Failed stand-up Liam Williams lets BBC Three trail him as he enters "Britain’s Biggest Channel Shifter", a contest to crown the platform’s freshest vlogger. The six-part first series, released online in weekly drops between 11 February and 18 March 2017, lands him in a house of preening creators: vape-toting gamer James Wirm (Tim Key), hyper-positive singer Millipede (Emma Sidi) and swaggering prankster Charlie South (Jon Pointing). Each 15-minute episode skewers thumbnail culture, from monetised grief to algorithm-friendly apologies, while Liam racks up diminishing views.
Series two (25 September 2018) widens the lens to fringe YouTube tribes, introducing ASMR streamer Dina Discourse, alt-right ranter DumpGhost and hustle guru Hen, culminating in a live-streamed boxing match fought purely for subscriber spikes. In the 2021 finale run, the platform itself becomes the joke: Liam pivots to ethical content, faces cancellation after a decade-old tweet, and watches newcomer Honeydew eclipse him with pastel-coloured radicalism.
Shot handheld with minimal crew, the show blurs reality: guests such as Jamie Demetriou’s grime-parodying Bombzy and Lolly Adefope’s beauty titan Chloe Sass play versions of their online personas. Nominated for Best Short Form Programme at the 2018 Baftas and shortlisted at Banff, it clocked up 18 episodes across three runs before BBC Three quietly archived the channel page. The last upload, dated 24 January 2021, ends on Liam staring at a zero-view loop, his screen reflecting the viewer’s own auto-play queue.
Production Details
BBC Three / 3 Seasons / 18 Episodes / 2017 - Present
Created by: Liam Williams, Olly Cambridge
Showrunner(s): Marigo Kehoe, Jenna Jones
Writer(s): Liam Williams
Producer(s): Rupert Majendie
Cinematography: Will Hanke
Main Cast
Liam Williams as Liam
Tim Key as James Wirm
Emma Sidi as Millipede
Jon Pointing as Charlie South
Edward Richards as YouTuber
Anjana Vasan as Competition Vlogger
Libby Carradice as Competition Vlogger
Verity Richards as Competition Vlogger
Isabelle Keenan as Competition Vlogger
Bobby Archer as Competition Vlogger
Lolly Adefope as Chloe Sass
Jamie Demetriou as Bombzy
