcom (1974–1977), written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and starring Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale. In a 2004 BBC poll of the 50 greatest British sitcoms, it was voted number 6. It is set in the fictional "Slade Prison" in Cumberland (now Cumbria). "Doing Porridge" is slang for a spell of imprisonment, as porridge was a traditional breakfast in British prisons. It was followed by the sequel series, Going Straight.
snouty
Bagpuss (BBC 1974)
Bagpuss was a hard-hitting British sitcom, thinly disguised as a children’s TV programme. Only 13 episodes were made, as once TV executives realised the truly subversive nature of what was being broadcast, the show got pulled. Much of the actual humour derived from the fractious relationship between Bagpuss, who is a prototype ‘stoner’ character, and the wooden woodpecker bookend, Professor Yaffle (distantly based on the philosopher Bertrand Russell.)
One classic episode, ‘The Mouse Mill’ featured the mice creating a machine that purportedly makes whole chocolate biscuits, in order to rip off Bagpuss so they can score some crack (referred to in the show as ‘pipe cheese’). In actuality, the sneaky rodents are putting the same biscuit through the machine over and over again. The machiavellian plot is foiled when Bagpuss gets the munchies, and takes a bite from the biscuit. It is believed by many leading academics that this episode is actually a very complex allegory about the fall of the Roman Empire.
snouty
Terry and June (BBC 1979-87)
Terry and June, starring Terry Scott and June Whitfield, was literally a groundbreaking, taboo-shattering tour-de-force of a masterpiece in its day. It was the first mainstream TV sitcom to address the very real problems faced by the white middle-aged middle-class in England at that time- whether or not to put the milk in the teacup before you add the hot water, what colour to wallpaper the bathroom, and how best to protest a sytem of capitalism that benefits the rich while the poor get poorer. Politically sharp, but also sexy, it still packs a very visceral punch.
Popular worldwide, it has been exported to places as diverse and far-flung as Antwerp, Brussells and Zeebrugge.
snouty
ernestolynch wrote:
Nathan Barley (Channel4, 2005)
Plot
Nathan Barley is a webmaster, guerrilla filmmaker, screenwriter, DJ and in his own words, a 'self-facilitating media node'.
I watched this on DVD last week; it made me feel a bit ill. you get the feeling that Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker are just utterly disgusted with humanity, and so there is only one vaguely sympathetic character... It definitely has funny moments, but it left me feeling queasy... It's kind of like the opposite of 'Spaced'- covers similar ground, but with scorn rather than affection...
It's like having your eyeballs cleaned... with a brillo pad.
Ninjadmin
that noel fielding character playing machine gun noises and sirens on his decks all day is a bit too cloe to home for me
