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Britcom Goes To The Movies

Britcom Goes To The Movies

By: Film Stories
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 Guy Walker and Rob Heath are on a quest to find out if successful British TV comedies should make the jump to the big screen. A proud part of the Film Stories Podcast Network: www.filmstories.co.ukCopyright 2023 All rights reserved. Art
Episodes
  • S05 E11 - Nativity! *Christmas Special* (w/ Kat Hughes)

    S05 E11 - Nativity! *Christmas Special* (w/ Kat Hughes)
    Dec 24 2025
    Merry Christmas to our beloved BritCom Goes to the Movies listeners! Thanks for seeing in the festive period with us. This is our third Christmas episode, and while our previous two were a bit of a mixed bag, we’ve finally found a film we can all agree on: the 2009 classic, Nativity! Writer and director Debbie Isitt was already the pride of the West Midlands theatre scene before turning to film. Her previous feature, Confetti, boasted the cream of British comic talent, even if some of the cast later tried to disavow the experience! For her first festive foray, Isitt enlisted everyone’s favourite wise-cracking sitcom star, Martin Freeman, at a point in his career where he was firmly transitioning into a leading man. He’s joined by oddball comedian Marc Wootton as Mr. Poppy, Extras star Ashley Jensen and a whole host of familiar British faces, as well as an ocean of charming, non-theatre-school kids. Joining Guy and Rob to discuss Nativity! (and Martin Freeman’s forgotten early-2000s sitcom Hardware) is writer and film critic Kat Hughes. Kat is the co-host of Movies with Mummy—the podcast where she and her daughter watch films together. But does Nativity! have what it takes to meet their high standards? We also have the thrilling climax to our Quiz Season. With the scores currently deadlocked at 24-24, it’s all to play for! So, join us for some "Ho-Ho-Hos" and a whole lot of sparkle and shine. Merry Christmas! Bruiser - A Level Geography https://youtu.be/pHmcBFxgov4?si=pNC_rUWx7atIUPrU Bruiser - Martin Freeman https://youtu.be/8w55vM3jwuA?si=Z3rgT1xTas8zMsxM Robert Webb on Confetti https://youtu.be/16xLrzEuLoM?si=uwIRD78sQFGSZ7YI Hardware - Student https://youtu.be/EMDwINZmwp4?si=g68dvIPmkfsnx348 Hardware - S1e1 Dailymotion https://share.google/BACweRPsFHozyTy7o Martin Freeman argues with Tim Lovejoy https://youtu.be/cqK-i6KSY88?si=Mmi2JUZ-5usxeNNW Nativity! - Trailer https://youtu.be/6DaaTsSQktk?si=-tOiWjTSdavTjoaP Nativity! - Sparkle and Shine https://youtu.be/dO6qmNNiAts?si=NUKNVKIv49MFZZir Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 24 mins
  • S05 E10 - True Identity (w/ Doom Generation)

    S05 E10 - True Identity (w/ Doom Generation)
    Dec 17 2025
    1991 was the year for beloved British comedy performers to try and make their names stateside. We already heard about Rik Mayall’s experience with Drop Dead Fred, but the same year, Lenny Henry, riding high off the success of Live & Unleashed, was able to take advantage of a spot on a high-concept comedy caper vacated by Eddie Murphy (and others) called True Identity.  Were the Americans ready for Lenny? Well, as it turned out, no, they weren’t. But that wasn’t necessarily down to him, as we’ll find out in this episode. It was a troubled production with rather large amounts of meddling from Disney execs, throwing Henry and his director, the highly sought-after Charles Lane, under a bus. (One of those big American school buses, no doubt.)  For an American take on this British hope gone wrong, we invited the incomparable Tessa and Nicole from Doom Generation, themselves huge fans of British comedy, to join us and discuss not just this film, but Lenny Henry’s career leading up to it. New territory for the Doom Dames, who had never heard of our Lenny before.  there’s also the closest ending to a quiz series we’ve had, with the scores locked at 23-23, so join the four of us as we dive headlong into True Identity. Lenny Henry Show - Thriller https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jfXzx1SHsY Lenny Henry Show - Prince https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zmSn8tnJtA Lenny Henry Show - Sitcom ep1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWcBsaWpQQY EMF Unbelievable Andrew Dice Clay Samples https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QQCDE1Uy__c Lenny Henry - Live & Unleashed Intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3W17Z7ZTVM True Identity - Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyHLV90D8pY True Identity - Transformation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heP9g22t_m Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 34 mins
  • S05 E09 - Cemetery Junction (2010)

    S05 E09 - Cemetery Junction (2010)
    Dec 11 2025
    There are a few entries from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant on our long list at Britcom Goes to the Movies, but we start with perhaps their least remembered and least successful offering, the period coming-of-age comedy/drama Cemetery Junction. In contrast, the pair’s second sitcom offering, Extras, is in the annals of the all-time great British comedy shows. A by-product of a newfound celebrity and the connections it brought with it in 2005. Guest stars galore and a version of what might have been if The Office didn’t have the freedom to be itself. Cemetery Junction was Gervais and Merchant’s first foray into cinema after Extras and is still the only film they have co-written and directed. Based on an idea they’d had for a 70s set sitcom, Ricky and Steve turned “The Men At The Pru” into a feature-length offering, with only small roles for themselves and focussing on the journeys of three young men in 1970s Berkshire. They made it clear as possible that this would be a departure and for audiences to expect the hilarity of Extras and The Office. The result, it failed to penetrate the UK Box Office Top 10, but was that because it wasn’t any good? Stay tuned to find out what Rob and Guy made of it and a lengthy discussion about Extras as well. Ricky Gervais on the 11 o Clock Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl_gS0FsIsM The Ricky Gervais Show - Monkey News - Russian Chat Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikvq0wZAFLM Extras - Les Dennis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytDCab8ZoIM Extras - Ronnie Corbett Bloopers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2FNaXLe_ro Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant - Finding Leo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHdTve2PpeI Gervais and Merchant on Mark Kermode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz3MTwufC5s&t=104s Cemetery Junction - Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYDeHIszUqA Cemetery Junction - Snork performs Cum on Feel the Noize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTRyiNVl_G0 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 37 mins
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