Joe Lycett hosts Channel 4’s anarchic 60-minute variety show from a converted warehouse in Digbeth, Birmingham, flanked each week by his proudly announced aunties Pauline and Margaret and a pint-sized audience of neighbourhood heroes. Celebrity guests drop by, yet the real stars are the running jokes: Katherine Ryan never makes it past reception, Natalie Cassidy is located in ever-more-mundane domestic tableaux, and a Labrador called Linda Biscuits supposedly works the jib while visions of frolicking cats hijack the feed.
The first series parked a different famous face each week in Ruprai Food and Wine, Lycett’s corner shop in Kings Heath, while viewers competed to win the host’s own car by confessing their most toe-curling mishaps. Series two introduced "Hunderstudies": Lycett dispatched Tom Read Wilson to a Blue gig, David Potts to a public-toilet unveiling in Pangbourne, and Anita Rani back to Hardev’s shop, all reporting live via shaky phone links. A spoof GB News segment featured the oily anchorman Richard Yewtree, and the "Finish Me Off" game forced guests to complete half-sentences with whatever nonsense sprang to mind.
Local artists supply the set décor, from Tat Vision’s neon graffiti to Dion Kitson’s found-object sculptures, ensuring the studio looks less like a television facility and more like a proudly tatty community centre. Production companies Rumpus Media and Lycett’s own My Options Were Limited keep the budget visible, the timing perilous, and the credits rolling before anyone can quite believe what just happened.
Production Details
Channel 4 / 2 Seasons / 11 Episodes / 2023 - Present
Created by: Joe LycettJames Kettle
Showrunner(s): Emily Hudd, Iain Wimbush
Writer(s): Joe LycettJames Kettle
Producer(s): Joe LycettJames DanielsAdrian GrantCharlie KnightTom TaylorHolly DwightEmma IsonPatch Morely
Main Cast
Joe Lycett as Self - Host
Alison Hammond as Self - Guest
Joanna Lumley as Self - Guest
Katherine Ryan as Self - Guest
Alesha Dixon as Self - Guest
Paddy McGuinness as Self - Guest
Alexander Armstrong as Self - Guest
Sinitta as Self - Hunderstudy
Claire Sweeney as Self
Carol Vorderman as Self - Guest
Sophie Willan as Self - Guest
Jack Rooke as Self - Guest
