Exclusive: BAFTA-nominated Friday Night Dinner director Steve Bendelack is helming a comedy movie about an ageing rock band who reunites.

Bill & Ben Productions and Night Tide Films are combining on Heavenly Waters, which will shoot in Greece later this year.

Heavenly Waters tells the story of a rock band who, after an acrimonious split in the 1970s, agree to come together in Greece to scatter the ashes of their biggest fan, but things don’t go according to plan.

The pic is the writing debut of producer Kim Leggatt and actor David Schaal.

Bendelack is a two-time BAFTA nominee who was nominated in 2012 for Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner. He has also helmed a wealth of iconic British comedies including Spitting Image, Little Britain, The Royle Family and Mr Bean’s Holiday.

Heavenly Waters reunites Leggatt with producers Ben Timlett and Bill Jones.

All editions of The Reunion broadcast since 2003, including some episodes that haven’t previously been available in digital form, are on BBC Sounds. This comes as the BBC Radio 4 programme celebrates its 200th edition and the latest series launches on the station this Sunday, 13 August. A special 200th anniversary episode will be broadcast on 3 September, featuring an on stage gathering of the cast, crew and creatives behind the TV satirical show Spitting Image.

Kim Kardashian drives a London bus, Idris Elba tends his brassicas and teen mum Greta Thunberg pushes her baby in a pram around the streets of Southend. No, it’s not a fever dream – it’s ITV’s new sketch comedy, Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, which premieres on Thursday (26 January).

A first of its kind, the show uses controversial deep fake technology, better known for making fake news and revenge porn, to put celebrities’ faces onto actors’ bodies as they navigate everyday conflicts with their neighbours.

In the first episode, Elba and Kardashian argue over access to their shared garden in Catford. Meanwhile, in Southend-on-Sea, newly arrived single mother Greta Thunberg complains to the council about the outrageous Christmas decorations left up all year by her neighbours (who just happen to be “florist” Conor McGregor and “scaffolder” Ariana Grande).

Reactions from those who’ve had a peek have been mixed to say the least,...

Puppets

BritBox U.K.’s “Spitting Image” will return to the airwaves on Sept. 11, with a lineup featuring several new puppets of prominent national figures. Last year, the program was a massive hit for BritBox, the streaming platform co-developed by the BBC and ITV, reaching an audience of more than 4.4 million viewers for the series’ U.S. Election Special and over 200 million global online viewers for the year. In 2020 series creator Roger Law returned to “Spitting Image” as head of the series’ creative team, with Jeff Westbrook joining as showrunner. Avalon produces. Earlier this year it was also announced that a new local version of “Spitting Image” will be made for Sky Germany, featuring the most internationally relevant bits of the English-language original with original German-language skits added for the local audience.

Theater

Composer and theater impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber’s £6 million ($8.2 million) West End production of “Cinderella” will resume Aug.

BritBox’s reboot of British satirical puppet show Spitting Image has been renewed for a second season just days after it premiered the first episode of Season 1 online.

The Avalon-produced caricature comedy will be back in fall 2021 after BritBox said its first series premiere helped boost new subscribers ten-fold compared to its average daily sign-up rate.

Reemah Sakaan, group director of ITV SVOD and chief creative and brand officer of BritBox, said: “The fantastic response to Spitting Image just goes to show how much the world needs public service satire. Not only can subscribers look forward to another 9 weeks of anarchy but also now another series in 2021.”

The renewal comes just hours after executive producer Jon Thoday revealed that NBC backed out as Spitting Image’s U.S. broadcast partner just weeks before the premiere. The Avalon founder said there was “too much nervousness” about its satirical content among NBC executives.

Jon Thoday, the executive producer of rebooted Brit comedy Spitting Image, has revealed that NBC pulled out of the show just weeks before its premiere because of “nervousness” around its satirical content.

Deadline revealed over the weekend that the puppet show would premiere on Facebook in the U.S. after Avalon was unable to secure a broadcast partner.

Avalon founder Thoday told the Times of London that NBC was on-board right up until six weeks before launch, when executives at the network backed out amid “too much nervousness.”

“It’s basically quite a difficult show to do in the environment that exists, particularly if you’re attacking tall poppies. Inevitably if you attack tall poppies, people get worried,” he said.

“You can’t really do Spitting Image unless you’re fighting the corner of attacking everybody, but by doing that people just get nervous. They think they want it, but...

Spitting Image, the infamous politician-lampooning satirical British puppet show rebooted by U.K. streaming service BritBox, is set to return for a second season in the fall of 2021.

The series — which originally ran from 1984-1996 and helped launch the careers of comics such as Steve Coogan — has proved a hit for the BBC and ITV created platform. Subscribers since the show first launched on Oct. 3 — an episode that was hastily turned around to include Donald Trump’s Covid-19 infection — increasing 10-fold compared to the average daily rate.

In the U.S., the rebooted Spitting Image was set to air ...

Spitting Image, the infamous politician-lampooning satirical British puppet show rebooted by U.K. streaming service BritBox, is set to return for a second season in the fall of 2021.

The series — which originally ran from 1984-1996 and helped launch the careers of comics such as Steve Coogan — has proved a hit for the BBC and ITV created platform. Subscribers since the show first launched on Oct. 3 — an episode that was hastily turned around to include Donald Trump’s Covid-19 infection — increasing 10-fold compared to the average daily rate.

In the U.S., the rebooted Spitting Image was set to air ...

Exclusive: The reboot of classic British comedy series Spitting Image is set to premiere on Facebook – a day after its UK debut.

The Avalon-produced puppet parody, which is headed up creatively by co-creator Roger Law and The Simpsons’ Jeff Westbrook as showrunner, will launch on Facebook Premiere at 9Pm Pt and will be available for 24 hours. It was commissioned in the UK by BritBox, the streaming service run by ITV and BBC Studios.

Deadline understands that a broadcast network deal for the show, which was hastily rewritten to include President Donal Trump’s Coronavirus diagnosis, was close but that fell away around four weeks ago.

The show, which was well liked in many liberal circles in the States, is still expected to find a home for the full season, however, the fact that the comedy is quite close to the bone, featuring a skewering of the Commander in Chief, made...

Carolyn McCall, CEO of U.K. broadcaster ITV, has quashed any speculation around a run for the BBC’s top job.

In an earnings call following the release of ITV’s full-year results on Thursday, the executive was asked about any ambitions to potentially succeed BBC director general Tony Hall, who will depart the role by July. McCall’s response was definitive: “I can say it is not something I’m considering.”

Elsewhere, the broadcaster revealed that BritBox U.S., which has now surpassed one million users, will expand to Australia. Meanwhile, BritBox U.K. will also look to grow in 2020, with priorities for the year including “growing distribution, strengthening the content offering and continuing to deliver effective marketing.”

BritBox U.K.’s pipeline for the year includes the addition of Channel 4 content in Q2, Film4 titles in Q3, and its revival of Avalon’s “Spitting Image” in Q4, as previously reported.

The streaming sector in Australia will get even more competitive when BritBox, the Svod service co-owned by BBC Studios and ITV, launches later this year.

The platform will offer a mix of exclusive and non-exclusive British content, including classic and contemporary box sets.

The plan is to recruit a local team including a country manager to lead the operations in Australia, its fourth market following the Us, Canada and the UK.

The price has not been disclosed but in the UK the service, which airs such shows as Broadchurch, Call the Midwife, Poldark, The Office, Death in Paradise, Doctor Who, Downton Abbey and Wolf Hall, costs subscribers £5.99 ($A11.65) per month.

The launch date and distribution are yet to be revealed but the content will be curated especially for this market, according to BBC Studios.

BritBox North America launched in March 2017 and has signed up more than one million subscribers, doubling...

In its first original commission, U.K. Svod service BritBox has ordered a new version of the award-winning satirical puppet show “Spitting Image.”

The show is set to premiere this fall, with Spitting Image co-creator Roger Law leading the creative team.

London-based Avalon is producing the series and development of the puppets is already underway, with the likes of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Bernie Sanders, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Prince Andrew and Vladimir Putin set to get skewered by their foam and latex doppelgangers.

“With the world becoming an ever smaller place, I am delighted BritBox have the ambition to keep the U.K. at the center of international satire,” said Avalon executive producer Jon Thoday.

“BritBox is the natural home for the sharpest satirical wit and craft in the U.K. industry,” added Reemah Sakaan, group director of ITV Svod and BritBox’s chief creative and brand officer.

Spitting Image is returning after BritBox handed the puppet comedy reboot a two season order – its first original commission in the UK.

The Svod service ordered the series from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver producer Avalon. It will air in the autumn with the second season to follow in 2021.

Development of the puppets is already underway with Dominic Cummings, James Corden, Donald Trump, RuPaul, Boris Johnson, Beyoncé, Elon Musk, Harry & Meghan, Bernie Sanders, Prince Andrew, Adele, and Vladimir Putin all falling under the show’s gaze.

The reboot was first revealed by Deadline in November 2017. It is being overseen by Roger Law, co-creator of the original series, which ran for 18 series on ITV.

The show features puppet caricatures of celebrities and politicians and in the 1980s and early 1990s was famous for featuring the likes of Ronald Reagan, Queen Elizabeth and Margaret Thatcher. A U.S. pilot was produced...

BritBox U.K. has ordered the return of iconic satirical puppet show Spitting Image as the streaming service’s first original commission.

"With the world getting smaller and more turbulent, the time couldn’t be more appropriate for an iconic British satirical take on global events," the streamer operated by ITV and the BBC said about the show to be produced by Avalon (Last Week Tonight With John Oliver).

It will kick off in the fall, with a second season planned for 2021, with Spitting Image co-creator and executive producer Roger Law set to lead its creative team. "Development ...

Sky has boarded “Four Kids and It,” Andy De Emmony’s family adventure film starring Sir Michael Caine, Matthew Goode, Paula Patton and Russell Brand. The film, which is based on the 1902 bestselling book by Jacqueline Wilson, will be available on pay-channel Sky Cinema and in theaters day-and-date at Easter.

Set on the Cornish coast, “Four Kids and It” follows four children who embark on a journey to discover if a magical creature can really make all their wishes come true. It starts out with a family holiday to a Cornish cottage which takes an unexpected turn when the kids come across a magical and very grumpy creature (Caine) on a beach.

“’Four Kids and It’ is another example of our huge ambition for Sky original films. We are passionate about great storytelling and I know, with this fantastic cast, that our customers are definitely in for a treat this Easter,...

Laura Kennedy has joined Avalon Group, the management, events, and production business that makes shows including “Catastrophe” and “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.” Kennedy will be CEO and on the board at Avalon. She started this week and will work out of the U.K.- and U.S.-based firm’s L.A. base.

With Kennedy on board, company founders Jon Thoday and Richard Allen-Turner become co-executive chairmen.

The new recruit joins Avalon after working at Lionsgate for more than a decade, most recently as COO of its TV division. During her tenure at Lionsgate, Kennedy, who featured in the Variety Power of Women L.A. Impact Report in 2018, led transactions such as its acquisitions of Debmar-Mercury, Pilgrim and 3 Arts.

“Laura’s record at Lionsgate speaks for itself. She is an exceptionally talented executive, and we are delighted she has chosen to return to Avalon,” said Thoday. “It...

Entertainer currently shooting The Trip To Greece with Rob Brydon.

Steve Coogan, who stars as a fashion mogul in Michael Winterbottom’s Toronto-bound satire Greed, will receive the Bafta La Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy at the 2019 British Academy Britannia Awards in Los Angeles on Oct. 25

Coogan, one of the most distinguished and versatile comedians, actors, mimics and writers to emerge from the UK in the last three decades, rose to fame with his spoof talk show host Alan Partridge.

He cut his teeth as an impersonator and comic on the 1980s satirical TV series Spitting Image.

Fox is developing a U.S. version of “Les Guignols,” a satirical puppet show that ran for almost 30 years in France. Ben Silverman’s Propagate has teamed up with French media giant Vivendi on the project, with David Javerbaum (“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”) tapped to write and executive produce.

“Les Guignols” was a fixture on French TV screens for almost three decades, and its Paris production team will make a pilot presentation for Fox in the French capital. Canal Plus’ recent decision to cancel the series made headlines in France; the final episode aired last Friday. It may now be resurrected as a half-hour series for Fox, which confirmed the project. The U.S. version does not yet have a name.

The deal means that there are rival puppet shows vying for U.S. airtime. “Spitting Image,” a hit series in the U.K. in the 1980s and 1990s,...

In the same week as French pay-tv broadcaster Canal+ lost the lucrative rights to the country’s top soccer league, the Vivendi-owned network is ending one of its most influential shows – the Spitting Image-esque Guignols De L’info.

The broadcaster has cancelled the latex puppet comedy show, which has been on air for nearly 30 years as it moves towards a more politically correct tone.

Gérald-Brice Viret, managing director of channels at Canal+, told staff earlier today that there would be no 30th season of the show. Staff are likely to go on strike.

The show has been an institution in France and was previously very influential over time in terms of political and social commentary, before rating started to decline. It initially started as interstitials and became increasingly popular during the Gulf war, when it followed the news. It has detailed former Prime Minister Raymond Barre as a gonzo pornographic fan,...

Stars: Gorkem Kasal, Ergun Kuyucu, Muharrem Bayrak, Mehmet Cerrahoglu, Fatih Dokgöz | Written by Ogulcan Eren Akay, Can Evrenol, Cem Ozuduru, Ercin Sadikoglu | Directed by Can Evrenol

It’s safe to say there has been a considerable amount of hype surrounding Baskin within the horror community. From glowing reviews to – bizarrely – action figures of the characters involved, if you read any horror websites within the past two years you can’t fail to have noticed the film has become something of a cause-celebre. After seeing the film for myself I can’t think of a single reason why…

The plot, what there is of it, sees a police squad respond to a call for backup at an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere, where they stumble upon a Black Mass being performed by a nightmare cabal of subhuman cannibalistic freaks and their rubber-faced leader (who looks remarkably like a Spitting Image...

Exclusive: A number of U.S. networks and streaming services are battling it out for the rights to a rubber puppet parody of Donald Trump. I hear that a slew of broadcasters are interested in bringing UK satirical show Spitting Image to the U.S. NBC, Hulu, Netflix and Amazon are all thought to be interested in the show, which is being rebooted by Roger Law, co-creator of the original series, which ran for 18 series on ITV. Deadline understands that the American remake will…...

Mark Harrison Nov 2, 2017

With Mechocracy, Red Dwarf Xii delivers a contender for the first bonafide classic episode of the Dave era. Spoilers ahead in our review...

This review contains spoilers.

See related 26 new TV shows to watch in 2017

12.4 Mechocracy

“I'm Kryten 2X4B and I approve this message.”

Now, this is more like it. Whatever you thought of the first three episodes of Red Dwarf Xii, you're in for a real treat with the back half of the run. And what better way to start than with Mechocracy, a ship-bound character-driven satire which I think has a strong claim to being the first bonafide classic episode of the Dave era.

We've seen sentient dispensing machines in Series X's Dear Dave, but this makes better use of the automatic population of Red Dwarf, who are mostly voiced by Daniel Barker once again. When Lister accidentally downloads an Sos virus into Red Dwarf's Cpu,...

Newzoids has posted its first picture of Prince Charles and Camilla as puppets.

In the style of Spitting Image, the topical comedy sketch show features a range of celebrities and politicians immortalised as puppets.

Impressionists Jon Culshaw and Debra Stephenson portray the voices of stars such as Beyonce, Wayne Rooney and Ant and Dec.

The scene involving Charles and Camilla appears to be an homage to Steph and Dom from Gogglebox.

ITV recently said: "Imagine a world where David Cameron and Nick Clegg battle it out on Jeremy Kyle, where Ed Miliband joins Ant and Dec on I'm A Catastrophe…Get Me Out Of Here, and where Professor Brian Cox finds an extraordinary new planet in the solar system - Kim Kardashian's backside."

Newzoids premieres on Saturday, April 18 at 9pm on ITV.

One of Spitting Image's greatest impressions is making a return in a new stage play.

Steve Nallon's portrayal of Margaret Thatcher will be the centrepiece of new London show Dead Sheep - minus the rubbery puppet.

Spitting Image is 30: Looking back at the satirical puppet classic

Dead Sheep is written by ITV journalist Jonathan Maitland, and follows the infamous speech by Geoffrey Howe which led to the end of Thatcher's reign as prime minister.

Maitland was in consultation with Howe and his wife Elspeth while writing the project, and it will be released in time for the 25th anniversary of the speech.

The play will open at London's Park Theatre on April 1.

Watch Nallon as Thatcher in a classic Spitting Image clip below:...

Sometimes there's just too much great telly to watch in one week. Hundreds of channels, thousands of shows, you're bound to miss out on some brilliant telly.

If you need a hand finding some gems that you missed out on, here are five brilliant shows, still available on BBC iPlayer, that you can catch up on right now.

1. Line of Duty

If you haven't caught up with Line of Duty yet, firstly - why not? Secondly - get on iPlayer pronto. The full series is still available to view, so don't dally and make sure you don't miss out on the finest British drama of 2014 so far.

With a career best performance from Keeley Hawes and a script from Jed Mercurio that flips and twists more than a Premier League footballer in the penalty area, this truly lives up to the billing of 'must watch TV'.

2. Prostitution: What's The Harm

Reason No.

BBC Four has announced a one-off documentary about Spitting Image.

Arena: Whatever Happened To Spitting Image? will mark the 30th anniversary of the classic satirical puppet show.

The programme will look back at the creation and history of the series, with contributions from caricaturists Peter Fluck, Roger Law and producer John Lloyd.

It will also discover where the iconic puppets currently live, after they were sold off at auction back in 2000.

Arena will find out how the puppets were created, and meet several team members including puppet-mould makers, designers, puppeteers, impressionists, writers and directors.

It will also ponder whether there is a gap in the TV market for such a satirical programme today, following its 17-year absence.

Anthony Wall, Series Editor of Arena, said: "I made a film about Fluck and Law in 1980, some years before Spitting Image was made, so it's great to be able to revisit their distinctive contribution to Britain's television history.

Chicago – “Philomena” is not a state of being or location. It is the name of a woman whose child was taken away, through Catholic adoption services in Ireland during the mid 20th Century. Judi Dench portrays that woman in a modern context, and her costar is notable British comedian – and co-screenwriter of the story – Steve Coogan.

Steve Coogan was born to a working class family in Middleton, Greater Manchester, and his early studies in performance was at the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theater. He began his career as a comic and impressionist, and broke through on the popular 1990s British TV series, “Spitting Image.” Later that decade, he developed his most famous persona, that of politically incorrect talk show host Alan Partridge (a feature length film of the character – “Alan Partridge, Alpha Papa” – was released in Britain this year). While doing several successful TV stints as Partridge, he also moved...

We all have our own version of Diana, and that's the problem. As a new film opens, it's time to let her go

'I hesitate to use the term 'car crash drama'," wrote this newspaper's Peter Bradshaw last week of the new Diana biopic directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel and starring Naomi Watts, "but the awful truth is that, 16 years after that terrible day in 1997, she has died another awful death." The film has been universally panned by critics, with Bradshaw going on to describe Watts as looking "like she's in a two-hour Spitting Image sketch scripted by Jeffrey Archer", and the Times calling the whole project "atrocious and intrusive". If the film is indeed as poorly put together as the trailer, then I will not be going to see it, despite a long-held fascination with what Channel 4 once tastelessly described as "the woman behind the wardrobe".

There is a...

After a blustery day behind the scenes of Alpha Papa, the question remains: where does Steve Coogan end and his most famous creation begin?

A freezing winter day in Cromer and it is impossible to tell where reality stops and Alan Partridge's world starts. "The best smiles for miles," says an advert for Cromer pier. "If hearty fun is good for the ticker," suggests another, GPs should prescribe "a strong dose of Cromer's seaside special". These Partridge-esque pronouncements are real but the pier shooting gallery and Susan Boyle poster are not. Two of a phalanx of police officers who have sealed off the pier from the public are genuine but most are actors watching the denouement of the long-awaited Alan Partridge movie.

The sheepskin gloves Steve Coogan is wearing when we shake hands must be Alan's? "They are actually mine," says Coogan, a little defensively, "but there is an overlap.

From Meryl Streep's Iron Lady to Spitting Image and the Spice Girls, Observer writers and critics pick the films, books, art, music and TV that show Thatcher's lasting influence

Art, chosen by Laura Cumming

Treatment Room (1983)

In Richard Hamilton's installation, Thatcher administered her own harsh medicine from a video above the operating table with the viewer as helpless patient: a case of kill or cure.

Taking Stock (1984)

Hans Haacke portrayed Thatcher enthroned, nose in the air like a gun-dog, surrounded by images of Queen Victoria, the Saatchi brothers and, ominously, Pandora. Caused national furore.

In the Sleep of Reason (1982)

Mark Wallinger edited Thatcher's 1982 Falklands speech from blink to blink, fading to black in between, emphasising her solipsistic tendency to close her eyes when speaking as if nobody else existed.

The Battle of Orgreave (2001)

Jeremy Deller's restaged the worst conflict of the miners' strike from multiple viewpoints, uniting...

As cult comics speak to us from beyond the grave, Julian Clary and Airplane display their enduring popularity

Best of this week's news

Cult comics speak to us from beyond the grave this week, as Film Four announce a new film loosely based on the life and career of Chris Sievey and his alter ego Frank Sidebottom. Sidebottom was the large-headed wannabe pop star who became an unlikely phenomenon in the 1980s – which isn't exactly typecasting for the X-Men and Prometheus star Michael Fassbender, who's slated to play him. The movie is by screenwriter Peter Straughan and writer Jon Ronson, who has tweeted to deny that the film is explicitly about Sievey/Sidebottom.

No such coyness from the wife of Peter Cook, who has released 40 hours of unreleased material by her husband to mark the relaunch of The Establishment club (see last week's Laughing Stock) in Soho. Says record label boss Mike O'Brien,...

Channel 4 has announced that it has commissioned a new comedy about phone hacking. The one-off film, currently called Hacks, is described as a "satirical swipe" at the recent scandal. The comedy is set at a fictional newspaper and follows a group of journalists desperate to get good stories "by any means necessary". However, things are about to go wrong. The special has been written by Guy Jenkin, who has previously worked on Outnumbered, Drop The Dead Donkey and Spitting Image. Jenkin joked that he wants the project, currently at the script stage, to be "faster (more)...

In "Tiegs for Two," Family Guy introduces a new stereotype on the block: Mr. Washee-Washee, who gets all the best lines of the episode.

The stereotype of the Chinese man is so overdone that it manages to be far less offensive than it could have been. Spitting back the stereotype of “All Asians look alike” at Peter is a nice touch also. Far less amusing is the vignette at the beginning with Michael J. Fox.

The spat between Mr. Washee-Washee and Peter also leads to the better storyline of the episode between Quagmire and Brian. It’s nice to see that Family Guy is continuing the comical animosity between the dog and womanizer; it actually works on so many levels.

When Brian gets his heart broken by a new love, Denise, he takes Quagmire’s class on how to pick up women, much to Quagmire’s trepidation.

Brian loses Denise...

Rebecca Ferguson has reportedly been teamed with music producer Steve Brown for her debut album.

The mum of two shot to fame on last year’s X Factor series, when she finished in second place being beat to the crown by former painter and decorator Matt Cardle. She has since landed a record deal with Epic and insiders say that have chosen Brown to produce the songs.

Steve is best known as Alan Partridge’s musical director Glenn Ponder on spoof chatshow Knowing Me, Knowing You in the ’90sHe has also written on Spitting Image, The Ant & Dec Show on Children’s BBC, Smtv Live and Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

“Steve is a well respected composer who started out back in the Sixties writing musicals before going into television comedy,” a source told The Sun. “Last year he produced Rumer’s record.

“It didn’t sell in huge numbers...

Rebecca Ferguson is reportedly working on tracks with music producer Steve Brown. Brown played Alan Partridge's musical director Glenn Ponder on spoof chatshow Knowing Me, Knowing You in the '90s and has composed music for various shows such as Spitting Image and Harry Hill's TV Burp. He also works as a producer and will oversee the X Factor runner-up's debut album after being hired by her record label Epic, The Sun reports. "Steve is a well respected composer who started out back in the Sixties (more)...

Two Ronnies and Spitting Image writer Laurie Rowley has died, aged 68. Rowley, who also penned work for Not The Nine O'Clock News, Hale and Pace and Alas Smith & Jones, is survived by his wife Joyce and children Leslie and Johanne. Clive Anderson, who worked with the writer on scripts for his chatshow, told The Guardian: "[Laurie] did a good line in jokes, old and new, about baldness and hair loss, an area in which he was always slightly ahead of me. "To younger writers, he laid down all sorts of rules about gag writing. Don't use numbers: the (more)...

Pozzitive.co.uk is billed as a new online ‘Encyclopaedia Of British Comedy’ and was launched by Pozzitive owners David Tyler and Geoff Posner with the aim of providing a friendly, insider’s-eye view to the wealth of information they have, all of which is now at your fingertips.

Pozzitive is a multi-award winning comedy production company (6 BAFTAs, 6 Sony Awards and 2 International Emmys), and over the years have produced and directed such classic TV , Radio and Online projects as “Spitting Image”, “Coogan’s Run”, “Not The Nine O’Clock News”, “French & Saunders”, “Harry Enfield & Chums”, “Dinnerladies”, “Little Britain”, “The Paul & Pauline Calf Video Diaries”, “Saturday Live Again”, “Radio Active”, “Carrott’s Lib” and “The Young Ones”.

They continue to work on comedy projects such as Armando Iannucci’s ‘Charm Offensive’ and ‘Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation’. They are also currently producing the second series of popular sitcom “Cabin Pressure...