Kevin Eldon brought his jittery, shape-shifting humour to BBC Two for six half-hour episodes between 17 March and 28 April 2013. Each show mixed sketches, songs and Eldon’s own twitchy persona, held together by a loose sitcom spine: Eldon plays a version of himself sharing a flat with the deadpan Paul Putner. Regular collaborators popped up in multiple roles; Julia Davis, Adam Buxton, Simon Day, Rosie Cavaliero, James Fleet and Justin Edwards appear across the run, while cameos from Bill Bailey, Matt Berry, Nick Frost, Stewart Lee, Johnny Vegas and Paul Whitehouse thickened the texture of British comedy talent on screen.
Director Al Campbell gave the series a pace that lets musical pastiches and grotesque monologues breathe without losing momentum. Eldon wrote every episode, recycling characters from his live sets and Radio 4’s Kevin Eldon Will See You Now, but the television frame let him add visual gags that radio couldn’t carry: a stop-motion hymn to household plastics, a West End-style ode to the Midlands, a folk duo whose harmonies turn into mutual abuse. The result feels like a cult mixtape rather than a conventional sketch show, and BBC Two scheduled it late enough to let the weirdness stay intact.
Ratings were modest, critics were kind, and the series wasn’t recommissioned, so these six episodes remain the only televised dispatch from Eldon’s eccentric universe.
Production Details
BBC Two / 1 Season / 6 Episodes / 2013
Writer(s): Kevin Eldon
Main Cast
Kevin Eldon as Kevin / Various
Paul Putner as Bob
David Reed as Various
Amelia Bullmore as Various
Julia Davis as Various
Justin Edwards as Various
James Fleet as Various
Adam Buxton as Various
Rosie Cavaliero as Various
Simon Day as Various
Louise Ford as Various
Simon Munnery as Various
