The War on Straws

The follow-up to 'Twenty Twelve' as Ian Fletcher takes up the position of 'Head of Values' at the BBC. His task is to clarify, define, or re-define the core purpose of the BBC across all its functions and to position it confidently for the future, in particular for Licence Fee Renegotiation and Charter Renewal in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

A review of a movie, or a restaurant, or a car—or whatever else that typically falls under a critic's domain—is all well and good, and can even be helpful at times. But how can one find out about myriad other experiences that are never tackled in reviews? Enter Forrest MacNeil, a critic who goes beyond overviews of life's more-common subjects—way beyond—to satisfy the curiosity of others: The adrenaline rush of stealing; the danger of drug addiction; the delight of sleeping with a celebrity. MacNeil tries anything suggested by viewers of his TV show, then presents a 1-to-5-star review. But his unwavering commitment to experiencing intense adventures means he must deal with the unintended consequences of such a goal.

This story follows the adventures of a young office lady who is also a fujoshi. With the arrival of two new colleagues: Hongou (32), a mature man whose face doesn’t show any emotion, and Daichi (25), a bright young man full of life; it’s hard for her not to imagine these two in torrid situations.

The Muppets return to primetime with a contemporary, documentary-style show. For the first time ever, a series will explore the Muppets’ personal lives and relationships, both at home and at work, as well as romances, breakups, achievements, disappointments, wants and desires. This is a more adult Muppet show, for “kids” of all ages.

Armed with the support of a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, amateur filmmaker Josh White (with the help of his producer Charlie) sets out to make his magnum opus.

A down-on-his-luck memorabilia dealer looks for redemption by reuniting with his sixth-grade teammate, NBA legend Steph Curry.

Cast Offs is a BAFTA-nominated dramedy mockumentary that follows a group of six disabled people sent to a remote British Island for a fictional reality show. The series is made up of six episodes, with each episode concentrating on one of the six characters. It follows each character for the year leading up to them being dropped off on the island and also the happenings on the island when they are left to fend for themselves.

Norm Henderson was once a fairly well-known -- but not particularly good -- professional hockey player. Norm's penchant for gambling and not paying taxes resulted in his permanent expulsion from the game. Instead of jail, he was sentenced to community service as a social worker, where his fresh perspective in the field and lack of patience for office red tape don't always jibe well with his co-workers.

Introducing "Barely Famous": a docu-style comedy series. This show explores the hypocrisy of reality TV by centering around two sisters who say they would never do a reality show, but are being filmed by a camera crew. Over the course of the season, we’ll follow Erin and Sara as they navigate the treacherous LA waters of building a career, dating, and simultaneously trying to prove that they’re “normal”. Each episode of Barely Famous will skewer Hollywood stereotypes and comment on the world of celebrity through the eyes of two D-Listers, desperately trying to insist they don’t care about “Lists” while also trying to get on the A-List. By breaking the 4th wall and occasionally telling both the crew and network to cut, no reality convention is too sacred, and our girls point out the absurdity of the medium itself.

The beloved and, to be fair, revered broadcaster returns to Britain after a year in Saudi Arabia to ask some important questions.

Philomena Cunk and friends take a look back at the major events of our 2019th year.

Les prodiges

People Like Us was a British radio and TV comedy programme, a spoof on-location documentary written by John Morton, and starring Chris Langham as Roy Mallard, an inept interviewer. Originally a radio show for BBC Radio 4 in three series from 1995 to 1997, it was made into a television series for BBC Two that aired from September 1999 to June 2000.

Since he was a child, the board game baduk has been everything to Jang Geu-rae. But when he fails at achieving his dream of becoming a professional baduk player, Geu-rae must leave his isolated existence and enter the real world armed with nothing but a high school equivalency exam on his resume.

Brian Pern is an ageing rock star and former front-man of ground breaking progressive rock group Thotch. Like many artists of his age, rather than make new music, he spends more time trying to save the planet (including his campaign to teach gorillas how to Skype). Now, the BBC have asked him to front a major new documentary where he presents his guide to The Life Of Rock from prehistoric man to the present day.

Three well-known adventurers want to make a travel program where they search for the origins of the Vespa in Italy. Unfortunately, everything that can go wrong, goes wrong.

That Peter Kay Thing is a series of six spoof documentaries shown on Channel 4 in January 1999. Set in and around Bolton, these follows the lives of different characters and stars Peter Kay as the subject of each documentary. All of the episodes display Kay's penchant for nostalgic humour and unsympathetic lead characters. The series was narrated by Andrew Sachs. Many of the plot lines were based around actual events from Kay's life. At least six of the characters appear in the spin-off series Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights.

The Games was an Australian mockumentary television series about the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The series was originally broadcast on the ABC and had two seasons of 13 episodes each, the first in 1998 and the second in 2000. 'The Games' starred satirists John Clarke and Bryan Dawe along with Australian comedian Gina Riley and actor Nicholas Bell. It was written by John Clarke and Ross Stevenson. The series centred on the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and satirised corruption and cronyism in the Olympic movement, bureaucratic ineptness in the New South Wales public service, and unethical behaviour within politics and the media. An unusual feature of the show was that the characters shared the same name as the actors who played them, to enhance the illusion of a documentary on the Sydney Games.

My Life as Liz is a mockumentary style American television series that centers on the life of Liz Lee, a misfit high-school senior living in small town Texas. The series debuted on MTV on January 18, 2010. The first season finale aired on March 8, 2010. Filming for the second season began early 2010 in New York City, mostly at Pratt Institute, the college which series star Liz Lee attends. During the My Life As Liz marathon that aired on December 27, 2010, MTV previewed the season 2 trailer and officially confirmed that season two would premiere on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 11:00 PM EST. MTV's January 24 press release confirmed that Season 2 would have 12 episodes. The series was not renewed for a third season, and the series finale aired on May 3, 2011.

Loving parodies of some of the world's best-known documentaries. Each episode is shot in a different style of documentary filmmaking, and honors some of the most important stories that didn't actually happen.